dutchking
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- Apr 30, 2007
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A DUTCHKING TUTORIAL
Graphics Basics
This tutorial is basically a small article on little things you should know about working with Graphics in Civ IV. It covers things I've spent ample time talking about in my other tutorials, but in future ones I'd like not to spend time talking about it and just putting it all here. To start out I'd like to cover texturing basics. I'll add more and more as I go on. Bare with me.
I'll post more things here like cool stuff you can do with NifSkope and SceneViewer too. Just things that in the long run will save you lots of time. To start out, lets cover some small things (I'll add way more later this is only what I can do right now).
Chapter 1
Shaders and Nonshaders
Shaders are the nicest looking texture add-ons in Civ IV, they add shine and make the graphic look realistic. Most commonly you will have one base texture that is the actual graphic itself, and in the NIF it adds shaders on top of this texture. With lower-specification machines that don't support shaders, you have nonshaders, which tries to make the base texture look realistic by itself alone, without shaders to try to make it look realistic. Comparisons:
Shaded:
Not-Shaded:
There is a big difference...
After I come back, we'll cover UV editing using NifSkope. (editing how a texture clamps on to an object by just clicking dots)
Chapter 2: UV Editing
What you will need:
1. NifSkope
All right, now we're on to UV Editing using Nifskope. Basically this will save you a lot of time, and not a lot of people know how to do this. You can use this method for small tweaks without having to work on the skin, being lazy and just taking the UV of an arm and putting it on the already skinned body, etc.
OK, so now, this is just an example I will use because I have done it before (for Henry VIII, don't get any ideas, already made it ).
I again assume you have the assets to Vanilla unzipped. Now, let's open up NifSkope and get started. Copy the "napoleon" Leaderhead folder to your desktop. Now, copy the texture file "John_DIFF.dds" file from C:/Program Files/Firaxis Games/Sid Meiers.../BTS/Assets/Art/Leaderheads/JohnII/ into the napoleon LH folder. We're going to make napoleon with joao's skin. 8)
Now, open "napoleon.nif" in the LH folder:
Make sure you have the "block list" open (view>Blocklist) and click on Napoleon's body.
Now, change the source texture "napoleon_DIFF.dds" to "John_DIFF.dds".
Don't get freaked out! The weirdest is yet to come!
Now we'll actually edit the UV, when you first start, it should look like this:
Now start editing, it's a simple but tedious concept, you'll see a "web" of his clothes, and face, etc. on the map, this is how the texture wraps around his body. You can change that now, simply by clicking and dragging a box around a group of webs, and dragging them to the place where they should be/you want them to be. This is the hardest part, I suggest moving smaller things out of the way first just so you can get a cleaner map.
While you're editing it should look something like this:
After LOTS of hard work, napoleon should look somewhat like this: (minus the hat etc.)
I made that a few months ago, wasn't sure if I should upload it or not, but I'd like to do more tweaks to it.
Graphics Basics
This tutorial is basically a small article on little things you should know about working with Graphics in Civ IV. It covers things I've spent ample time talking about in my other tutorials, but in future ones I'd like not to spend time talking about it and just putting it all here. To start out I'd like to cover texturing basics. I'll add more and more as I go on. Bare with me.
I'll post more things here like cool stuff you can do with NifSkope and SceneViewer too. Just things that in the long run will save you lots of time. To start out, lets cover some small things (I'll add way more later this is only what I can do right now).Chapter 1
Shaders and Nonshaders
Shaders are the nicest looking texture add-ons in Civ IV, they add shine and make the graphic look realistic. Most commonly you will have one base texture that is the actual graphic itself, and in the NIF it adds shaders on top of this texture. With lower-specification machines that don't support shaders, you have nonshaders, which tries to make the base texture look realistic by itself alone, without shaders to try to make it look realistic. Comparisons:
Shaded:
Not-Shaded:
There is a big difference...
After I come back, we'll cover UV editing using NifSkope. (editing how a texture clamps on to an object by just clicking dots)
Chapter 2: UV Editing
What you will need:
1. NifSkope
All right, now we're on to UV Editing using Nifskope. Basically this will save you a lot of time, and not a lot of people know how to do this. You can use this method for small tweaks without having to work on the skin, being lazy and just taking the UV of an arm and putting it on the already skinned body, etc.
OK, so now, this is just an example I will use because I have done it before (for Henry VIII, don't get any ideas, already made it
).I again assume you have the assets to Vanilla unzipped. Now, let's open up NifSkope and get started. Copy the "napoleon" Leaderhead folder to your desktop. Now, copy the texture file "John_DIFF.dds" file from C:/Program Files/Firaxis Games/Sid Meiers.../BTS/Assets/Art/Leaderheads/JohnII/ into the napoleon LH folder. We're going to make napoleon with joao's skin. 8)
Now, open "napoleon.nif" in the LH folder:
Make sure you have the "block list" open (view>Blocklist) and click on Napoleon's body.
Now, change the source texture "napoleon_DIFF.dds" to "John_DIFF.dds".
Don't get freaked out! The weirdest is yet to come!
Now we'll actually edit the UV, when you first start, it should look like this:
Now start editing, it's a simple but tedious concept, you'll see a "web" of his clothes, and face, etc. on the map, this is how the texture wraps around his body. You can change that now, simply by clicking and dragging a box around a group of webs, and dragging them to the place where they should be/you want them to be. This is the hardest part, I suggest moving smaller things out of the way first just so you can get a cleaner map.
While you're editing it should look something like this:
After LOTS of hard work, napoleon should look somewhat like this: (minus the hat etc.)
I made that a few months ago, wasn't sure if I should upload it or not, but I'd like to do more tweaks to it.
those half was the only way I learned how!
