Systematic method to clothes modding - part 1

This is a fairly basic clothes modding guide that I developed while I was doing my own clothes modding (see Miko Viara). The goal behind this method is to make the modding process as easy as possible because I know we probably won't get things right the first time (or even the second or third even if you're an expert). There will be pictures later. Maybe.


The following is a list of objectives I had in mind when I was coming up with this method:

• Each piece of clothing should be treated as a separate object
• By separating them, any changes done to one piece of clothing will not affect any others
• If any modifications are necessary, you can quickly remove the mistake and add the new changes
• It is easy to maintain because everything is named clearly so if you want to know what kind of mods were made, it would be easy to figure out.

All of these objectives can be reached by separating each piece of clothing into their own frames. You will need a back-up file for future changes, but if you have the original disc then it's not an issue. Of course, back-ups are a matter of copy pasting xx files since we have wonderful modding tools available.

So what tools will you need?

• SB3Utility
• PPextractor
• 3D graphics editing software (I will use metasquoia for the guide)
• Optionally, pre-made clothing

As I'm not a very strong artist, the next best thing I can do is take existing stuff and slightly modify them so they will look ok with my character. In this guide, all examples are based on Viara (character code km), so it may not apply to all characters, though the file structure should be similar.

1. Getting the clothing

Before you can do any clothing mods, you will need the clothing meshes. You can get them from other games, or you can make your own. I get all of mine from other games and other people that have released their own mods.

Once you get the set you want, break it down into different pieces. For instance, an example breakdown would be

• Shirt
• shoes
• pants
• sleeves
• gloves

You will notice that these correspond to different parts of the body. I do this because when you're copying meshes over to the character, you'll most likely rely on SB3U to join it with the all the bones and stuff. If you have a huge mesh with everything in it, it would be harder to accurately connect it to your character.

Once you have though of how you want to organize your clothes, save them in separate files that are clearly named and put them in a work folder.

2. Preparing the model body

Of course, you will need the character's body for reference. I've found that the nude body is the easiest to work with because it is a complete body with no missing parts (since there is no need to put body parts under clothes, you will have a lot of missing parts with the clothed body). They are typically stored in ab_01_00.xx, where ab is the character code.

1. Open mo_00_00_00.pp in SB3Utility
2. Find the corresponding nude body xx file for your character
3. Expand All_Root tree and look for null_hanade
4. Search for the mesh that contains the body, and then export it.

You may want to break down the body into several parts as well. The main parts you will need are the arms and the body, so save those in separate files and put it in your work folder.

3. Creating the xdiff file

xdiff morphing is extremely useful when trying to attach the clothes to the correct bones. You will want to make sure that you can actually create an xdiff file for the clothing you're working with (I've found that there are various issues that occur which I'm not too sure about). The best way to ensure everything goes smoothly is to make sure it works before you put a lot of time into it only to find that it doesn't work.

Read here for more information on creating xdiff files.

4. Putting the clothes on

Now you will actually apply the clothing to your character. We can start with something simple like shoes.

1. Open the body file, drag and drop the shoes and insert it.
2. In the object panel, click on "prop" and select the body file. Change the color to bright yellow. Then select the shoe meshes and change those to a darker color. This way, you can clearly see where the body is exposed.
3. Place the shoes over the feet, rotating and moving the screen to check if any yellow lines are showing. Once you have positioned the shoes, you may begin deleting any of the body that would not be shown anyways.
4. You may consider using illusion morpher at this point to fine-tune the shoes so that the mesh itself is tightly connected to the feet (or ankles, depending on what you have). For more information check this page on mqo morphing.
5. When you're satisfied with what you have, you will need to do two things: save the shoes as their own file, and save the modified body as its own file. This body will eventually be used as the final body for the character because it will have all of the unnecessary parts removed.

You will repeat the above steps for each piece of clothing you want, saving the clothing position into its own file and updating the "final body". So if you had a set that covered pretty much the entire body, your final body mesh would be pretty empty.

Part 2 will discuss how to insert the clothing into the xx file.