Using DDS Files

DDS Car Texture Structure

Setting It All Up

Creating Texture Masks

Full Detail Masks

High, Medium and Low Detail Texture Masks

Creating The Texture

Creating The DDS File

Saving The DDS File

Using Psp Layers

All textures for Rallisport cars are held in the .DDS format and it is these files that you will need to edit to create new skins for your cars. I will try and explain how I edit car skin textures here using Paint Shop Pro (which is version 6 and my program of choice for this (along with Realdraw). Later version can do all I describe and more but may do it in a slightly different way.. but it's all there.. and PSP contains some really good help files so if you get really stuck try them first.), however the methods described can be used just as easily in any other good graphics package. After all it's the method and not the tools that are important here.

This tutorial assumes that you have already un-packed the Rallisport Game Files, if you haven't then please follow the instructions under the menu for "Addon Car Skins".

In order to edit DDS files in Paint Shop Pro you will need to install the .dds plugin. To do this

• First create a folder called "Plugins" in you paint Shop Pro folder.

eg.

• You should then be able to open and edit dds file in PsP by simply using "File > Open" and selecting the dds file you want.  Just a quick note here... Paint Shop Pro will give you this message  when you open a DDS file.

• Simply click yes but please refer to "Saving DDS Files" further down the page when you want to save your edited texture file.

Each car generally (although not all) have a number of textures associated with it. Which ones you need to replace will depend of what level of detail you have both the players and opponents cars set at. The texture file size for each are :

 

			Full Detailed	2048x1024 pixels	(eg. Peugeot206wrc_1012.dds)
			High Detail	2048x1024 pixels	(eg. Peugeot_206_lod1.dds)
			Medium Detail	1024x512 pixels	(eg. Peugeot_206_lod2.dds)
			Low Detail	1024x512 pixels	(eg. peugeot_206_lod3.dds)

So.. if, for instance, you run the game where your (the Players) car's level of detail is set to High then you will need to create the High Detail version of your skin (eg..Peugeot206wrc_1012.dds for the Peugeot 206) and install that. If you set the opponent's car detail to Low you will also need to create and install a Low Detail skin (eg. Peugeot_206_lod3.dds for the Peugeot 206). Alternatively you can create all 4 texture files and be done with it.

Although all the texture skins need to be created slightly differently you don't worry about it as it's only the masks that change and you will only need to make slight changes to each skin which can be done simply. For instance the Full Detail skin is different to the High detail skin. However, for the Medium and Low Detail skins you can basically use the same file as the High Detail skin, but I'll explain this in a bit more detail later.

The dds files used for Car texturing consist of 8 texture areas each one being half the size of the previous one and used by the game engine for different viewing distances. For example the skins below is for the Peugeot 206 :

The texture area sizes (in pixels) are :

• 1024x1024

• 512x512

• 256x256

• 128x128

• 64x64

• 32x32

• 16x16

• 8x8

Finally, DDS files are 24bit colour and so can contain anything upto 16 million colours (more than enough !)

Before you do anything it's probably worth copying the files you're going to edit to a separate folder somewhere else on your hard drive. You can then do all you're editing on these with no fear of wiping out the original file until you're ready.

Once you have copied all the car texture dds files (here I'm using the Peugeot 206) you'll be presented with 4 texture files. The first thing to do is to open up the Full Detail one and select, copy and paste (as a new image) the largest texture size area (1024x1024) as shown below. Save this as FullDetail.bmp (or something similar). Now do exactly the same but with the High Detail texture and save this one as HighDetail.bmp for instance. This way you can open them easily in PSP (or any other graphics package) and work on these without having to overwrite the original dds files (useful for now if it all goes horribly wrong). Like so :

The Full Detail Texture   Save the this texture file (the 1024x1024 one) as a bitmap or jpeg etc.. and you're ready to start creating the templates and a new skin.		The High Detail Texture   Again, save the this texture file (the 1024x1024 one) as a bitmap or jpeg etc.. a

