Create a TF2 mod

[www.adobe.com]

[www.gimp.org]

Download and install VTFEdit [nemesis.thewavelength.net] .

Open the program and go to File > Import

Locate the .tga file, and import it.

Click Save, then save it as a .vtf file (name it whatever you'd like for now).

Go to https://weapons.tf and pick an existing skin that you want to overwrite with your custom creation. This step is important, because each skin has a different number of textures, and different groups for each texture. For this tutorial, we'll use Croc Dusted.

When you pick a weapon and war paint, the text box in the upper left updates to provide the file structure and material names used.

Determine which pattern you want to replace.

War paint patterns are located under materials/patterns. These are the files you want to take note of. Material names should be fairly indicative of which part of the weapon they're on.



Other texture files are located under materials/models/weapons. You do not need to worry about any of these.



Since we are using Croc Dusted for our example, the exact file location is materials/patterns/yeti/crocodiles01.vtf. Once you know the exact directory and filename, you have everything you need to proceed.

Navigate to your TF2 custom directory under:

<steamapps>\common\Team Fortress 2\tf\custom\ Create a new folder and name it whatever you'd like. For my example, the folder name is 'silly string'. The name of this folder has no impact on the final product; it's just a way to keep track of all your mods.

Recreate the folder structure seen in the material path on weapons.tf, starting with materials. Since we're replacing Croc Dusted, the full file structure should go: <steamapps>\common\Team Fortress 2\tf\custom\silly string\materials\patterns\yeti\ Move your custom pattern .vtf file into the newly created mod destination folder.

Rename your .vtf file to the pattern you want to replace it with. For my example, my .vtf file has been renamed to crocodiles01.vtf.

Launch TF2 and verify you skin is working in-game!

This guide assumes that you already have a custom war paint. If you don't but still want to follow along, feel free to use this repeating texture that I tossed together for this guide. It's downright tiny for a war paint, but it gets the job done nicely for the tutorial.Ultimately you'll want to save the image as a .tga file. You can use several programs to accomplish this; the most common ones are Photoshop or GIMP Once you have a .tga file, it is time to convert it to a .vtf file.Now that the image has been converted to a .vtf file, it can be turned into a mod for TF2.Now that we know exactly where to put the custom file for the mod, create the mod folder structure and place your .vtf pattern inside.It's an ugly skin, the image dimensions are way too small, and it's way too shiny, but it works! Hopefully your custom skin looks a lot better than mine.