recoloring a fx

[USAgent]

Seems like a pretty newbe question doesnt it?  But Fxing is something I have never looked into or attempted I searched around here somewhat and checked out the tuturial at FX force, but didnt come accross anything that simple states how to recolor a existing Fx (not ingame fx)
What I am trying to do is find a fx that I could use for the Sinistro corp member Karu-Sil's yellow energy beasts.  Ya know, that creepy half eaten face psycho chick of the Sinistro Corps.
What I found that will work for me is a Fx called green_raptor which is a projectile attack.   I just want to recolor that Fx to yellow and use that as her beasts.  I can't find any TGA files for that fx only NIF files.  Once I can get it recolored I can set up the sounds and stuff myself.    Hopefully this is a pretty basic and easy querry.

[Previsionary]

Any tutorial you found for fx applies to all fx. Same process for every one of them. To find the tga names, you need a hex editor (easier) or nifskope (slightly tougher as you actually need to look for the tga file names and can't search for it) and then you'll have to locate them yourself. Once you gather them all up, just open them in your favorite graphic editor than can open TGA/DDS files and change the color. Save under a new name and change the file names in the nif accordingly (make a copy of the original nif).

That's the compressed version, so I hope it helps ya a bit. Honestly, the fxforce tutorials expanded pretty well on any question you might have.

[USAgent]

I looked though the FX tutorials again ON FX force, and the only one that looks like it might pertain to what I want to do is "Hexing FX 101 by Tetragene"

I have the same Hex editor that he uses in the Tut, and I wanted to try and find where the TGA files are located for the green_raptor fx so I did what was instructed:
I usually start by creating a new folder with the name of the fx I want to make. Then I copy over the .nif files of existing fxs into the folder. Then I see what .tgas they use. I do this by opening the hex editor, choosing the approriate .nif then using the "find text" feature (just type in ".tga"). I write down the tgas for each nif, then copy those files from the "_texture" folder into the "new" fx folder. Then I just use my paint program to re-color or re-texture them.
That was taken right from FX force.
I opened the core Nif for the green raptor , used the "find text" and typed in .tga and here is what showed up:

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Now, I've only hexed edited like 2 things in my whole life, but I'm not seeing where this is telling me where the TGA files are located?

This shouldnt be as tough as I'm making it I'm sure.

[Previsionary]

heh, USAgent. You've installed fx before right? All tgas/dds files go in the _texture folder. You'll actually have to dig through the texture folder (or folders as there's more than one if you have a mod installed. You'll just need to be aware of where you're grabbing nifs from) and grab them.

So for example: You'll probably find rapgrn.tga/rapgrn.dds (installed with ezfx 6, right?) here: Irrational Games\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\Data\Art\library\fx\_textures

[USAgent]

Yep, I have installed fx before, and I was looking in the  _textures folder for the textures, but I was looking for a TGA named "green_raptor" or "Raptor...something".  I must of looked past "rapgrn.dds" a dozen times.   
I recolored the raptor file to yellow like I wanted and saved it with the name "rapyel.tga"  (which I converted to a TGA file). Now my next task it trying to associate that rapyel.tga file with my yellow_raptor nif file using a hex editor?

[Previsionary]

Yep, I have installed fx before, and I was looking in the  _textures folder for the textures, but I was looking for a TGA named "green_raptor" or "Raptor...something".  I must of looked past "rapgrn.dds" a dozen times.   
I recolored the raptor file to yellow like I wanted and saved it with the name "rapyel.tga"  (which I converted to a TGA file). Now my next task it trying to associate that rapyel.tga file with my yellow_raptor nif file using a hex editor?

Yes sir. If everything is done correctly and everything is recolored, you should have a yellow raptor instead of a green one when you install it into your game. To check before you install, however, you can use nifviewer or nifskope (in some instances, it doesn't always want to work with some fx and it doesn't show everything like particle systems) to view the nif so you can find potential errors early on.

[USAgent]

Get him my pretties!!




Thanks for all the help Prev and IPS.