The easiest way to create a new skin is by using a series of masks which can be used both as guides and to apply details etc.. on the final skin design. Each texture area contains a front view, rear view and top view. Believe it or not the above file texture contains all of these with the front in the top left, the rear in the top right and the top view in the bottom two thirds of the area. Unfortunately most Full Level texture files (the above is Peugeot206Wrc_1012 file is for the Full Level texture) do not contain outlines to show where each bit is. Fortunately the High Level texture files do so we can create masks using this if the Full Detail texture doen't give you any clues about the outlines.

For each texture you will need to create a number of masks :

• Outline Texture Mask

• Detail Texture Mask

• Shading Mask

But you don't need all masks for all texture detail levels. Clear as mud I know.. but things will be explained.. trust me.

Before I do this.. let me say a little about what graphics packages I use.

• For the basic masks (the Outline and Detail) I tend to use Paint Shop Pro as I find this is cheap (with earlier versions available for free on magazines)

• For the shading mask and the texture itself I use RealDraw Pro (www.mediachance.com) as this allows you to create nice vector shapes using points and arcs and has some rather nice fading effects. If you don't have this then you can create all these masks just as easily using circles, rectangles, elipses in Paint Shop Pro and I'll only describe the process in PSP for you anyway.

First let's create the masks for the Full Detail Texture File (here I'm using the Peugeot206Wrc_1012 texture) as this requires the least number of masks. In fact you could create the texture without a mask but I prefer to use at least the outline mask so at least I know where I am when I'm designing the texture.

Ok.. Firstly if the original Texture File was like the one I'm using (ie. without and outline of where the various texture bits are) then I  suggest you use the High Detail Texture file to create the outline mask. If you're Full Detail Texture file does contain the outline for the textures then I suggest you use this as they ca be slightly different to the Full Detail Texture file layout. Let me show you what I mean :

Here the Full Texture (Peugeot206Wrc_1012) doesn't contain the outlines

So I'll use the High Detail Texture (Peugeot_206_lod1) because it does.

So let's get started on the outline...

• First create a new file in PsP (Paint Shop Pro) that's 1024x1024 pixels in size.

• Take a copy of the original 1024x1024 texture size area (the "Full Detail" bitmap you saved earlier) you want to edit and paste this into the background layer (it will be the only layer available at this point).

• Then add a new Raster Layer in PsP (if you don't know how to use layers see the help in PsP.. I also give a brief description here) and name it "Full Outline Mask" (or any other name so long as you know which one it is.)

• On this new "mask" layer create a solid shape that marks out the edges of the cars texture. You can do this in one of two ways

  • By using rectangles, circles, ellipses etc.. or whatever you find easiest to create the outline of the texture as shown below ( the outline shape is shown black here). You will also need to add black areas for the windows.

  •  Alternatively you could paste the original file into this new layer and use the lasso tool to cut (remove) the original texture areas to leave the outline and then fill this in black. Again you also need to leave the window areas.

Either way you should end up with something like this :

	Here I have created the mask layer using black around the car shape and black for the windscreen areas. The original texture is on the background layer and is simply showing through the transparent areas of the layer (which is what you want)		This is the final mask with the background layer hidden (it now shows as white here).

I would like to point out at this stage that the Full Detail Texture does NOT require any details to be added (eg. Door Handles, Lights etc..), so you can ignore these (remove them) and concentrate on the basic outline. All the details are all added by the game from separate files during play. (You can find these in the same directory as the car textures) so this makes creating texture and masks for the Full Detail level really easy as all you are after is something to give you some idea of where everything is on the texture.

And that's it for the Full Details Masks, save your file as a .psp file to preserve the layer data and you're finished with this one for now.

