How to retexture an original vehicle? - Tutorial - GTA San Andreas

[Pranjit Das]

How to retexture an original vehicle of GTA San Andreas 

 

This tutorial explain how to completely retexture an original vehicle of GTA San Andreas, without using any 3D Model tool such as ZModeler or 3Ds Max!

 

Easy tutorial on retexturing vehicles, no matter what's your vehicle is, you can retexture any existing vehicle of the game!

 

Here's an example:

 

The video above is made by EnRo, but the car is made by me. This is a retextured version of the standard GTA SA Buccaneer (see full video for more detailed information).

 

Download link:

 

https://www.gtainside.com/en/download.php?do=detail&cat=128&id=121840

 

Tools you need:

 

* IMGTool 2.0 for export/import the .dff and .txd files of the vehicle. You can also use Modloader to install the car.

 

* TXDWorkshop 4.0 for export/import textures in the .txd file of the vehicle. You can also use MagicTXD instead!

 

* HEX Editor for editing some special strings in the .dff file of the model. You can use any HEX Editor for do this!

 

* MSPaint for editing the textures of the vehicle. You can also any other Image editing program for this, but it is recommended to use MSPaint as its a inbuilt program that comes with every Windows computers.

 

STEP 1 

 

Firstly, choose a vehicle of the game which you want to retexture, in our case its Broadway.

 

STEP 2

 

So here we go, using IMGTool 2.0 open your GTA SA/Models/gta3.img and export the .dff and .txd files of the vehicle you want to retexture, in our case we have to export "boadway.dff" and "broadway.txd".

 

STEP 3 

 

Okay, we're now ready! Using TXDWorkshop 4.0 or MagicTXD (any one) open your GTA SA/Models/Generic/vehicle.txd and export the textures which used by your vehicle (in our case its Broadway) in-game.

 

Generally, you have to export the following 3 textures:

 

vehicletyres128

vehiclesteering128

vehiclegeneric256

 

These textures are necessary to edit, other textures like vehiclegrunge256, xvehicleenv128 aren't really necessary (because simply replacing them in vehicle.txd also works).

 

STEP 4

 

Now let's start modding! Using MSPaint make some noticeable changes to the textures. Generally you have to add changes to the metals, tyres, interior and steering wheels.

 

If you can't make the textures by yourself, then download some car parts images from Google. You can download metal texture, tyre texture, grille and carbon texture etc.

 

STEP 5

 

So this is the most hard step! Using TXDWorkshop 4.0 or MagicTXD (any one) open the txd file of your vehicle (in our case its broadway.txd) and create 3 new 32bit images.

 

Depends on how many textures you've exported from vehicle.txd, because we've exported 3 textures so we need to create 3 images. 

 

Make sure all images are 32bit and full compressed, with no alpha channel (some textures like vehicleshatter128 required alpha mask, so if you edit these textures then you need to enable alpha channel for them).

 

STEP 6

 

Replace the newly created images of your vehicle's txd file with the one you exported from vehicle.txd.

 

In our case we have to replace those 3 images with our edited one in broadway.txd.

 

STEP 7

 

Rename all images to the name of the original textures of vehicle.txd, but add some minor changes in the letters and words.

 

If you don't understood what I said, then here's an example:

 

vehiclegeneric256

cadillageneric256

 

The name of the original texture is vehiclegeneric256 which changed to cadillageneric256 for make it looks different from the original name.

 

It is very important to rename everything correctly, and also the length of your edited name is exactly same as the original one.

 

For example, if the original name have 15 letters then your edited name also must have 15 letters, otherwise game will crash!

 

STEP 8

 

So this is the last step, using a HEX Editor open the dff file of your vehicle (in our case its broadway.dff) and find the name of all the textures you've edited.

 

In our case, we have to find the following names (text strings):

 

vehicletyres128

vehiclesteering128

vehiclegeneric256

 

STEP 9

 

Change all the names to the desired name you choosed for the textures, here's an example:

 

vehiclegeneric256 >>cadillageneric256

 

Depend on what name you choosed for the new textures.

 

STEP 10

 

After changing all the names, don't forget to save the file. If Windows ask you choose a file extension, then choose ".DFF" and save the file (depend on your HEX Editor).

 

That's it! We're now ready to install the car! Now I know you can install the car by yourself so I don't think it is necessary to write about it!

 

Any problem? Have some question? Feel free to consult with me by commenting below!

 

And here's my user profile of GTAInside.com:

 

https://www.gtainside.com/user/Pranjit Das

 

Hope you retexture a lot of vehicles of GTA SA, happy modding!!

 

Pranjit Das

Edited September 22, 2018 by Pranjit Das

[King84FTW]

Do you have a list of all of the vehicles original textures file names? If so will you please post it for me.