Virtual Skipper

Camster · Last edited by Camster on 08 Aug 2007 22:05; edited 7 times in total

Making a Boat Skin for VSK4

On my website http://www.northspace.co.uk/ I maintain an updated version of this post with some images and downloads to help the explanation. I recommend you look there rather than read all this here without pictures.

1. Get the software. I use Photoshop but Paintshop Pro will work as well. Photoshop and Paintshop Pro need a plug-in (dds.8bi) to enable them to handle .dds image files. You can download this from here Once you have it, place it in the Plug-ins Folder in your programme. In my Photoshop CS2, it goes in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2\Plug-Ins\File Formats

2. Get a Skin Template. Download one from Virtual Winds Website. You will need to register with the site here but it is a good thing to do because there is a big collection of skins, templates & useful information. Once registered, you will find all the boat skin templates by clicking Telechargements/Modeles. Click here to go to them. Navigate down to ‘Templates Acc Psd Virtual Winds’ (We’ll use the Acc boat for this tutorial) and click on the name to download. Take the option to Save it & then unzip it to a new folder which you’ll make, called eg ‘Downloaded Skins’. Make another new folder for your work & name it with the name of your boat.

3. Be Creative with the Hull. Start Photoshop (or whatever), browse to ‘Downloaded Skins’ and open hull.psd from the folder template_acc_vw. Ensure you can see the Layers Window. You will see that the hull has a basic background and the layers are used to vary the appearance of the end product. The colour of the hull (coque) can be easily changed by making ‘coque rouge’ visible and ‘coque bleu’ invisible. For a totally new hull, make a duplicate of the layer ‘coque bleu’ and rename it ‘my hull’ or whatever you like. You can use the magic wand to select the hull shape to change the colour or even paint a great new design on it. To add a name to the hull or a stripe along it, you can do this in a new layer, so it’s easy to remove or alter later. Once you’re happy, save as a new .psd file in your hull name folder and name it hull.psd or anything you like, really. Now use the Layers menu to flatten all the layers and save as a file called hull.dds, selecting DTX5 format, generate mipmaps and 2D Texture, when the dialogue box appears. Close the file.

4. The TeamMate is treated in the same way as the hull. The final file is called TeamMate.dds

5. Now for the Sails. Open sails.psd. (say ‘no’ to any offer to update the text files). You will see that the design and lettering is put on a separate layer. Unless you want to retain them, you can delete these layers and put your own design on new layers. (Just like the hull). To make the sails transparent, you need to work on the Alpha channel, which in Photoshop, is accessed by a tab on the Layers window. Select it & make it visible. You will see that the background is black & the sail outline is light grey. The idea is that the darker the tone, the more transparent the object. The sails are much too light for transparency and can be changed by selecting their shape and using Image/Adjustment/Brightness to make the change. In Photoshop, I use [-80] to get the effect I want. If you have a design or writing that you want to be less transparent (so we can all see your work!) then you go back to the RGB channel & use magic wand to select the shape, go back to the Alpha channel and paint the shape in a very light shade. Once you’re happy, save as a new .psd file in your hull name folder and name it sails.psd or again anything you like. Now use the Layers menu to flatten all the layers and save as a file called sails.dds, selecting DTX5 format, generate mipmaps and 2D Texture, when the dialogue box appears. Close the file.

6. The spinnaker. It’s treated exactly the same as the sails, except the final file is called spi.dds

7. The Icon file comes next. The template does not contain an icon file – which is the file used to identify your boat on the Settings menu in VSK4. Open a new image file 256 x 256 pixels in size. You can make this design anything you like. I generally just write the name of the boat at first and then once I’m finished and the boat is on VSK, I use a screengrab to collect a picture of it and make a new icon using that. Again once you’re happy, save as a new .psd file in your hull name folder and name it icon.psd or whatever. Now use the Layers menu to flatten all the layers (if you’ve made any), and save as a file called icon.dds, selecting DTX5 format, generate mipmaps and 2D Texture, when the dialogue box appears. Close the file.

