raven28690

You are using ELS aren't you? Open up the config for ELS..that would be the one with out the .asi at the end in notepad
find the vehicle in question Make it match the below text....DO NOT change the vehicle tag like I did, just what ever is below that

[THE VEHICLE TAG IN QUESTION HERE ]

Active = 1
Halogen_Only = 0
Color_Light1L = 1
Color_Light2L = 1
Color_Light3R = 1
Color_Light4R = 1
Color_Light7L = 3
Color_Light8C = 3
Color_Light9R = 3
Offst_SLights = 3

All blue...have fun

Your referring to Ridgerunner's hat right?


He has a WIP thread as he is redoing the campaign hat and making a NYSP hat which should interest you.

***09/19/12 UPDATE: I've got 5 projects right now at 95% (see below) I'm working through some small issues before they're ready to release. Also I had a major breakthrough with converting Source models to 3ds Max so that will help immensely for my ped projects. Most of my time as of late has been modeling, and 75% of that has been modeling vehicle related components. I've been flirting with vehicle modeling and will try to balance my time between ped modeling and vehicle modeling. Hopefully we can get you guys some more unlocked vehicle components in the next few months. I know you guys are anxious for some real ped modifications and I am as well so I will try to spend some time wrapping up a few of those projects for you guys. Again keep in mind all of this is incredibly time consuming, GTA IV was never designed with modding in mind, so it will take some time to properly finish things up.***

Since I get quite a few comments/pm's from interested members here I think I'll follow suite after KevinDV's post and give you guy a rough idea of what I'm currently working on. I've had a LOT of delays and set backs but I'm still committed to getting these projects in game. Please bear with me as my modeling skills slowly grow, and I juggle work/personal life. I do not take requests but I'm always open to new ideas and suggestions. If you have any questions feel free to post or pm me.

JUST FYI: Due to the work involved, and sheer number of WIP's some of these projects may take a few months or more to complete. Please be patient as I'm very limited in the time that I can dedicate to these mods.


Current WIP List (As of 09/19/12)

RADAR/LIDAR Models
Stalker II MDR - 100% RELEASED! - Download: Alternate: http://www.mediafire...uhwha0lytcktaf0
Ultralyte LR B - 95% **Fixing Transparency Issues** Planned release to coincide with re-release of GTA Policing Tools Mod
Kustom Signal Pro Laser III - 95% **Fixing Transparency Issues** Planned release to coincide with re-release of GTA Policing Tools Mod

Hat/Helmet Models
NYSP Hat (Scratch model) - 95% **Fixing Specularity Issues** Planned release to coincide with NYSP Tahoe by CJ24!
Texas DPS Hat (Scratch model) - 95% **Fixing Specularity Issues** Planned release to coincide with Texas DPS Pack by CJ24!
Revised Campaign Hat (Completely new model from scratch) - 60%
Custodian helmet (AKA British "Bobby" Hat) Scratch Model - 35%
Police Motorcycle 3/4 Shell Helmet - 80%
Police Motorcycle 1/2 Shell Helmet - 25%

PED Models
Police Officer Model - 75%
Police Officer Supervisor Model - 65%
Motorcycle Police Officer - 50%
British Police Officer Model - 40%
Sheriff Deputy Model - 85%
State Trooper Model - 70%
Task Force Agent/Officer - 50%
K-9 Handler Officer - 30%
Detective Model - 30%

Texture Packs
Complete US State Police/Highway Patrol Texture Pack - For Chevy Tahoe - 30%
Complete US State Police/Highway Patrol Texture Pack - For CVPI - 30%

Vehicle Related
Harley Davidson FLHTP Police Electra Glide Motorcycle - 50%
Federal Signal Valor Lightbar (Planned Unlocked Release) - 85%
Plans for more lightbars and interior equipment for unlocked release stay tuned

General/Miscellaneous Projects

Updated Citation Holder (More details, black version, much better optimized) - 95% **Just working out a few minor things before updated release**

Did you check out this site?
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/recruiting-recrutement/rec/process-processus-eng.htm
Alot of good info under RM Recruitment

Good luck on your career choice.

In this tutorial, I will share my tips on creating textures using raster graphics software (such as GIMP or Adobe Photoshop). Since I first started skinning, I've since realized that texturing vehicles would likely be better served by Vector graphics software (such as Inkscape or Adobe Illustrator). If I were to start learning again, I'd try vector graphics. But I didn't, and I've only learned to use raster for texturing, so there you go. There are many great text and video tutorials on the ins-and-outs of raster editing programs such as Photoshop, but few of them on the specifics of creating textures (a.k.a. skins) for vehicles such as those in GTA. I'm going to concentrate on those specifics, but for more general image editing help, you'd be better served by searching the web.

