QUICK START - Umodel and Tekken 7

OBJECTIVE:

This quick guide is meant to get you familiar with umodel and how it's used in Tekken Modding. This will not show you how to mod. There is also more to find and play with in this program than I have provided so explore and see what more you can find.

UMODEL INTRO

Download umodel/ue viewer from here: https://www.gildor.org/en/projects/umodel#files

Tip: Unzip and place umodel files in the same directory where your game's pak files are located

For me it is here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\TEKKEN 7\TekkenGame\Content\Paks

When you open umodel it will be looking in the directory where it is located. You can place it anywhere but will need to navigate to the folder where he game pak files are located so this will save you some time.

Once umodel is open be sure the correct directory is selected. Then check the box next to "Override game detection" Below that will be two drop down boxes. Select "Unreal Engine 4" in the first box Scroll down to the bottom and select "Tekken 7" in the next box. Hit OK

This will now open up your pak files so you can see the game assets. Tekken 7 has no game encryption; however, Geese and Noctis files are encrypted and need additional tools to access.

There is an All Packages folder as the main and within it are several other folders. The one that you will be using is called "Game"

CHARACTER MODDING RELATED ASSETS

Character Models (mesh) Game\Character\Items\Mesh\

• the mesh folders are separated into folders for each char by their 3 letter abbreviation
• the "cmn" folder is for mesh that are not specific to one character
• in the char mesh folders you will find a folder for each category of mesh
  • Upper, Lower, Full_body, Head, Face, etc.
• in each of these folders will be a folder that holds the mesh, textures, and materials that apply to it the names for these items may or may not be the same as what you would see in game.

The following assets cannot be viewed in umodel but can be extracted (explained later)

• Character Item (CI) Game\Character\Items\CharacterItem\
• Customization Items (CCI) Game\Character\Items\Customization
• Presets (CS) Game\Character\Items\Sets
• Aura Items (ACI) Game\Character\Items\AuraItem
• Effect Items (ECI) Game\Character\Items\EffectItem

A list of some helpful information regarding abbreviations other info can be found here:

• Link****

There are other mesh and assets available for extraction so feel free to do some exploring of your own

USER INTERFACE (UI) RELATED Assets

The majority of UI related images can be found following this path:

• Game\UI_common\Texture2D\ReplaceImages

Here is a list of many of what is in many of the folders

The folders that start with CS_ are for things that show up on the Character Select Screen

• _CH_L and CH_R - Large character images
• _NAME - Character Names
• PANEL - The smaller character images that you actually scroll thru to select
• _CH_SLOT - the default and preset preview images when selecting what character customization you'll use

The folders that start with CUS_ are for preview images when customizing your characters

• _CH - the preview for an art panel
• _GAU_LIFE - the preview for your health bar
• _PANEL - the preview for the panel that will be displayed next to your character in game
• _ITEM AND _UNLOCK - In these folders you will find a folder for each char. In each of these folders you will find the preview images for the character items available for all of their items

There are some images which may be located elsewhere but you will find the majority in this location.

I'm not going to provide a detailed list of other items but here are what the prefixes of the folders mean

• GAUI - Button symbols

• GAL_ - Gallery Items

• HUD_ - Heads Up Display (HUD); life bar, character images, names below life bars, etc.

• PL_ - The images for the panels that show up next to your character in game

• RNK_ - Images related to player rank. The _L Large, _M Medium, and _S for small.

• SS_ - for stage select images. The _L Large, _M Medium, and _S for small.

• SS_ST_L Large stage preview

• SS_ST_S Small stage preview

• SS_ST_RND The stage preview cycled during random select

• SS_ST_NAME The stage name

• VS_CH_L and VS_CH_R - These are the panel art images. IIRC the _L is what will be shown when picking one in the customization screen. If both are not replaced then it will only show the one that may have been changed and the other will be default.

• VS_CH_UNLOCK - same as above but for the ones that are unlockable

STAGE MODDING RELATED ASSETS

.umaps hold all of the stage data and tell the game what to load. They are not actual stages. You'll find them at a Game\Maps.

the mesh items that are used in the stages you will find at Game\Stage\ and then in the stgXX folder that it applies to or a specific folder outside of it starting T7_SX_. the "X" I'm using is in place of the number on the folders.

ADDITIONAL INFO

Tekken follows a pretty clear naming convention but here are what some of the abbreviations for character assets that may not be listed elsewhere:

• bdu - body upper
• bdl - body lower
• bdf - body full
• hed - head item (hats)
• hef - head full (full masks)
• har - hair
• opl - optional lower (Lower accessories)
• opu - optional upper (upper accessories)
• fac - face (actual head) some chars like kuma have full bodies as a face

Texture assets will typically have a prefix of T_ followed by CH (character) or stg (stage) and have suffixes to let you know what they are

• _D - Diffuse/Albedo
• _M - Color Mask
• _N - Normal Map
• _U - Utility? only found in later season characters and stages
• _R - Roughness (most used in stages)
• _S - Specular
• _L - Lightmap (uncommon and used for stages)
• _E - Emissive Map
• _O - Ambient Occlusion
• _H/G - Height or Growth Map (not common)

Mesh items

• SK_ Skeletal Mesh (has bones/rig allowing the mesh to be animated)
• SM_ Static Mesh (static only animation would be moving the entire mesh as a single item)
• SKT_ Base Skeleton

EXPORTING Mesh and Textures as models and images.

With umodel you can extract and export mesh assets as a .psk or .gltf file. These can then be used in 3D apps. You can also extract and export most texture images as well as .png, .TGA variant, or .dds

To export I advise first setting up the folder it will be exported to.

• click on an asset then click Export button at the bottom. Define the location it will be sent to.
• set your mesh and texture formats then hit ok.
• exporting will always recreate the file structure of the exported item at the location you send it to.
• once set you can also export by selecting an asset, right-click, then select export. It will be sent to the folder you previously sent and won't change till you change it.

EXTRACTING Assets as .uasset

• Most assets within the game cannot be exported but we have programs that allow us to manipulate them in their asset form.
• This is commonly used for CI, CCI, CS, some images, umaps, etc.

To extract these assets you will do the same thing as above except click on the arrow next to "Tools" and select "Options"

• It will be a window with a tab for Export, Save Packages, and Interface.
• Select the Save Packages Tab and select the location you want to send the assets to.
• For this option you can chose to send just the asset or send the asset within the folder file structure.
• Just like with exporting you can also select an asset, right-click, and save package. It will go to the folder your designated.

That's it for this guide.

• Check out TekkenMods.com for additional free guides and resources.

• There is also a Modding Zaibatsu discord if you want to meet new people and learn more.