What's wrong with my .blp .tga conversion process?

Greetings.

I had a post in this forum a while ago about changing the Arcane Tower to look like the older High Elf towers.
My problem at the time was that my file was corrupt, so the skin wasn't showing up on the models.

It looks like I'm have the same problem again skinning the Night Elf fishing boat, so I'll describe my process, and perhaps someone can tell me where it's going bad.

First, I extract the .blp from units\NightElf\NightElfFishingBoat\NightElfFishingtShip.blp in the war3x.mpq file.

Then I convert the file using the "Convert Files" function of War 3 Viewer (the file says 1.25 although the program continues to call itself 1.0) from a .blp to a .tga, with 32k compression (the default in War 3 Viewer).

I edit the .tga in Photoshop 6.0 and Save it, without altering the compression.

Then I do "Convert Files" in War 3 Viewer again, this time from .tga to .blp, using the maximum quality compression.

I place the .blp file in the units\nightelf\NightElfFishingBoat\NightElfFishingtShip.blp position in my Warcraft 3 directory, and I import it into the map using the Import Editor. I change the path to units\nightelf\NightElfFishingBoat\NightElfFishingtShip.blp and place the unit with that model in the World Editor.

It shows up entirely transparent, except that the flag area is colored. This suggests to me that the skin is in the correct place (since it successfully altered the model, although not desireably), but that it is corrupted so that the editor and the game are not reading it correctly.

Where have I gone wrong? Last time I ultimately had to take MasterSlowPoke's conversion of my file and insert that instead, but I can't go and ask someone else to do converting for me whenever I want to skin.

i know whats wrong... u have the same problem i had when i first starting skinning first off are u done with ur map? second dont use import use [TECHMPQ=blue] il explain why. when u use import editor then save ur map it resets the skin in the game to its original form. so thats mean finish ur map. then use techmpq to import it into ur map then play it on single or b.net BUT DONT OPEN WORLD EDITOR AND OPEN IT AND SAVE IT... it will reset skin so make sure ur map is complete...if u want to know how u should use techmpq just ask...

I'm not sure what is going on. WC3 Viewer did the same thing to me once, too. What's happening is the Alpha Channels are being screwed up, making the entire channel 'colored' allowing only the team color portion to be shown. The only way to continue is to use Warcraft III Image Extractor 2.

Also, submit your tga skins to Prophet and KDEWolf; it may help them root out the problem.

Also, Dark Dragon doesn't know what he's talking about.

Drat that. I was using Image Extractor 2 until it siezed up on me. Now it converts everything with white lines and messed up colors. War 3 Viewer was supposed to be my salvation, but it's 2 for 2 failed conversions now.Agreed, but I read the thread where he got his misinformation. There are others out there supporting his theory.I'd feel a little weird PMing someone with whom I'd had no previous contact with a problem. That seems imposing.

Actually, I don't think you can attach to PMs. I'd be better to attach it in their post in the Tools Forum.

I'm sorry, but the BLP - created with WC3 Viewer from the tga you attached in the message on the other thread - works great for me : I put it in the adequate directory, load World Editor, and the fishing boat has its new skin...

I attached the working BLP.

Try to download the latest version of the tool :
www.xeberon.net/view.php?id=125

TheProphet