[TUTORIAL]Renders tutorial (no X-Packer required)

[4 Life]

So a bunch of us have been working with @TheVisitorX on a closed BETA version of Custom Character Tools to get it fully working, which has given me a chance to fully test the methods required for making correctly sized renders this year, as the sizes of the images have changed (the dimensions are the same for each render type, but the actual images inside them are different). We've now got to a point where the Visitor and @Cave Waverider thought the tools were complete enough to release a public BETA version of their tools, so here's a tutorial on how to make renders so you can use the very user-friendly render injector within Custom Character Tools!
 

You will need:

Photoshop (paint.net also does the job and is free - it's a bit more complicated as resizing the canvas fills in blank spaces with white, but it's the same principles otherwise)

Nvidia Texture Tools for Photoshop installed

The latest version of Custom Character Tools

A 2K17 render for reference - I converted HHH 01's render from last year to 2K17 for you to use as a reference so you can get the size and colours right - download here https://mega.nz/#!504SGQoR!z3cxFTrMBY4rxqGppXlBEgH8OSNNIW4qLgY-dplKECE

Your cut-out image of the wrestler, that you want to inject into the game - PSD Dreams is a great site for these

 

I'm going to replace Big Boss Man '99's render in this tutorial as a demonstration.

I'll add demonstration images as I go along, they'll look small but click on the images and they'll enlarge  

Make sure you have fully working, error free ltag_type pac files in your game (if you've never modded renders before, you're fine here - if you have, just make sure they're crash-free).

Step 1 - Creating the typeB (selection screen and pause menu) render

We always start with the typeB render, as this acts as a base for creating the typeA and typeC renders afterwards.

1) Open the downloaded HHH png file in Photoshop by dragging and dropping it into Photoshop.

2) Now drag and drop your new render on top of that to add it as a separate layer - if it's too big, it'll automatically be rescaled to fit inside the canvas!

3) You'll notice that upon dragging and dropping in your new image, it'll automatically go into resize mode. Hold Shift as you click and drag the corners of the image to resize it without screwing up the proportions. Resize it so it's the same size as the HHH image and then place the render so its head overlaps HHH's head. You can move it left or right a bit if some of the render is cut off at the edge to fit it all in, it's best to try and centralise it as much as possible though.

4) On the Layers panel on the right, untick the visibility of HHH's layer so it no longer shows where the red circle is):

5) Hit File > Save as and save your render as a DDS image under a meaningful name - I'm going for BigBossManB for the typeB image.

After hitting Save, the Nvidia DDS menu will pop up. Save as DXT5 interpolated alpha - it's the fourth option in the list. These should be your settings:

Hit Save and your typeB is done!

Don't close this image yet! On to the type A...

Step 2 - Creating the type A (Loading screen) render

Keep your type B open, as we'll be working off that to create the type A. The game shrinks this image vertically, so we need to stretch it to counteract that.

1) Hit ctrl+alt+i to bring up the Image Size menu. Change the image height to 1275.

2) Now hit ctrl+alt+c to open the Canvas Size menu. Change the canvas height back to 1024, ensuring that you set the anchor to the bottom-middle arrow so the image stays in the right place. See image:

The image will look stretched vertically - this is normal! The game squashes the typeA images for some reason and it will look right in-game.

3) Hit File > Save as, and save your typeA image using the same settings as above to save as a DXT5 DDS image. I've saved mine as BigBossManA.dds.

Step 3 - Creating the type C (options screens and end of match) render

Again, keep the image open, as we'll work off of it to create the type C. This is your small render for Jukebox, Creation Suite etc. and when a match is won.

1) Press ctrl+alt+z TWO times, to reset the image back to its correct aspect ratio.

2) Hit ctrl+alt+i to bring up the Image Size menu. Change the dimensions from 1024x1024 to 512x512.

Save it under a meaningful name, as a DXT5 DDS image using the same settings as detailed in the typeB tutorial.

 

Done Now you can open the render injector tool under the Inject tab in Custom Character Tools (no guidance required here, as it couldn't be simpler to use). Here's what the images I created in this tutorial look like in-game (again, click these to get a larger view!):

TypeA

TypeB

TypeC

Converting 2K15 and 2K16 renders to 2K17

If you've tried to put these into 2K17 you'll have noticed that the format and size of the images are still the same, but the actual images themselves are different sizes inside the canvas. To fix them we're going to use the typeB ONLY. Once you've extracted it, you'll firstly need to open it in Visual Studio (2015 Enterprise edition works best I find) and then save it as a PNG, otherwise they won't work in Photoshop. Then:

1) Hit ctrl+alt+i to bring up the Image Size menu. Change the image size to 775x775.

