Help with recolor of person textures

[Airikir]

All I want to do is to make a new prototype for a unit that looks the same as lapd_swat but with black color.

I remember I did a reskin of lapd_swat several years ago but it seems I have forgotten something.

1. I unpack the dds file with the editor

2 I open it with another program called Dxtbmp and see the skin and in the upper right corner I also see the alpha channel.

3. In Dxtbmp I export the image to Paint.Net and change the color of the skin in Paint.Net.

4. I reload the image from Paint.Net in Dxtbmp and then I just save it with another file name in the same format as Dxtbmp recognized it (DXT5) and I didn´t change the alpha channel.

5. I make sure the unpacked V3O has the correct name to the new texture.

6, I open the editor and load the LA mod.

7. The new protoype points to the correct model but the model looks all metal glossy and shiny.

8. I remove the option Alpha Reflections but then the model looks all black like a shadow not like a texture and I don´t see the eyes or mouth color for example.

What am I doing wrong?

Do I need to use another program to do this?

[Airikir]

It seems I got it working now but without any alpha channel, so no shiny badge or other parts on the uniform.

1. Changed file format of the lapd_swat.dds file to "lapd_swat.dds.V3O" and used the editor to unpack the file as usual if you haven´t already.

2. Rename the file to .dds again

2. Opened the dds converter program to convert the unpacked dds file to a bmp file

3. Modified the color of the bmp image in Paint.Net

4. Saved the image as tga file format

5. Opened the editor, loaded LA mod clicked Edit on my new model and De-selected the option "Alpha Channel Reflections"

[Airikir]

I guess because I have no alpha channel reflection now the weapon is invisible so I still need some help.

Does anyone have a working guide how to recolor the lapd_swat model?

[Airikir]

It is working now,

I made extra sure in Dxtbmp program to only send the image for editing to Paint.Net, not the alpha channel.

In Paint.Net I only edited the image by selecting areas on it to change (no global changes to the image).

I saved the imgae in Paint.Net as default name norm.bmp and closed Paint.Net so Dxtbmp could pick up the changes after refreshing the image.

I saved the file in Dxtbmp program as tga with alpha.

Now I can have the alpha reflections enabled and i still see the texture as it should be including the shining badges and insignia and the weapon in the hands.

 

[itchboy]

The way I did it was in paint.net.

All I did was export it as .dds under a weird format. Then I reloaded the file and it was all worked out. Lastly, after making the changes, I exported the file back as DXT3 with all the alpha reflections set up.