NFSU1: TIRE TEXTURE EDITING GUIDE by UrQuattro
Posted: 18 Mar 2004, 22:00
EDITING TIRE TEXTURES IN NFSU
If you would like to edit tire textures, I can give you a quick guide.
What you need: A graphics editing program (Photoshop 7), Bintex tool by Arushan to import textures, NFSUndeground. Some skills
Textures are located in the NFSUndeground/CARS/WHEELS/Textures.bin
I suggest you extract them all – this texture belongs to which rim. All NFSU branded wheels have the actual manufacturers names (Autostrada, Sparco and so on). The rest of them are same as in game (i.e. OZ are OZ)
Tire textures can be edited in a more than one way. Here is the list of things you can do to a tire texture:
1. Change the tire thread pattern
2. Add a manufacturers name on a tire wall
3. Change the default color of the wheel
Once you have exported the texture you want to edit, make changes to it as you wanted. Add that ‘Michelin’ logo or make the tire into a racing slick, just anything you want!
Now SAVE the file. As far as I know, you don’t need to create the mask. But may be you might, since I noticed that tires will look empty from inside sometimes. But this is almost never visible, so I ignore it in this tutorial. YOU ARE NOT DONE YET.
Now the tricky part – you need to use Alpha Channels. It can be viewed by clicking the tab with a corresponding name in PSP7 – that tab should be next to LAYERS tab. If you worked with PSP, you’ll know where the layers are!
Open up the file you have just saved. Now click on ‘Channels’ tab. See that 5th level on the bottom where it’s all white? You must fix that with the image provided here (or you can get it from any other modded tire downloads).
Just copy this black and white image and paste it into that white blank channel image that you see in the window. You don’t have to “Flatten†layers, it’s a channel, not image.
Now you are all set. “SAVE†the file AGAIN in Photoshop, and you can IMPORT it into the Textures.bin file for WHEELS. Click SAVE in Bintex tool. Start the game and enjoy.
IMPORTANT!!! SAVE IN 8:8:8:8 ARGB (32 bit) format!!!
Of course there will be an easier way of doing it later, but you need to learn it first. If you notice, the Channel has the black parts that you see in the original image left as balck, and the rest is all white. Not all is white. So you can even make your own texture if you want.
Q&A
I have black squares in around my tires, and they look half transparent, what did I do wrong?
You missed the Alpha Channel part of this tutorial. Read on how to put it it.
Tire walls from inside look strange when I closely view them? Why
I don’t know, I haven’t tried to solve that problem, since it’s not noticeable. Probably has to do with the second file that’s in Texture.bin for Wheel. But this isn’t an issue that affects cars appearance on 99% of gaming. Just ignore it.
Do I need to switch Channel in Channel Mixer to adjust colors, just like I did when working with vinyls?
No, in the case of tire textures, Bintex has no bug, and work fine. Don’t adjust colors, use them as they should be
Can the shape of rims be changed
Yes as in the case of some rims, but only playing with transparency options. The Michelin Racing Slick I posted is an example of that. Those spokes are usually split in the middle, but I made them whole, so that they look more solid in OZ Superturismo style. This was achieved by removing the black stripe that made the spoke transparent in the middle before. I don’t know of any other editing possibility. But you can change the manufacturer’s name on the cap, or the number of bolts by just drawing them
Can I make the smaller sized rims (level 1) into bigger ones?
Not physically, but there is trick you can use. On the first tire wall (the second is the last at the top) texure, make a full white line that’s roughly half the thickness of the tire wall texture. This will make a silver-ish contour around the tire when in game, and make it look bigger. Only downside, is that you are pretty much limited to the usage of the silver as a base color. But since it’s used most of the time anyway, should not be a problem. If you use for example red – than you’ll end up with a retro looking white tire wall. If you want that – it’s your call.
Can I make a fully white rim, like in Rally?
Not fully, but yes. You can make the gray into white color, and than paint it when in game with the silver that’s second row, second from the left. This is the whitest you’ll get
Below are some examples I made. So there is a lot that can be done to give your car that little extra ooomph!
