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Texture Pack Tutorial
Wonderful question. Here's how to get started...
Things You Will Need
Somewhat of an artistic knowledge or background. This sort of thing pretty much requires you to have some level of a skill in art and the nuances that come with it, specifically pixel art and tilesets. Educate yourself in that sort of thing, before taking on something like this. You don’t have to be an expert, you just have to have a passion for it!
Graphics Editing Program of your choice. This is essential! You could theoretically do this in MS Paint, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Lots of other GEP’s offer handy tools that make this challenge a lot easier. If you can’t afford Photoshop, GIMP is a great alternative. I will, however, be using Photoshop, in this tutorial.
An idea of what kind of pack you want to make. This is also a good idea. When I made DirtySpace, I started with the idea of making a Star Wars inspired project and stuck with that idea. There really isn’t a good way to teach someone how to think of ideas, but packs look the best when there is a general theme or style. So think of something.
Lots of time. Texture packs aren’t finished in a day. These things, especially for newcomers, will take time and effort to make them look their best. Expect to be working on your project for a little while.
Step 1: Create A New Project
Alrighty. So now that we’ve gotten the requirements out of the way, let’s get started. First, you need to choose a resolution. What’s a resolution, you ask? Easy. Basically, how detailed each one of your blocks is going to be. Keep in mind, the higher resolution your pack is, the more intensive it will be on your system. Not only that, but a higher resolution pack also means more work for you to do.
Currently, the supported resolutions in StarMade are 64, 128 and 256. Obviously, the higher the number, the higher the resolution. Keep in mind, a 64 resolution pack still has plenty of room for detail.
Once you have that squared away, you will need to do a little bit of pirating. Go to “...StarMade/data/textures/block/” and choose a Default Texture Pack in the resolution you want your own project to be in. It’s okay, you can use Kupu’s textures in your own pack for now. Just remember they Must be replaced before you run off linking your pack on the forums and calling it your own. That’s a sure fire way to being not only mocked but possibly banned.
Copy the entire texture pack folder and Paste it to your desktop or wherever you see fit. Rename it to what you want your pack to be called and open up t000, t001 and t002 in the Graphics Editing Program of your choice. These three files are the bulk of the pack. They will be what you edit the most.
Step 2: Get To Work
I know, this is a pretty broad stroke. But what else is there to explain? Start off small. Pace yourself and get a plan going. Look at reference images and other peoples' work. A good idea is to open the Block Editor and take a look at where and what each texture is. Sometimes they can get confusing.
To access it, just open up the launcher, click "Start Game" and select "Modding" from the top menu. Click "Block Editor" and you're on your way. Always a good idea.
You can also download grid guides for each resolution here.
If you get stuck or run out of creative juices, just take a break and come back to it later. Look at more reference images or god forbid, play StarMade! It never hurts to give up for a little bit.
Step 3: Finish What You Started
So it's been a little while. You've completed most of the pack. You like what you see. Now finish the damn thing! A little hypocritical, considering my current status with my own projects but do as I say, not as I do.
While you're working, start the forum post for it, showing off your work! Take in-game screenshots or 2D renders of the textures! Get people excited for your pack! The whole reason why you're here is for fortune and glory, right? Have at it!
When you are ready to let users download and use your pack, compress the pack file into a ZIP and upload it to either this website or an external file hosting site such as Dropbox. You can add installation instructions into the file along with the pack, if you so please. Or even a text file, telling people to go to the official thread on the forums.
Be gracious and accepting of comments and critique that you are given. Take them into consideration and update your pack accordingly. Or, if you do none of this, and are just making a pack for yourself, ignore all of this and just have fun. That works too!
Conclusion
There you have it. A simple introductory guide to making a texture pack for StarMade. For those who were expecting a more in depth guide, don't worry. I'll be posting more Advanced Tips and Tricks that I use in Photoshop, in the next post.
In the future, I'll also be adding guides to Editing GUI and Making Character Skins as well. Stay tuned for those. Thanks for reading!
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