Bear minimum to edit uniform colors for noobs

[ForUntoOblivionSoar∞]

This is not an in depth tutorial. It's simply to get a complete noob in the door. You have to experiment to learn. I just started, and barely have gotten anywhere, but I figured I'd share what I have learned in the few hours since I bought the PC version of the game.



The absolute bare minimum to edit uniforms (much more can be done, but this will help you get started on trial and error):



(1) First, get Frosty, install it, etc. There are quality tutorials on that. Look at TheBleedingRed21's especially. He has two excellent ones. The first one walks you through the installation and configuration.



(2) Next, after you've installed and opened Frosty, go to the following location:


content > characters > player > parts > uniforms > (team name) > year > double click on the year folder.


(3) When you double click on the year folder, a bunch of uniform assets for that year will be listed. The ones you can edit using what I'm telling you here are only the ones of the type "TextureAsset," and only the ones that say "col" (which means color).


(4) Double click on the Texture Asset you want to modify (for example, red_jersey_1994_red_jersey_col).


(5) A window will appear. At the top left of that window will be links labeled "Export" and "Import." Click Export, which will save it to a destination on your computer. Note! For safety reasons, I am duplicating that file every time in a different folder, which I named "Uniform backup," in case I screw everything up and want to return the original uniform where it belongs. I have one folder to save my edits and one to save the originals (I just copy the newly saved file and paste it in another folder). I am not changing the file names. As I said, I've been at this for a few hours, so I'm not messing with anything but colors.



(6) Open the file with a graphic editing program like GIMP or Photoshop (I use Gimp). Edit the file, but pay attention to how it is laid out. Changing colors is easy, but if you add any logos or stripes you have to be careful or it will look stupid.


(7) Save the new file (in GIMP you Export it as a png).


(8) Go back to Frosty and now click the "Import" button. Then select your edited uniform piece. Then launch the game and test.



Keep in mind you don't want to be importing one file to a different one. If you exported a pants file, by god import a pants file, and to the exact same location. I haven't tried not doing that, but it seems to me it would obviously end in disaster.





Here is what I did in my first couple of hours messing around with it. It is not that difficult. I have no idea how to edit helmets yet, nor do I know how to edit numbers, so you'll be wasting your time if you ask, but at least jerseys and pants are easy enough.


















Hope this helps.

[Whitemammoth04]

Re: Bear minimum to edit uniform colors for noobs

Using GIMP, how to I edit the bin files, do I convert them, or what. I'm a little lost.

[ForUntoOblivionSoar∞]

Re: Bear minimum to edit uniform colors for noobs

Using GIMP, how to I edit the bin files, do I convert them, or what. I'm a little lost.

No idea. Not there yet myself. I don't even know what GIMP can edit that Photoshop can, because thus far I've had no success (other then what I outlined in this thread). Been exploring various pluggins, but I've never used GIMP or Photoshop for anything other than making pretty pictures or editing .png colors.



All I know for sure is how to edit some of the uniform colors using .png files with GIMP.


I do not expect anyone here is going to go into much detail on using the tools in any depth, from Frosty to graphic editing software. The ones who don't know would love to help you, but don't know how, and the ones who do tend to not want to waste the time except when they make their own tutorial videos on youtube and the like. That's the vibe I get anyway. Every now and then someone will drop a good hint, but there seems to be an exclusivity culture in the Madden PC community for whatever reason, one I've never seen on any other PC game or modding community.










Just to highlight some of my struggles, when I started, I was exporting files as .png, and editing their colors in GIMP. But take helmets, for example. I could find no way to access the shells. When I copy and pasted one logo from a helmet to another, the entire shell color came with it. No idea why. I know there are layers, and normal maps and such (of which I know almost nothing), and am still learning as I go. But when I export the files, the first option is .png. If I export as .dds, GIMP can't even open them, despite me having the .dds plugin (and the ability to create dds files from GIMP). Of course, my plugin is from 2013, and it's the newest I can find, and from what I understand, newer games have a new type, which means I am sol at this point.




EDIT- Will be attempting with photoshop. I'll tell you what I find after it's installed and I pull out my hair for a day trying to learn in the least efficient way possible (trial and error).

[xSABOx]

Re: Bear minimum to edit uniform colors for noobs

Just join the discord, Guys there have figured most of this stuff and would be willing to help

https://discord.gg/Vkcpy2d

[ForUntoOblivionSoar∞]

Re: Bear minimum to edit uniform colors for noobs

Using GIMP, how to I edit the bin files, do I convert them, or what. I'm a little lost.