Now that we've created the Full Detail texture mask we need to create the High, Medium and Low ones. Fortunately all these texture files (Peugeot206_lod1.dds, Peugeot206_lod2.dds and Peugeot206_lod3.dds for the Peugeot 206 for instance) are basically the same which means you can simply create one set of masks, create the car skin and resize your finished skin to create all three detail versions. I don't start a new psp mask file but simply hide the "Full Outline Mask" and carry on by creating separate layers in the file for the LOD Outline and Shading masks.

Unfortunately we need more than one mask to create the LOD skins, we need the following masks :

Ok.. let's create the Outline Detail Mask first.

• Copy and paste the original 1024x1024 texture size area, from the High Detail Texture dds file and paste it on the background layer (over the High Detail texture you put there previously when creating the "Full Outline Mask".

• Then add a new Raster Layer in PsP (if you don't know how to use layers see the help in PsP.. I also give a brief description here) and name it "High Outline Mask" (or any other name so long as you know which one it is.)

• On this new "mask" layer create a solid shape that marks out the edges of the cars texture. Again you can do this in one of two ways

  • By using rectangles, circles, ellipses etc.. or whatever you find easiest to create the outline of the texture as shown below ( the outline shape is shown black here). You will also need to add black areas for the windows again. 

  •  This time the easiest way is to copy and paste the original bitmap texture you saved file into this new layer and use the lasso tool to cut (remove) the original texture areas leaving the outline, window areas and lights etc.

Either way you should end up with something like this :

As before I have created the mask layer using black around the car shape leaving the windscreen, lights etc all in place. The original texture is on the background layer and is simply showing through the transparent areas of the layer (which is what you want)		his is the final mask with the background layer hidden (it now shows as white here).

There are two things to note at this point :

• Firstly you need to leave all details such as all lights, windscreens and wipers etc and all bodywork vents or grills.

• Secondly, if you intend to make a shading mask then you can also remove the door handles if you want to create your own. In truth all details could be removed and replaced with your own designs but if you do this you will also need to replace all the individual parts for the Full Texture file (parts are found in separate dds files in the texture/car directory where the skin textures are) or else the car will appear slightly different depending on which detail levels you have the in-game car graphics set to. This may not bother you though as these differences will not be seen in the game as such (ie. Cars drawn at different distances use the same texture file (ie. High Level or Full Level etc..) and use the different sizes of texture within that file for different view distances. There is no way the game will start using the Full Detail texture file and then jump to a different level halfway through (unless of course you manually change the graphics level)). So it's up to you whether you want to replace them (ie remove them from the mask) or use them in your new skin as they are (leave them in).

So that's it for this one... now onto the Shading Mask.

The Shading Mask is used to add highlights and shadows to the car skin as when the game is played at anything below the Players or Opponents Car Detail Level of Full then these are not rendered by the game engine. If you've managed to create the previous two masks this one is fairly simple to create.

Start by adding yet another layer to your psp mask file, I'll call it "Shadow Mask"

Next you simply create the shapes in white and black for the bodywork highlights and shadows respectively. If you look at the original texture file (on the background layer) you will see some areas are lighter and some darker. These are very subtle in places and it's up to you as to which ones you create. I generally only add the ones that are obvious and leave out the ones that are really difficult to spot.

You should now have something like this.

Now you maybe (or may not of course) be wondering how I created the gradient shades. Well let me start be saying that you don't need these if you can't be bothered as simple areas of white and black will do. However if you do want do gradients then you'll need to use the transparency in the fill brush :

• First you need to create the highlight (or shadow) shape first in the shadow layer, but I don't do this using shapes, I use a combination of the Lasso Tool (for freehand drawing) and the Selection Tool (for shaped drawing). The selection tool can be set to different shapes (default is rectangle) by setting it in the tool window. If you can't see the tool window go to the "View - Toolbars" Menu and click the checkbox next to the "Tool Options Window" to display it. Now when you select the Selection Tool the option settings are now available in the "Tool Options Window". You can see from the screenshot below that you simply select the shape you want from the dropdown list.

