Black uniforms and gloss_map.DDS

[Ludo]

I've noticed when playing Scotland that the faction colour part of the uniforms in battle are black rather than the dark blue they should be. I've changed the RGBs in db faction but it makes no difference, they still show as black. I've even changed the uniform coat colour in diffuse.dds on a custom unit I'm working on, but it still shows up black in the game - though other non-coat details I changed in the diffuse.dds do show as having been changed.

So, if some details are changing but not the main uniform coat I figure maybe it's got something to do with the gloss_map. I've tried Mr Thib and Torque's tutorials but can't seem to find an answer. I'm working with Photoshop Elements and I've got the nvidia plug-in. I don't know much about graphics, and when I try to save a file after editing I get a range of options about RGB without Alpha, Alpha only and interpolating my Alpha. I haven't got a clue. Does anybody else?

[Ludo]

Ok, I think I've got a work round. If I borrow a gloss file from a similar modded unit, then my changes to uniform coat show up. But it still does not explain why Scottish units do not have faction colours in vanilla.

[joedreck]

Look for alpha channel. You see a black one with white parts. This white parts are for the faction color. All white parts get the faction color. If you make them black, you see original texture color from diffuse.dds file in game.

[Ludo]

In case anyone is interested, I found the answer. It was nothing to do with gloss files. It was to do with the custom unit and faction unlocker I had been using to test the new units. In its faction table it had the RGB 5 values set to black for some reason, instead of the blue faction colour. This is what was turning the uniforms black.

[joedreck]

In case anyone is interested, I found the answer. It was nothing to do with gloss files. It was to do with the custom unit and faction unlocker I had been using to test the new units. In its faction table it had the RGB 5 values set to black for some reason, instead of the blue faction colour. This is what was turning the uniforms black.

Aha, interesting. I've changed this RGB5 yersterday. I've made the german states (hesse, westphalia, wutemberg) blue, prussia preußisch blau, saxony white and bavaria mid blue.

I never saw this problem you describe, but good to know. The most problems with black units are with wrong file names. Have you add this file or is it from a mod?

[Ludo]

I never saw this problem you describe, but good to know. The most problems with black units are with wrong file names. Have you add this file or is it from a mod?

They are new units I have made. I know what you mean about black figures when the mesh file can't find a texture file, but this is different. It was the vanilla units that had black uniforms, but faces and everything else was OK.