Skinning to mod?

[bigfoot89 10]

Hey there, im new to the game and the forums and well modding stuff at the end of the day so i was wondering if anyone here could give me a hand with something, i have used the .paa plugin for photoshop from kegetys and have managed to add camo to weapons (basic i know but we gotta start somewhere right? ;), but the only way i can seem to get them to work in game is to replace the original weapons2.PBO file with one which has the skinned weapons in, with the same name, so basically a weapons2 (PBO containing the skinned weapons) replacing the original weapons2 PBO file, i did try naming it mod 1 and placing a mod folder in the game directory and doing the -mod stuff to the game launch parameters although i feel there is most likely more to it than that, so basically is there a way i can have these skinned weapons as a mod rather than having to replace files all the time?, and if so how do i convert the PBO file(modded/skinned one) into a recognised mod file the game can read.

Thanks for any help thats provided.

P.s i do realise this is proberlly easy to do (and most likely alot more to it than just draggin folders about) but as i stated i am new to this and have got them working in the game, but by replacing original files (which are backed up).

Edited June 21, 2009 by bigfoot89
p.s added.

[max power 21]

Welcome to the forums. Reskins are an excellent way to begin a foray into the vast world of Real Virtuality modding.

There are two ways of making addons... well, there are more, but these would be the ones I think you're after. The first option is to make an independent addon that features your new skins as additional weapons that you would then have to create unit classes, ammo boxes, and what-not for in order to use (unless you really like typing this addweapon into unit inits in the editor). The second is to make a weapon replacement config that would simply replace all of the old models with the new ones, so that all m4s would now be m4s with your new camouflage pattern. Or you can do both at the same time, really. All of this happens at the config level. Now, I'm no config genius, so if you have specific questions, you'll have to head on down to the Editing forums under configs and scripting. Try searching the same threads in the ArmA 1 forums aswell. There's a lot of information in there. Also, you can try www.ofpec.com for tutorials and further help. It's a great resource.

[bigfoot89 10]

Ok thanks alot for the fast reply to this, ill be sure to check out that site, ill give the simple m4 to m4 one a shot first though, sounds less demanding for such a small job.

Thanks again,

Bigfoot.