The Beginner's Guide (Part1)

That's right, it's finally time for the beginner's guide to texturing. This is going to be a series of forum guides which will walk the user through the steps of making textures and will cover indexing, characters, stages, and more. Guide by Gazoinks
=== An Intro To Hacking (Part 1) ===
Needed 
*Photoshop (This tutorial will be written for Photoshop 7.0 but it should work with most programs)
*ASH
*ntcompress and texconv. (These can be found in the Revolution SDK which I cannot provide a link to.)
*Character .pacs
*Basic Photoshop knowledge (Mainly what the polygonal lasso is)
*(Optional) Visual ASH ASH and the character .pacs can be downloaded from The Download Everything Thread.)
== Step 1: ==
Place ASH in its own folder somewhere on your computer. Unzip FitMetaKnight00.pac into the same folder. Place ntcompress and texconv also in the ASH folder. 
== Step 2: ==
Whether through VASH or manually, run step1_extract.bat. When it prompts you, type in the name of the .pac you want extract. In this case, FitMetaKnight00.pac. 
== Step 3: ==
Once ASH closes, open up your chosen image editing program (in my case Photoshop) and navigate to 03metaknight_body within the ASH folder and open the .tga it contains. 
== Step 4: ==
What you see displayed in front of you are the textures for MK's gloves, mask, shoulder pads, and body. 
== Step 5: ==
Select the polygonal lasso tool and draw a rough outline around the main mask texture as well as the other stuff I've selected (observe picture). 
== Step 6: ==
Go to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation. 
== Step 7: ==
Check the colorize box in the lower right of the Hue/Saturation Window and drag around the Hue, Lightness, and Saturation sliders until you find a color you like. In my case I went with a nice blue. 
== Step 8: ==
If you feel the need, do other stuff with the texture (draw on it, add text, etc.). In my example, I added a G to the shoulder pads and some lines to the mask and reduced the Opacity. (Opacity and Blending styles won't be covered in depth here.) 
== Step 9: ==
File>Save As. Navigate to 03metaknight_body in the ASH folder, make sure Targa is selected as the File Format and double click the original file (tex#00_14.tga in this case). When it asks you if you want to overwrite, click yes. When it asks you the Targa Options, be sure to choose 32 Bits/Pixel. 
== Step 10: ==
Run step2_create.bat in the ASH folder. Type "y" for the textures you edited (in this case 03metaknight_body) and type anything else for textures you didn't edit.
Notice: If you're using ASH v2.3, all the normal textures are added automatically; you will never be prompted this question except for the indexed textures.
== Step 11: ==
Wait for ASH to finish and move the resulting _new.pac and _new.pcs files somewhere else. Rename them to FitMetaKnight##.pac and FitMetaKnight##.pcs. Replace the ## with the number of the costume you want to replace. The list of costumes can be found here. 
== Step 12: ==
Observe my Dynamic SD Loader guide for info on how to get it into your game. Gazoinks
=== Tips: ===
There must only be one file (the tga) in each ASH folder.Use the Character Page at the Dojo for refreshers on what the character looks like.Don't use fully saturated colors! (255, 0, 0, or 0,255,0, or 0, 0, 255) it'll make all our eyes burn! Even with black or white, use a dark or light grey instead. It'll improve your textures immensely.
=== ===
== FAQ ==
If you have a question, edit this section, and add your question.
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Q. When I start step1_extract.bat, it completely deletes all the "Fit*" Folders. Where should I put the folders?
A. Running Step 1 will delete all the folders created. This is unavoidable and it needs to do this for ASH to work. Simply backup the folders if you want to keep them.
Q.
I get an error when running step 2 create. I included the texture and it says:
error:
TCVerifyLists: unable to open file C:\Documents and Settings\01WarioBBody\Text#00_14.TGA for read.
Total Alloc: 744
total freed 744
press <enter> to quit.
I saved all the textures i edited as targa and 32 bit. How do i make sure i get no errors?
A. 
Q.
When running Step 2, it tell me that the texture has no Alpha layer, yet Photoshop doesn't allow me to save .TGA files with multiple layers. What do I do?
A. You need to add an Alpha Channel to the texture. Go to Layer>Transparency>Add Alpha Channel.
Q.Can someone add a tutorial for making the CSS images and the icons next to the percentages?
Q.Do you need Photoshop enable to do this?
A.You do not need Photoshop but it is the best program for texturing. Some common alternatives are GIMP and Paint.NET.
Q.I made a texture but it freezes the game when i load it?
A. The problem could be any number of problems. Try recompiling to pac.
Q.
Where do you download all the things you need?
A.
These resources as well as many others can be found at MeowMix's Download Everything Thread(You must register to view it)
Q. How do I download these to my to my wii?
A: There's a good tutorial here. http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=225642
Q:Do I have to rename the textures so they replace the original texture? If so, you should make a page to show what to rename the textures as. (ex. The Mario Circuit Texture Rainbow Road says that you have to rename it STGKART (or something) do you have to do that for all textures?)
A: Yes, you do. See the link above.
Q. Where is the second part of the tutorial? Please post a link or point it out to me if there already is a link.
A: Sorry it's taking so long, I took a long absence from hacking. As soon as the KC"MM forum is back up, I'll make Part 2.
Q. WHERE CAN U GET ASH?
A: Here's a hint: the answer has already been posted twice on this page.Category:Guide