Creating Melee Character Textures using the Melee Toolkit! It's Seriously So Easy....

[Achilles1515]

UPDATE (4/23/16):
Melee Toolkit is now obselete. Please see DAT Texture Wizard instead.




FIRST:
Download InternetExplorer's Melee Toolkit.

This program has been around for awhile now, but the power it holds needs to be made apparent to everyone who loves Melee and is interested in creating custom costumes.

NO HEX EDITING needs to be done to add textures to your ISO file, thanks to this program.

OVERVIEW (to get a sense of how easy this is...)
Open Smash ISO in Melee Toolkit --> extract a PNG of a texture --> edit the PNG --> replace original PNG file with your new one using the toolkit.


GUIDE
1) Open Melee Toolkit and hit "Open Disc Image". Point it to your ISO file.

2) Click the "Filesystem" tab and search for the costume file you want to extract images from.
[COLLAPSE="Character & Costume Color File Abbreviations"]
Courtesy of Steelia, the Great.

Captain Falcon
PlCaBu - Blue
PlCaGr - Green
PlCaGy - Grey
PlCaNr - Captain Falcon (Default)
PlCaRe - Red
PlCaWh - Pink-and-white

Young Link
PlClBk - Black
PlClBu - Blue
PlClNr - Young Link (Default)
PlClRe - Red
PlClWh - White

Donkey Kong
PlDkBk - Black
PlDkBu - Blue
PlDkGr - Green
PlDkNr - Donkey Kong (Default)
PlDkRe - Red

Dr. Mario
PlDrBk - Black
PlDrBu - Blue
PlDrGr - Green
PlDrNr - Dr. Mario (Default)
PlDrRe - Red

Falco
PlFcBu - Blue
PlFcGr - Green
PlFcNr - Falco (Default)
PlFcRe - Red

Roy
PlFeBu - Blue
PlFeGr - Green
PlFeNr - Roy (Default)
PlFeRe - Red
PlFeYe - Yellow-and-white

Fox
PlFxGr - Green
PlFxLa - Blue/Lavender
PlFxNr - Fox (Default)
PlFxOr - Orange

Ganondorf
PlGnBu - Blue
PlGnGr - Green
PlGnLa - Purple/Lavender
PlGnNr - Ganondorf (Default)
PlGnRe - Red

Mr. Game & Watch
PlGw - All Colors

Kirby
PlKbBu - Blue
PlKbBuCpDk - Blue Donkey Kong cap
PlKbBuCpFc - Blue Falco cap
PlKbBuCpMt - Blue Mewtwo cap
PlKbBuCpPr - Blue Jigglypuff cap
PlKbGr - Green
PlKbGrCpDk - Green Donkey Kong cap
PlKbGrCpFc - Green Falco cap
PlKbGrCpMt - Green Mewtwo cap
PlKbGrCpPr - Green Jigglypuff cap
PlKbNr - Kirby (Default)
PlKbNrCpDk - Donkey Kong cap (Default)
PlKbNrCpFc - Falco cap (Default)
PlKbNrCpMt - Mewtwo cap (Default)
PlKbNrCpPr - Jigglypuff cap (Default)
PlKbRe - Red
PlKbReCpDk - Red Donkey Kong cap
PlKbReCpFc - Red Falco cap
PlKbReCpMt - Red Mewtwo cap
PlKbReCpPr - Red Jigglypuff cap
PlKbWh - White
PlKbWhCpDk - White Donkey Kong cap
PlKbWhCpFc - White Falco cap
PlKbWhCpMt - White Mewtwo cap
PlKbWhCpPr - White Jigglypuff cap
PlKbYe - Yellow
PlKbYeCpDk - Yellow Donkey Kong cap
PlKbYeCpFc - Yellow Falco cap
PlKbYeCpMt - Yellow Mewtwo cap
PlKbYeCpPr - Yellow Jigglypuff cap

