[Guide] Different "Skins" for Infantry and More

Although limited in scope, it's possible to change the way some textures are mapped and look on models. Many of the "skins" look terrible but there are a few usable ones. Any model that has an alternative skin, i.e. winter variant, has the potential to use this system which means infantry, vehicles, buildings, etc.

A big thanks to Hash_Silencer Li for discovering this.


How It Works

Textures are normally mapped on a model using both a diffuse map (dif) and normals (nrm). These can be seen within the archive viewer by opening any Art(race).sga. When selecting a skin in World Builder or Attribute Editor (ebps\ui_ext) it will look in the 'skins' folder for the skin's name. Always use the archive viewer as a guide as some things may not be named properly. By using a forward slash (backward slashes will not work in-game) we are able to choose the next folder.


AEF Rifleman on the left, OKW Medic center, OST Medic with default winter on the right.

winter/skins/cavalry_winter

winter/skins/west_winter

As you can see by using this method it works correctly only for the Rifleman. The Rifleman models for both summer and winter are the same so there's no issue. However since the Medic uses a different model in winter the mapping is screwed up.


SOV female snipers. Default winter left, dif center, nrm right.

winter/sniper_female_dif.

winter/sniper_female_nrm.

We are able to take this a bit further and specify which texture file (.rgt) to use within that folder. In the picture above we see that the dif version is mostly fine except for some weird stuff going on with the hat. The nrm is blue/green and this is the same for all nrm so it's not recommended. Do note that nrm is a type of bump map so when using dif textures on their own the model will be look flatter and darker.




Most just look bad or too subtle to use. But there are a few that look cool. If the front of an infantry model looks decent but the back is a mess you can always add a cape to cover it up. I've used quite a lot of these within my mod along with model stacking.


Left to right. SOV elite_rifleman winter default, summer elite_rifleman with winter cape, partisan_female_01 winter default, partisan_female_01 with winter dif, female_hair_hat with winter dif.

winter/cape_dif.

winter/partisan_female_01_dif.

You can also specify a model to change the texture within an abp.

Limitations

This method is buggy at best and there's a lot of inconsistencies that I can't understand. If we are able to go up a level for folders this will have great potential.

• Inconsistent: It just doesn't work for some models.
  
• Reverting in World Builder: If you save an NIS file and reload it some models will not display the skin. You will not be able to change the skin again in that NIS file.
  
• Not displaying in-game: Even though it may work in World Builder it doesn't in-game.
  
• Blue Box (Missing RGM): You may have mistyped something or used a wrong slash.