How to make custom camos/skins in Modern Warfare 3

[MDH]

This is probably allready known by a majority of the modders by now, but as I can not seem to find a tut for it, I'll post a little one so you know the basics. (don't tell me to use the search engine, it keeps giving me mods for other games :I)

First of all, the tools that you need are all in the attachment, it includes:
-IWIXDDS
-dds2iwi
-IWIFIX
-HxD
-CRCFixer
-Photoshop Plugin for editing

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Short Version
You basically do exactly the same as what you did with mw2, you drag the file to iwixdds, edit it in photoshop, save as DDS (no/inter alpha depending on what you edit) then convert back to *.iwi. Drag the file through HxD along with the original file and replace the first 2 lines + the next and last 4 bits, CRCFixer it and you're done


Long Version

Step 1
Unzip the ''TOOLS'' map somewhere onto your computer, I prefer to put it on my desktop, because I work with it a lot.
Other things you might want to add:
-2 folders, one named ''Original'' and one named ''WIP''

Step 2
Install the Photoshop Plugin (simply follow the *.exe I recall)

Step 3
go to Steam > Steamapps > common > call of duty: modern warfare 3 > main
and open the iw_* file that contains the files you want to edit ( I will post some file locations later, but try figuring them out by yourself first!)
The ones I bothered looking for were the specular files (IW_10) and the sniper crosshairs (iw_04)
Anyways, open the iw_* map and copy the file you want to edit into the ''Original'' and ''WIP'' folder.

Step 4
drag the file you want to edit from the WIP map onto the IWIXDDS file and it will convert the file into a *.DDS (now the WIP map contains an *.iwi and a *.DDS file)
you can delete the *.iwi file, and open the *.DDS file in photoshop.
Extra Info: Files that contain ~ characters will have them replaced by _'s , so after you've converted the file, change the name if necessary.

Step 5
Once you've opened the file, photoshop will ask about some settings, choose ''Load Using Default Sizes" and uncheck the box ''load MIP maps'', then press OK.

Step 6
Edit the file to your liking, all the grayish (weapons) parts you see can be found on the weapon you are editing, so if you make a single piece yellow, only THAT piece will show up as yellow ingame.
Extra Info:The Alpha channel indicates the intensity of the used color, if you want the colors as intense as possible, then color the entire alpha channel white, if you want a piece to be unaffected by that file, color it black.

Step 7
Click on ''Save As'' and select Format: D3D/DDS
Hit overwrite, then select Interpolated Alpha if the file has an alpha channel (you can check for this under the ''channels'' tab, next to ''layers'', if it doesn't have an Alpha channel, select ''No Alpha''.
Select ''Generate MipMaps'' and select All, then hit save.

Step 8
Close Photoshop and go to the WIP Folder, then drag the *.DDS file onto the dds2iwi file.
There will now be a new *.iwi file in the WIP map, and you can delete the *.DDS.

Step 9
Open HxD, then drag the original file and the new file onto HxD (remember which one you do first)
You will see a large array of bits(bytes w/e), go to the original file's array and copy the first two lines of bits/bytes.
Go to the new file's array and copy the 2 lines onto the first 2 lines (so it will replace them, you do not add/remove any extra bits/bytes). Copy the last digit on the 2nd line (00) and paste them in front of the 3rd line four times(so now you will create 4 extra pairs) Then scroll all the way to the bottom and remove the last 4 pairs which will even it out again (they're usually 55 55 55 55 for me) then hit save.

Step 10
Open CRCFixer
paste the locations of the original file and the new file into the requested areas. so for me it would say:
Original: Marco/Desktop/Original
New: Marco/Desktop/WIP
Then hit execute, it should now show all the files that were editable, and the ones that it actually edited.
Don't panic if it gives some error of missing files, it only changes the files if it actually did a fix (a file with the same name in each map was present).
Extra Info:Do not CRCFix a file multiple times, this will mess up the filesize.

Step 11
Check the properties of the original file and the new file and make sure that they are the same (else the files will not work ingame), if they are, then congratulations, you have successfully made a custom skin for Modern Warfare 3


If you need any extra help, or if the tutorial was just unclear for you, then visit:
https://www.mpgh.net/forum/281-call-d...b-matches.html
it haz picshers!

[[MPGH]master131]

Not really needed when we've got the old tut from MW2....

https://www.mpgh.net/forum/281-call-d...b-matches.html