How to add "hidden" skins to the multiplayer model selection menu?

[Spirit]

I'm just wondering, how can I make skins like stormtrooper officer, imperial officer and commander etc selectable in the multiplayer menu? I know that one way is to clone the skin file and put defualt_ in its name, eg.: imperial/officer won't appear in the menu, but imperial/default_officer will. However, such cloned skin are not visible by others in multiplayer, so sticking to my prievous example, if I would to use my imperial/defaultofficer skin, others would see a plain imperial instead of an officer... that's not good. How can I add these alternative, "hidden" skins to the multiplayer menu in a way that others can see it too?

[minilogoguy18]

All you have to do is add icons for the menu in the appropriate folder, that's it.

[Cerez]

Just type "model yourmodel/yourskin" in the MP game's console (Shift + Tilde key), and press Enter. This will change your current model to whatever model you like. (You don't need the "model_" part of the skin's name.) For example: model imperial/officer

 

Others will see this change, too, on a server, as long as you are using a model/skin supplied with the original game (or they also have the mod you are using).

 

The only way to get an alternative skin of a default game model to actually show in the MP selection menu is to create a PK3/mod where you change the model_default.skin file to the skin of your choice. But for others to see this change, they need to have your mod installed, too. While you're at it, you might as well create a new character out of the original one (duplicate and rename the "models/players/imperial" folder), and replace its default skin instead of the original game's character. You can also tweak the skin's textures anyway you like and customise it:

 

[Ruxith]

There are pk3's people have put together to add all of the "hidden skins" into the multiplayer menu, if that's what you're referring to. A bit of googling should find it with the right keywords, otherwise you can just download this. The icons aren't great, but it serves a purpose. I didn't make these by the way, just offering them to save you searching.

[Spirit]

Okay...

I want custom skins that are featured in JKA to be featured in the player model selection menu in MP. For example, cultist/brown, stormtrooper/officer, imperial/officer, imperial /commander. I know that they can be acessed via console, but I want them to be selectable in the menu. I'm aware of that I can just edit the textures, make a new player model, edit the skin file, or make a new skin file, but these are unfortunately all client side solutions. I want these skins to be visible to everyone else, just as if I used the console. Is there a way to do it?

 

 

There are pk3's people have put together to add all of the "hidden skins" into the multiplayer menu, if that's what you're referring to. A bit of googling should find it with the right keywords, otherwise you can just download this. The icons aren't great, but it serves a purpose. I didn't make these by the way, just offering them to save you searching.

I checked that out already, most of those icons won't appear in the model selection menu, only in the top right corner in game.

[Ruxith]

People would need to download a file if it's not part of the base selection, or the hidden skins that I have linked, however even those would appear without an actual icon unless they downloaded the file too or made an icon for it themselves.

It's always going to be client-side when it's not a part of the base assets or something that you download when you visit a server (No one likes downloading pk3's when visiting a server though )

[Rayce]

JA+ allows players to use those skins.

[Spirit]

People would need to download a file if it's not part of the base selection, or the hidden skins that I have linked, however even those would appear without an actual icon unless they downloaded the file too or made an icon for it themselves.

It's always going to be client-side when it's not a part of the base assets or something that you download when you visit a server (No one likes downloading pk3's when visiting a server though )

I want to add the already existing but hidden icons to the model selection menu. Is it that hard to understand?

[Cerez]

JA+ allows players to use those skins.

 

I think JA+ utilises a UI customisation to achieve this. It would be in the DLLs, in the coding. Not a beginner's course...

 

And every other user would need to have the same (DLL) mod, once again.

 

I want to add the already existing but hidden icons to the model selection menu. Is it that hard to understand?

 

Your questions is understood, @@Spirit, but what you are asking for is not possible to achieve with the game the way you are expecting it to work. Everything is not as simple as it seems at a first glance.

[minilogoguy18]

I already told you how to do it, you just make icon images, build the pk3 file properly and they'll be in the menu.

[Spirit]

I already told you how to do it, you just make icon images, build the pk3 file properly and they'll be in the menu.

Would you please explain in detail? What is the supposedly proper way to build the pk3? Because the casual models/players/modelname structure won't yield the wanted results, appearently.

[minilogoguy18]

It does, you'll just have to name your icon file appropriately and it has to be 256x256 if I remember right.

 

The cultist for example has the file model_brown.skin so all you'd need to do is make an icon image called icon_brown.jpg, that's it.

 

Simple observations will pretty much show you what all you need to do.

[Spirit]

It does, you'll just have to name your icon file appropriately and it has to be 256x256 if I remember right.

 

The cultist for example has the file model_brown.skin so all you'd need to do is make an icon image called icon_brown.jpg, that's it.

 

Simple observations will pretty much show you what all you need to do.

*facepalming intensifies* No, making icons with names like that won't make them show up in the menu. In fact, these icons with these names are already present in the game, and they don't show up. Renaming the skin file to model_default_brown and the icon to icon_default_brown would make it appear in the menu, but it would show as the default skin for other players (in this case, they would see a green cultist). This is what I'm trying to circumvent somehow.

[Cerez]

It does, you'll just have to name your icon file appropriately and it has to be 256x256 if I remember right.

 

The cultist for example has the file model_brown.skin so all you'd need to do is make an icon image called icon_brown.jpg, that's it.

 

Simple observations will pretty much show you what all you need to do.

 

That won't work. If it's not icon_default, or icon_red/icon_blue, respectively, the default UI in MP will not show it as a selectable character.

 

Renaming the skin file to model_default_brown and the icon to icon_default_brown would make it appear in the menu, but it would show as the default skin for other players (in this case, they would see a green cultist). This is what I'm trying to circumvent somehow.

 

You can't change how the game works without applying a patch or a mod to it. If you do, you need to distribute the mod/patch to all players who you want affected by the change. The most that the base game allows is for you to select any model/skin you like using the command line interface.

 

I presume your question comes after seeing this accomplished in JA+. JA+ is a client-side mod that all players who play JA+ have installed in their game directory. This is why they are able to accomplish the MP UI change necessary to display all the skins of characters -- not just default_. The game's code looks for default_. You can't change that without making changes to the code. You are going against the original design of the game in its programming...

[minilogoguy18]

Just looked into it, no way to do it without them needing the file as well. Would have to put the skin file and icon in a separate folder and change them to default.

 

Just gonna have to stick to doing it through the console.

[Spirit]

I see. I was hoping for some sort of a workaround, like creating a dummy "something_default" skin file that would somehow direct the game towards the real, "hidden" skin.

[Cerez]

Hahaha, you can't just fudge something that changes the game's design.

 

We do a lot of great modding here, but no-one can make miracles happen. As I said, it's possible to achieve this, but all players involved will need to receive the change. The game's original code doesn't allow for loading any skin that isn't default_ into the MP character selection screen. I know of no workaround to circumvent this. That's how the game was programmed.