Method 1- Recreating your mod out of multiple transparents that you can re-download, or making a transparent normal and multi from a pre-existing transparent diffuse

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If you don’t have transparent overlays of your skin and makeup mods, you really should, especially now that Dawntrail will require you to update your custom skin mods.

This guide assumes you have basic knowledge of texture maps, digital art software, and access to the devkit or base modded texture for your body. This guide will show how to do it in either clip studio paint or photopea, however the basic concepts are the same for any digital art program other than ms paint. 

This method is pretty simple! It works best for when you have a custom mod made up of multiple other mods that all contained transparent overlays/PSDs for at least the diffuse.

Step 1- Redownload all the mods you used to create your custom mod! Ideally only the raw files or PSDs. If you still have the original files, you can skip this step.

• If your mods did not come with raw files, Import them into textools via a "transaction" and export the raw files from your mod by finding them on your race's body. I personally reccommend using PNG or TARGA/.TGA as TGA is an uncompressed format that properly handles alpha channel data, and does not have as many restrictions as to what programs it can go in/out of like DDS has.

Step 2- Import all files into your art program of choice. Photoshop is the standard, but Photopea is a free Photoshop clone in the browser that I highly recommend using if you don’t have Photoshop. You can also do this in clip studio paint, which is what I’ll be showing, or gimp, paint tool sai…. Really any art program with layers, transparency support, and clipping masks/clipping layers.

• As a note, if your files are .dds, or contain files for specific rgba channels, the only programs that currently support this are Photoshop, Photopea, and Gimp. Of these programs, only Photopea supports BC7 .dds without the need for a plugin (or at all in gimp's case) It is now STRONGLY recommended that you use .TGA for files you plan on editing something with a non-transparent alpha channel, as they offer no data loss, proper alpha channel handling as non-transparency, alongside being able to be opened by just about any art software, including 3d modeling programs.
  

Step 3- Arrange the layers in the order you need them, and make any adjustments (erasing or drawing things) as needed.

Step 4- Save as/export as either PNG or TGA I recommend saving one of each if your program allows for it, as png is easier to work with, but contains less data.

• It is also recommended to save it as a psd at this step, as having a project file can be incredibly helpful for later. Psd files preserve layer data, so you don’t have to have everything merged down but transparent.

If your files do not include transparent overlays for normal maps or multis, but do contain merged ones, at this step, either merge all the transparent diffuse layers down into one layer, or place them in a folder depending on if multiple are merged, or if only one is merged. If they contain only transparent overlays for any normal maps or multi maps, repeat steps 1-4 for those as well.

Step 5- Add in all your normal maps, both transparent or merged down. Rearrange them in the correct order, trying to mimic the order of your diffuses.

Step 6- if you have only one merged normal or multi, but the rest are transparents, merge all the normal layers together using the overlay layer style, and the multis together using a normal layer style.

Step 6.5- If you have multiple merged normal (non transparent) arrange every normal map on top of their corresponding diffuse. Do the same with the multis. DO NOT MERGE THEM.

Step 7- On the normal map layer, activate the button to “clip to layer below”. It may have a different name in other programs. This will cause your normal map to mimic the same transparency as the diffuse layer that matches it, creating a transparent normal map overlay. 

Step 8- Make sure all multi map layers are hidden, as well as any diffuse maps that don’t have corresponding normals/ don’t have a normal map clipping to them. Click save as/export as, and do the same as step 4.

• You can optionally hide layers and save each normal map corresponding to a diffuse as it’s own image, and recreate your psd again with layers or normal maps. This isn’t required, but can again, be very helpful.

Step 9- Hide the normal maps and repeat for the multis, making sure they are unhidden.

And with that, you’re done. Make sure to name these in a way that makes sense to you. I would recommend making a final psd with your normal, multi, and diffuse all in one file, either in individual layers per item with a folder, or as just three layers, one for each map. This is not required, but can be much cleaner and easier to edit later. If you do this, it MUST be saved as a psd to ensure that it preserves layers and can be edited in most programs.

If you have diffuse maps that are fully merged, say some of the mods used only contain a merged diffuse texture, please have a look at method 2.