Okay so I've learned a few things in the last 16 hours or so.


Uniform editing in general:


(1) GIMP isn't going to do, as far as I can tell, because the dds plugin doesn't work with newer file types (or so I'm told). Get the latest version of Photoshop.


(2) In addition to Photoshop, you'll need the Intel TextureWorks plug in. TheBleedingRed21 has a tutorial on that which I believe you can find here at OS. This is needed in order to edit dds files.



(3) With those tools in hand, when you export anything to do with textures, export it as a dds file.


(4) Then you'll open Photoshop, and from Photoshop open your dds file. When you open it, select "Load Transparency as Alpha Channel." Do this every single time.



(5) Edit your file how you want.



(6) When you save it, save it as the following:

(a) First, as a "Intel TextureWorks DDS" file.
(b) After you choose the above, you'll have a lot of options pop up as the last part of your save. Save the file as what the file is labeled in Frosty (for most things it appears to be BC7_SRGB. This is extremely crucial. So in Photoshop when you save it, after selecting it as an Intel TextureWorks DDS file, you will choose these options in the three slots:

I - Texture Type: Color + Alpha
II- Compression: BC7 8pbb (Fine sRGB, DX11+)
III- Mip Maps: Autogenerate

(7) Import your file into Frosty. Again, make sure it is the correct file type.


(8) Launch the game to test.



(9) If it doesn't look right, exit and repeat the editing process. If it does look right, then you need to save it by exporting it as a mod (select "Export to Mod" under file).


(10) Use the mod manager to import and apply your mod. There are tutorials for how to do this, but it is really just two easy steps. If you've done the rest right, this will not be a problem.




Helmets!:


This one was killing me because I couldn't find the files, and had no idea that you could actually edit the parameters in the upper right windows.


Changing the color is easy. It's the same as the previous steps. But changing reflectivity and all that is a little more tedious. The key, however, is selecting the right file. Here is an example of what the file name you need to select will be:

buc_helmet_2010_pew_preset.

The file type is "AppearanceShaderPreset."


Then you have to edit the parameters, the relevant ones of which will be found in the upper right window that appears under the drop down ShaderPreset > VectorParameters.


Each one of those vector parameters has a drop down as well, and when you click one, to the right another window will list something like

VectorShadeParameter
X: 0.3 Y: 0.3 Z: 0.3 W:0
stickerReflectance

Each one of those numerical values can be edited, and each vector parameter does something different. Compare different numbers from different helmets to get what you want.


I do not yet know how to add vector parameters that are present in one helmet but not in another, but you can still do a lot with every helmet.









Anyway, here's what I did with the helmets on my test uniform. The first two pictures are before, the next two are after. I may go with a higher reflectivity for the sparkles or whatever, but I'm fairly satisfied for now:

















For now I'm going to go with this. I might explore number editing, but it does seem to be somewhat tedious. Anyway, I hope that helps you. I'll be putting this into the first post as well.

Just join the discord, Guys there have figured most of this stuff and would be willing to help

https://discord.gg/Vkcpy2d

Thanks xSABOx. I did find some useful stuff there. But now that you post here, I'm more interested in your mod. I saw you made the Revival one. That's more of an overhaul, right?

[rickteousness]

Re: Bear minimum to edit uniform colors for noobs

Could you explain a bit better how to change helmet color, I don’t understand and don’t know what file to export

[ForUntoOblivionSoar∞]

Re: Bear minimum to edit uniform colors for noobs

Could you explain a bit better how to change helmet color, I don’t understand and don’t know what file to export

Sure. To edit helmet color, you need to export the one whose type is "Texture Asset" and ends in col. It is three files above the circled one in the picture below. Again, you'll need to save this as DDS and edit it in photoshop. When in photoshop, you'll see the logos and stripes and a background. Just flood fill the background to whatever base color you want. But there is a more important step: the reflectivity and other qualities of the shell.





This picture should explain reflectivity and stuff. If not, feel free to ask away. Note: This is to modify the shell and its properties. If you want to mess with the logos, you'll need to look at the Texture Asset that says "col" instead of "preset."

[ForUntoOblivionSoar∞]

Re: Bear minimum to edit uniform colors for noobs

Additional note: Changing the color and/or logo requires exporting the file. In the picture above, you'd be exporting nin_helmet_2010_gol_helmet_col.


