How to make SWF mods using free tools (body, costume, accessory, hair, HD background, etc.) (1 Viewer)

[SyntaxTerror]

Hello.

This is a method for creating SWF mods by editing existing templates using free programmes. It is derived from Perdition's tutorial Making basic Isolation Mods and uses the SWF editor JPEXS decompiler. I made it years ago, but never released it.
RokPhenix also made Use FFdec to make mods, that is more in-depth than Perdition's. You should check out his tutorial for more features, such as adding Custom Data to your mods.

The images themselves can be edited with any vector or raster graphics editor capable of handling transparency (for example Inkscape or Paint.NET).
This isn't really a complete tutorial, because there are a lot of possibilities that I don't have time to explain here, but the templates I've made are available to all designers who want to create SWF mods without having to use Adobe Pro/Animate.

The method is very simple, no knowledge of Action Script programming is necessary, but creating good mods is not for everyone. It takes time, patience, attention to detail and artistic eye to get it right.
That is why this tutorial is not about creating and modifying images. If you cannot do it, learn that first.
However, don't be discouraged if you spend hours without getting any good results – that's the case for most artists and modders. Just keep at it! You'll get better with time (you wouldn't believe how many hours I've spent redoing things, and how many almost-completed mods I've ditched because something was not right).

Only simple Vanilla mods are possible with these templates (clothes, accessories, body parts and static hair mods for HER, as well as static 16/9 backgrounds).
It is not possible to make dynamic hair mods as the moving parts need to rotate around specific points.
It's probably possible to create templates for HIM, or RGB mods, but none are available yet.
If the mods created don't work properly with the Loader or some of its add-ons, there's nothing I can do as I know almost nothing about the Loader and do not even use it.

 

[SyntaxTerror]

Basics​

You need the SWF templates, JPEXS decompiler and your preferred graphic editor, either vector or raster.
I advise using Inkscape for vector/SVG editing and Paint.NET for raster/PNG editing (GIMP can also be used in place of Paint.NET, but it has a steep learning curve and is neither user-friendly nor intuitive. Some say it has more capabilities, but these are not necessary for SDT mods).

JPEXS decompiler allows you to decompile SWF mods, so you can extract individual images that constitute a complete mod and replace them by the ones you want, then recompile the SWF into a new mod.
It can extract these images in SVG or PNG format, which means you can edit vector or raster images depending on your preferences and capabilities.
The templates provided have the body parts of HER with enough room around them to draw what you want. They are delimited by red squares and nothing can be drawn outside these squares, nor the size of the template reduced or augmented (they're big enough to draw most costumes, but small enough not to have files too heavy).

Note that templates that are not replaced by your images must be removed from the 'shapes' and 'scripts' (this is explained in points 10 and 11 in the Vector hair section below), otherwise the body parts and red rectangles will appear, or the mod will simply not work.

Important note: The word 'layer' has different meanings depending on the context:

• In SDT, layers are parts of the hair or the body that are placed on top of each other by the game to design a human-looking character.
  In this tutorial, they will be referred to as 'hair layers', or have the game name before, e.g. HAIR_UNDER layer.
• In image editing programmes, layers are parts of the image placed on top of each other to facilitate editing.
  In this tutorial, they will be referred to simply as 'layers'.

The templates are organised as follows:

• Background
  • Custom HD Background.swf
• Body
  • Custom Body - Arms + Hands (replace skin).swf
  • Custom Body - Full (keep skin).swf
  • Custom Body - Full Large (keep skin).swf
  • Custom Body - Full Large (replace skin).swf
  • Custom Body - Legs + Feet (replace skin).swf
• Costume
  
  • Accessories
    • Custom Collar.swf
    • Custom Eyewear.swf
    • Custom Gag.swf
    • Custom Headwear.swf
  • Clothes
    • Custom Bottoms.swf
    • Custom Footwear.swf
    • Custom Top.swf
  • Piercings
    • Custom Belly Piercing.swf
    • Custom Ear Piercing.swf
    • Custom Nipple Piercing.swf
    • Custom Tongue Piercing.swf
• Hair
  • Custom Hair (full).swf (contains hair costume and static hair layers)
  • Custom Hair (top back under).swf (contains only static hair layers)

 

[SyntaxTerror]

HD background​

This template has been designed for a standard 16:9 background (the image needs to be 1122×835 because the view is a bit wider when the game is in window mode), but:

• my XL background SWFs can be edited to have images larger than these, which you can move around with the right/left arrow keys (e.g. Corridor 03 is 3200×825 ≈ 35:9).​
• my 2HD backgrounds SWFs can be edited to have two scenes, which can be changed with the up/down arrow keys (e.g. 2HD Background - Storage Room (01)).​
• 2/3/4XL backgrounds combine the two possibilities above (e.g. 2XL Background - Pool (01) or 4XL Background - Bedroom (03)).​

Note also that sby made the Loader add-on xlstaticbgload that allows to make wider backgrounds (limited to 16:9).

