Cars what kind of map is the white on bright green?

belun · Jan 1, 2019

after you unpack the kn5 file of a car, you get a /textures folder with some images inside. one is a map, a general one for most of the paintable car, white on bright green, called usually SKIN_00_Map.dds (it looks kind of a painted skin)

1. what kind of map is this? is it an AO (ambient occlusion) map?
2. is it an UV map?
3. what's with the bright green? i can bake AO maps in blender, but they are usually on dark background?
4. is it linked, in the model file, to the car? if I change the UV map of the car and repack the kn5, does the mentioned dds have to be regenerated?

dud · Jan 1, 2019

It helps the game cheat a bit in making the low parts of the car a bit darker. Makes for a more realistic look than having AC's limited indirect light system handle it alone. I am not entirely sure what it modifies, specifically, but I see no reason why it wouldn't be brightness.

garyjpaterson · Jan 1, 2019

1. It is an RGB Map.

2. It uses the same UVs as any other texture.

3. Red channel controls specular intensity, Green channel controls reflection sharpness, and Blue channel controls reflection intensity.
In this case, green is at maximum (so reflection sharpness), and red and blue vary from max to min according to the AO map - this helps reduce reflections on 'shadowed' parts, and reduce any specularity too, which gives a more natural looking car ingame.

4. If you change the UVs you will want to remake the RGB map, just like you would any other texture.