Just to reiterate, because they can be used when 'on-line' just not shared between users on-line, which can be confused as the same thing...
If someone has the exact same skin downloaded to the correct skins_dds folder, they will see it the same as you do when you're online. They will however have to download it themsleves from this thread or from another source to get it. They cannot be shared these dds skins automatically through the skins sharing utility in LFSworld.
as I understood why we couldn't make semitransparent sunroofs, I went on with something more oldschoold and tried some halftone transparency, and looks quite decent. Let me perfect it a bit and it'll be yours.
edit: uploaded a pic of the halftone! let me know if you want it
I just found an easy way to make any car totally transparent, just use one of the window or glass files from the dds folder that already has the alpha channel stuff done to it.
I have got the window tint dds pack that was uploaded a while ago somewhere on here, and it has a plain see through dds with very little reflection and total tranparancy.
All i did was copy paste that file into the skins dds folder, and renamed it to XFG_blankALPHA.dds. Easy as that!
Im thinking of using this method to get rid of the black rub strips on the doors of the XFG, i just don't know which DDS it is i need to change.
Heh, if i did every single file relating to the xfg this way then i could get it totally invisible!
Thats what i meant, that it only works with files in the skins_dds folder. I used an alpha channel file that was originally for the windows, copied it into the skins_dds folder and named it XFG_blankALPHA.dds. That worked fine, as you can see in the picture.
When i tried the same trick in the DDS folder with the XR_interior it does not work. If i rename the file as XR_interior1.dds then it just loads black textures, and if i name it XR_interior1ALPHA.dds, LFS will not read it.
In the first screenshot, I was using the FZ5_targaALPHA.dds skin: as you can see, when you look through the fences, the skin just becomes transparent all of a sudden, and the part that you look normally is fine.
In the second one, the car was the UF1, the skin was the UF1_experimentAlpha.dds: this shadow bug can be seen with ALL the skins that use Alpha Layers.
The third one: as in the first one, the skin is transparent when the car is seen through fences.
The fourth one: the bug doesn't come up with the experimental skin only, it appears also with the Sunroof one.
Of course, the problem isn't with the skins, but with the alpha layers and how LFS uses them: the same problem that can be found when you see the tiresmoke through the windscreen...
So, I think I'm not using these skins until LFS isn't grown up enough to handle them well. Good try though
P.S. don't mind my use of LFSTweak, I was in SP mode and alone on the track
pls help me. I make my skin with sunroof, but i converted to jpg, sunrof is missing. How can i upload my dds skin to lfs world? Or how can i converted this skin to jpg?