SOLVED Having trouble getting a custom skin to load.

[twrig144]

Trying to make a custom skin for this TA2 mod: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2967326533

I went and got the template from their website: https://www.stormgangsimulation.com/trans-am-ta2,

I followed these instructions: https://docs.studio-397.com/users-guide/how-to-paint-a-car-with-the-new-material-system

And also this one:

I also exported the unchanged region map from the template, as this is my first skin. I ended up with the following files:
alt_ALX.dds, and alt_ALX_region.dds.

I create a new skin folder for the TA2, then a new car, then I close rFactor.

I drop the alt_ALX.dds and alt_ALX_region.dds into to the skin folder for the new car, then restart rFactor.

I navigate to the new car, showroom, then toggle skin. It shows ALT_ALX as the selected skin, but shows the default skin for that car - no change at all.

Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

I've tried placing my files directly into the new skin folder, with the default ones, per instructions.
I've tried making new skin folders for the different vehicles that come with the mod, and dropping the skins into both the new skin folder for that car, as well as the skin folder for a new car.
I've tried directly overwriting the .dds files in the skin folder for the default and a new car.

I've tried reloading, restarting and rebooting in just about any combination you can imagine.

I've attached the files that are generated in rFactor when I create a new skin folder / new car in the alt.zip file, and my files in the alt_ALX.zip file.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated!

 

[Coutie]

Trying to make a custom skin for this TA2 mod: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2967326533

I went and got the template from their website: https://www.stormgangsimulation.com/trans-am-ta2,

I followed these instructions: https://docs.studio-397.com/users-guide/how-to-paint-a-car-with-the-new-material-system

And also this one:

I also exported the unchanged region map from the template, as this is my first skin. I ended up with the following files:
alt_ALX.dds, and alt_ALX_region.dds.

I create a new skin folder for the TA2, then a new car, then I close rFactor.

I drop the alt_ALX.dds and alt_ALX_region.dds into to the skin folder for the new car, then restart rFactor.

I navigate to the new car, showroom, then toggle skin. It shows ALT_ALX as the selected skin, but shows the default skin for that car - no change at all.

Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

I've tried placing my files directly into the new skin folder, with the default ones, per instructions.
I've tried making new skin folders for the different vehicles that come with the mod, and dropping the skins into both the new skin folder for that car, as well as the skin folder for a new car.
I've tried directly overwriting the .dds files in the skin folder for the default and a new car.

I've tried reloading, restarting and rebooting in just about any combination you can imagine.

I've attached the files that are generated in rFactor when I create a new skin folder / new car in the alt.zip file, and my files in the alt_ALX.zip file.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated!

One, your region file has the wrong name, it has two underscores, two, I'm not able to even open your livery, photoshop gives an error, so the game is probably having an issue opening it as well.

 

[twrig144]

One, your region file has the wrong name, it has two underscores, two, I'm not able to even open your livery, photoshop gives an error, so the game is probably having an issue opening it as well.

Yep I've fat fingered two underscores into the region - but I've renamed those files many times yesterday trying to get it to work - so I don't think that's really the problem.

As for not being able to open it, I made these .dds files with GIMP, the s397 instructions indicate that using gimp is fine - I'm not quite sure what issue that would cause, but I'm going to go over the last couple steps before export again today and see if I can find the problem.

 

[twrig144]

I figured it out!
- I made the .dds files in GIMP, and I am able to reopen them in GIMP, so it doesn't appear to be corrupted, just an Adobe thing maybe?
- I redownloaded the template, added one thing to it and re-exported, this time paying more attention to the export format (DTX5 for skin, DXT1 for my region map, generate mipmaps enabled for both), and it worked!

I did some more comparing and it seems that somehow I deleted the original alpha layer from my first attempt, and in my frustration there's a good chance I didn't set the export settings correctly either.

Thanks for the assistance!