-------------------
UrQuattro
If you would like to edit tire textures, I can give you a quick guide.
What you need: A graphics editing program (Photoshop 7), Bintex tool by Arushan to import textures, NFSUndeground. Some skills
Textures are located in the NFSUndeground/CARS/WHEELS/Textures.bin
I suggest you extract them all – this texture belongs to which rim. All NFSU branded wheels have the actual manufacturers names (Autostrada, Sparco and so on). The rest of them are same as in game (i.e. OZ are OZ)
Tire textures can be edited in a more than one way. Here is the list of things you can do to a tire texture:
1. Change the tire thread pattern
2. Add a manufacturers name on a tire wall
3. Change the default color of the wheel
Once you have exported the texture you want to edit, make changes to it as you wanted. Add that ‘Michelin’ logo or make the tire into a racing slick, just anything you want!
Now SAVE the file. As far as I know, you don’t need to create the mask. But may be you might, since I noticed that tires will look empty from inside sometimes. But this is almost never visible, so I ignore it in this tutorial. YOU ARE NOT DONE YET.
Now the tricky part – you need to use Alpha Channels. It can be viewed by clicking the tab with a corresponding name in PSP7 – that tab should be next to LAYERS tab. If you worked with PSP, you’ll know where the layers are!
Open up the file you have just saved. Now click on ‘Channels’ tab. See that 5th level on the bottom where it’s all white? You must fix that with the image provided here (or you can get it from any other modded tire downloads).
Just copy this black and white image and paste it into that white blank channel image that you see in the window. You don’t have to “Flatten†layers, it’s a channel, not image.
Now you are all set. “SAVE†the file AGAIN in Photoshop, and you can IMPORT it into the Textures.bin file for WHEELS. Click SAVE in Bintex tool. Start the game and enjoy.
IMPORTANT!!! SAVE IN 8:8:8:8 ARGB (32 bit) format!!!
Of course there will be an easier way of doing it later, but you need to learn it first. If you notice, the Channel has the black parts that you see in the original image left as balck, and the rest is all white. Not all is white. So you can even make your own texture if you want.
Q&A
I have black squares in around my tires, and they look half transparent, what did I do wrong?
You missed the Alpha Channel part of this tutorial. Read on how to put it it.
Tire walls from inside look strange when I closely view them? Why
I don’t know, I haven’t tried to solve that problem, since it’s not noticeable. Probably has to do with the second file that’s in Texture.bin for Wheel. But this isn’t an issue that affects cars appearance on 99% of gaming. Just ignore it.
Do I need to switch Channel in Channel Mixer to adjust colors, just like I did when working with vinyls?
No, in the case of tire textures, Bintex has no bug, and work fine. Don’t adjust colors, use them as they should be
Can the shape of rims be changed
Yes as in the case of some rims, but only playing with transparency options. The Michelin Racing Slick I posted is an example of that. Those spokes are usually split in the middle, but I made them whole, so that they look more solid in OZ Superturismo style. This was achieved by removing the black stripe that made the spoke transparent in the middle before. I don’t know of any other editing possibility. But you can change the manufacturer’s name on the cap, or the number of bolts by just drawing them
Can I make the smaller sized rims (level 1) into bigger ones?
Not physically, but there is trick you can use. On the first tire wall (the second is the last at the top) texure, make a full white line that’s roughly half the thickness of the tire wall texture. This will make a silver-ish contour around the tire when in game, and make it look bigger. Only downside, is that you are pretty much limited to the usage of the silver as a base color. But since it’s used most of the time anyway, should not be a problem. If you use for example red – than you’ll end up with a retro looking white tire wall. If you want that – it’s your call.
Can I make a fully white rim, like in Rally?
Not fully, but yes. You can make the gray into white color, and than paint it when in game with the silver that’s second row, second from the left. This is the whitest you’ll get
Below are some examples I made. So there is a lot that can be done to give your car that little extra ooomph!
-------------------
UrQuattro