I'll concentrate on vehicles for GTA IV, but most of these tips work for other game textures such as pedestrians or signs, as well as other games like GTA SA, or vehicles in flight or truck simulators.

While I strive to be as accurate and informative as I can, I am by no means a professional artist. I'm a hobbyist, learning his way as he goes along, just like many of you. Feel free to add your suggestions and/or corrections.

Most images here have been scaled down and can be clicked to view in larger sizes. I'd also like to thank all the photographers and artists whose images appear in this tutorial. Without such visual aids, it would be much more difficult to teach.

I've covered many different aspects, each in its own lesson:

Lesson 1: Basics
Lesson 2: Layers
Lesson 3: Positioning & Reference Points
Lesson 4: Text & Fonts
Lesson 5: Normal Maps
Lesson 6: Optimizing a Simple Logo a: Colour Correction, b: Adding Realistic Detail
Lesson 7: Creating a Complex Logo From a Car Photo
Lesson 8: Creating Simulated Reflective Vinyl

Lesson 1: Basics

If you're completely new to modding GTA, I suggest you acquaint yourself with installing mods before you create your own skin.

Editing Software:

Any Windows PC comes pre-installed with MS Paint, but I'm afraid it'll be too limited for what we need. Adobe Photoshop (PS) or Corel Paint Shop Pro are great, if you can afford them. But there are free alternatives that have nearly all of PS's functionality. paint.net http://www.getpaint.net/ is popular, but I haven't used it much. Since I'm familiar with The GIMP http://www.gimp.org/, I'll be referring to it throughout this tutorial. Regardless of which program you use, remember there is a wealth of great tutorials on the web, specific to each program.

If you haven't used any of these programs before, I'd try editing an existing texture first, before you make your own from scratch. Just be aware that if you change someone else's work and release it on the web, that most artists require their permission for you to do so, or at least that you credit them for their original work. Check the readme if one's included, or contact the artist if you're not sure. The last thing anyone wants to hear is "Mr. X stole a logo from Mr. Y's car. Mr. X is a thief! Mr. Y's a selfish jerk!". We don't need that drama, we're here to have fun.

File Types:

GTA IV imports & exports textures in .png format so our final product will need to be saved as a .png. However, while we're editing, .png has its limitations. You'll likely want to save yourt work as you go along, before it's finished. I suggest you save your work in one the following file types:

-.psd for Photoshop,

-.xcf for GIMP,

-paint.net has an available plugin to read .psd files

This allows you to save your work while keeping information such as seperate layers. What are layers? I'll explain in our second lesson.

You've got a car downloaded, it came with skins already installed, and it likely came with a template. Since it's such a popular car, I'll use Bxbugs123's CVPI as an example:


Note that the above template is an example only, it's been scaled-down for easy viewing here. For best results, use the full-size one included with your downloaded car.

The template shows you reference to where the skin will be applied, but it is not intended to be included as a part of the skin. If you fill in the template itself with your desired colurs, text, etc., it will look poor. I'll asume that you want a quality skin, or you wouldn't be here. So, how do we utilize the template, 'painting' on top of it, and then getting rid of the template later? By using layers.

Lesson 2: Layers

"Layers? Sounds kinda technical, what about text, or stripes or something?" Text, stripes, logos, etc. are all best used in seperate layers. "GIMPtrick"'s video on YouTube does an excellent job of describing the "whats" and "hows" of layers, I have the "whys" for us below.


There's a few reasons to use layers. You can have the template on the lowermost layer (like the 'tabletop" in the video), and 'paint' the solid background colour on a middle layer, your stripes on an upper layer, and text on another layer. I go a step further, and make each stripe colour on its own layer. This way, there's no gaps or bleed-through with two or more adjoining stripes. just like the dots in the video. If we need to correct the position or colour of one stripe, we can do so without affecting the other layers.

I'm going to make a replica of the Ontario Provincial Police Crown Vic:

Russell County (Rockland) O.P.P. by smitty93, on Flickr

So, let's open our CVPI template with GIMP, and right away, save it as an .xcf file. Our main background colour is black, so let's make a new black layer.

Right-click on the background layer, create a new layer, and for simplicity, call it "black". GIMP will automatically select the newest layer for us to paint on, but if we needed to work on the another layer, we can click on it in the layers dialog, and edit on that layer.




"Whoa! Where'd the template go?"

