[Modding Question] Combining Textures

[DontBlnkBadWolf]

So, I have been through over 20 pages in the Mods (The Witcher 3) and have not seen anything related to my question I am going to ask. I am using 3 different Triss mods:

Triss New Makeup HD Eyes - modtrissface10
Triss Auburn Hair
Blue Eyes for Triss (Lore-Friendly)

For my use only, how would I go about combining all 3 into 1 mod. There are other character mods that I have that I would like to do this with as well, I am just asking to be pointed in the right direction.

 

[rfuzzo]

Mod Merger?

 

[DontBlnkBadWolf]

I use mod merger but I would rather do it myself. There are actually quite a few mods that I would like to combine for certain characters to find out what is conflicting (if there is a conflict) and see if I can fix what is conflicting.

 

[KamehamehaNudel]

Okok next try.
Use Wolvenkit. It has the functionality to grab files from other mods you have installed into your mod project.
So you can add all the files from the mods you want to combine into one project.
you can now call that your own mod you made from scratch if you feel like doing so.

 

[DontBlnkBadWolf]

Okay, I didn't explain what I was meaning correctly. I want to combine the different .tga or .dds that they have. That's what I was really meaning.

Example: I would take the textures of the 3 Triss mods and combine them.

I was just watching the video for xTcModKit, an that's when it hit me that I was not explaining it correctly. Sorry for the misinformation I was giving. Since I have now correctly explained my true meaning, that would mean I could use that xTcModKit mod to uncook the 3 and there is where I would find the texture files?

Both @rfuzzo & @KamehamehaNudel, thank you for your replies, even though I gave the wrong explanation. I knew what I wanted in my head, but my fingers didn't type it correctly, or something like that.

Post automatically merged: Aug 11, 2018

More info: Because with the 3 Triss mods that I listed, the face mod conflicts with the hair mod. So her face does not get combined with the others that I combine with mod merger. Same with the Medallion mods, I would like to combine the textures. And so on and so forth with any other texture mods that may conflict with another.

Post automatically merged: Aug 11, 2018

Never-mind, I just saw a post from xtcislove on his XtCModkit mod page.

You don't need the texture.cache file at all.

Test it: Uncooking with "ModKit + Quickbms" will produce the same files as "Quickbms"... But if u use only "Modkit" then there is a potential of missing files.

Why?
Not every file will get cooked into the texture.cache file, but every file will get cooked into the .bundle and .buffer files.

The only difference is that Quickbms cant export .xbm and .w2mesh files (texture files) into image files (like .jpg, .png)

But if u are trying to edit a texture, like changing Yennefer's eye color, this isn't the right tool (at least in its current state)

U could try: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/2097/?

but this tool is outdated and probably full of bugs.

In some days (maybe weeks) i will update this tool to build mods.

 

[rfuzzo]

Two (texture, model) mods only (really) conflict if they actually edit the same file, Triss hair for example.

(A) conflicting mods with load order.

Conflicting mods can be “merged” but you will have to choose what mod gets to override what.

Merging mods this way (giving precedence to what) can most easily be done in mod merger. The program has a “conflicts” section that shows you exactly what files are conflicting, i.e. are edited by both mods.

You can of course do it manually - unpacking, sorting, repacking - with your favourite modding tool (Wkit is the best), but it gives no advantage over mod merger.

(B) conflicting mods, patchwork

The only case this does not work is when you want different aspects of *both* mods, so that you can’t give (absolute) priority for one.

In this case you will have to unpack both mods, sort out the files manually, and repack the mods (now in one bundle) again.

Again, this is most easily done with WKit, because it has a folder structure and the “add files from other mod” option.

 

[DontBlnkBadWolf]

Two (texture, model) mods only (really) conflict if they actually edit the same file, Triss hair for example.

(A) conflicting mods with load order.

Conflicting mods can be “merged” but you will have to choose what mod gets to override what.

Merging mods this way (giving precedence to what) can most easily be done in mod merger. The program has a “conflicts” section that shows you exactly what files are conflicting, i.e. are edited by both mods.

You can of course do it manually - unpacking, sorting, repacking - with your favorite modding tool (Wkit is the best), but it gives no advantage over mod merger.

(B) conflicting mods, patchwork

The only case this does not work is when you want different aspects of *both* mods, so that you can’t give (absolute) priority for one.

