Transcript

Hello and welcome to lesson 3.2 GCFScape: Locating and Extracting Texture Files of How to Create Texture Mods presented by MLPTF2Mods.com. In order to create a texture modification, we are going to need a texture to modify first. For the purposes of this section, we are going to be modifying the Conniver's Kunai. The first step in this process will be extracting the original texture file from the game’s files. If you recall, our game files can be found in our tf folder. Once we’ve made our way there, we wish to open up the directory VPK file relating to textures using GCFScape. That file being tf2_textures_dir.

Now inside, we have the daunting task of locating the texture file we need. Instead of leading us directly to the file needed, I’m going to work through the logic of locating the Conniver’s Kunai texture without the need of prior knowledge. This way, when you are looking for textures on your own, you will have an idea of where to look for the files you desire.

The first important bit is that the folders have names relevant to what is inside them. For example, backpack contains textures relating to the backpack icons for items in your inventory or the store. pl_hoodoo contains assets specific to the map payload Hoodoo. So when we enter the models folder, we can expect to see content relating to models. From here if we were looking for cosmetic item textures, we would want to visit the player folder. But we are here for weapons, so naturally we want to enter the weapons folder. Simple so far, but get’s a little trickier from here.

If you didn’t know, the stock weapon set and some of the first few additional weapons used a different model system. The majority made use of separate view models from their world counterparts. There were various reasons for this but it wasn’t long before they adopted the use of c_models for new weapons. Over time the original v and w_models have been replaced by newer c_models. So a number of the textures contained within these folders you see here are no longer used. But some of them still are. So before you go modifying a weapon texture, or really any texture, it is always a good idea to make sure the file you’ve grabbed is still used by the game. Fortunately for us, the Kunai was released later in the game’s life, so we should be able to find the texture in the c_items folder.

Finally at our destination directory, we now just need to determine the filename of the Conniver's Kunai texture. Initially you might be inclined to assume the file is named along the lines of c_connivers_kunai or c_kunai. Though a quick check over the c’s and the k’s will prove fruitless. You will quickly learn textures don’t always have the names you expect them to.

For those that don’t use their in game name, they generally have names that relate to their item. Take c_leechgun for example. This is the Blutsauger which happens to leech life. Some derive their names from the set they came from. c_pro_rifle and c_pro_smg are for the Hitman’s Heatmaker and the Cleaner’s Carbine respectively. Both of which are part of The Urban Professional itemset. Then there are items part of cross promotions with other games. For example, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and the Diamondback. Or perhaps Total War: SHOGUN 2, which if you recall, included the Conniver’s Kunai as a promotional item. Now if we go looking for textures starting with c_shogun, we will happily find the Kunai’s texture embedded between the other items from the SHOGUN 2 promotion.

Briefly open it to check and see that the texture looks like it vaguely belongs to the Conniver’s Kunai. Once satisfied, extract the file from the VPK for working with later. That just about wraps up this lesson on locating and extracting texture files from GCFScape. Before moving on, there are a few other talking points worth going over.

Firstly, this would be a case where you could have made use of the search tool. If at any point we entered kunai into the search box, we would have had four results returned to us. The two other texture files are for the backpack icons and the folder is what holds those two backpack icon. However, search won’t always be that reliable due to the file naming schemes.

Another technique involves downloading a mod which already replaces the item you are looking to modify. For example, you could have downloaded Rarity’s Bodkin v1 and looked into its VPK for what files they had to use. Once you identify the files the mod used, it should be a breeze to follow the same path in your own game files to retrieve the original texture.

Finally, not all weapons are located in the weapons folder and not all cosmetic items are located in the player folder. Some items such as the Gunslinger for the Engineer can be found with the other player textures relating to the Engineer since it happen to replace his hand. You will find items like this that fall outside the regular rules for file placement. But furthering that point, weapons and cosmetic items that are submitted through the workshop now have their own separate directory in the models folder appropriately titled workshop. So community made weapons like the Quickiebomb Launcher and the Back Scatter would be found here. And of course community made cosmetic items can be found in the workshop’s player folder.

So, extracting textures files are pretty easy. It’s the process of locating them that is difficult and sometimes unpredictable. Fortunately we’ve got our Conniver’s Kunai VTF file and are ready to open it in VTFEdit. More on that in the next lesson.