PlKbCpCa - Captain Falcon cap
PlKbCpCl - Young Link cap
PlKbCpDk - Donkey Kong cap (alternate)
PlKbCpDr - Dr. Mario cap
PlKbCpFc - Falco cap (alternate)
PlKbCpFe - Roy cap
PlKbCpFx - Fox cap
PlKbCpGn - Ganondorf cap
PlKbCpGw - Mr. Game & Watch cap
PlKbCpKp - Bowser cap
PlKbCpLg - Luigi cap
PlKbCpLk - Link cap
PlKbCpMr - Mario cap
PlKbCpMs - Marth cap
PlKbCpMt - Mewtwo cap (alternate)
PlKbCpNs - Ness cap
PlKbCpPc - Pichu cap
PlKbCpPe - Peach cap
PlKbCpPk - Pikachu cap
PlKbCpPp - Ice Climbers cap
PlKbCpPr - Jigglypuff cap (alternate)
PlKbCpSk - Sheik cap
PlKbCpSs - Samus cap
PlKbCpYs - Yoshi cap
PlKbCpZd - Zelda cap

Bowser
PlKpBk - Black
PlKpBu - Blue
PlKpNr - Bowser (Default)
PlKpRe - Red

Luigi
PlLgAq - Blue/Aquamarine
PlLgNr - Luigi (Default)
PlLgPi - Pink
PlLgWh - White-and-green

Link
PlLkBk - Black
PlLkBu - Blue
PlLkNr - Link (Default)
PlLkRe - Red
PlLkWh - White

Mario
PlMrBk - Brown-and-white
PlMrBu - Blue/Jumpman
PlMrGr - Green
PlMrNr - Mario (Default)
PlMrYe - Yellow

Marth
PlMsBk - Black
PlMsGr - Green
PlMsNr - Marth (Default)
PlMsRe - Red
PlMsWh - White

Mewtwo
PlMtBu - Blue
PlMtGr - Green
PlMtNr - Mewtwo (Default)
PlMtRe - Red

Nana (Ice Climbers)
PlNnAq - Orange costume [with Light Blue Popo]
PlNnNr - Nana (Default)
PlNnWh - Red costume [with White Popo]
PlNnYe - Yellow/Tan

Ness
PlNsBu - Blue
PlNsGr - Green
PlNsNr - Ness (Default)
PlNsYe - Yellow-and-black

Pichu
PlPcBu - Blue [goggles]
PlPcGr - Green [backpack]
PlPcNr - Pichu (Default)
PlPcRe - Red [bandana]

Peach
PlPeBu - Blue
PlPeGr - Green
PlPeNr - Peach (Default)
PlPeWh - White
PlPeYe - Daisy [yellow]

Pikachu
PlPkBu - Blue [party hat]
PlPkGr - Green [cowboy hat]
PlPkNr - Pikachu (Default)
PlPkRe - Red [trainer hat]

Popo (Ice Climbers)
PlPpGr - Green
PlPpNr - Popo (Default)
PlPpOr - Light Blue costume [with Orange Nana]
PlPpRe - White costume [with Red Nana]

Jigglypuff
PlPrBu - Blue [bow]
PlPrGr - Green [headband]
PlPrNr - Jigglypuff (Default)
PlPrRe - Red [flower]
PlPrYe - Yellow [crown]

Sheik
PlSkBu - Blue
PlSkGr - Green
PlSkNr - Sheik (Default)
PlSkRe - Red
PlSkWh - White-and-black

Samus
PlSsBk - Brown
PlSsGr - Green
PlSsLa - Purple/Lavender
PlSsNr - Samus (Default)
PlSsPi - Pink

Yoshi
PlYsAq - Light Blue/Aquamarine
PlYsBu - Dark Blue
PlYsNr - Yoshi (Default)
PlYsPi - Pink
PlYsRe - Red
PlYsYe - Yellow

Zelda
PlZdBu - Blue
PlZdGr - Green
PlZdNr - Zelda (Default)
PlZdRe - Red
PlZdWh - Light Blue/White
[/COLLAPSE]
3) Click the file you want to load on the left and then choose "Load Selected File" on the right.

• I'll use Normal Falco as an example.

​

4) It seems like nothing happened after clicking the button, but the DAT file was loaded in the background. Hit the "DAT File" tab at the very top.

• The program should show the name of the DAT file you selected to load.

5) Hit the "Textures" tab, which is now underneath the "DAT File" you just hit.

• A list of textures for that character file will be shown (with preview images on the right!)

​

6) Choose the texture you want to edit and hit the "Export" button on the right.

• It saves as a PNG

7) Use your favorite graphics editor to change the extracted PNG file to whatever you want. Do not change image dimensions.

• Let's make a simple Los Angeles Lakers Falco head (Photoshop)

​

8) Back in the Toolkit at that last screen you were at, make sure you have the correct image selected on the left and hit "Replace" on the right. Point it to your new texture.

