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Automata MODing, part I (56kers beware)

Started by screamingman12, January 20, 2007, 04:01:52 PM

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screamingman12

In this tutorial, I will be covering basic re-skining of automata models for SC4, automata is/are props that are displayed by the game on transit networks to show traffic on them.

Although this looks like a long process, it only takes about 10 to 15 minutes or less.

tools
Ilive's Reader
FiSHMan Beta
any photoshop program, such as MS paint

Step I, Opening the .dat file in ilive reader

locate the .dat file (the file which contains the modd) and double click it:



then you will get this notice:



click the "Open With..." button, you will get this notice:



Choose "select a program from the list," and you will get this notice:



Locate the Ilive Reader folder (I keep it on a flash drive) and open it:



right-click the reader icon and select "open":




Step II, extracting the FSH file

When the reader opens, select "open" and browse for the file:

-Ilive's welcome screen, with open button highlighted:



-Browsing for the .dat file:



After this, you will notice that the .dat file has been loaded into the queque, but not opened, to do this, click on "fill the list" as shown below:



When the .dat file loads into the reader, browse through the S3D listings untill you find the one with the model in it: (it will ether be textures or be outlined in white lines, if the latter is the case, simply locate the three buttons that say "wireframe," "textured," or "both" and select textured)



After you have done this, click on the "mats" tab (right below the apply button) and scroll down until you see the skin:



Highlight the texture, then right-click on the number next to it, and select "save texture":



Save the skin in the same folder with the .dat file to make it easier to find it, make sure to save it as an FSH file:



Step IIIa, converting the FSH file to a PNG

Open FiSHman Beta in the same way you opened Ilive, you should see this:



Click the "open" button and locate the FSH file:



Notice the image icon, that means a skin is loaded into FiSHman, then choose File>Save As and select PNG:



Step IIIb, converting the alpha channel to a PNG

Open the drop-down menu, that says "color only" and change it to "alpha only"



You should now see something that looks like this: save it the same way as the skin:



Now modify the skin to your likeness, (if you want to change the pantograph style or anything on that scale, you will have to modify the alpha accordingly)

Step IV, inserting the new PNG into the skin

Open the skin in FiSHman and dysplay the PNG, right-click the image icon and select "remove"



You should now see this:



Click on the "bitmaps" folder and select Insert>New Bitmap, like this:



You should now see this window:



Select the elipsis next to the "bitmap file" box and search for the skin, you will need to change the "files of type" drop-down menu to Portable Network Graphics (PNG) file format, this will display only the PNG files, (repeat this for the "alpha map file" menu). Once you have done this change the "FSH bitmap type" drop-down menu to DXT3 Compressed, with alpha, like this:



Then save this as the new skin, make sure to save it as a FSH file:



Step V, putting the new skin on the model

Open Ilive and load the tram/bus/car etc., find the S3D tab with the model in it, go to the mats tab and highlight the skin, click on the number and select "replace texture":



Locate the skin:



After you have selected it, click the "Apply" button:



After you have clicked this, you will have to select another tab to let it refresh and show the new skin, if it shows up as a wireframe, adjust the veiw panel:



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"...the streetcar, the carriage of the people, was opposed; but that which is for the greatest good of the greatest number will always conquer in the end..." -Rapid Transit in Cities, Thomas Curtis Clarke, 1892