You will not export anything to change the reflectivity or other properties of the shell. That is done as described in the picture in my previous post.

[rickteousness]

Re: Bear minimum to edit uniform colors for noobs

Sure. To edit helmet color, you need to export the one whose type is "Texture Asset" and ends in col. It is three files above the circled one in the picture below. Again, you'll need to save this as DDS and edit it in photoshop. When in photoshop, you'll see the logos and stripes and a background. Just flood fill the background to whatever base color you want. But there is a more important step: the reflectivity and other qualities of the shell.





This picture should explain reflectivity and stuff. If not, feel free to ask away. Note: This is to modify the shell and its properties. If you want to mess with the logos, you'll need to look at the Texture Asset that says "col" instead of "preset."

Thanks that pic helps a lot, I still don’t understand the need for photoshop just yet as gimp has been working fine for me just importing and exporting pngs, I’m waiting for the bleedingred21’s uni editing video before I go dabbling in that. I actually just tried filling in the transparent area around the sticker in Gimp before I checked the forums again and it seems to look fine so far. I figured there was another file to edit and was assuming the transparency area was there for a reason

[ForUntoOblivionSoar∞]

Re: Bear minimum to edit uniform colors for noobs

Thanks that pic helps a lot, I still don’t understand the need for photoshop just yet as gimp has been working fine for me just importing and exporting pngs, I’m waiting for the bleedingred21’s uni editing video before I go dabbling in that. I actually just tried filling in the transparent area around the sticker in Gimp before I checked the forums again and it seems to look fine so far. I figured there was another file to edit and was assuming the transparency area was there for a reason

All I know is that when I was doing the helmet colors/logos in GIMP, when I loaded them, the background color was nowhere to be found, and despite having a DDS plugin, I couldn't open the files unless they were PNG.


That said, when I saved uniform stuff as PNG, it worked fine.


Helmets, not so much. But it could be I suck at GIMP. For now though, Photoshop is working good for me now.

[rickteousness]

Re: Bear minimum to edit uniform colors for noobs

All I know is that when I was doing the helmet colors/logos in GIMP, when I loaded them, the background color was nowhere to be found, and despite having a DDS plugin, I couldn't open the files unless they were PNG.


That said, when I saved uniform stuff as PNG, it worked fine.


Helmets, not so much. But it could be I suck at GIMP. For now though, Photoshop is working good for me now.

That makes sense, stickers look like they belong on a different later, they don’t pop out like they should when I did it in gimp the lazy way

[NFCastle]

Re: Bear minimum to edit uniform colors for noobs

Thanks for this! This is really one of the only things I care to be able to edit. Having a tutorial is awesome for me as a noob trying to learn.

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Operation Sports mobile app

[ForUntoOblivionSoar∞]

Re: Bear minimum to edit uniform colors for noobs

My latest atrocity:






So the colors of the jersey are basically the same as in the other two "how to" posts in this thread. Same with the helmet color. The color fade and lightning is just regular old photoshop "skills." I used a lot of Gaussian blur, hue/brightness/contrast adjustments, and copy and pasting rectangles of different colors for that effect.


The helmet reflectivity is again found in the asset listed previously in this thread: For example: buc_helmet_2010_pew_preset, which is a "AppearanceShaderPreset."


You adjust the vector parameters in that preset to get whatever type of light reflectivity you want for the helmet. Use other team helmets as a scale for the changes you want to make. Facemask color is changed in a similar way.





The rest is just trail and error.

[TheBleedingRed21]

Re: Bear minimum to edit uniform colors for noobs

Just gonna chime in - photoshop blows the doors off gimp. If you really wanna edit, get photoshop. You’ll understand why after using it.

Good write up. Should deff help people.

Also Rick, you don’t need to be saving everything as png, you’ll mess a lot of things up, especially helmets. (This is another reason you cannot use gimp, the dds plugin)

[ForUntoOblivionSoar∞]

Re: Bear minimum to edit uniform colors for noobs

Just gonna chime in - photoshop blows the doors off gimp. If you really wanna edit, get photoshop. You’ll understand why after using it.

Good write up. Should deff help people.

Also Rick, you don’t need to be saving everything as png, you’ll mess a lot of things up, especially helmets. (This is another reason you cannot use gimp, the dds plugin)

Yeah the dds plugin definitely did not work for gimp. It can be used to recolor some stuff, but you lose a lot of things you can do, not to mention you have to save everything as a png file.