Can somebody help me? Character skin problem.

[baty131]

Hey everybody. I try to install some skins for my character. But they doesn't display right. Only one default skin works fine.

DEFAULT
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=830010738
Another
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=830010966
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=830010865

[NABN00B]

That is because in GTA there is a difference between "skins" and "player models". A skin - as the name implies - is basically a reskin of the standard outfit player model's texture in both GTA III and VC. This is an officially supported bonus feature that appears exclusively in the PC versions of GTA III & VC. Basically, all the players have to do is copy the bitmap image of the skins into the "models\skins\" folder and apply one of them ingame. Doing so will replace the skin (/texture) of the default outfit player model with the applied skin.
A player model is a completely different thing. It is what defines the shape of the character and how its skin (/texture) is laid out on the model. Custom player model mods can also have useable custom skins - as long as the custom player model replaces the character's standard outfit model.

What you're trying to use are not skins but player models. However, applying player models requires you to mod the game (manually). You need to find the file that stores the character's player model within the file "\models\gta3.img" file and replace it with the one you wish to use. I recommend the tool "dirmanager" as this is the only one that doesn't require the user to rebuild the img file. (Add me if you want me to send it to you.)

Please note that this way you can only have as many different player models mods at the same time as many different outfits the player character has in the game - GTA III has two, but once you reach the safehouse in the first mission you can't switch back to the prison outfit; GTA VC has more and you can switch between them once you've unlocked them. If you want to have more than this you can replace pedestrian models that are unused by the game and use a trainer to change the character's model to those.

I hope I didn't confuse you that much. Feel free to ask if you have any more questions.

[baty131]

Originally posted by NABN00B:

That is because in GTA there is a difference between "skins" and "player models". A skin - as the name implies - is basically a reskin of the standard outfit player model's texture in both GTA III and VC. This is an officially supported bonus feature that appears exclusively in the PC versions of GTA III & VC. Basically, all the players have to do is copy the bitmap image of the skins into the "models\skins\" folder and apply one of them ingame. Doing so will replace the skin (/texture) of the default outfit player model with the applied skin.
A player model is a completely different thing. It is what defines the shape of the character and how its skin (/texture) is laid out on the model. Custom player model mods can also have useable custom skins - as long as the custom player model replaces the character's standard outfit model.

What you're trying to use are not skins but player models. However, applying player models requires you to mod the game (manually). You need to find the file that stores the character's player model within the file "\models\gta3.img" file and replace it with the one you wish to use. I recommend the tool "dirmanager" as this is the only one that doesn't require the user to rebuild the img file. (Add me if you want me to send it to you.)

Please note that this way you can only have as many different player models mods at the same time as many different outfits the player character has in the game - GTA III has two, but once you reach the safehouse in the first mission you can't switch back to the prison outfit; GTA VC has more and you can switch between them once you've unlocked them. If you want to have more than this you can replace pedestrian models that are unused by the game and use a trainer to change the character's model to those.

I hope I didn't confuse you that much. Feel free to ask if you have any more questions.

Hey @NAN00B. Thanks for this very big answer. It's really cool when somebody like you try to help another players and can spend your time to help.
So, about skins, I download some CLEO scripts, they can change my character to another pedestrians. And downoload IMG Tool wich help me change my player model.
But I have one question, "dirmanager" better than IMG Tool?
Thanks again for answer, can I add you in friends, if I will have some more questions in future.

[NABN00B]

Originally posted by baty131:

Hey @NAN00B. Thanks for this very big answer. It's really cool when somebody like you try to help another players and can spend your time to help.
So, about skins, I download some CLEO scripts, they can change my character to another pedestrians. And downoload IMG Tool wich help me change my player model.
But I have one question, "dirmanager" better than IMG Tool?
Thanks again for answer, can I add you in friends, if I will have some more questions in future.

If there's a CLEO script for this purpose that will be very convinient.

Not sure if I made you understand it but you need to do the .img file managing everytime you want to change models. That means you have to exit and restart the game every time so you need to plan ahead what you will want to use.

I always used dirmanager since I found it because it didn't require the user to rebuild the .img library, IMG Tool does and I never managed to get it work properly (the game always crashed with the new .img file so I assume the new build was corrupt or something). I never bothered to use IMG Tool ever again since then. Another tool that is convinient is GTA Garage Mod Manager as it does the file management automatically and can also edit vehicle/weapon stats with a single copy/paste, however, that tool is only useable for vehicles and weapons.

Yeah, feel free to add me if you have any questions left.