 The Selection Tool...

 

Here you can select the type (or shape) the selection tool will use.    As an extra tip you can make multiple selections (switching between both the Lasso and Selection Tool or different shapes of the Selection Tool without loosing your already "Selected" area by pressing the shift key as you draw your selections. The "shift" key effectively tells Paint Shop Pro to add the selection your drawing to the one already highlighted. If two areas are selected like this and they overlap then the new "Selection" area will become one big area (ie. the two areas are added together). If the two areas are not joined in any way (ie. separate) then the two areas will remain separate but both will be selected. I suggest you play for a while and get the hang of it.

Below is a sequence of images to give you the general idea.

 

Here I have selected an area using the "Selection Tool" set to it's default rectangle.	Next I selected the Lasso Tool, pressed "shift" and then drew a fairly irregular shape. When I was happy I released shift. Notice I now have two different areas selected.	Then I connected the two areas with the "Selection Tool" set to Circle. Again I set the tool to circle, pressed shift and then drew my circle. When I was happy I released shift.

Just one final thing on this selection stuff. If you mess up.. remeber you can always undo by pressing "Ctrl" and "Z". (or Edit - Undo from the menu.

Anyway.. enough of this.. back to the shading.

Once you have you shape you then need to setup a gradient fill using the Fill Tool . Again, you will need the "Tool Options" window visible to set this up for gradient fills.

• First you need to set the fill tool to "Gradient Fill". There are a few types and it depends on what you want to achieve. Generally I just use the standard linear gradient.

 

The Fill Tool options are :   Gradient : Here you can select the standard gradient colours (black to white, red to green etc..). These can be changed and usually need to be set to White to White or Black to Black.   Angle : Is the angle of the gradient. Here 0 is means fill from top to bottom vertically. You can also set this via the dial (compass thingy below it)   Repeats : I suggest you experiment with this but you won't find it that useful here.   Edit : We'll use this as it allows us to set up colours and transparency.

Ok.. now you need to setup the transparency etc.. So press the Edit Button on the above options window

 

Your then presented with this. The two areas of interest are   Gradient : Use this to set the colours we want (I'm using green here but you'll need either White - White or Black - Black). To set a colour click o the crayon icon below the coloured bar. Then select the rectangle box (not the square one) to the right of custom. This will display the standard windows colour palette, select your colour and click OK. The colour for this crayon should now be set. Do the same with the other crayon and that's the colour set. You can also slide these crayons to set the transition area (if you have two different colours) or even add a third colour if you want. Just look at the help file.   Transparency : This sets our transparency. Click the crayon on the right and set it's Opacity to 0% to make this end transparent. Again you can slide the crayons to set the transition area of solid to colour as required.

With this all done, click Ok and go back to your shadow mask and click inside the selected area and it will produce a nice fill for you.

Like this..

 So by now you should have a psp file containing 4 layers :

And that's it.. you're ready to create the skin of you dreams..

OK.. You can now wipe the background layer (select it and cut it.. or simply set the Fill Tool to "Solid Colour", select White as the colour, set the tolerance to 200% and it will fill the background layer white). Now you are ready to create your texture. However, I usually create my texture on a new layer (making sure the texture layer is below the mask layers) and retaining the texture file on the background layer as a guide or reference.  By using layers it means you can do whatever you like on one layer and it won't affect any of the others. Remember you should create textures for the top, front and rear so that the edges of the textures match to provide a seamless transition between textures on the car.

Like I said before, you don't need to add any details such as lights, door handles, panel joins (like door outlines) or highlights, air intakes etc.. etc... to your texture layer because all these are now on your Mask layers and will be "switched on" when we start to save the skin files. You may also want to create new grills for some cars but like I always say.. it's up to you.

Experimentation is the key. Here is my Peugeot - Team Black Skin..

When you're done you are now ready to create the final dds files.