• The preview on the right will now be your new texture.

9) Now to save everything, click the "Info" tab, two to the left of "Textures" at the top.

10) Hit "Save to Disc Image" and you are done!

Close Melee Toolkit and boot your game up in Dolphin to test the texture!

11) Share your work in the Melee Texture Hacks Thread.

NOTE: Extracting and replacing textures with the Melee Toolkit only works with character costumes and not things like the Stage Select Screen, Character Select Portraits, stage textures, etc. Replacing those textures requires manual hex editing, the old school way. See the stickied Melee Hack and You thread.

 

[The Realest]

Great guide, now people won't ask about it all the time or do it the old longer way.

 

[TerryJ]

I suck at image editing :D

 

[Achilles1515]

I suck at image editing :D

Nice! Orange looks pretty slick.

 

[TerryJ]

Nice! Orange looks pretty slick.

It turned out way more brown than orange I for my taste, I'm gonna keep trying for a good looking one since this isn't hard at all and takes like no time.
Edit:

Spoiler

This one looks much better now but I don't like the green emblem much. From here on I'll just be posting these into the proper thread for this.

 

[DRGN]

Amazing! Can't wait to play with this.

(How did I not know about this? lol)

 

[Goatlink]

I have noticed that it does not find some textures like the emblem on marths cape (but it does find roys) and some of falcos eye textures. Is there an easy way to add support for those textures?

also along those lines, could we add support for stage files?

 

[Achilles1515]

I have noticed that it does not find some textures like the emblem on marths cape (but it does find roys) and some of falcos eye textures. Is there an easy way to add support for those textures?

also along those lines, could we add support for stage files?

You'd have to ask InternetExplorer. (and maybe he's answered these questions in the Melee Toolkit thread? idk)

 

[TerryJ]

So far I've only been able to use Melee Toolkit to find load up texture files for characters but I can't seem to find/load stock icons, stages or the Character Select screen.

 

[Achilles1515]

So far I've only been able to use Melee Toolkit to find load up texture files for characters but I can't seem to find/load stock icons, stages or the Character Select screen.

Compatibility was never added for those things. It only works with character costumes. I just edited the main post and made a note of that at the bottom.

And the thread name has been changed to add in the word "characters" specifically.

 

[TerryJ]

Compatibility was never added for those things. It only works with character costumes. I just edited the main post and made a note of that at the bottom.

And the thread name has been changed to add in the word "characters" specifically.

I see. Thanks for the notation. Would you happen to have information as to how CSS hacks or stage hacks are done? I've not found any documentation on it in a while.

 

[Berble]

Can we add things like designs and text to textures or can we just change the color? I want to try and make a space animal jacket with writing on the back and a design on it. Would something like this be possible?

 

[TerryJ]

Can we add things like designs and text to textures or can we just change the color? I want to try and make a space animal jacket with writing on the back and a design on it. Would something like this be possible?

You can edit the image to be anything you want, be it a recolor or what have you. He only demonstrated changing the color because it's easy and gets the point across.

If I really wanted to I could change Falcon's back sprite to something different. For example, this to this:

 

[Berble]

Well those 2 pictures are textures that are already in the game. I'm talking about adding my own custom image/text to a certain texture but you can do that too?

 

[TerryJ]

Well those 2 pictures are textures that are already in the game. I'm talking about adding my own custom image/text to a certain texture but you can do that too?

Well yeah, all you're doing is extracting a PNG file and editing it then putting it back in. You can edit it in any way that you want so long as you don't change the dimensions of the original image.

 

[DRGN]

Yeah, I remember seeing a Falcon with a posterized Isai face on the back. Anyone have that texture btw? I might make it if I can't find it.

 

[dol]

anyone know how to edit jigglypuffs closed eye texture? Its not the dat.

 

[Achilles1515]

anyone know how to edit jigglypuffs closed eye texture? Its not the dat.

If you want to edit a texture that is not shown in the Toolkit, you'll need to manually put it in with hex editing. You can download Jigglypuff's full texture list in Steelia's texture post where he should give the necessary offsets in the DAT files of where to insert the closed eye texture. It looks like the closed eye is a palette'd texure (_9) so you'll have to follow the CI4/CI8 texture replacement guide, also linked in the Melee Hacks and You Thread.

