Using Reskin Directories for Custom Model Retextures

A quick guide on how to use a reskin directory for existing custom models, because apparently that's hard to figure out how to do for some people.

Finding the Reskin Directory

The first step is to actually find out what the reskin directory is and whether the model has one at all.

Usually the path is written in the description.
I usually have them written like this:

In this case you can skip the rest of this section and go to the actual retexturing bit.

If it isn't mentioned in the description then this means you'll have to do a bit more to find out what it is (or if it even has one).

For this you'll only need Crowbar[github.com]

Open up whatever mod you want to make a retexture for (if you plan on making one I assume you already know how to do this) and navigate the models folder. Extract the model for the thing you're retexturing and put it in a random folder somewhere.

Open up Crowbar, set up L4D2 in the "Set Up Games" section if you haven't already and decompile the model (the decompile option is in its own tab).

From the files the decompile creates, just open the ".qc" file in a text editor. Search for "$CDMaterials".
This is all the paths the model will search for textures for. The ones higher up will have a higher priority over the lower ones. At the top should be a reskin directory.

How can you tell?
Usually just the name. If the name doesn't seem to indicate that it is a dedicated reskin directory then unfortunately, the model doesn't have one. rip

Using the Reskin Directory

In this example I'll be modifying the top and bottom textures for my Pajamas Zoey.


This guide assumes you already know how to make textures for Source, so I won't go into that.

Open the vpk for whatever mod you're doing this to and find the textures you want to modify.

In my case it's these:


The reskins folder for the model will likely not yet exist, so make one and copy the vmt and vtf files for what you want to modify into it. Any files you don't intend to change you shouldn't copy over.

So in my case my folder path will now look like this:

Now you can actually make the reskin, you do that how you please.

Once that's done, simply save it as a vtf in the reskins folder, it doesn't matter what you name the vtf.
Open the vmt and change up the paths to point to the vtf in the reskin directory. Any paths you don't change will mean the model will use the default texture for whatever it is.

Mine will look like this:

And the folder looks like this, as I didn't modify anything else:


And now in-game the retexture should work. You will not have to include the model or any of the non-reskin textures from the mod you're making a reskin for.