2) Now hit ctrl+alt+c to open the Canvas Size menu. Change the canvas size back to 1024x1024, ensuring that you set the anchor to the bottom-middle arrow so the image stays in the right place.

Save this as your type B DXT5 DDS image using the settings in the tutorial above! Now keep this image open and you can refer to the typeA and typeC tutorials as above to create those.

Edited April 30, 2017 by 4 Life

[KidNothing412]

Do you have a pack of 2K17 renders to download or a tutorial for how to get them?

[4 Life]

31 minutes ago, KidNothing412 said:

Do you have a pack of 2K17 renders to download or a tutorial for how to get them?

You mean the default ones?

[KidNothing412]

Yes.

[4 Life]

Just now, KidNothing412 said:

Yes.

You can try Pac Editor from HERE (I think you'll need to sign up to see the link). You'd then need to open the ltag files in the WWE2K17\pac\menu\assets\wwe17_singleread\texture\ssface folder, then extract all the files from there. Then you'd have to open each file individually and the render file is in there, which is named 0001.pac - you'd have to rename that in 0001.dds, then open that in Visual Studio and use that to save it as a PNG if you wanted to use it in another program.

[KidNothing412]

It's not working for me can you just upload one? It doesn't matter who, or just the one you used for the tutorial.

[ObsoleteRipZz]

Nice post. I haven't had much time to really mess with other files yet lol work has been kicking my butt glad you pretty much detailed getting them working with no issues

[4 Life]

1 hour ago, KidNothing412 said:

It's not working for me can you just upload one? It doesn't matter who, or just the one you used for the tutorial.

The HHH that I used as reference? The link is in the tutorial mate.

[KidNothing412]

1 minute ago, 4 Life said:

The HHH that I used as reference? The link is in the tutorial mate.

Whenever I click the link nothing happens, and if I try to open it in a different tab it's just this same page just in a new tab.

[napolenehotel]

is possible use paint.net like last year?

[4 Life]

4 minutes ago, KidNothing412 said:

Whenever I click the link nothing happens, and if I try to open it in a different tab it's just this same page just in a new tab.

Right, text link doesn't wanna work for some reason, just had to copy-paste the link instead. Working now or https://mega.nz/#!504SGQoR!z3cxFTrMBY4rxqGppXlBEgH8OSNNIW4qLgY-dplKECE

Just now, napolenehotel said:

is possible use paint.net like last year?

Yep as I said at the top of the tutorial, it works and is the same procedure when it comes to resizing the image and canvases and saving as a DXT5 DDS, but increasing the canvas size leaves a big white area that you then have to erase, and it's just a pain in the arse so I just use Photoshop instead.

[napolenehotel]

for me work perfect! thank you a lot!!! amazing

[BeleeDat]

Thank you so much, works great, your tutorial is very easy to follow and very informative

[Perfectplex]

Quick tip, for paint dot net the reason it leaves white borders when you resize the canvas is because it fills the new areas with the secondary (background) colour.

Simply change the alpha value of the background colour to 0 before resizing and when you resize the canvas the area will be transparent.

Or indeed if something you are working on requires a resized canvas to have a set colour you can also set it as that before resizing canvas.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Perfectplex

[BB boss]

Plz can u make a pack of renders

[DerEnno]

Edit: The Headlines of the Typ A & Typ B renders where reversed. Typ A is Typ B.  You should switch the Headlines.

So, it works fine to me with CCT. Here are some examples:

 

 

Edited April 15, 2017 by DerEnno

[4 Life]

On 27/03/2017 at 4:51 PM, BB boss said:

Plz can u make a pack of renders

Slowly working my way through doing all my WCW and Attitude era renders for my project, not at all on my agenda to do any current-day superstar renders though cause I'll be replacing those guys anyways. The tutorial is here so you can make whatever renders you want yourself

On 14/04/2017 at 11:06 PM, DerEnno said:

Edit: The Headlines of the Typ A & Typ B renders where reversed. Typ A is Typ B.  You should switch the Headlines.

So, it works fine to me with CCT. Here are some examples:

 

 

The headers in the tutorial are fine mate. We make the TypeB (the selection screen render) FIRST, then we make the TypeA (loading screen render) and then the TypeC (small renders) from that Sounds like you might have mislabelled them when you saved them?

Those renders are looking good

Edited April 17, 2017 by 4 Life

[DerEnno]

Yeah, I'm sorry. It was my fault.  I've saved them wrong.  But thanks mate, I think I'll release those renders if I'm finished with them.

[Alexa Blissed Off]

Thanks for making this tutorial, it really helps that you included the template!