Once you're happy with the car texture you'll need to create the dds files. The easiest way to do this is to 

• First make sure your psp texture file has been saved.

• Then hide the masks you don't need

• Merge the layers

• Copy the resulting image

• Paste it as a new image in PsP

• Copy it and paste it into the dds file in the appropriate place

• Resize the PsP "merged" texture

• Copy and paste it into the dds

• Continue until all the texture sizes have been done

• Save the dds

• Put into the game and test it !

Full Detail Textures

• In Paint Shop Pro, hide the "High Outline Mask" and the "Shadow" mask layers leaving just the "Full Outline Mask" and your Skin Texture layer visible. If the original "Full Detail" dds has no outlines (ie.. like the example here of the Peugeot206) then you will need to hide the "Full Outline" mask as well.

• Select "Layers > Merge Visible" to merge all the visible texture layers into one.

• Then select the "merged layer" from the layers windows and copy and paste it back into PsP as a new image (Ctrl-C etc.. or "Edit - Paste - As New Image").

• Open the dds file you want to replace (I use the original copied one we created all that time ago at the top of this page)

• Paste the copied skin into the dds file in the appropriate place.

• Go back to the copy of your "merged" texture mage.

• Press "Shift" and S and reszie it by 50%

• Copy it again and paste it into the dds file.

• Repeat this until all texture sizes have been replaced.

• SAVE it now... (Always save frequently it avoids those desperate expletives as it all crashes and you lose everything).

So your DDS file should now look like this : (obviously not quite as you'll be using your own texture)

High, Medium and Low Detail Textures

The process for creating the High, Medium and Low texture files is exactly the same only you will need to hide the "Full Outline" mask and make sure that the "High Outline" mask and the "Shadow" masks are visible. You will also need to adjust the transparency of your "Shadow" layer to get those nice subtle shading and highlights to look right. Then simply :

Merge the visible layers

Copy the "merged" layer

And carry on as for the "Full" detail texture. Remember to use the correct dds file though as the High, Medium and Low all use different texture files. (Enough said about this already).

You now need to save the dds file in Paint Shop Pro.

This is where you need to remember to "Use Existing Mip Maps". PsP will ask you this when in the DDS save dialog :

Click "Save" and save it as the same name as the original dds file (in this case here "Peugeot206Wrc_1012.dds) and you'll be ready to use your new texture in the game.

To do this simply replace the dds file in the appropriate game archive folder (where you got the original dds all that time ago) with your new one. I recommend renaming your original dds file to something else (eg. Peugeot206Wrc_1012.orig) so that you can always go back to this one if you really need to.

I also tend to do all my editing in a totally separate area on my hard drive, that way I can have loads of dds file etc.. and just simply copy the one I want into the game from this area.

Well that's it.. I hope someone has fun with this.

Well that's almost it.. (unless you are only halfway through and came here to get some info on layers). So as promised here is some info on how Paint Shop Pro uses layers and the fun you can have :

Let me start by saying how wonderfully brilliant layers are.. after you've got the hang of them you won't be able to do without them. So what are these layer thingies I hear you cry (or maybe I don't)

What Are Layers

Layers are just that - Layers. Think of a layer as a piece of transparent paper (tracing paper if you like) so you can see through it. Layers are also layered in that one can sit over another. Layers are ordered so that any layer is above any layers below it. This means that if you draw on a layer, anything you draw will be opaque and so obscure all layers below it in the area you have drawn. Also anything done on one layer (cutting, drawing or anything else really) will not affect any other layer.

Confused.. well lets start by creating some layers and having a play.

First you will need to create a new file with the menu option "File - New".

Then you will need to make the "Layer Option" window visible (if it isn't) by clicking the checkbox next to "Layer Palette" under the "View - Toolbars" menu. This will then display the Layer Palette.

If you now look at the layer palette for your new image (make sure your image window is selected as the current image) you'll see the following:

Ok..

