NormHQA and Pmsk files

[Justinian]

Just a question from curiosity.
Has anyone figured out the relevance of these files to the skins of characters under modification - i.e. what do the CharName_Pmsk.dds and Charname_NormHQA.dds files do?

I'm sure modders could benefit from this knowledge, so post away.

My apologies if such a topic already exists.

[rizzn]

Hmm I will try it, but as I'm also quite new to this texture stuff, please correct me if I'm wrong..

The normal map (NormHQA) is making your flat character surface looking more realistic (a bit of "3d" or fake 3d). It doesn't add any polygons to your real 3d model or something. So, the steeper you choose the angle of viewing on your model (for example in the character viewer in your game), the less like "3d" it will look.

The only problem on creating a complete own normal map is, you won't get the same detailed and clean result as the game original (without spending a lot of time probably). Here's an example. It's always a little bit grainy/noisy. For a really good result you need a good height template. If you are interested you can read this, it's a quite good article.

Currently I'm just recreating new parts/areas of the model and putting them on the old normHQA and mixing it. The results are ok. Probably someone found a better solution.

About the pmsk I'm not completely sure, I also don't know if the colored parts of this file have any importance for the later use. I only recognized some changes on the alpha channel of this file. The more I lightened up several parts, the more it was reflecting in the game. Was looking a little bit like plastic if putting the color completely white. (See here)

[Justinian]

Hey, thanks for replying, man.

[rizzn]

Hey, thanks for replying, man.

No problem! Hope this is helping you!

[Justinian]

I think I found the use of the pmsk-files (other than the plastic thingie, you mentioned). It's a pity people understand but don't share. I compared the fantastic mod 'Sting' - also She Scorpion - a mod of Skarlet, to Skarlet herself and found this:

The Pmsk-files clearly show green is skin. I thought there was a gent around here who would like to dress up les femmes. This would do the trick. In general I think it's about textures.

[wyruzzah]

Actually pmsk textures are quite important they effect lot of things

[Abdelazeez]

The Pmsk-files clearly show green is skin. I thought there was a gent around here who would like to dress up les femmes. This would do the trick. In general I think it's about textures.

So you mean if I made any parts green in the PMSK, those would show up as skin on the character?

[rizzn]

The Pmsk-files clearly show green is skin. I thought there was a gent around here who would like to dress up les femmes. This would do the trick. In general I think it's about textures.

Yes, would be really nice to know what exactly the coloured parts are for.

So you mean if I made any parts green in the PMSK, those would show up as skin on the character?

If you want to have skin parts instead of cloth parts (for example) on your character you have to edit the Diff texture and pull a skin texture to the areas you want. Followed by the Specular and Normal maps to have a good look.

The only information on Pmsk I found so far (containing to MKKE/MK9) was in this thread.

[...] On top of those, the Pmsk textures. They almost seem to mask off the detail bumps... I do know that the alpha is an AO*.

* AO = Ambient occlusion

That's what I meant with:

About the pmsk I'm not completely sure, I also don't know if the colored parts of this file have any importance for the later use. I only recognized some changes on the alpha channel of this file. The more I lightened up several parts, the more it was reflecting in the game. Was looking a little bit like plastic if putting the color completely white. (See here)

But still no idea what exactly the coloured parts do.

[UncleFestor]

Okay let me clarify a few things.

This information applies to both MKKE & Injustice

1st : The NormHQA files consist of 2 parts. RGB & Alpha. The RGB Channel is what is used to add Detail/Texture to a Model. The Alpha Channel adds Depth/Shadowing/Height.

The NormHQA files are restricted per Character based on the Mesh and how/what is weighted, Detailed, or attached to each part of the mesh. This is why Retro costumes will make much better use of norm files than other costumes {Because their Meshes are very simple}

2nd : PMSK. Okay these files have multiple uses, but basically they attach Materials to specific parts of a texture. The materials {Mat files} Are coded within each character separately to be used by specific colors that are applied to the PMSK {Trial & Error is probably the best way to see all the possible mat's that each character contains & how they look In Game}.

Freddy Krueger is a good example of what a PMSK file is for. His Knitted sweater is all PMSK. The depth in the holes on his sweater are PMSK. If you look @ them you'll get a good Idea of how each color is used to apply each material to his texture. So the colors are NOT all universal & some characters will accept unusual colors to apply unused materials to a texture {This is how I got Sheeva to have reptilian skin using only her PMSK}

Another way to see what any characters PMSK file might be used for is to load the Character in XNALara as it can NOT use PMSK files, so anything that's missing from the Model will most likely be found on the PMSK for the Character.