Custom Texture Problem (FC)

[dwnewby]

Hello, I have just started modding textures for DoW SS and have had a good amount of success. I am fairly good at getting textures to appear in game, and have a space wolves texture in the campaign replacing the blood ravens. Im not so good with the "ART" part, but i can get other peoples textures in game, and do small editing jobs. I will most likely tackle a complete re-skin soon.
The only problem I have is the Force Commander. I can not for the life of me figure out why he has gaps in his head... I have used the default Force Commander textures, the only thing i've changed is the Banner he carries. Any time i use anyones Force Commander Textures, he has the same gaps in his head.
I am using Gimp, DoW Texture Tool and SGAexporter. It seems like whenever i use the texture tool, no matter what texture i use, it creates these gaps in the game model. It is entirely possible that i am just missing something obvious... Ive been tinkering with this for a couple days now and patrolling your forums, but cant find a solution... Oh, also i am using this for a guide: http://wiki.relicrank.com/index.php?tit ... aign_Skins

Screenshot

Texture Section

Any help is much appreciated.
(extra info)
The FC texture files i am using are listed below. I havent quite figured out what some of them are used for, or even if some of them are used in the game... Some have different faces, so I dont think they are even working. My next goal after i get this fixed is to put my son's face on him. He would get a kick out of that. He's 4. Sorry for the long post, but i figured more details mean better troubleshooting.
force_commander
force_commander_tgd_unit
force_commander_tgd_unit2
force_commander_tgd_war_gear
force_commander_tgd_war_gear2
force_commander_unit
force_commander_unit_war_gear
force_commander_war_gear_01

[IBBoard]

Changing the banner shouldn't affect the head at all. It looks like alpha transparency problems, but that would only occur with the single texture that has too much alpha channel on it. If it is occurring with all textures then that means one of two things: 1) you are changing the WTPs or RTXs and the problem is in the RSH or 2) the problem is in the model and something you've changed there.

It's not something I've generally seen, though. Normally if there's a transparent area because of alpha transparency then it's obvious that one area was taken a bit too far. Transparency near the back of the head is just odd.

[dwnewby]

Hmm... I dont know much about alpha transparencies, though i did find the settings to change those in Gimp but havent messed with it. I need photoshop... much more familiar with it, but it costs a fortune.
I have no idea how it happened. I havent touched any model files. I dont even have the foggiest idea how to modify models.
I started over from scratch again following the guide with only the original files and it still happens. I think i will try again without copying the ones from DXP2DATA-SharedTextures-Full.sga and just use the W40K file instead. See where that takes me. Then i can at least narrow it down to what file is causing the problems.
Thank you for the help. I'll keep plugging way and let you know if i get it right. Its just odd that of all the files, only the force commander is affected, and only in that one spot.
Thanks again. I wish a stumbled upon your site a long time ago.

*edit*
Ok, so it seems like the problem is when i use the texture tool to apply TeamColor settings. Before i use it, if i extract the WPT, the textures look correct. after i hit the "compile tga" button, it appears all the files in the wpt are compressed into one TGA. I am still unsure why this would kill my head textures though.
It seems i can make my custom texture work in the game just fine in skirmish maps. It uses the custom hair no problems. However when using the teamcolor settings, it runs into problems in the campaign. This texture editing is complicated stuff...

*edit 2*
I did it! finally! After hours and hours and hours of messing with it, i got it to work. I had to completely remove the alpha channels from the skin. I'm sure there is a way to make it work without doing this, but i cant figure it out. Who knows, Gimp may not be able to do it. But for now, i am happy with the results. The problem was with the (force_commander_tgd_unit2_default) file. You were right, it was the alpha channels messing it up, not the model. Now i just have to figure out how to fix them without removing them... Anyhow, I'm happy i at least got this far. Here is the finished product, and in the actual campaign!

[IBBoard]

Sounds like there might be a bug in TGA compilation in the Texture Tool. I'll give you a PM with an email address in. If you could send the WTP and the broken TGA to me I'll check it out, or I might try it myself with the file you mentioned to see if it recreates it.

[dwnewby]

Well, i am not entirely sure which part in the texture tool breaks the file... It could be at any step since i dont know how to test the file without loading it in the game, and i have to make all of the files before i can test it... It could be at the "compile TGA" step, the "Make RSH" step, or the "Make RTX" step... Regarless, when i extract the file with the SGA exporter then modify it with the texture tool, it creates this glitch unless i remove the Alpha transparencies from the file.
Ill spell out exactly what i do... i think i overcomplicated it.
I am also trying to remove the problems with the textures on the cape when you compile TGA. It compresses the shape under the cape (possibly on the dirt file) over the cape. To counter that, i create one texture with the teamcolor, then one ONLY from the _default from the .wtp file. Then i select and copy only the cape from the _default over the one that i team-colored so that i have all of the textures from the dirt file, without the bleed-over on the cape for the Force Commander. The file with that decides the head of the force commander is "force_commander_tgd_unit2" so i have to remove the alpha transparencies from this file. However, after the team color, you can not create the .dds file because removing the alpha makes it a 24-bit, not 32-bit. Therefore, i have to skip that part by removing the alpha maps from the .dds i already have and copying the textures i want to it using the team color tga (had to download a plugin for Gimp to open .dds files) This means that the model is no longer teamcolorable since it has all of the wtp files compressed onto one tga, but since i want it for the campaign, its doesnt matter. I can re-create the custom model for skirmishes just fine. Its just the campaign model that doesnt like it. Its taken me DAYS to figure all this out. But your tutorials helped me out a great deal figuring out what does what. Thanks a ton for all your help. Right now i am creating a custom skin from about 12 other peoples custom skins.
If you need to know anything else, or need me to clarify any part of this jargon... Reading over it, i realize how hard to follow it is... I dont know how to simplify it anymore though. I spent awhile re-writing this and re-clarifying... I'm sorry if you dont understand what i was trying to say, but i think i got it as cleaned up as i can get it.

[IBBoard]

I'll try to give it a proper read over with the tool in front of me tonight. From the sounds of some of the steps (tinkering with the images) it might be something in there that isn't handling things quite correctly. Hopefully it'll become obvious when I get a chance to look at it.