using the character tool from alexff and paint shop pro...question

[qwert44643_39]

  Ive learnt its better to use the tool in stead of viewing ingame......but everytime i make change i have to shut down the character tool and then restart it.....is there a way to leave the tool open constantly even when im making changes?

[Tomato]

It depends on how you want to handle it. IIRC, the original CTool was not very good... it glitches out on some models that work fine in-game, and it has some problems in newer systems. CTool2, which came with  is much more stable, but the models have to be  compatible.

For what might be an easier solution, I'd use a separate skin... either a blank one or a wireframe or even the standard skin the model comes with. When you want to test a change, switch from the one you're modifying to the other skin, save it, then switch back. It's still tedious, but not as much so as restarting the program every two seconds.

[qwert44643_39]

I do have the character tool 2 from Alexff.......
im re-skinning tommyboy's gold ironman mesh.....
as far as a template or wireframe...everything is pretty much pure gold...not to many lines to color in...so for the last 2 nights and days ive been trial and error.....finally coming along but man even skinning can be all out time consuming..espically if ya want to do a good job...
Is there a way to convert a template back to just lines with no color?

what i do is make a change...save ..and then restart character tool......when the character tool is  open it wont let me save my progress....really tedious.


thanks for the advice and  tips.
qwert

[daglob]

For what it's worth:

My experience is that CTool2 will often let you make changes to a skin and view it, but it crashes after one or two changes. Nifscope will show you the skin you have in "standard" folder, and will update when you make changes to the skin, but it too will eventually crash (but it does seem to stay stable longer). I've never gotten CTool for FF1 to do that.

[qwert44643_39]

thanks daglob.....

[Tomato]

Yeah, Ctool doesn't like it when you're saving over files it's actively using. Nifskope is much better in that regard, but my only issue is you can't preview animations or extra textures (such as refl and glow). Again, my advice for keeping them going longer is to switch skins while editing (I typically just keep copying whatever I'm skinning to something like "aaa"... it allows me to then compare the change to how it looked before.)

[qwert44643_39]

Yeah, Ctool doesn't like it when you're saving over files it's actively using. Nifskope is much better in that regard, but my only issue is you can't preview animations or extra textures (such as refl and glow). Again, my advice for keeping them going longer is to switch skins while editing (I typically just keep copying whatever I'm skinning to something like "aaa"... it allows me to then compare the change to how it looked before.)

i believe this is pretty much what im doing.......

[Tomato]

Are you changing the size of the texture file when you're editing? I'm trying to think of what might cause an immediate crash like that, because as daglob says, it's usually good for at least a couple edits even without switching skins.

In the meantime, you might take his advice and use Nifskope.

[qwert44643_39]

Man this is like doing a puzzle blindfolded...lol.....
slowly making progress......but sometimes im how the hell......
whats knocking me for a loop it fine touch ups.....
slowly but surely..


tomato...been a long time since ive been doing this stuff...so i dont know how resize a texture...im zooming in bout it....
il load a video here in ahile so evereyone can check it out....
how i get ahold of tommyboy.....if hes says no i got a kick arse armor.....i like it cuz its kinda era related ya know...just didnt want a shiny red and yeloow armored man flying around.

[daglob]

What Tomato says might be the problem. I don't usually resized any of the textures until I'm finished.

[Cyber Burn]

Altering the Refl or Glow files could also cause CTool2 to crash.

As for contacting Tommyboy, the only way that I know of, is to talk to Alex. I don't think you'll be able to get in touch with him otherwise.