 

[dol]

thanks achilles!

 

[Osh]

Has anyone else run into the problem where certain textures are not replaceable? (Ie: sheik's green and red texture 15?)

 

[Its_Alpaca]

I've been working on a skin for Kirby, as all goes well, but when he blinks he changes back to White..any help? .-.

 

[darkatma]

Is there an easy way to tell which PNG file belongs where on the character?

 

[Kati]

Is it possible to replace the bonus costumes provided by the 20xx pack?

edit*

Oh I see the alts just have completely different names... just gotta find them in the file tree.

 

[DRGN]

Is there an easy way to tell which PNG file belongs where on the character?

Best way I can think of is to make the texture one solid color that is uncommon to the rest of the character (like magenta or lime green), then import it into the character, load up the game, and see what changes. I think that would be a bit better than trying to guess-and-check with your own edited textures, because you would be able to tell for sure where the edges of the texture are. Actually, now that I think of it, it would probably be best if you put lines or a grid on the texture too, so you could see if/how the texture warps as it confirms to the model, and better prepare your own.

This must have been how the wireframes were born, lol. Someone was like, you know what? That's kind of cool. Let's keep that in the game somewhere.

 

[Sempai]

Attempting to make a sheik and marth costume.

What if you marked each texture like texture 31 with a big 31 on it.

Seems like a quick way to know where the colors need to go

 

[Luddoj]

This is such a great alternative to the old, tedious and complex method used for creating Melee Textures. The results are great and the use is even comparable to that of Brawl Box for Brawl and Project M edits.

Now the only thing missing are more updates.

 

[BSeeD]

Hey !
So yesterday I tried modifying one of the Purple Samus (PiSsLa) textures, exported the png, modified it without changing size or anything.

Then I proceeded to replace the texture file with the replace button, "save to image disc", and tried the iso on dolphin.

Dolphin is displaying the old texture !
The new texture is in for sure, it's still there when I open the iso back with melee toolkit, I even extracted the .dat from dolphin and found my texture in it, even though the game is displaying the old one.

It's starting to drive me crazy lol any hint ?

 

[Achilles1515]

To make sure you're doing everything right, modify Falco's head color and see if it works for you.

Then maybe the texture you are modifying just exactly what you think. Possibly it is only a texture that shows up when Samus is offscreen in the camera bubble or something like that. I would go to the "hack any texture" thread and download Steelia's purple samus texture pack and look through all the textures there. There's a chance that the Melee toolkit doesn't display all of Samus' textures.

 

[BSeeD]

Do you answer that fast all the time ?
If so, I'm going to overflow you with questions

Im at work right now but I was planning on trying on the falco eye texture as soon as I'm back home, I'm also pretty sure there's something wrong with this texture specifically.

I'll let you know in the afternoon

 

[Achilles1515]

Do you answer that fast all the time ?
If so, I'm going to overflow you with questions

Im at work right now but I was planning on trying on the falco eye texture as soon as I'm back home, I'm also pretty sure there's something wrong with this texture specifically.

I'll let you know in the afternoon

Lol no, I don’t answer this fast all the time. I just help when I can.

And Falco’s eye texture is another one that Melee Toolkit misses. There’s multiple eye textures for Falco (and most characters) for when they are in different actions. Like charging a smash attack might be a different eye texture than standing still. Or getting hit might have another eye texture. Melee Toolkit doesn’t pick up all these, so you’ll need to download Steelia’s texture packs for that character color, edit them, and then use the DAT Texture Wizard and the offset that Steelia gives to insert them into the file.

 

[DRGN]

Hey !
So yesterday I tried modifying one of the Purple Samus (PiSsLa) textures, exported the png, modified it without changing size or anything.

Then I proceeded to replace the texture file with the replace button, "save to image disc", and tried the iso on dolphin.

Dolphin is displaying the old texture !
The new texture is in for sure, it's still there when I open the iso back with melee toolkit, I even extracted the .dat from dolphin and found my texture in it, even though the game is displaying the old one.

It's starting to drive me crazy lol any hint ?

If it is indeed the right texture, perhaps it's being cached. There's a setting in Dolphin (Graphics config > Hacks tab) called Texture Cache. It's a slider, where the far right is "Safe". Setting it to safe is supposed to help ensure the textures are updated.

