User:Omens/faq

Guild wars modding with Texmod F.A.Q ver1.0 by Omens

This FAQ was written for http://www.guildwarsguru.com and for my userpage on http://wiki.guildwars.com.

Running Texmod Q: This is a third party program, by using it can I lose my account? A: Although it is a third party program, Gaile has said; We cannot condone the use of such programs, and we cannot support the accounts of those who may be negatively impacted in using such programs. That's called the If it eats your hard drive and blows up your refrigerator, don't call us policy. Honestly, though, as previously stated, it is unlikely that we would actively pursue or action those who use such programs in a positive manner, that is, those whose only interest is creating benign mods of our games. What I want to say above all about this matter is that if you're going to mod, have fun, but do stick with the benign and positive uses of the programs and create mods that impact the game only in ways that are fun and harmless. In short no you wont lose your account if you use Texmod just to make or use mods.

Q: Is Texmod safe to run, my virus scanner didn't trust it? A: As long as you download it via the http://www.tombraiderhub.com/tr7/modding/texmod/download/texmod.zip site (its home) its safe, do not download it from any other site, if you do it might contain key loggers or other malicious software inside. If you did download it from the above site, don't worry, in some virus scanners it can trigger a false positive and be mistaken for containing a virus.

Q: Will this screw my GW up? A: No This doesn't edit anything at all in the GW folder so it CANNOT screw your GW up at all

Q: I downloaded it, so how do I run it? A: look at this page on the official wiki first http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guide_to_modifying_in-game_graphics

Q: Texmod wont even run. A: You have to have DirectX9, it will not work with previous versions, even though you can run GW on directX8.

Q: If I use a mod is it permanent? A: No. If you want to us a mod you HAVE to run it through Texmod, if you don't the mod will NOT take effect and GW will be normal. If you want to turn a mod off, simply remove it from the list in package mode.

Q: Can other people see what my mods do? A: No its just you and any one else who has the exact same mod running as you are. Everyone else sees the normal version.

Q: Does it matter where I save the mods or Texmod to? A: It makes no difference to where you save the mods to, you just have to remember where you put it so you can activate it in texmod. I do recomend that you put them in the same place as you put texmod for ease of finding them. NOTE you DONT have to put them in your guildwars folder if you don't want to.

Q: I added/removed a mod in package mode and there is no change. A: You have to quit and restart GW through Texmod if you add a mod, change a mod you have loaded or removed one.

Q: Where can I find more mods? A: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guide_to_modifying_in-game_graphics/Player_made_modifications is a good listing of mods people have made and released.

Q: A mod changes the skin of something isnt working, but other mods are. A: Many armor/weapon reskins need the item to be a specific color in order to take effect. Try to read any documentaion avaliable for that mod and find what colours the mod was made for and dye them that colour.

Making mods with Texmod Q: I'm pushing the +/- keys in logging mode to find a texture and nothing is happening? A: On a normal keyboard you have to use the +/- keys on the NUMPAD not beside the row of numbers. If your using a laptop, you will most likely have a function key (Fn) and some of the other keys will have the numpad keys written on them in smaller text below the normal function, often in blue. To use this you hold the Function key and press the required key. For +/- its commonly ; for - and / for +.

Q: What format should I choose for the output? A: .dds is recommended, as it will result in a smallish file size, and it results in less work for your video card when used in a mod and also supports the alpha channel. If you use the gimp you can download a plug in from here (http://registry.gimp.org/plugin?id=4816) and if your using photoshop from here (http://developer.nvidia.com/object/photoshop_dds_plugins.html). However .tga and .bmp will also work.

Q: The thing I just edited looks all shiny. A: You are probably saving your edited texture in a format that doesn't support an Alpha channel (look here for info on what this is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_transparency). The formats that do support Alpha, and Texmod supports are .tga, .bmp and .dds. Of these .dds is recommended as it is the format that video cards actually use internally. When saving your file as a .dds it is recommended you save it as the dxt5 .dds format, as it has a low file size and supports the alpha channel.

Q: I'm trying to make something transparent, but its not working. A: Not every texture in GW actually supports transparency unfortunately, most armours and weapons don't, but everything related to the UI does. If the texture supports transparency, you make something transparent by changing the colour of the alpha channel, NOT make texture transparent. The alpha channel is in gray scale. When it is for transparency white is solid colour, black is transparent and the differing shades of grey control transparency. This is something that can involve a bit of trial and error, as GW uses the alpha channel for different things, sometimes its transparency, sometimes its for reflections (the reason armour looks shiny if you remove the alpha channel), so there is no hard and fast rule for this.

Q: Can I make an image bigger? It looks smaller than in game. A: This image actually gets scaled in game to be the correct size. You can actually make it bigger, but it will get scaled smaller, but this will mean you can increase the detail.

Q: Can I make new armour models? A: No. This program is limited to changing the textures of existing models. Think of it like this, you can make a yellow apple or a red banana, but you cant make apples have the banana shape.