In this case you will have to unpack both mods, sort out the files manually, and repack the mods (now in one bundle) again.

Again, this is most easily done with WKit, because it has a folder structure and the “add files from other mod” option.

I understand, I already knew about priority of mods and the conflicts section of mod merger. But, if I am understanding you correctly about (B), I wouldn't have to edit the textures themselves in PS or Gimp or are you meaning non-texture type mods?

 

[rfuzzo]

hmm, I don’t know what you mean. Do you want:
(1) different features from two or more mods? Or
(2) make your own changes to a mod? Or
(3) both of the above? Or
(4) neither?

 

[DontBlnkBadWolf]

hmm, I don’t know what you mean. Do you want:
(1) different features from two or more mods? Or
(2) make your own changes to a mod? Or
(3) both of the above? Or
(4) neither?

Alright, I want to take the Blue Eyes texture, add the Face texture, then the Hair texture and make the one complete texture since they are from 3 different mod authors.

I am assuming that this is like some other games where when you look at a texture for the character's head, you will see the following image:

*image from a Fallout 4 texture.

Or is The Witcher 3 different than this?

 

[JUANMAS7ER]

Just merge them, unpack the three mods and choose what files do you want...and put them together by cooking them.

 

[DontBlnkBadWolf]

Just merge them, unpack the three mods and choose what files do you want...and put them together by cooking them.

Alright, cool. Thank you

Post automatically merged: Aug 12, 2018

"Thank you"s going out to @rfuzzo and @JUANMAS7ER. Now that I have started looking into Quick Modding Tool and XtCModKit by xtcislove, I think I am going to try and make the changes to textures without using anyone else's mods. That way I can release it if I want to. I've seen a request for pre-release Triss, https://forums.cdprojektred.com/index.php?threads/mod-request-pre-release-triss.58356/

Which, I agree that she looks good there, but I'm still going with Auburn Hair and Cornflower Blue eyes. Though I can't do the meshes that request is also wanting (if you look at the different pictures, you can see that her face shape elongated.), unless WolvenKit can help me do that but, I don't think it does that.

 

[rfuzzo]

Cool, yeah if you want to pick-and-choose assets from different mods you must do as Juan said.

Some more info on modding tools:
1. CDPR never released proper modding tools for tw3, so any changes to models have to be done in blender, changes to textures with GIMP or Photoshop etc
2. They *did* give us the means to export and reimport assets: the ModKit 1.3 (on nexus) contains the wcc_lite.exe that has some basic functionalities
3. WolvenKit is *the* community made mod editor for tw3, it is both a GUI for wcc_lite (like the other programs e.g. quick modding tool, modKitchen etc) AND a mod Organizer (you can view all your changes in a project, have a renderer for models and textures, string editor etc etc) AND is a low level binary file editor for the TW3 native file formats (you can make changes to quests, animations etc etc)

If you only want to mess around with textures you’d only need the wcc_lite export/import functions. You can do that via command line or with a GUI of your choice of course.

Hope that helps and anyone who knows better correct me if I’m wrong

 

[DontBlnkBadWolf]

Well, I just discovered that the Triss Blue Eyes mod actually has the 2 different bundles & a texture.cache files. I am assuming because, unlike Yennefer, Triss doesn't have her own eye.tga.

Looking in the uncooked base folder, Yennefer has a file named eye_yennefer_d01.tga
Avallach, Ciri (2 different ones), and Geels are the other 3 that have their own eye.tga files. Geralt also has his own eye.tga file.

So that would mean that I would have to create both a tga and a xbm eye for Triss. And I wouldn't know how to create that, unless I copy from another.

 

[rfuzzo]

Xbms are just placeholders (in the blob bundle) for the actual tga texture (which is located in the texture.cache)

On the other hand, meshes are in the blob.bundle and their buffers are in the buffers.bundle.

But, this is as far as my expertise goes, I’m not a texture kinda guy, so someone else will have to take over from here

Ps: I don’t know what Triss blue eyes mod does, but I could imagine something like the following: IF Triss used some common eyes, then perhaps the mod author made a new mesh (in blob) and buffer (in buffer) and linked the mesh to a new texture (in cache), AND then would have to link the new mesh from the Triss.w2ent entity file (in blob). But like I said, textures is not my speciality.

