ratchet_owns88

Thanks. I was initially unsure where to place this, so I asked where to create the topic before starting; it was suggested to be put in this section. However, I won't object if it's moved.

Thanks, I doubt many will use it, or give many responses. All the same though, I felt like it needed a place here, if only for the situation I found myself in at the start of my own modding process.

This topic is designed to help you cope with transparency issues in certain droids, armors, as well as weapons in KotOR:TSL. The flaw is inherent in most laptop user’s gamplay, this is due to a insufficient VIDEO GRAPHICS CARD installed in the hardrive. This means that anything that is shiny or has a reflective surface will become clear and you will see right through them. Depending on how reflective the object is will determine how much of their actual form you will see, in short... On Laptops: more reflective = less solid. Other problems associated with the flaw are that you will not be able to see holograms or transmission in their regular translucent blue form; they will be solid and colored. Also, you will not be able to see active shields or the burst of speed effect, although they will be active, you will only see if they are working by the cyan arrows on your characters’ portraits. Another major drawback is you will never see from a camera / droid’s point of view (they are usually a hazy blue or red). The force sight ability will be also lost to you, meaning you will not be able to see a non playable character’s alignment (a shaded background with a bad red character, a good blue character, or a white neutral character). Unfortunately, if you have this dilemma you cannot upgrade your card because it is built into your particular model, and while you can change the card, it is highly recommended you do not, because you will need to take apart the laptop and remove the mother board in order to do so. You can also just buy a gaming laptop or a PC tower with the proper card installed, but chances are slim you want to spend that kind of money if only for this one game. This is a modder’s tip on how to inexpensively reduce the transparency issues only. I have chosen an HK-50 using a DC-15A Rifle mod as an example. If you have downloaded the ultimate appearance or just a particular reflective weapon mod, this will be much simpler, seeing as how I won’t go into how to extract the models, you’ll have to figure that out on your own. To edit the appearance you will need the GIMP painting program. NOTE: I must stress than you make duplicates of the files you plan to make changes to, in case you wish to undo the alterations. Once you have downloaded the GIMP program, go into the object’s destination folder and locate their .TGA file, it’s a good possibility that it will be easy to find, with the characters name in the title. After you have opened the .TGA, you will see the object’s skin on a flat 2d surface. From here, all you need to do is to click on the LAYERS tab on the top of the screen, and then again on the TRANSPARENCY tab, you must then select REMOVE ALPHA CHANNEL. This takes the checkerboard surface off the skin. Save the .TGA in the folder among the files it was originally found with. Enter your edited file, along with any other modifications you wish to go with the skin, into the OVERRIDE folder located within your KotOR:TSL destination folder, or just create one if not already there. NOTE: Please make sure your game is not active while doing this, as this may corrupt the system in unforeseen consequences. The scheme of the color and texture may seem unrealistic, even downgraded compared to other objects, but this is only in some cases, and most of the time the object will in fact look solid and well blended to the rest of the scene. The weapon and facial processes are exactly the same as the armor alterations, as I have already done the same steps with the rifle HK-50 is holding. Check your gameplay to view the results. Congratulations, you now have a solid character / weapon / armor for your laptop’s KotOR:TSL gameplay.