Using Your FAB Skins in Unreal

by mofo 

As any long time Quaker, like myself, knows - custom skins are an absolute NECESSITY when it comes to DM action.  Everybody wants to suit up in their finest threads before putting the smack down.  Unfortunately, Unreal skin support leaves a little to be desired up to this point.  But don't go leaping from a tall building just yet - Tim Sweeney assures us that he knows about the problems, and will fix them.   Until that time...  read this doc and skin yerself silly: 
 
What Yer Gonna Need:

female1bk.int 
female2bk.int 
male1bk.int 
male2bk.int 
male3bk.int 
sktrooperbk.int 

Female1bk.utx 
Female2bk.utx 
Male1bk.utx 
Male2bk.utx 
Male3bk.utx 
Sktrooperbk.utx

The above mentioned files were include with the BigKahunaSE.zip file.

A thorough knowledge of Hunglo's excellent tutorial on creating a skin would also be very helpful. 
 
 
The Skinny on Unreal URLs:

One of the waycool features of Unreal is its integrated web browser support..   Unreal uses the standard URL (uniform resource locator) syntax of the WorldWide Web for identifying levels, entry options, and startup options.  I'm going to butter your toast with enough flavor to get you going, but for the full load head over to The Unreal Techinical Information Site. 

What this means is that you can launch a game of Unreal directly from your browser!   Whoa Nelly!  Here is the syntax: 

unreal://server.site.or.mapname:?option1?option2?option3?etc 

The options that we are most interested in are the following: 

      
  • ?class=  Specifies the class of the player, such as unreali.femaleone, unreali.maleone, etc. The player class corresponds to an UnrealScript class that expands the engine.playerpawn class.
  • ?skin=  Specifies the skin of the player, such as female1skins.gina, male1skins.kurgan, etc.
You may be asking yourself "Why is this mofo dude having us do all this URL crap?  I just wanna put a skin on!"  Good question, young Skywalker!  The reason we gotta do it this way is because of a bug or a glitch in Unreal.  You see, skin packages like the Female2elemental.utx that you just downloaded contain multiple skins.  But -and this is a mighty big butt - Unreal won't let you scroll through all the skins.  Go figure.  This is the only way I know of to put on every skin in your wardrobe.  All you need to know is the name of your skin, and the package it is in.  This info is easily gotten from the .int file.   Let's look at Female2elemental.int. 

[public] 
Object=(Name=Female2bk.air,Class=Texture) 
Object=(Name=Female2bk.earth,Class=Texture) 
Object=(Name=Female2bk.fire,Class=Texture) 
Object=(Name=Female2bk.water,Class=Texture) 

If you wish to use any other model skins in this pack simply substitute Male3, Male1, Male2, Female1, and SkTrooper in place of the Female2 in the above syntax.

Guess what!  Now we know enough to get this meat wagon rolling!  I bet yer dying to see how this works, so lets do.  Copy the following line and paste it into your browser address box: 

unreal://vortex2.unr?class=unreali.femaletwo?skin=female2bk.fire 

You'll notice we have a mapname, a class, and a skin.  Once in the game, hit the tilde (~) and type in the command BEHINDVIEW 1.  You should see yourself in the oh so lusciouis fire skin. 
 
But I'm already IN a game...

Of course, you don't have to start from a web browser to change a skin.  But, it appears that currently you DO have to momentarily leave the server.  Let's hope this is fixed.... 

If you are in a game and want to change skins the procedure is very similar - but this time no browser. Let's suppose its an internet game at the ip address 207.1.237.4, for example.  In this case, you bring down your console with the tilde key, and use the "open" command.  It will be followed with the same parameters that the URL address was in the previous lesson.  Only instead of a mapname, we will now use the server address you wish to reconnect to.  Example: 

open 207.1.237.4?class=unreali.femaletwo?skin=female2bk.earth 

This will reconnect  you to the server with your new skin.   Please note, if the skin you want to put on is a skin for your current class, you WON'T need to set the class parameter. 
 

That's it!  if you have any questions or comments, or another way... mofo@valentine-ne.com.