Looking for some guidance on retexturing..

[MistressX]

Hi everyone,

Recently I have started learning to retexture things in WoW, mostly to suit my personal tastes. I was able to retexture some items fine, aside from a small alpha channel issue that a couple of kind people on these boards helped me figure out.


However, it seems like I have run into the proverbial wall, as the most recent attempts at retexturing have led me to bright, solid green models. This is extremely frustrating seeing as I was able to redo other items fine. So.. I am going to outline my process for retexturing and would appreciate it if someone could point out what I am doing wrong.


I start by using MyWarcraftStudio to open one of the game's MPQ files, such as Common.MPQ. From there I load ITEM\ObjectComponents\WEAPON\Sword_1H_Raid_D_04.blp, as an example. This is the texture for the King's Defender.


I save the texture as a TGA file, open it in Photoshop and modify its colors (so that it no longer appears to be made of candy) I save it as Sword_1H_Raid_D_04.tga, with 32 bits to ensure that the alpha map is preserved. Then, I drag the file onto my BLPcoverter.exe which makes it into a .BLP again. I prefer to work with TGA over PNG as I understand that PNG often has transparency/alpha channel issues. These are what produce the glossy/reflective quality of the modes and so I like to keep these intact.


From there I got back into MyWarcraftStudio, and choose to make a new archive (MPQ). I browse to my file, Sword_1H_Raid_D_04.BLP, and select it. I then enter the ITEM\ObjectComponents\WEAPON\ path, preceeding the file name itself. I double check my trees in the menu to the left to ensure they are correct, save and close the archive, load WoW.


And surprise surprise, huge solid green sword in my hand. Now, as I understand it, I am doing this correctly.. if I am not could someone please offer an explanation? I would love to redo many textures but this is incredibly frustrating, in particular the fact that 24 hours ago I was able to do this fine more or less and now, problem after problem. +rep to anyone that assists me in solving this dilemna.

*EDIT* Using PNG files, this does not occur. I got my KD retexture in game, but it did not have an alpha channel so it appeared flat/nonreflective (which is why I wanted to use .TGA in the first place). So frustrating!

[Sylcai]

Try to use BLPconverter, and set your editing program like so , that the PNG alpha information becomes a ALPHA LAYER and not a TRANSPARENCY.

Else, just run all your edits too me, and I'll fix em for you