 

[BSeeD]

If it is indeed the right texture, perhaps it's being cached. There's a setting in Dolphin (Graphics config > Hacks tab) called Texture Cache. It's a slider, where the far right is "Safe". Setting it to safe is supposed to help ensure the textures are updated.

Thank you very much. I tried that, but I switched some original files with Steelia's textures and managed to see that I was just editing the wrong png

 

[Decipio-Carmen]

For some reason when I hit Save to Disk Image it says it saves successfully but when I try to load the ISO I get a warning: "...\Super Smash Bros. Melee v1.02 NTSC-U.iso" is an invalid GCM/ISO file, or is not a GC/Wii ISO.

I've tried opening it with 3 different versions of Dolphin, and get the same error each time. Has anyone run into this?


Edit: Nevermind I figured it out I think

 

[Ben Zed]

So I'm lazy, and my alt costume just consists of pre existing textures within the game. I've been trying to make a marth skin that combines red marth and black marth. I'm trying to edit the white marth skin (No one will miss that color, lol), but for some reason when I replace the white cape with the black cape, it just turns into a grey-looking cape. I have no Idea why that happens. There is literally not a single PNG image from the White Marth skin left on the DAT File, yet it would seem that the black and white capes have...mixed...somehow. Would anyone be able to tell me why that is, and if there's anything I can do about it?

@ Achilles1515 maybe you could help me understand the problem?

 

[Linus Gustavsson]

For some reason when I hit Save to Disk Image it says it saves successfully but when I try to load the ISO I get a warning: "...\Super Smash Bros. Melee v1.02 NTSC-U.iso" is an invalid GCM/ISO file, or is not a GC/Wii ISO.

I've tried opening it with 3 different versions of Dolphin, and get the same error each time. Has anyone run into this?


Edit: Nevermind I figured it out I think

What did you change to make it work? Having the same problem.

 

[Achilles1515]

So I'm lazy, and my alt costume just consists of pre existing textures within the game. I've been trying to make a marth skin that combines red marth and black marth. I'm trying to edit the white marth skin (No one will miss that color, lol), but for some reason when I replace the white cape with the black cape, it just turns into a grey-looking cape. I have no Idea why that happens. There is literally not a single PNG image from the White Marth skin left on the DAT File, yet it would seem that the black and white capes have...mixed...somehow. Would anyone be able to tell me why that is, and if there's anything I can do about it?

@ Achilles1515 maybe you could help me understand the problem?

View attachment 39754 View attachment 39755

I'm not totally sure, unfortunately. I would assume there is some other color value in the dat that gets overlayed on the cape or sort of used as a "shine" on the cape. I wouldn't even know where to begin to look for that. @Lanceinthepants, do you think this is the case,as well?

I know this isn't the answer you want, but I would just suggest reimporting your textures over black marth instead, so you can use his default black cape.

Fwiw, I like the texture and the fresh white pants w/ black and red.

What did you change to make it work? Having the same problem.

You have to close out of Melee Toolkit before opening the ISO up in Dolphin.

 

[Ben Zed]

I'm not totally sure, unfortunately. I would assume there is some other color value in the dat that gets overlayed on the cape or sort of used as a "shine" on the cape. I wouldn't even know where to begin to look for that. @Lanceinthepants, do you think this is the case,as well?

I know this isn't the answer you want, but I would just suggest reimporting your textures over black marth instead, so you can use his default black cape.

Fwiw, I like the texture and the fresh white pants w/ black and red.

Don't worry, you gave the answer you could. Thanks.

 

[Linus Gustavsson]

I'm not totally sure, unfortunately. I would assume there is some other color value in the dat that gets overlayed on the cape or sort of used as a "shine" on the cape. I wouldn't even know where to begin to look for that. @Lanceinthepants, do you think this is the case,as well?

I know this isn't the answer you want, but I would just suggest reimporting your textures over black marth instead, so you can use his default black cape.

Fwiw, I like the texture and the fresh white pants w/ black and red.

You have to close out of Melee Toolkit before opening the ISO up in Dolphin.

Thanks!

 

[Jake the walrus]

I tried to use different textures on captain falcon,fox,falco, and young link and it worked but when i opened up my melee iso on dolphin and my game is super screwed up help would be amazing, if anyone has any idea how to fix my problem with the iso please contact me on skype to help me, my skype name is guyinthechuckychessesuit

 

[midters12]

This is nearly impossible on Mewtwo... I can't understand what picture is what on his body!