 

[DontBlnkBadWolf]

Ps: I don’t know what Triss blue eyes mod does, but I could imagine something like the following: IF Triss used some common eyes, the perhaps the mod author made a new mesh (in blob) and buffer (in buffer) and linked the mesh to a new texture (in cache), AND then would have to link the new mesh from the Triss.w2ent entity file (in blob). But like I said, textures is not my speciality.

I do know that the reason that this mod was created is because she used a common eye, and another mod that changed her eye color to blue, made others that used the same eye have the same color as Triss.

For the time being, I am trying the Overcoming the Mod Limit (maybe) post from Lim3zer0 as a fix to what I was thinking of doing in my earlier posts. I need to read up and find out if taking an eye.tga from another and make it hers will work. I actually need to read up on how to open blob0 and buffers0.bundles.

 

[rfuzzo]

I need to read up and find out if taking an eye.tga from another and make it hers will work. I actually need to read up on how to open blob0 and buffers0.bundles.

Sorry for being repetitive, but just use WolvenKit. It has the asset browser, with which you can look through *all* the games files without haveing to uncook the game.

It also has a text search and filters, so you can for example export all eye textures in the game...

It also checks all blobs and all buffers too...

 

[DontBlnkBadWolf]

I've tried using it, and without any documentation where to get what from where, because the videos on the WolvenKit Nexus mod page are too short and not too informative, I just look at it and "well, there is this new tool.....now what?" then I shut it down, lol.

Post automatically merged: Aug 12, 2018

WolvenKit running what do I need to do in order to look through all the game files? There isn't an option that I can see to choose. Under each tab: File Project Tools View Help There is nothing to choose where I can look through the game files

Post automatically merged: Aug 12, 2018

I've been awake too long, I need to sleep

 

[rfuzzo]

Wkit has been in development pretty much from the beginning of TW3 modding, it’s one of the older tools and has grown substantially.

To make a mod.
1. Click new mod project and choose a folder to save the mod in.
2. Click add files (asset browser) to look through the game files.
3. You’ll see a list of all the files inside the bundles.

 

[DontBlnkBadWolf]

Wkit has been in development pretty much from the beginning of TW3 modding, it’s one of the older tools and has grown substantially.

To make a mod.
1. Click new mod project and choose a folder to save the mod in.
2. Click add files (asset browser) to look through the game files.
3. You’ll see a list of all the files inside the bundles.

Again, thank you for all your help.

I think there is something wrong with the WolvenKit, here is why I'm saying that:
1. Click File: Click New Mod - Brings up folder structure and is not asking to select a folder to save in, it wants me to Name File and save as Witcher 3 Mod (*.w3modprodj). So, just to make sure that it won't let me select a folder to save in, I go to the location where I created a new folder just for this purpose, I go to the place where I have saved all the DL mod.rar for backups (D:\TW3 Mods). I click on my created folder (MyMod), still wants me to save a (*.w3modproj).

I don't know if it is supposed to be like that.

For 2. Click add files to look through game files. What game files am I looking for? All I see are bundles and metadata in my D:\The Witcher 3\content folder. and I can select those.

3. Anything else I click in File does the following:
1. Asset Browser - Does nothing
2. Add File From Another Mod (which it is looking for a *.w3modprodj, for which I assume that it wants a mod I had saved under this format, of someone else who saved in this format only)
3. Export wants .json
4. Import wants fbx or nvidia cloth

So I have to be doing something wrong again?

 

[rfuzzo]

??? yes, you are doing it wrong. just play around a bit - it's pretty commonsensical tbh

wait wants a folder location for a .w3modproj file (that's where the program stores information) in the same folder there will also be folders with the actual files (.w2ent, .w2mesh etc) and a folder with the actual packed mod you create in the end.

1. Click File: Click New Mod - Brings up folder structure and is not asking to select a folder to save in, it wants me to Name File and save as Witcher 3 Mod (*.w3modprodj).

yeah that's right, just select a folder where you want the mod to be saved in. (I always create a structure like this: If I want a new mod, say, "HiddenE3Mod.w3modproj" I make a new folder called "HiddenE3Mod" and select it. (e.g. D:\modingdir\wkitmods\HiddenE3Mod)

3. Anything else I click in File does nothing

That means you haven't created a new mod probably.