How do I make custom textures?

[VeeTHis 71]

I've seen a lot of texture packs, and I was wondering... how do I make my own? I really want to make my own texture pack to use in my own buildings. How do you make the textures themselves, and then make them so you can actually use them in the lot editor?

[rsc204 21,869]

Creating textures is not something that can be explained in a few paragraphs, what you need is a good tutorial. It might help to know that textures for SC4 should usually be 128x128px in size. To see your textures in-game, you must convert them to the SC4 image format, FSH. Realistically, that means you will be working with either .PNG or .BMP files. Many prefer the former, since the "alpha channel", a fancy way of naming the transparent parts, is part of the texture itself. BMPs tend to use a dedicated file as the alpha channel, which is just an additional texture in two colours. The black parts will become the "alpha" or transparency, leaving the white parts as what will be shown in-game.

Depending on a number of preferences, the software and tools you will need can vary. For image editing you can use Paint, included with Windows. But, if you really want to make quality textures, you are better off using a proper image editor, GIMP is free and very powerful, it's probably your best bet. Plenty of tutorials exist on the web to show you how to create textures, so I'd recommend checking Google and seeing what clicks for you.

Moving back to getting textures in the game, that's a little more complicated. Three main options exist, SC4 Tools, PNG2FSH Batch or GoFSH, of which I favour the latter. Frankly if you are new to textures, GoFSH is by far the friendliest to use, with really powerful features to make texture creation easier. It also includes a great readme, with tutorials giving you examples of how to work with SC4 textures.

One last thing you will need to create textures, ID's. To begin with, you should be fine to simply use a random ID. But if you get to the stage where you plan to release textures, then you should apply for a dedicated range here. Further information about how these ID's work can be found here.

[Mary Maurine Mayo 984]

You will also need a range of ID numbers that does not conflict with other texture packs. Cant remember where that thread is. I was assigned one by the BSC team when I made all mine. 

 

I recommend  GoFSH  this one myself. good for beginners.

  Edited July 3, 2016 by Mary Maurine Mayo  
grammar and context

[VeeTHis 71]

1 hour ago, Mary Maurine Mayo said:

You will also need a range of ID numbers that does not conflict with other texture packs. Cant remember where that thread is. I was assigned one by the BSC team when I made all mine.

I think I know where that thread is:

https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=2101.0

[Mary Maurine Mayo 984]

What kind of textures are you looking for.