Creating new textures - EE-modders/Empire-Earth-toolbox GitHub Wiki

by Philla007

Here are 3 tools which I will describe. Place those tools in some folder or on desktop. To use this tools, just DRAG AND DROP files you want to edit.

• SSTtool - this tool converts SST file to TGA file or TGA file to SST file
• SSTviewer - with this tool you can open SST file and view how does it look
• SSAtool - with this tool you will need to extract .SSA file where every game file is stored like textures, models, sounds, etc.

Here is example how to use it:

1. Find file called „data.ssa“ which is located in your installation directory „Empire Earth/data“.
2. Place SSAtool in the same place where is „data.ssa“.
3. Drag and drop „data.ssa“ to SSAtool.
4. When it asks you to decompress file, write „y“ and click enter.
5. Wait for archive to be extracted and decompressed.
6. You will get folder called „extracted_decompressed“.

Here is example how to use it, I will use „men_trooper_11t.sst“ as example, this procedure works with every texture.

1. Open folder called „textures“ in folder „extracted_decompressed“.
2. In folder called „textures“ find „men_trooper_11t.sst“.
3. Copy „men_trooper_11t sst“ (textures use .SST format) to place where is SSTtool.
4. Drag and drop „men_trooper_11t.sst“ on SSTtool.
5. Now you will get „men_trooper_11t.sst“ in TGA format - „men_trooper_11t.tga“, which you can open in Photoshop or other software. (Be careful, texture resolution can be max. 512x512 if you need to resize it)
6. After you edit „men_trooper_11t.sst“, drag and drop „men_trooper_11t.sst“ file back to SSTtool.
7. When it's done converting, you will get name like this „men_trooper_11t _NEW.sst“, rename that to „men_trooper_11t.sst“.
8. Put „men_trooper_11t.sst“ to your installation directory „Empire Earth/data/textures“
9. Done, have fun!

• drag and drop „.SST“ file on it and wait to show

• this procedure is described using Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 but I think it will be similar in newer Photoshop software

This tutorial will use Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0

Open “men_trooper_11t.tga” in Photoshop. Now, you can edit the texture as much as you like.

To make it easier to modify, we are going to make it bigger. ON the toolbar at the top of the screen, select “Image” > “Resize” > “Image Size”

Check that “Constrain Proportions” is selected, then change the Width to 128 pixels. Make sure that the box next to “Resample Image” says “Bicubic”. Press OK. (This will double the size of the image.)

This will also make the finished texture more detailed.

Now for the fun bit... First of all we want to get rid of the stupid mask that the Sentinel wears. To do that, I go to the toolbar and click “Select” > “Load Selection”. Choose Alpha Channel. Now you will see that dotted lines appear on the image. Everything outside of these lines will be invisible when you view the unit in-game. In this case, the only non-selected area is the black area that surrounds the Sentinel’s gun. Zoom in so you can see a bit more clearly. Now, select the “Rectangular Marquee Tool”.

Holding the “Alt” key down, draw a box over the mask texture. Then let go of the mouse. Go to “Select” > “Save Selection”. Save it as “Alpha Channel”.

If you then put this texture into the game, the Sentinel would look exactly the same, but it would have no mask! But we’re not finished yet...

The Sentinel’s face also looks strange, so we’re going to change it. If I was making a proper mod, I would create an entirely new face, but for the purpose of this tutorial we will use the face from the internet.

Download some face photo. Convert it to a TGA file and open it in Photoshop. Double its size like we did to the Sentinel texture, then, using the Rectangular Marquee Tool, select the face. Go to “Edit” > “Copy”.

Now go back to the Sentinel texture and select “Edit” > “Paste”. Move the face so that it is in the top right hand corner of the image.

Now let’s change the colour of his clothes. I mean, do futuristic armies not bother with camouflage any more?

So I go onto the Internet and find a picture of a modern army uniform.

It doesn’t look like much, but this is enough to create a realistic texture.

First, using the Lasso tool,

select the torso of the jacket. Then copy it into a new file and resize it:

Then, copy it into the sentinel texture and place it over the top of the original torso texture. Then copy it so that it covers the back of the torso as well.

Now we need to add in some detail like buttons and pockets. The easiest way to do this is to make the image 10 times larger, add in details, and then change the size back to normal. So, go to “Image” > “Resize” > “Image Size” and change the Width to 1280. Make sure that this time you use “Nearest Neighbour” rather than “Bicubic” (This will stop the pixels from blurring together). Then, using a small brush, add in as much detail as you like. Then, using “Nearest Neighbour” again, make the image 10 times smaller.

Now, we need to do the same thing with the legs. You don’t need to bother changing the arms – as they will be coloured with their player’s colour.

The white area on the right, underneath the mask texture, is the helmet texture. You could give it a metal texture, but I have made it camouflaged.

Now, add in some more details of your own choice. Another thing I would do is edit the gun – it is possible to change the shape of the gun, but this requires complicated editing of the “Alpha Channel”. For this tutorial, I suggest you just get rid of the yellow border around the gun. To do this easily, select the gun, then go to “Enhance” > “Adjust Color” > “Hue/Saturation”. Change “Master” to “Yellows”. Then set the Lightness level to –100. The gun is also slightly blue – you may wish to select Blues and then change the Saturation level. Something like –40 would be OK.

And here is the finished texture. You will see that I have also changed the boots and the hands and given him a headset and webbing.

Now save the texture as a .TGA file. Call it “men_trooper_11t”.

Use SSTtool to convert it to .SST after that place it in installation directory „Empire Earth/data/textures“.

This is how it should look in the game.