How to make gun skins in Call of Duty! (Photoshop)

[Moseph 139]

I saw this get requested by @Mr.Gray so I thought I'd make a tutorial on it. However, I had previously decided to make it but got a bit lazy half way through :P

 

Tools needed:

 

Call of Duty

CoD4 Skinning Tool (I did not make this, but I can't find who did, so if someone knows tell me and I'll edit it in)

Photoshop

WinRaR

 

Download the following:

 

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/zlg07mlbaz2t1/Cod4_Skinning_Tools

 

This is the skinning tool you'll need.

 

https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop

 

This is the DDS plugin you need for photoshop.

 

http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm

 

This is WinRaR, just select the country and your computer specs and download.

 

If you don't have photoshop, I'm sure there are a lot of different ways to get it for free, but I would not recommend it at all. JUST BUY IT!

 

First of all, you need to find the skin that you want to skin. This can be found in the directory for Call of Duty 4. Mine is at the following:

Go to "Local Disk (C:)"

Then "Program Files (x86)"

Then "Steam"

Then "steamapps"

Then "common"

And then click "Call of Duty 4"

Find the "main" folder

Now if you haven't already, change the folder names to the following...

 

iw_00 - localized_english_aa

iw_01 - localized_english_aab

iw_02 - localized_english_aac

iw_03 - localized_english_aad

iw_04 - localized_english_aae

iw_05 - localized_english_aaf

iw_06 - localized_english_aag

 

and create a new folder called: localized_english_aw07.iwd

If the file type originally isn't IWD then change it to IWD.

 

Open up the folder in which you choose with WinRaR. (localized_english_aaf should have most of the gun skins in it) This should change the Icon of the file to the WinRaR icon, and from there on you should be able to open any IWD file with WinRaR by clicking on it normally. 

 

Upon opening the file, you should be granted with one folder; images.

 

I am going to choose the desert eagle, this is the original one, it is the Raid silver desert eagle that they use in promod and such. The file that I am using is called "weapon_desert_eagle_silver_col.iwi". Once you have chosen the file you wish to use, drag it into the folder called that you downloaded called "CoD4 skinning Tools".

 

Once done, drag the file into the .exe called "iwi2dds" and it will output a DDS file that is read by photoshop (That is once you have installed the DDS plugin above). For example my file that was given to me was called "weapn_desert_eagle_silver_col.iwi_out.dds". You should have something similar aswell. 

 

Open the file with Photoshop and edit it to you heart's desire. All I have done with mine is change the colour and the text font, which is not to difficult.

 

Now, the next part is very crucial. If messed up, you will be left with a standard Photoshop file extension at the end. Which is not compatible with the game. If you have put text on your gun, make sure you right click the text, usually find in the bottom right of your Photoshop window. Then, click "Rasterize Type". This will make the text a part of you actually gun, and make it so it isn't a separate layer on its own.

 

Once done, do the normal procedure of saving a file, by doing the following:

 

Clicking "File" in the top left of your screen

And then "Save as"

 

If it originally wants to save it as a file type other than "DDS" change it to "DDS", and replace it with it's original file.

 

Once you have that done, drag the "weapn_desert_eagle_silver_col.iwi_out.dds" file into "dds2iwi-cod4.exe" and then you will get a file named "weapon_desert_eagle_silver_col.iwi_out.iwi". Change this file now to its original name, as mine would be "weapon_desert_eagle_silver_col.iwi". 

 

Go back to the directory of your Call of Duty 4 and drag it into the "images" folder inside of your "localized_english_aw07.iwd".

 

Upon start up of your Call of Duty, get into a game and select the weapon and boosh, you're done! I would just like to mention that the skins you make will not work on Raids servers, or any other server for that matter, if they have a skin for that gun already. But for example it will would in Raid Promod if you are editing a AK-47 skin or a AK-74u skin, because Raid has no skins for them.

 

Enjoy! :P

 

(If screenshots are needed to make it easier to understand, I will add them later if needed).

[Mr.Gray 0]

Thanks for the tutorial but i have some questions. I already saw a tutorial on youtube but when i did it i had some complications. First of all do i HAVE to rename the winrar files? and what about the new folder that is created? Because the localized_english_aw07.iwd is a new folder, it would be empty so i would have to create a new folder named images in it right? and this localized_english_aw07.iwd would be created where? and finally when i did the skins following the youtube tutorial it said "error cannot run image *gun name* ". Although this is a very helpful tutorial on its on i would like to have some screen shots if you can. I appreciate the fast reply :) ^^

[Moseph 139]

If you go to your Call of Duty directory, you have a "main" folder, you have to rename the files in there, And yes, you do have to. You also have to create the "localized_english_aw07.iwd" file in the "main" folder too. For the error, you either didn't rename the file correctly, or put it in the wrong folder. 

[Bl4z3 93]

Nice tutorial :D

[vaughanhub 10]

Really usefull post, might have to try this sometime