Skinning Chapter One: Tools and Preparation

Glossary

Model or Mesh - a 3d representation of an object. In this case "model" refers to a 3d representation of a LEGO minifig. These models are seen in game as your player character and as enemies.

Skin - images that are wrapped over a model to give it clothes, a face etc.

Skinning - the process of creating a skin for a model.

Modding or Editing - customising a game in some way. It can be making new models, skins, maps, animations, behaviours etc.

UVmap - the way that a flat texture file is mapped onto the 3D model. It tells the model where the face area is, where the torso area is etc on the skin file so that the correct bits on the skin file end up in the correct place on the model.

.DDS - a fairly new type of graphic file format "Direct Draw Surface". This is the native graphic format used by LEGO Star Wars The Videogame, so we will need to have an art program that can read or write .DDS files. Free plugins are available fro Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop that allow them to do just that.

Perl Script - a small program written in the language Perl. The two scripts we use can detect and extract .DDS files from the game archive, and reinsert them back in the correct place.

A rchive - a collection of game files wrapped up in one large file. This is similar to a ZIP file in many ways, though the contents are not necessarily compressed. Different companies use different types of archives, many are specific to that company or to a particular game. The archives used in LEGO Star Wars appear to be a proprietary format .hgp for models and .nup for levels.

To get started with LEGO Star Wars skinning, you will need the following;

1. LEGO Star Wars The Videogame for PC

2. Familiarity with copying and pasting and renaming files in Windows

You will need to have a basic appreciation of Windows - making folders, renaming folders and files, copying and pasting files & folders etc. We will be doing a lot of copying, pasting, backing up, and renaming of the game files with our own versions. You'll also need to know how to Unzip zip files and put what's inside them into specific directories.

3. Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro

The Paint Shop Pro X trial is available here. Any other art program that opens and saves .DDS files is also fine. We use these programs to edit the .DDS texture files from the game, overwriting the existing ones with our own versions. This tutorial will explain how to do things using Paint Shop Pro 6, but the same principles will hold true for subsequent releases and for Photoshop.

You will need a reasonable knowledge of using your art / paint program. If you've never before used Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop, you may struggle with skinning. This tutorial doesn't cover how to actually use the draw, paint, copy, recolour, crop (etc) tools in Paint Shop Pro / Photoshop. Obviously the better aquainted you are with the program, the better your results will be, though it is easy enough to get simple, effective reskins with only a basic knowledge. And we wil discuss a few techiques for sourcing images that you can use in your skins, but not in too much detail.

4. DDS plugin for Photoshop / Paint Shop Pro & .DLLs
     (some newer versions of the software may already be able to open .DDS files without the following plugins needed)

Download plugin and .DLLs here (Soon they should also be available in my LEGO Star Wars Toolkit at lucasfiles.com)

Extract dds.8bi and put it in the directory

\Paint Shop Pro 6\PlugIns\Plug-Ins\File Formats\
or
\Adobephotoshop 7.0\plug-ins\file formats\

depending on where you installed your art program and what version you have.

Extract the two .DLL files from DLLs.zip and put both in C:\windows\system\

You should now be able to open this download test .DDS image

When you open it, choose "no" to any question about displaying MIPmaps, and it should look like a larger (256x256pixel) version of this;

5. Perl (programming language)

You are wanting ActivePerl-5.8.7.813-mswin32-x86-148120.msi - found under Windows -> MSI 12.4MB on the left hand side. Download Perl here

When you install it be sure to leave the boxes ticked that ask about installing PATHs and file associations. If you've never used a language such as PERL before I'd suggest just installing everything the way the default options recommend. We use Perl scripts to extract the game's DDS textures, and to reinsert them into the game data files once we've edited them.

6. Perl Scripts

Once you have installed Perl, you will need these two scripts; one that extracts .DDS texture files from the game archive, and another that puts them back in after they've been modified.

Spared Life's DDS Archive Ripper perl script:

a. lswrip.pl - Download lswrip.pl Here (right click, save as) -> save to C:\Perl\bin

And Spared Life's DDS Inserter perl script:

b . lswinsert.pl - Download lswinsert.pl Here (right click, save as) -> save to C:\Perl\bin

7. Lego Star Wars Save Game (optional)

This save game (provided kindly by beeper917 of the From Bricks To Bothans forum) has all the bonus characters unlocked and all levels including the bonus one open. To be able to skin effectively you'll need to have access to all the possible characters in-game. Download Save Game (slot 6) Here (right click, save as) - unzip and drag / paste / extract the whole folder inside to

\Program Files\Giant\Lego Star Wars Game\

WARNING. It will overwrite savegame slot 6.

Your LEGO Star Wars directory should now look something like this (depending how many savegames you have);

The red ring shows how the savegame folder should look when extracted to the \LEGO Star Wars Game\ directory from the ZIP archive.

So, now you're have everything you need to start reskinning characters and objects in the LEGO Star Wars videogame.

>> CLICK HERE FOR CHAPTER TWO: EXTRACTING .DDS TEXTURES <<