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kapuhy · 05-07-20, 01:45 PM

Hi Compans57,

I'm not familiar with Photoshop, but assuming it can export files to .dds format, you won't need any other software for editing textures. What you'll need for viewing/adding/removing textures to in-game models are:

GoblinEditorApp - it is in your Silent Hunter game folder.
TDW's GR2 Editor. If you are using TWoS megamod, you will find it in data/applications folder. If not, check this post for download link.

Basics of how SH5 textures work:

- Native format of SH5 stock ship models is .gr2, although if you are using TWoS you will find many ships in .dat format from older SH games. These are supported by SH5 but lack some features. What I write below applies to .gr2 ships.

- All textures are in .dds format, with BC3/DXT5 compression

- Naming convention of textures in stock ships (X being the texture number):

Texturename_T0X.dds : RGB channels are diffuse texture, and alpha channel is used for specular map.
Texturename_N0X.dds : Bump map. In Gimp this can be easily created from grayscaled diffuse texture by normalmap plugin, no idea how Photoshop handles it.
Texturename_AO0X.dds : Ambient occlusion map. Besides ambient occlusion, it's also used for things like rust, leaking, dirt on hulls, and for camouflage patterns, in short - anything that cannot be painted on diffuse texture due to diffuse texture being shared by other ships and reused along the ships hull.

T0X and N0X textures are shared between many ships, and you'll find them in data/textures/tnormal/tex folder
AO0X textures are found in Sea folder within folder of each ship. These are ship-specific.

- If you just want to replace one skin with another, you can simply edit and replace the file (keep in mind that except for AO, textures are shared by other models though). Use GoblinEditorApp to view the results (faster than launching game each time).

- If you want to make new texture, or make a material use multiple textures randomly, you'll need GR2 Editor. There, you can change texture paths assigned to materials, add new textures or delete unused ones (careful though - back up everything religiously as GR2 Editor is very unforgiving app and can make model corrupt causing it to CTD game. Expecially take care when deleting anything).

- Some materials are configured to use multiple textures (you'll see in ship folders several AO texture files for example). This allows for a ship to have different skin on different encounters, increasing variety. It has some limitations though:

For it to work, material must (this can be checked / edited in GR2 Editor) be named cfg#TXRName (where "Name" can be whatever you wish). This tells game to refer to ships cfg file for texture selection.
Alternative textures will not work if another ship of the same type is in the scene. So, if you have three different camouflages for a warship and player encounters convoy with three such ships - they will all "choose" the same camouflage pattern.
LOD versions of game models do not seem to support alternative textures. This leads to sudden colour changes when camera moves to/away from a ship.

05-07-20, 01:45 PM	#2
kapuhy Grey Wolf Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Poland Posts: 873 Downloads: 72 Uploads: 3	Hi Compans57, I'm not familiar with Photoshop, but assuming it can export files to .dds format, you won't need any other software for editing textures. What you'll need for viewing/adding/removing textures to in-game models are: GoblinEditorApp - it is in your Silent Hunter game folder. TDW's GR2 Editor. If you are using TWoS megamod, you will find it in data/applications folder. If not, check this post for download link. Basics of how SH5 textures work: - Native format of SH5 stock ship models is .gr2, although if you are using TWoS you will find many ships in .dat format from older SH games. These are supported by SH5 but lack some features. What I write below applies to .gr2 ships. - All textures are in .dds format, with BC3/DXT5 compression - Naming convention of textures in stock ships (X being the texture number): Texturename_T0X.dds : RGB channels are diffuse texture, and alpha channel is used for specular map. Texturename_N0X.dds : Bump map. In Gimp this can be easily created from grayscaled diffuse texture by normalmap plugin, no idea how Photoshop handles it. Texturename_AO0X.dds : Ambient occlusion map. Besides ambient occlusion, it's also used for things like rust, leaking, dirt on hulls, and for camouflage patterns, in short - anything that cannot be painted on diffuse texture due to diffuse texture being shared by other ships and reused along the ships hull. T0X and N0X textures are shared between many ships, and you'll find them in data/textures/tnormal/tex folder AO0X textures are found in Sea folder within folder of each ship. These are ship-specific. - If you just want to replace one skin with another, you can simply edit and replace the file (keep in mind that except for AO, textures are shared by other models though). Use GoblinEditorApp to view the results (faster than launching game each time). - If you want to make new texture, or make a material use multiple textures randomly, you'll need GR2 Editor. There, you can change texture paths assigned to materials, add new textures or delete unused ones (careful though - back up everything religiously as GR2 Editor is very unforgiving app and can make model corrupt causing it to CTD game. Expecially take care when deleting anything). - Some materials are configured to use multiple textures (you'll see in ship folders several AO texture files for example). This allows for a ship to have different skin on different encounters, increasing variety. It has some limitations though: For it to work, material must (this can be checked / edited in GR2 Editor) be named cfg#TXRName (where "Name" can be whatever you wish). This tells game to refer to ships cfg file for texture selection. Alternative textures will not work if another ship of the same type is in the scene. So, if you have three different camouflages for a warship and player encounters convoy with three such ships - they will all "choose" the same camouflage pattern. LOD versions of game models do not seem to support alternative textures. This leads to sudden colour changes when camera moves to/away from a ship.