Outfit Pack Creation

A) Creating NPC Outfit Packs

Use VPKTool to open up the mdl file and update the search paths to point at a directory with your own custom vmt files that point to your own custom texture files all within your own unique directory.

See the VTMB Mod Developers Guide for more details on editing MDL files using VPKTool and changing skin and texture paths.

Conventions:

    1. MDL files should use the convention:

    2. [author]_[modelName].mdl

    3. Example: dheu_vv3.mdl

    4. MDL files for a particular NPC must be placed in the NPC's original model directory.

    5. Example: models/character/npc/unique/downtown/vv/dheu_vv3.mdl

    6. Texture Paths should be updated to point to a subdirectory of the NPC's original materials diretory that uses the convention:

    7. .[author]_[modelName]

    8. Example: materials/models/character/npc/unqiue/downtown/vv/.dheu_vv3/

    9. Make sure all vmt files within your texture directory properly point to corresponding tth/ttz files. (IE: if it is a new texture, then make sure it point to the current directory).

    10. Try to limit including textures. If you re-use a common texture (like eyes), then try to declare a vmt file that points to the common texture instead of bloating your pack with unneeded texture copies.

    11. Naming conventions WITHIN YOUR MATERIALS DIRECTORY are at your own discretion. You may also make sub-directories within your materials directory.

    12. Use 7zip or WinZip for compression or wrap your 7zip file within a Winzip file if you need a ".zip" extension to upload your file to a file share. Package must include a readme with installation instructions.

    13. Include directory paths. Make sure the archive can be extracted to the VTMB install directory directly.

    14. The root of the archive should have folders that look like:

    15. Vampire/models/.....

    16. Vampire/materials/.....

Notes:

    • Make the texture directory first, then update the mdl.

    • Yes, the directory starts with a period.

    • At a minimum, include all vmt files from the NPC's normal materials directory. EVen if you dont use all the textures, the vmt files will ensure everything maps to common resources.

    • Windows explorer does not allow you to create directories that start with a period. You must use command line (Start -> Run -> cmd). To create the directory.

    • C:\>cd "c:\Program Files\Activision\Vampire - Bloodlines\Vampire..."

    • C:\Program Files\Activision\...>mkdir .mydirectory

    • Once the directory is created, you can continue using explorer.

B) Creating PC Outfit Packs

There is really nothing special about PC outfit packs other than common sense in the packaging.

Like NPC Outfit packs, users must be able to extract the outfit pack to the VTMB install directory without any further modification.

Other requirements:

    • You MAY NOT alter clansdoc000.txt

    • You must use 7Zip, Winzip or a combination of the 2.

    • You must include a readme that tells people to unpack the file to the VTMB install directory.

In reality, PC Outfit packs will work without compmod, however I will only list packs on my website that adhere to the rules above.