Quake 3 Arena Skinlinker

Author: Rick 'Krow' Stirling
Website: http://squadron.telefragged.com/skin101


Description
=============================
This program is designed to create the .skin files that Quake 3 Arena needs to link its skin image files to a model.  For the program to work, you must have a configuration (cfg) file for the model you wish to skin.  These configuration files must be stored in the same directory as the skinlinker program.

This release has the configuration files for the Sarge, Visor, Grunt and Major models suplied with the Q3A demo.  More configuration files will be made available soon.

This program does not create image files!  It is intended for skinners to link the image files to the model.  For help on creating the image files, go to http://squadron.telefragged.com/skin101

Save your image files in the directory of the model you wish to create the skin files for.  You should create the image files for the model, and an image for the icon.  The best way to do this is to to a screenshot of your skin in a model viewer.  The image will always be displayed at 64X64 no matter what size the image is. Black becomes transparent in the icon files.



Usage
================================
Unzip this archive into any directory. I recommend C:\Program Files\q3asl\.  Double click the icon to run the program.  The program looks for a setup file - if this does not exist, the program will run its setup utility.

Setup:
You must supply the baseq3 directory under Quake 3.  Use the drive list box and directory list box to specify the location of this directory.  To do this you MUST have unzipped the baseq3/models/players subdirectories.

The program can create PK3 files, but you must have the Winzip command line interpreter installed for this to work.  This program can be downloaded from http://www.winzip.com.  You can then specify where this program is installed.

The rightmost column allows you to specify your name, email address and web address.  All these fields are optional, but are used in the creation of the readme.txt file for your skin.  I recommand filling them in now, but you can run the setup at any time.

When the setup is complete the main program will run.


Main program:
The program will display a list of the available models in a directory list box.  You need to have unpacked the baseq3/models/players directoried from quake 3 for these to be visible.  I suspect most skinners will have done this 10 minutes after installing the game....  

Click on the model you wish to link the skins too.  When a model has been selected its name will be displayed.  If no model is selected this software will indicate this.  You must type in a name for your skin.  Lets assume the name testskin for the rest of the instructions.  This skin will be for the grunt model.

After selecting the model and giving the program a skin name, click Next to continue.

The program will load the configuration file for the model you selected. The grunt model needs 2 image files, one for the body and one for the head.  The program will indicate that this model requires 2 skins, and will ask for each in turn.  Firstly you will be asked for the body image, so select the TGA or JPG file from the file list, then click OK.  The program will repeat the process for the head image.

Once all the image files have been chosen, the process is almost complete.  The program will now create the .skin files, and will call them upper_testskin, lower_testskin and head_testskin. These will be stored in the correct model directory. The program will ask you to select an image for the icon from a list of images.  This image will be copied to icon_testskin (or whatever you called your skin).


There are three options on the last screen: 
 Create readme.txt
	If you select this option, it will create a text file.  In our example
	it will create readme_testskin.txt

 Create PK3 file
	This will only work if you have installed the Winzip command line
   	interpreter and filled in these details in the setup program.  It 
	will create a PK3 file in the Quake3/baseq3 directory.  It will save
	the directory information.  In our example it will create skin_testskin.PK3.
	This PAK file will contain all the skin image files, the icon file, the .skin
	files and a readme file if one was created.

 Create another skin
	This will simply rerun the program to create another skin file.


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Troubleshooting
1) I'm getting an error saying Path not found.

Have you unzipped the /baseq3/models/players directories?  These MUST be unzipped for the software to work.  If you have unzippped these to your Quake 3 directory, open the files q3asl.cfg.  It should point to the baseq3 directory.  If it does not, delete this file and run the skin linker again.

2) It says I'm missing a file, MSVBVM60.dll - can you send me this file?

No, I can't send it, its too big :)  Seriously though, this is a very common file, and most people should have it on their machine.  Many programs use it, and you can download it from the Microsoft website.  Just run a web search and you should find it in no time.

3) I cant create skins for the Orbb model.

I havnt gotten round to doing all the cfg files yet, if anyone else has done these files, could you send them to me for distribution please?  Intstructions on creating these files can be found on the resources page of Skinning 101. 


==============================================================================
If you have any problems, please report them to rickstirling@gofree.co.uk - these will be dealt with a quickly as possible.

Also, if you have any suggestions, please email those also.


==============================================================================

Thanks to all the beta testers. Enjoy.

Rick Stirling
rickstirling@gofree.co.uk
http://squadron.telefragged.com/skin101

This software is provided on an as-is basis.  The author will accept no responsibility for any damage this software may cause to computer.  As with all software, you should ensure you have a full system backup and virus check the software.







 
 
