Creating new Saber blade.

[veridianblade]

Hi, I'm new to modelling KotOR.

 

I need help creating new saber blades.

I've created some which are pretty good for first tries, the problem is these don't have defused glows like the originals.

 

I'm using Photoshop CS2, if anyone has any tutorials or tips for me I'd appreciate it.

 

Also how do you edit item descriptions?

 

Thanks.

[Jasher]

You can edit item descriptions in the uti file. These files can be found using Kotor Tool. Go to:

BIFs-->templates.bif-->Blueprint, Item

Double-click the item to find the one you're looking for.

In the screen that pops up, click on the Description tab, change the description to say what you want, and save the changes in your "Override" folder.

If you're looking to change saber colors, first check out Shem's mod on FileFront. The colors he created are gorgeous. If you simply want to add additional colors to the rainbow (like I did), let me know and I can teach you how to do that.

[veridianblade]

That would really be appreciated.

[Jasher]

STEP 1: Make an extraction file to put all your work into. I suggest saving this file to the desktop. Also make sure you have Kotor Tool installed on your computer.

 

STEP 2:

Whatever you do (use Shem's colors or create your own), you're going to end up with a tga file. Because there are already nine existing colors in Kotor, you'll need to give your color a different name. I has to have the handle: w_lsabre######

The pound signs represent the color name. For example, the in-game yellow lightsaber has the handle: w_lsabreyelo01. When I made a bronze lightsaber, I used w_lsabrebrnz01. Again, this is your tga file, so whatever you name the color, it will be saved as .tga (for my bronze saber: w_lsabrebrnz01.tga).

 

STEP 3:

You're going to have to tell the game that you want to add a new color. Thus you'll make a txi file. This is moronically simple (and I learned how to do it on this forum! Thanks ChainZ2da and tk102!).

Open up Notepad and type in the following two lines:

blending additive

decal 1

Then save this file with the same handle as your tga file, only save it as a txi file. For example, since my bronze saber tga was w_lsabrebrnz01.tga, my txi file would be w_lsabrebrnz01.txi.

 

STEP 4:

Now go into Kotor Tool and extract a random lightsaber. You'll need to go to:

Kotor I>>BIFs>>items.bif>> or

Kotor II>>BIFs>>models.bif>>

And you'll be extracting BOTH the Aurora Model AND the Aurora Model Extension.

It doesn't really matter which one you extract (unless you want a ridiculously long blade, then pick w_lghtsbr_006). For our purposes, I'll extract w_lghtsbr_001.mdl from the Aurora Model, and then w_lghtsbr_001.mdx from the Aurora Model Extension. Again, these files should be extracted to the folder you created on your desktop.

 

STEP 5:

Download MDLOps. You can find that here .

 

STEP 6:

Use MDLOps to Read the mdl file you extracted. After reading it, the program will recognize it as a binary file source. Then you can Rename it.

 

STEP 7:

In the screen that pops up, you'll see the name of the lightsaber and four color planes.

Rename the lightsaber to whatever you want. Do this by clicking on the field and entering the new name in the space provided; I'll call my bronze saber w_lghtsbr_011.

Then rename the four color planes to match your tga file; remember I used w_lsabrebrnz01. When you're all done, it should look something like this:

w_lghtsbr_001=w_lghtsbr_011

Plane230=w_lsabrebrnz01

Plane231=w_lsabrebrnz01

Plane232=w_lsabrebrnz01

Plane233=w_lsabrebrnz01

Then click Write file .

 

STEP 8:

In your extraction folder, you'll have two new files: w_lghtsbr_011-k2-r-bin.mdl and w_lghtsbr_011-k2-r-bin.mdx. Rename them to read w_lghtsbr_011.mdl and w_lghtsbr_011.mdx.

 

STEP 9:

Put your new mdx, mdl, tga, and txi files in your Kotor Override file and you're done!

[veridianblade]

Cheers man.

 

What I really need help in is the actual use of photoshop to create the blade.

 

Should I just modify Shems?

[Jasher]

Cheers man.

 

What I really need help in is the actual use of photoshop to create the blade.

 

Should I just modify Shems?

 

That's what I'd do. Try his out first. Like I said, they're brilliant.

You can find them here .

[veridianblade]

Thanks dude.

 

May the force be with you.

 

Edit: It doesn't work.

 

I edit the tga and I get a the background around the blade.

 

I can get rid of this by masking it but this also makes good glows impossible.

 

[Jasher]

It doesn't work.

 

I edit the tga and I get a the background around the blade.

 

I can get rid of this by masking it but this also makes good glows impossible.

 

If I'm not mistaken, the tga only affects the center of the blade. The surrounding glow is created by the txi. Did you make a txi file?

[veridianblade]

If I'm not mistaken, the tga only affects the center of the blade. The surrounding glow is created by the txi. Did you make a txi file?

 

Yeah, what should be in this?.

 

I've got -

 

blending additive

decal 1

 

Edit: I fixed it.

 

I think it was a problem with the TXI file.

 

I remade the saber only this time I exported the info instead of copy and pasting it.

 

Thanks for all your help mate.

[Jasher]

No prob. My pleasure.

Originally posted by veridianblade

I remade the saber only this time I exported the info instead of copy and pasting it.

I had to do the same thing a couple of times.

 

It seems with modding we learn by trial and error.

[veridianblade]

No prob. My pleasure.

I had to do the same thing a couple of times.

 

It seems with modding we learn by trial and error.

 

I couldn't see a problem with the TXI.

 

The only difference was that I exported the info instead of copying and pasting it.