Okay, so I had a dds file going (never worked with this file format before today, so bear with me), and it seemed fine, but then I put it into TSR workshop, and all it showed was the image that I was trying to replace.

Is this wrong somehow? I saved it as an RGB... then I tried ARGB and none worked, and one crashed photoshop every time I tried to save as it. (other than the fact that this one is a PNG.)


Out of these, what DO I save as?


All this talk of RGB masks in tutorials and all that's got me slightly confused. I've never really had to deal with the sort of color that the image needs me to use before... and do I need more than one "mask?" if I only really want an alpha layer?

Just for the record... I'm working with Photoshop Elements because my old computer that had the real deal on it pretty much figuratively imploded... so... yeah... and that old computer that I got made for me actually came with photoshop installed on it, so it's not like I can install it again.

...is that going to be a problem for me?

P.S.
I haven't modded anything since Sims 2... and that was in 2008-2009 when I stopped. Pretty sure it was 2008.

I am very rusty at the whole modding process... and Sims 3 is more complicated than Sims 2.

...I'm a painter, not a programmer!
/shamelessly partial quoting characters from TV shows that will remain un-named, lest I sound like a total dork.

*rambles*

Only 2 formats are used by the game:
DXT1noalpha and DXT5interpolatedalpha.(check the basegametexture for the correct format)
There are very good tutorials arround that explain it all:
http://www.sims2wiki.info/Sims_3:Basic_Mask_Editing

Edit,
Oops, not 100% correct...
Tattoos use 32bit 8R8G8B8 mipmaps 1/1C with and without alpha if im correct

I'd actually just come from that tutorial, and this one:
http://www.thesimsresource.com/reso...xturing/id/237/

...when I posted this thread. I seemingly did everything right. Except save as a 32 bit.

I'm going to try that.

Edit: ...aaaaaand still not working.

Here's my tutorial on making AmbTattoos: http://www.leefish.nl/mybb/wiki.php...ambtattoos.html

I use Tattooinator rather than TSRW, but the creation process is the same.

I seriously did all of that. It's still not working. It refuses to upload to TSRW. I know it shouldn't have a preview, but the image that's supposed to change just well... doesn't.

Edit: I think I found the problem...
I had No Mip Maps checked because another tutorial said to uncheck it.

It seems to be working now... in TSR Workshop, anyway...

* waits for random problem to arise *

I'm not really understanding what's wrong. Is TSRW crashing? Or can you not recolor the tattoo?

If you have a tattoo with only one recolor, then you have to place the image on the RED channel only. Leaving the Green, Blue and Alpha channel blank.

The problem was that nothing would change on TSRW at all. I would upload it, and literally nothing would happen. At all. It wouldn't even crash, it would just do absolutely nothing like I never uploaded anything to begin with... which was bizarre.


Edit:
Sigh... In game it's a black box. Not bad for a noob, I guess. At least it made it in the game..... DX

I don't get this channels thing. It's clearly not like Sims 2 alpha... which is what I'm used to.

Double edit:
I seriously need to read up on channels. When I figure them out, I should be good to go. Obviously this project was stupid to start with such limited knowledge of color modes, and channels.

I need to get my brain out of the painter gutter, and get it into the computer gutter where it needs to be right now... I might be back if I fail...

Yes, I think you need to start over and follow the tutorials closely. Tattoos...well RGB masks in general are very tricky at first but will become a breeze once you get the hang of it!

I don't think that the tutorials have quite enough info on RGB. My main problem is accessing the channels in the first place. I'm basically going to have to look at photoshop tutorials on the matter until I can make sense of individually editing the channels.

Edit: Found the real problem...

Photoshop Elements doesn't even HAVE a channels palette...
That's why it's confusing.

Sigh... This whole project is going to have to wait, then...

If your tattoo is solid black you probably either don't have an alpha or it's all white. (Value is 255 - this may show as black in Photoshop.) I once tried Elements and yeah, it has no capability for channels. You'd be better off using GIMP.

I'm currently finishing up an enhancement of Tattooinator that will automatically convert a 3-channel RGB DDS image into a 4-color RGBA image suitable for a tattoo, so that may solve your immediate problem.

I also have a family member that actually owns a web design company. I'm sure he'd lend me the real photoshop. He's the reason I used to have it anyway. I have so many image editing programs that I think getting GIMP would be overkill, so that's probably what I'll do.

That would solve the immediate problem pretty well, too. If I want to do any further modding, it would probably be a wise decision.

It's likely that I'd be too stubborn to end up using Tattooinator. It seems like it's not enough work, and I like a challenge.

You can fake the color channels in Elements by setting up a layer for each channel, setting the blend mode to difference, then drawing on each layer using the appropriate color. You're out of luck on an alpha channel, sadly, thanks to how gutted Elements is compared to even Photoshop 6.

Image attached to better show what I'm saying.

Is there any way to deal with an Alpha at all? The problem is that if there's no alpha or it's got the wrong values, the tattoo will be solid black.

Only if you punch holes in it and save as a PNG, but I don't know if the various tools will accept it like that. I don't advise trying to save as a TGA, because you'll end up with a white outline around the transparent region. I was able to use the method I described for 3 color patterns, but for 4 color patterns I had to enlist the aid of GIMP.
(Fortunately, this is only when I'm messing with this stuff during lunch at work, where I only have Elements. I have 6 here at home, I'm not kidding when I say Elements is worthless compared to it. >_<)

If there's some simple utility out there that can combine an image with another one representing the alpha channel, that would be a decent workaround for people who can't/don't want to use GIMP.

Suppose it would have been better to include this info in my first post, huh?

LOL - thanks for the explanation! I've been toying with getting Elements because I'd like to have a graphics editor besides GIMP that can handle DDS and don't want to spend a fortune, but I can't say I really liked the trial version even without the limitation of no RGBA channel editing. The program I really like is PhotoImpact but that's pretty obsolete now and has no DDS plugin that I'm aware of.

The new version of Tattooinator I'm working on will take a four-color DDS image and transfer the black (or white) areas to the alpha, so that may be useful for people using Elements.