1. Open 'Custom HD Background.swf' with JPEXS decompiler.​
2. Click on 'shapes' in the white box on the left.
3. Right-click on the image 'DefineShape2 (6)' that appeared on the right and choose 'Export selection'.
   
   
4. Choose 'Shapes = PNG', 'Zoom = 100%'.
5. Choose a convenient place for the image to be extracted (e.g. the Desktop). The PNG file will be in a folder named 'shapes'.
6. Open the extracted PNG image with Paint.NET.
7. Add a layer underneath the layer 'Background'.
   
   
8. Open the source image for your background, copy it and paste it in the new layer (keep the canvas size, it is essential), adapting its size to fit the characters on the other layer.
9. When the image is fine, delete the layer 'Background'.
10. Save this new PNG image.
11. Go back to JPEXS, right-click on the image 'DefineShape2 (6)', choose 'Replace' and replace with your new PNG image.
    
    
12. 'Save as' under the name of your new HD background, it is ready to be used.

 

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Raster footwear​

1. Open 'Custom Footwear.swf' with JPEXS decompiler.​
2. Click on 'shapes' in the white box on the left.
3. Hold 'Ctrl' to select both 'DefineShape4 (5)' and 'DefineShape4 (7)' that appeared on the right and choose 'Export selection'.
4. Choose 'Shapes = PNG', 'Zoom = 100%'.
5. Choose a convenient place for the image to be extracted (e.g. the Desktop). The PNG files will be in a folder named 'shapes'.
6. Open '5.png', (the right calf and foot) with Paint.NET.
7. Open the source image for your footwear, copy it and paste it in a new layer (keep the canvas size, it is essential), adapting its size to the foot and calf on the other layer. You may have to delete parts of it that will be hidden by HER body.
   
   
8. Do the same with '7.png'.
9. Go back to JPEXS, right-click on the image 'DefineShape4 (7)', choose 'Replace' and replace with '5.png', and do the same for the other foot.
10. 'Save as' under the name of your new footwear mod, it is ready to be used.

 

[SyntaxTerror]

Vector hair​

It's a bit more complicated, as it involves vectors and hair layers, but SWF mods created using this method will result in very crisp hair.

If you're a modder and you already have SVG hair mods that you've had to export as PNG in order to be used, you can easily create real SWF vectorised hair mods using this method. The templates are not the same size and inclination, so you'll have to enlarge by 113% and rotate by 15° (use 'Transform' in Inkscape, Shift+Ctrl+M).

You can check How to arrange hair layers in your hair mod that explains how hair layers work.

This tutorial will use the simplified template 'Custom Hair (top back under).swf' that only has the HAIR_BACK, HAIR_UNDER and HAIR_TOP layers.

Only the HAIR_UNDER layer is really necessary, unless parts of the hair are over the ear or behind the head.
HAIR_TOP should only be used for things over the ear, as cum lands under this hair layer and won't be seen on anything drawn there.
HAIR_BACK should be used only if parts of the hair is behind the face (e.g. a strand that falls under the chin).
HAIR_BOTTOM is not present, as it is needed only if the DYNAMIC_HAIR_UNDER layer is used, which is not possible with this method.

Ayase Fuuka Static Hair (vector) is an SWF I created with this method if you want to see how it is constructed.

1. Open 'Custom Hair (top back under).swf' with JPEXS decompiler.​
2. Click on 'shapes' in the white box on the left.
3. Hold 'Ctrl' to select 'DefineShape4 (9)' and choose 'Export selection'.
4. Choose 'Shapes = SVG', 'Zoom = 100%'.
5. Choose a convenient place for the image to be extracted (e.g. the Desktop). The SVG file will be in a folder named 'shapes'.
6. Open '9.svg' with Inkscape.
7. Draw your hair here. 'DefineShape4 (9)' is used for the HAIR_UNDER layer, but as all hair layers are similar, you can also draw the parts that go on the HAIR_BACK and HAIR_TOP layers.
8. Save each hair layer in a separate file. It can have several (Inkscape) layers, but delete the template (head+red rectangle), as hidden (Inkscape) layers still appear with JPEXS.
9. Go back to JPEXS, right-click on the images 'DefineShape4 (...)', choose 'Replace' and replace with the corresponding hair layers you just created.
10. Delete the unused shapes (e.g. delete 'DefineShape4 (5)' if you're not using the HAIR_BACK layer).
11. Do the same for the scripts: delete the unused hair layers in the 'CustomHair_topbackunder__fla' folder located in the 'scripts' folder (e.g. delete 'HairBack_1' if you're not using the HAIR_BACK layer).
12. 'Save as' under the name of your new static hair mod, it is ready to be used.

 

[SyntaxTerror]

I think it shouldn't be too complicated to make a template for RGB adjustable static hair/hair costume (with predefined colours like my RGB adjustable hair mods), and probably also for costumes (clothing, accessories and piercings).

Let me know if you're interested, I've lost the FLAs that were used to make the current SWFs, but I can make others if needed.