HL2 Custom Skins are not working

[cyberfey]

Hey everyone,
I recently decided to create my own skins for Alyx. I followed the same process as most people.
1: Downloaded gcfscape.
2: Extracted sourcematerials.gcf<hl2<materials<Models<Alyx to desktop.
3: Installed Photoshop vtf. plugin and edited Alyx skins with Photoshop.
This is where I get stuck. Most tutorials I read simply say to put the modified Alyx skins back into the Alyx folder I got them from, (steamapps>half-life 2>hl2...etc) and that the skins will replace the original. I would do this, but I cannot access the folder I got the skins from with anything but gcfscape, and I cannot simply drag and drop the skins back in.
I used to make a ton of custom skins for TF2 without any problems. Can anyone help me to figure out what the problem is?
Thanks.

[_GoldSrc_]

you need to create the folders, not replece the ones on the GCF files.
your modded files needs to be in here
Steam>steamapps>YourName>half-life 2>hl2>materials>models>Alyx
it should work

[cyberfey]

Thanks, man. I did as you said and my skins are working great. Thanks for clearing up the confusion, I had assumed that the game already had the correct folders.

[Chance]

What about weapon skins? I just drag and drop them into the /hl2 directory and they should work?