Skinning Tutorial

Testing the Skin

Let's assume you have created your skin, and now want to test it out on a model. You will have to convert the skin into 256 colours, then convert that image into an M8 file. The Dreaded 'Black Speckles' There is one very important thing you have to know in order to have a good looking skin on your player. The first colour entry in the 256-colour palette will always show up as black in the game, regardless of what colour it actually is. If the first colour in the palette is not black, then your player will have annoying black speckles in random places. Most graphics programs allow you to replace a specific colour everywhere in the image at once. I usually edit the palette so that the first colour entry is exceptionally bright, and different enough from all the other colours to really stand out. The examples here show the standard Corvus palette. I then replace the bright pixels with another colour from the palette, which matches the previous colour of the first entry as closely as possible. Once none of the bright colour is showing anywhere in the image, you can be sure there won't be any black speckles where there shouldn't be (since the first colour entry in the palette isn't being used anywhere in your image). Of course, if the first entry in the palette is black anyway, there's no need to change it. Those pixels will still be black when used in the game. Converting to M8 Once this is done, save the image with a new file name. You now have a 256x256 pixel image with only 256 colours. All you have to do is convert it into an M8 file. If you are using QuArK like I do, it is simply a matter of starting the program, opening the 256-colour image, and saving it as an M8 file. QuArK will automatically generate seven other images, each one half the size of the first. These smaller images are used in multiplayer mode. The further away another player is, the smaller the skin used on that player's model will be (to save processing time). Testing the Skin You now have one of at least two skins you will need for your Corvus model. Place the M8 file in your Heretic II/base/players/male directory, then start Heretic II. Choose the 'multiplayer' option, then 'start server'. Choose a map at the top (with the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard), then move down to 'start the slaughter' using the down arrow key. This will start a map in multiplayer mode (with no monsters). When the map has loaded, hit the ~ key (to the left of the 1, above the TAB) and type the following skin skinname where 'skinname' is the file name of your skin. If all goes well, you will now see you own custom skin on the player. If you don't see your own skin, you may have to execute the following command set allowillegalskins 1 If you still don't see your own skin, check the file name, and check to see if it is in the Heretic II/base/players/male directory. You will need to have a version of Heretic II greater than Version 1.0 to use custom skins in single-player mode. If your custom skin appears on the model, hit the F10 key to freeze the camera, then rotate your model about and bring it closer to see where the skin needs to be tweaked to make it wrap more smoothly. When you've noted all the changes you want to make, hit the F9 key to return the camera to normal. Another way to view the skin is to hold down the TAB key and rotate the view using the mouse. Go back and modify your skin as required. You'll probably have to do this several times until you're happy with it.