Don't worry, we can hide it. Either completely, by clicking the little 'eyeball'... :


...or partially, by lowering its opacity (making it partly transparent), both found in the layers dialog:


We're now done with the black, so let's hide it completely, so we can see what we're doing. If you hide the template as well, you'll see the canvas is grey checkers, representing transparency. We'll need the template though, so let's leave it visible.

--Note regarding white backgrounds--

Some GTA IV vehicles support 'transparent' textures. They already have a white base, so no 'white' layer is needed. If you leave the skin's background transparent, you'll achieve a smaller file size, and a texture with slightly more detail that "pops" from the car, as if it were really decals. Most of Bxbug's cars require soild backgrounds, while LUXART's support transparency. If you're not sure if your car uses transparent textures, just paint the background solid white. You can tell whether or not by viewing the original textures in SparkIV. This example of LUXART's texture is transparent, notice the grey checkered background:


Let's make some more layers. The white paint, the stipes, logos, etc. will all be in seperate layers. Let's do the white paint next, by first creating a new "white" layer. We can verify that we're actually working on the "white" layer, and not the "black" or "template" because "white" is selected in the layers dialog. The roof's simple, it's all-white, so we'll draw a box and fill it with the bucket tool.

The front doors need a little more precision, so that we don't paint the rear doors as well. We'll lower the opacity of the while layer, to around 50%, so we can see both the white and the template. We'll zoom in and paint with the brush or the pencil, erase some if we need to, all the while not affecting the black layer, template layer, or any other layer. Here. I just need to finish painting along the left gap between the doors:


Repeat the process for each new colour, stripe, logo, etc. Creating text will automatically create a new layer as well. I'll give more tips on text & fonts in lesson 4.

Remember, you can keep saving your work as an .xcf or .psd as you work. When you've finished, you'll need to save it as a .png., which doesn't allow multiple layers. GIMP will ask you if you'd like to merge the layers, or you can do so yourself before hand. Right-click on each layer in the layers dialog, and select "merge down". You can now delete the template layer also. Don't worry, If you need to change something later, you still have the .xcf copy in all its layers.

Lesson 3: Positioning & Reference Points

How do you know where to put details like logos, text, & stripes, or what size they should be? We can use a photo as a layer, and use it like we would use tracing paper. It should be noted that we are NOT using the photo as part of our final texture. We are using it for reference only. Think of it as using a projector on a white wall, projecting a photo on the wall, and painting what we see in the image. When we're done, we'd turn off the projector, or in this case, toggle the layer off or delete it.

Since the above reference photo is a nice side-shot, let's save it, and drag it into our texture in GIMP.


The photo is now its own new layer. We'll get rid of the excess background by placing a box around the edges of the car and selecting "crop to selection" from the Layer menu. (selecting "crop to selection" from the Image menu will crop the entire image, we don't want to do that). We'll resize it so that it's roughly the same size as the car in the template.

You don't have to be on duty. ALT+G will only work if you're close (~ 5 meters) to the vehicle you wish to stop (it doesn't work whilst in a vehicle), ensure you don't have anything in the trainer or LCPDFR (or any other mods) using ALT+G as it may not work properly. Generally it's better to use LCPDFR to pull a vehicle over, then conduct a breath test during the stop as the ALT+G feature wasn't intended to be used as a replacement for pull-overs; rather a way to stop vehicles - while on foot - from interfering with your scene.

+1 to the above post by Nutt



Communicating a threat is a crime in North Carolina under Criminal Law section 14-277.1, which says:
§ 14‑277.1. Communicating threats.
(a) A person is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor if without lawful authority:
(1) He willfully threatens to physically injure the person or that person's child, sibling, spouse, or dependent or willfully threatens to damage the property of another;
(2) The threat is communicated to the other person, orally, in writing, or by any other means;
(3) The threat is made in a manner and under circumstances which would cause a reasonable person to believe that the threat is likely to be carried out; and
(4) The person threatened believes that the threat will be carried out.
(b) A violation of this section is a Class 1 misdemeanor

This doesnt mean the bully gets hauled away in cuffs but what the police would do is try to resolve the matter by talking to all parties involved.
Again, Im in agreement as Nutt mentioned above and this would be by advice aswell.

Fighting is not the answer... usually leads to more serious acts of violence. Please get your parents involved along with school administrators, if the school administrators feels the threat(s) are legitimate and have rightful grounds on permanent separation from the school, then you have done your part.  If the threats goes beyond that, then seek your local authorities for assistance. 

Although you have the right to seek help from your local police department first, it's just best to resolve these types of issues first with your parents and school administrators. Most schools have tough rules dealing with bulling... hopefully your school does too. 