8. Make the Skin file. Use winzip to create a new Zip file with the name of your boat in the location C:\Programme Files\Virtual Skipper 4\Game Data\Skins\Boats\Acc. Put all the five .dds files you have made (Hull, TeamMare, Sails, Spi, Icon) into the Zip file.

9. Get on the water. Start VSK4 and go to Settings to select your boat. You should see your creation when you play the game. I should mention that if you update your Zip file with any change to a .dds file, you will need to reselect the boat in Settings each time.

Camster · Posted: 04 Mar 2006 12:12 Post subject:

The above explanation is my best shot! If anyone has experience of other software or if some of it isn't clear, please post here & I can easily edit the explanation as & when.

Sourire

Sandy

hbb · mousse Joined: 04 Jul 2006 Posts: 3

hi,
i made a new skin put it on VSK4 and i can see my skin perfectly when racing but the others could not.What can be the prob. acc to your exp.

Camster · Posted: 04 Jul 2006 22:44 Post subject:

If you can see your skin but absolutely no others cannot, then the difficulty probably lies in the upload of your skin to the net. It sometimes takes a long time for your skin to appear, especially if you are in a big fleet with many players calling on your pc to provide the skin. The speed of your connnection affects this too, so sometimes your skin never appears in a race.

Check your game config & make sure you have enabled the upload / download of files as shown here

If the config is correct, then come back with some info about your connection speed & modem/router to see if one of the IT gurus can help. (I'm not one of these!)

Sandy

YopLa · Matelot Joined: 07 Feb 2005 Posts: 99 Location: Paris

hbb · mousse Joined: 04 Jul 2006 Posts: 3

config is ok.
speed 128 / 512 kb dsl modem
also i made the NAT settings but can't host a game

Camster · Posted: 05 Jul 2006 19:42 Post subject:

Camster · Posted: 05 Jul 2006 19:45 Post subject:

If you cant host, and players dont see your skin, then I suspaect that that a port is blocked. But I dont know enough to tell you what to do to fix it. Please tell us what kind of modem you have

Any suggestions out there guys?

andynz · Posted: 05 Jul 2006 20:10 Post subject:

YopLa · Matelot Joined: 07 Feb 2005 Posts: 99 Location: Paris

I said :

Witch Doctor · Capitaine Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 168 Location: USA

In order to host, you have to allow port forwarding in your router. Set port 2350 to permit UDP traffic to the IP of your machine that you will host on.

WD
_________________
We have enough youth. What we need is a fountain of smart!

SkippyMcSlash · Posted: 06 Dec 2006 19:21 Post subject:

Thanks Camster this all worked for me. At first nobody else could see my skins but I added the locater file and that did the trick. From the number of blank white boats I see (not ghosts, solid but white) I would recommend anyone making skins just do the locater file as well.
The only thing I haven't tried is the transparencies.
I can't wait to take my Moth out for a run;

On disabling firewalls, many of us with WindowsXP have purchased other security systems and have disabled the Windows firewall. I have been told that even in a disabled firewall you must open the ports, I know it seemed to have helped for me.
_________________
RMc____
PeaceMaker
http://www.youtube.com/mcslashvideos

Camster · Posted: 06 Dec 2006 21:01 Post subject:

Thanks SkippyMcSlash - That skin and your name alone will win most races. Yes, I agree the locator makes a difference to getting your skin out there. I'm surprised that you have to open the port of a disabled firewall but really I shouldn't be. They will be finding water on Mars next.

andynz · Posted: 06 Dec 2006 21:13 Post subject:

Perhaps the issue is that when you go into Windows Security Centre and "trurn the firewall off" the Windows Firewall service actually continues to run so you have to go into control panel | administrative tools | services... scroll down to "Windows/firewall Internet connections services" and stop the service - and if you don't want it to start next time you run windows set the startup to "disabled".

Cheers

SkippyMcSlash · Posted: 08 Dec 2006 5:25 Post subject:

Camster, following the advice from your website, I tried to create a course, I was able to create and save several, but I can not play them. I get the message "you need 4 spawn points" ???
Is there a level in the solo game that must be reached?
_________________
RMc____
PeaceMaker
http://www.youtube.com/mcslashvideos