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Completed 2021 Guide to Texture Hacking with HSDRaw

Vancity_Primal

Smash Rookie
Joined
Dec 31, 2020
Messages
3
Slippi.gg
PRML#682
This guide is intended for beginners who want to learn how to texture hack Melee characters

Technically you can stop after the first step and just import your modified textures using DTW,
however using HSD to preview how textures will be applied has greatly improved my workflow
and will enabled you to move on to more advanced hacks in the future

Big thanks to Durgan for DTW and Ploaj for HSD, without whom this tutorial wouldn't exist

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You'll need the following tools

DAT Texture Wizard (DTW) - Used for browsing and exporting/importing files from the Melee ISO

HSD Raw (HSD) - Used for previewing the texture hacks on your character

Photoshop/Photopea/GIMP - Used for working with the texture files
Use Photopea or GIMP if you don't have an image editor already

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1. Exporting the Character File and Textures from your ISO

Open DTW and import your Melee ISO by going File > Open Disc (ISO/GCM) from the menu at the top of the window

Click on the Characters shortcut at the top of the window

Open the folder of the character you want to make edits to

Single-click the file of the character costume colour you want to make edits to

Click the export button on the right side of the window and save the .dat file somewhere easy to find

Double-click the file of the character costume colour you want to make edits to

Right click any of the textures and select Export All and save the textures somewhere easy to find

It's a good practice to save the .dat and texture files together in their own labelled folder
It's recommended to keep an unedited copy of your .dat and texture folder as a backup


2. Viewing the Character Model for Texture Changes

Open HSD and import the .dat character file you exported by going File > Open from the menu at the top of the window

Double-click the JOBJ file in the Nodes window on the left side

You should see your character in a T-pose on the right side, in the Preview window

Click and drag with the right mouse button to rotate
Click and drag with the left mouse button to pan
Scroll wheel to zoom


3. Making Texture Changes to your Character

To the left of the Preview window you will see a Nodes title with three tabs under it labelled Joints, Objects and Textures

Click on the Textures tab to view the textures that are being applied to the model

This is the main window we will be working with in HSD

To substitute textures, click on the texture you would like to replace then click on the Replace Texture button at the top of the window

Melee stores two copies of the character model in each .dat file - one that has a high poly count and one that has a low poly count
These are laid over each other in the viewer and can mess up your preview while you are working
To disable the low poly character model, click the Objects tab next to the Textures tab and uncheck the low poly objects
It can take some time to identify which object is which, but generally the low poly objects are grouped together at the bottom of the list


4. Making Modified Textures

Now that you have your HSD workspace set up, it's time to make some textures!

Open the character folder with the .dat and texture files that you exported from DTW in Step 1

Open the texture file you would like to make changes to in your image editor of choice

Make the changes you want to the texture, and save the image as a PNG

Back in HSD, identify the unedited version of the texture you want to swap out and use the Replace Texture button to upload your texture

See how the texture gets applied to the model and tweak as needed

5. Importing the Modified Textures to the Melee ISO

Once you're happy with how your texture hack is looking in HSD, go File > Save at the top of the window

Open DTW and navigate to the folder of the character you are working on, just like we did in Step 1

Single-click the file of the character costume colour you want to overwrite with your new texture hack

Click the import button on the right side of the window and select the modified .dat file that you created

Save the ISO by going File > Save from the menu at the top of the window

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Congratulations on your new texture hacking skills! Texture hacks are a great way to get started with Melee modding and are usually netplay-safe!

Share your best work at SSBMTextures and meet other modders on the Melee Workshop Discord server
 
Last edited:

DRGN

Technowizard
Moderator
Premium
Joined
Aug 20, 2005
Messages
2,175
Location
Sacramento, CA
Nice tutorial! We defiitely need more guides on HSDRaw. It's currently the hidden gem of Melee modding, since there are so few threads on it.


Here's a similar procedure that I often use with Dolphin and its awesome "Load Custom Textures" feature:
  1. Open up your ISO in DTW and navigate to the character file you want to customize
  2. Go to the Settings menu and enable "Export Textures using Dolphin's Naming Convention"
  3. Export the character's costume textures (right-click -> 'Export All')
  4. Save the textures in Dolphin's custom textures folder (e.g. '\Load\Textures\GALE01\')
  5. Run your game in Dolphin, and zoom in so you can see the textures you'll be modifying
  6. Open up the textures you want to modify in your image editor of choice
  7. Edit some of the textures and save your changes
  8. Open Dolphin's Graphics settings window, go to the Advanced tab, and toggle "Load Custom Textures"
  9. You can toggle the feature on/off at any time to update what your latest edited textures look like in-game
  10. Continue editing/saving your textures and toggling that feature to work on the rest of the textures
  11. Once you're all done, import your finished textures back into the costume/.dat file
 

Vancity_Primal

Smash Rookie
Joined
Dec 31, 2020
Messages
3
Slippi.gg
PRML#682
I'll have to try that DRGN DRGN ! I came up with this workflow specifically because I had to reboot Dolphin after each tweak

I'm still trying to work out how to use HSDRaw to it's full potential, specifically full character model imports. Hoping to put together a tutorial if I ever figure it out
 
Last edited:

narjunajnimre

Smash Rookie
Joined
Aug 30, 2020
Messages
5
Can you only use HSDraw to view individual .dat files you export? Is there a way to view an entire iso? When I try loading an iso nothing happens.
 

Vancity_Primal

Smash Rookie
Joined
Dec 31, 2020
Messages
3
Slippi.gg
PRML#682
Can you only use HSDraw to view individual .dat files you export? Is there a way to view an entire iso? When I try loading an iso nothing happens.
HSDraw can't open entire ISOs, but you can use it to see the contents of most individual files inside an ISO
 
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