As an FYI, any threats dealing with firearms, please contact your local police department or specialized police unit that maybe assigned to your school, if any. DPD has a specialized department for Detroit schools, DPSPD (Detroit Public Schools Police Department). 

Good luck,

+1 to the above post by Nutt



Communicating a threat is a crime in North Carolina under Criminal Law section 14-277.1, which says:
§ 14‑277.1. Communicating threats.
(a) A person is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor if without lawful authority:
(1) He willfully threatens to physically injure the person or that person's child, sibling, spouse, or dependent or willfully threatens to damage the property of another;
(2) The threat is communicated to the other person, orally, in writing, or by any other means;
(3) The threat is made in a manner and under circumstances which would cause a reasonable person to believe that the threat is likely to be carried out; and
(4) The person threatened believes that the threat will be carried out.
(b) A violation of this section is a Class 1 misdemeanor

This doesnt mean the bully gets hauled away in cuffs but what the police would do is try to resolve the matter by talking to all parties involved.
Again, Im in agreement as Nutt mentioned above and this would be by advice aswell.

-snip-

After a pretty major code rewrite, ELS-DN is now beginning to take shape and I think it is at a point of functionality where I can begin to show some of the stuff it can do.  As promised a few weeks ago, I do plan on getting some video footage out, although that will require some of the front-end (controls, displays, etc.) to be complete which might take a little while.
 
As posted in the gallery a few hours ago, this is the latest screenshot of the code in action:
 


 
 
What ELS-DN can currently do:
Load vehicle configuration files Load pattern configuration files Process user-defined patterns Support up to 50 user-defined lights per car Support AI vehicles Simulate rotating beacon (almost fully) and LED lights (partially) Dynamically and automatically create environmental lights Flash the headlights and taillights individually (this has some problems which LMS is working on) Display an exact replica of the ELS display panel (uses the same exact code - Lt.Caine has been helping with this)  
Vehicle configuration files:
 
Probably one of the best bits about ELS-DN is the vehicle configuration files.  They work by creating a folder in scripts/ELSDN called Vehicles, and then creating a new folder for each vehicle inside there.  Inside each vehicle folder is a configuration file and a patterns folder which contains three separate folders for primary, secondary and warning patterns (those of you who've used ELS will be familiar with these).
 
 
The vehicle configuration file stores everything about the vehicle itself, including up to 50 custom light definitions (meaning you can create some really hideous Christmas trees), the model which the config file is assigned to and the default patterns for it too.
 
Vehicle configuration files are designed to be easily shared, all you have to do is plop the vehicle's folder into your Vehicles folder and it's ready to go.
 
 
Pattern configuration files:
 
The pattern configuration files allow you to make your own fully customisable patterns.  A pattern is either primary, secondary or warning in type and is assigned to a specific vehicle.  This means that every vehicle has its own patterns folder with its own patterns.
 
 
Next steps:
 
Unfortunately there's a lot of work that needs to be done on the user interface, in particular the controls and adding stuff like the ability to browse through patterns, etc.  On top of that, I need to complete support for different light types (LEDs and bulbs) and then think about siren controls, which may or may not make it into the first version.  Hopefully, though, I should have some sort of video to show fairly shortly.

Okay so every vehicle has 2 files that make it a vehicle:
The wft is a 3D model (gives the object its shape, proportions, etc.)
The wtd is a file that contains all of the textures that go on the model to give it colour and essentially something to look at.

The wtd file is basically a number of images that are mapped onto the 3d model and each part of the 3d model has a 'layer' in the wtd file for its texture.

Depending on what car you are editing, the image layer that is used for the main body texture of police vehicles is normally called police_sign or police_sign_1/2/3/4 if there are variations.

When people make custom skins for cars they normally just edit the police_sign texture so the car has a different paintjob and decals. You can see them in the gallery section of this website fairly frequently.
Other times, people who make custom textures will release the entire .wtd file which is much easier to replace.

So if you want to make your own textures for a vehicle, you need to use sparkIV to open the texture file, then find the image layer that you want to edit, then export it and save it onto your computer, edit it and then save it as a .png then import it back with sparkiv to replace the original.

If you are just downloading texture images (.pngs):

Use sparkIV to open vehicles.img, find the vehicle that you are editing the skin of, press the edit button with the texture file of that car selected, on the left pane find the texture you are replacing (if it's a main body for the car, it's probably called police_sign_1/2/3/4) and then press the import button, find the image you have downloaded and select it and it should replace what was there. Then save and close.

If you are downloading layered/mapped texture files (.wtd) then you just use sparkiv and import the new file.