How to Make Custom Weapon skins, Optics, and Night Sights

Overview

This guide will show you how to edit weapon models, optics, and night sights.

Step 1: Required Programs

You will need to download two programs in order to edit Insurgency files.

GCFScape (Used to navigate folders and extract files) : [link]

VTFEdit: (Used to import/export VTF files) [link]

You will also need an art program to edit your textures. I use Photoshop, but if you can’t afford it, Gimp is an awesome free alternative.

(If using Linux or Mac, follow this guide to run GCFScape and VTFEdit.)

Step 2: Extracting files using GCFScape

Start GCFScape and click file > open. Navigate to C:SteamSteamAppscommoninsurgency2insurgency

Open “insurgency_materials_dir.vpk”.

Now you should see a materials folder inside GCFScape. Navigate to materials > models.

This folder holds all the texture files for the game. Right click the folder(s) you want, click extract, and save it to wherever you want to save your textures to.

If you want to edit weapons, extract the “weapons” folder.
If you want to edit optics, extract the optics folder (found inside the weapons folder).
If you want to edit player models, extract the “player” folder.
If you want to edit the players hand model, extract the “hands” folder.

File Types

Inside your weapons folder, you will see several types of files.

The “dm” files are what you edit to change the texture on top of the gun.

The “nm” files are what you edit to change the bumps on a gun. (As an example, I edited the nm file of the m9 grip to make it appear smooth.

The .vmt files are what you edit to change properties of the gun in game. (As an example, adding in a line of code will make the night sights on a gun glow in the dark.)

The “weapon_<weapon>” files are used to edit the model of the gun your character is using [/i]in first person view[/i].

The “weapon_w_<weapon>” files are used to edit the third person model, and the model you see on the ground. This means that spectators watching you in third person will be seeing the “world model”.

Step 3: Editing Weapons

Go to your extracted folder and find the weapon you wish to edit. I will be using the AKM for this tutorial.

Inside the akm folder, you will see 8 files. The only ones we care about (for now) are the .vtf files.

I will be editing these files:

weapon_akm_dm.vtf
weapon_w_akm_dm.vtf

Create a new folder to store your custom skin files.

Double click the “weapon_akm_dm.vtf” file to open it in VTFEdit. Click file > export and save it as a .png or a .tga. If you need to make custom night sights, or other parts that glow, use a .tga file.

Open your file in Photoshop (or Gimp), and make your required changes to the gun. Drawing over the black area will not effect the texture.

Once done, open the edited file in VTFEdit by clicking file > import. Leave the options at the default settings and click OK. Now click file > save as and name it the same as the original .vtf file (weapons_akm_dm.vtf).

Do this again for the other file(s).

Now that you have all your files edited, you need to compile them into a .VPK.

Create a new folder, and name it whatever your new weapon skin is called. If you upload this skin to the steam workshop, this is the name they will see if they browse their custom folder, so make it professional. I will name mine “akmdemo”.

Inside “akmdemo” we will have to make a chain of folders. The first folder should be “materials”, then “models”, then “weapons”, then “akm”.

This should be the path when you are finished:

akmdemo > materials > models > weapons > akm

Inside the akm folder, place all of your edited files.

Now navigate to steam > steamApps > Common > Insurgency2 > bin.

Drag the “akmdemo” folder on top of the file called vpk.exe. This will create a vpk file inside the same location as the “akmdemo” folders location named “akmdemo.vpk”.

Next, navigate to steam > steamApps > Common > Insurgency2 > Insurgency > custom. If the custom folder does not exist, create one.

Drag your vpk file into the custom folder, and you’re done!

Editing Optics

Navigate to Materials > models > weapons > optics and extract the whole folder. ( Or, if you want to also edit weapon skins, extract the weapons folder.)

Go to your extracted folder and find the files you need for that reticle. For the Eotech (holo sight), we want the file “eotech_reticule.vtf”

Open this in VTFEdit and export it as a .tga.

Open this file in Photoshop (or Gimp) and make your desired changes.

Note: When editing a reticule, you must also edit the alpha channel for the changes to show up (as shown in pictures). If you have no idea what the alpha channel is, just remember that white will show up, and black will not.

Now, import the file into VTFEdit, press OK when the options window pops up, and go to file > save as.

Save it as the original file: “eotech_reticule.vtf”.

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Create a new folder, and name it whatever your new optic is called. If you upload this skin to the steam workshop, this is the name they will see if they browse their custom folder, so make it professional. I will name mine “opticdemo”.

Inside “opticdemo” we will have to make a chain of folders. The first folder should be “materials”, then “models”, then “weapons”, then “optics”.

Take your edited file and place it in the “optics” folder.

This should be the path when you are finished:

opticdemo > materials > models > weapons > optics

Now navigate to steam > steamApps > Common > Insurgency2 > bin.

Drag the “opticdemo” folder on top of the file called vpk.exe. This will create a vpk file inside the same location as the “opticdemo” folders location named “opticdemo.vpk”.

Next, navigate to steam > steamApps > Common > Insurgency2 > Insurgency > custom. If the custom folder does not exist, create one.

Drag your vpk file into the custom folder, and you’re done!

Creating Night Sights

You will need to be familiar with the first three steps of this guide in order to create night sights.

First, take your extracted VTF files and and export them as TGA files. Open those files in Photoshop (or GIMP). I’ll only be editing the first person file for the AKM, but you can also edit the world model if you want.

In Photoshop, find your weapon’s sights and select the area you want to glow with the magic wand or quick select tool. Fill the selected area with whatever color you want to glow, I will be using green.

Go to your channels tab, located above to the layers menu, and click on the Alpha 1 layer.

Now press Shift+F5 or go to edit > fill. Set contents to color, and select black. Press Crtl+D or go to select > deselect.

Next, press Ctrl+I or go to image > adjustments > invert.

Anything colored white on this layer will be glowing ingame, and anything black will stay normal. To change the brightness, just make it less white.

Now you can select the RGB layer again to bring you back to the normal texture file for any further edits.

When finished, save your file and convert it back into .VTF format with VTFEdit.

Finally, you have to locate the .vmt file associated with your texture and open it in VTFEdit. I will be editing the weapon_akm_dm.vmt file, if you are also editing the world model you will need to edit the weapon_w_akm_dm.vmt file as well.
Inside your file(s), add the following code and then save:

Now you can compile your files, place the .VPK in the custom folder, and enjoy your new night sights!

Final Thingie

I know there is already a guide on how to edit weapon skins, and I used it myself, but I had a few problems using that guide. I created this one to show people how I do it, in the fastest way possible. I also want to add more information to this guide, such as a night sights tutorial.

If this guide helped you, please post a link to your workshop files in the comments!