• The title bar shows you which layer is currently selected (we only have one at the moment and that's the background).

• The panel on the left lists all our layers in the current image. Those at the top of the list are above those at the bottom. Clicking on the layers name will select it as the currently active layer. Clicking the glasses will hide or unhide that layer.

• The panel on the right shows us what type of layer it is and its transparency setting (don't worry about this for the moment).

So let's adda new layer or two...

Adding new layers

If we right click on the "Background" layer we can select "New Raster Layer" to get the dialog window below :

Here we can set the name (default is Layer.. and then the next layer number). You can rename it by entering the new name before clicking OK. For now leave everything as it is and click OK.

We have just added a new layer as we can see by the Layer Palette window.

When we add a new layer if you right click on any of the existing layers in the Layer Palette window, the new layer will be add above the one currently selected (or right clicked on). Here "Layer1" has been added above the "background" layer as we right clicked it to add "layer1".

You can also delete layers by right clicking the layer you want to delete and selecting "Delete".

You will also notice that the new layer "Layer1" is now selected as the current layer (as show in the Layer Palette title bar).

Ok.. enough of this.. let's add some more layers and do some stuff.

Doing Stuff With Layers

Ok.. I've added another two layers (that's three in all + the background layer).

Now if I select Layer 1 and do some drawing, whatever I do will only affect the current layer (layer1 in this instance). Try it and see how you get on. If you now hid layer1 (or whatever layer you drew on) then whatever you did will disappear from view. Un-hiding it obviously brings it back. Be careful with layers as you ca still draw, cut, paste etc.. on a hidden layer (if it is selected as the current layer) even though you can't see it. You have been warned.

The next screenshot shows you how the various layers are "layered". I have add text to all layers (just the layer name) so you can see how layer3 is on top, layer2 below it and layer1 below that.

If we cut any region of the layer out (using the selection tool etc..) then that will return that area to transparent (ie. remove what was there and go back to a transparent area)

Finally.. we can adjust the transparency of any layer by using the slider in right hand panel of the Layer Palette Window, opposite the layer we want to change. Here I've made layer3 semi (50%) transparent. I've show the Layer Palette Window and the effect on my test image.

Cool eh ! You'll need this later when we talk about setting Shadow Masks.

Before I finish this quick bit on layers (and it is short I know) let me just add something about pasting images into layers.

Pasting Into Layers

If we paste an image into a layer then it will obscure anything below it, like this..

That's not quite what we wanted. The way to get around this is to use the "Paste As Transparent Selection" option in which PSP will remove the background for us. Before I go any further there is a slight drawback in the way PSP does this. Firstly it is not possible to make things like trees etc.. disappear from and image without a lot of work (PSP will not just do this) and secondly you will need to play with this to understand how it works.

When you paste a transparent selection you can get PSP to replace a single colour in the image with transparency, you cannot (that's CANNOT) replace more than one colour with transparency. To paste a "Transparent Selection" you need to set the background colour on the "Colour Palette" to the colour you want to be transparent when you paste the image into the layer. Having done this, copy the image and use "Edit - Paste - As Transparent Selection" (or Ctrl - Shift - e).

Here's an example :

 

Here is the image we want to paste.		If we do a straight paste onto layer3 then we simple obscure Layers1 and 2 with the green border. (I want the retain the white glow though).		If we set the Colour Palette background to our bright green and paste "Transparent Selection" PSP will replace all our green colour with transparency meaning we now have the image with the green border removed. (I did have a white glow on purpose in case that's confusing you).

Ok.. that's all I'm going to do at the moment on this. If you need help then I suggest you look at the paint shop pro help file as it will give some great information on layers.

Finally.. this tutorial was done using Paint Shop Pro 6 (cheap and very useful as far as I'm concerned) and although later versions do contain additional functionality for layers you may find that some of the button or layouts will differ in use.. but the basic principles will remain the same so I hope all this helps.

Go back to the tutorial...