Basic Guide for Modders

[Lonesome Cowboy]

After finding out somewhere, I have managed to figure out how to convert the .wtex files hiding inside the .hogg archives to something that can be read by Photoshop. The process is almost identical, I've simply rewritten the process. Credit goes to Liam Paratus from TeamVenture.

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Extraction

First we need to extract the individual texture files from the .hogg containers. Luckily, this step of the process is exactly the same as it was for other Cryptic Studio games. So we'll be using the method that was used for Star Trek Online.

• To start, we'll need this little command line application: bin-rev5.zip(ATTACHED)
• We then need to find the .hogg files we want to extract. If you are using the default installation path for Neverwinter Online, you'll find what you are looking for here: C:\Users\Public\Games\Cryptic Studios\Neverwinter\Live\piggs. For simplicity, we can extract the app directly into this folder. If you don't, you'll find that the app won't play nice with the space between Cryptic and Studios in the path and fail. If you extracted the app somewhere else, you can simply copy the .hogg files to that directory.
• To use the app we need to open a command prompt and navigate to C:\Users\Public\Games\Cryptic Studios\Neverwinter\Live\piggs, then we use this basic syntax:
• Gibbed.Champions.Bacon.exe filename.hogg foldername

 

1. Open up console
2. Type

   cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Cryptic Studios\Neverwinter\Live\piggs

3. Type Gibbed.Champions.Bacon.exe whichfileyouwanttoextract.hogg whatdoyouwantthefolderoutputtobenamed

• I would suggest making a folder of the same name as the .hogg file you are extracting. Create this in the ~\piggs folder to keep everything nice and neat. For example, if I want to extract the texture.hogg file (which contains all the art we've looking for), I would type:

  C:\Users\Public\Games\Cryptic Studios\Neverwinter\Live\piggs>Gibbed.Champions.Bacon.exe texture.hogg texture

• This step will run for a long while showing a whole lot of stuff like this:
  

  22347/22349 => Texture_Library\Environment\1_Exterior_Kits\Race_Class_Quests\Race_Dwarven_Tablet_D.Wtex
  22348/22349 => Texture_Library\Environment\1_Exterior_Kits\Race_Class_Quests\Race_Dwarven_Tablet_S.Wtex
  22349/22349 => Texture_Library\Environment\1_Exterior_Kits\Race_Class_Quests\Race_Dwarven_Tablet_Nx.Wtex

• Once finished, it should just show the command prompt again.

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When converting Star Trek Online files, the method calls to you an application called QuickBMS. This method doesn't quite work here, and I'm not too sure why. The good news however, is that it wasn't too hard to figure out what to edit and how to edit it. Effectively, the .wtex format is simply a container, much like the .hogg format. It only contains one file however, that being a .dds format file. What we need to do now is to remove a small amount of data from the .wtex file and then change it's extension to .dds. We can do this using a piece of software called QuickBMS or a text editor that can read HEX files. I used Sublime Text 2.

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Quick(BMS) Method

• Download and extract QuickBMS(ATTACHED).
• Create a wtex.txt file with the following code inside it:

Get Offset LONG 
Get FileSize ASIZE 
Get FileName FILENAME 

Set Size FileSize 
Math Size -= Offset 
String FileName -= 5 
String FileName += ".DDS" 

Log FileName Offset Size

• In the directory where you extracted QuickBMS, double click on quickbms.exe and when the dialog asks what script you want to use choose 'wtex.txt'
• Next, select all the .wtex files you want to convert.
• Then select the folder you want the converted files to end up in.
• To view these files in Photoshop we need to download and install the NVIDIA Texture Tools for Adobe Photoshop. , I'm using CS6, but these plug-ins will work with any version from 5.0 up, you can also install either the 32bit or 64bit version of this software depending on what system you are using.
• Once you have all the required software installed, simply Open the modified .dds file in Photoshop. You will be greeted with the following dialog:
  [IMG]https://hydra-images.cursecdn.com/neverwinter.gamepedi*****m/5/5d/NvidiaDDS.jpg[/IMG]
• If all the steps have been done correctly you should be able to see what texture you've worked so hard to uncover!

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Manual Method

• Start by opening the .wtex file you want to convert in Sublime Text 2. It's an amazing text editor that I highly recommend, you can get it for free here: Sublime Text - Download
• We need to remove anything that comes before "4444 5320 7c00", which, when convert from HEX to text translate to DDS.

NOTE: This method has only worked with files in the \textures_library\ui\ directory of the texture.hogg container. It may work with other textures, but I haven't tried many other folders.

• Once we've removed the leading HEX code so that "4444 5320 7c00" is at the very beginning of the file, we can use the 'Save As...' command to save this as a .dds file.
  [IMG]https://hydra-images.cursecdn.com/neverwinter.gamepedi*****m/thumb/0/0b/Edited.jpg/800px-Edited.jpg[/IMG]
• To view these files in Photoshop, I'm using CS6, but these plug-ins will work with any version from 5.0 up, we need to download and install the NVIDIA Texture Tools for Adobe Photoshop. You can install either the 32bit or 64bit version of this software depending on what system you are using.
• Once you have all the required software installed, simply Open the modified .dds file in Photoshop. You will be greeted with the following dialog (click to view full size):
  [IMG]https://hydra-images.cursecdn.com/neverwinter.gamepedi*****m/5/5d/NvidiaDDS.jpg[/IMG]
• If all the steps have been done correctly you should be able to see what texture you've worked so hard to uncover!

 

bin-rev5 VT bin-rev5 jotti
quickbms VT quickbms jotti

[Bernard]

Virus scans are still needed.

[Lonesome Cowboy]

Virus scans are still needed.

Added! Thanks for looking at the Attachments Pending area

[Bernard]

Looks good.

#Approved