Question Issue with a tattoo/decal

[cyran lycan]

There was a cool tattoo I wanted to use for my look. But, it downloaded in 7z. So, I ran it through a 7z to rar converter and uploaded it to VaM and then couldn't find it anywhere when searching for decals or clothing. So, I extracted the two jpgs in the archive with 7-Zip and uploaded those to the addons folder. When I chose them with decals under skin materials, they seemed to add as they were listed in the decal box where I added them (torso and limbs). But, they didn't show on the person. Any thoughts or advice?

 

[SPQR]

- in addons you should add only .var files. there's no archive converting that should be taking place
- vars are made through VAMs package builders. vars are indeed archive files themselves but they also contain other stuff, meta.json
- 7z,zip,rars are the ooold way of sharing stuff, since before vars existed
- you can place skin texture images in Custom/Atom/Person/Textures/{yourcustomfolder}/
- you then load them on the person
- when you want to share the look, you make a var with the package builder, add make sure to add the textures too like in the video at the end

If the tattoos you have are not made for vam (limbs,torso, etc) and are simple images like say my avatar, you would need to edit it with an image editor.
In the video for example I took the tattoos from here https://hub.virtamate.com/resources/pim-textures.11635/ (extracted that var with 7z and copied the images to my folder) and I added that silkgard logo on the image so that it will appear on the right hip

 

[RandomVAMUser]

just to add up:

Assuming everything is installed correctly, you can still load "normal" .jpg (not .jp2) image on decal slot.
Not really intended way, but you can (even if diffuse is alredy loaded).
Even if not in correct resolution or image position (on limbs/torso).

But since you can't load it, there's something else wrong here.

Spoiler: my initial reply (that i left opened on PC, before SPQR replied)

Your workflow is bit confusing with .7z to .rar convertion?
If it's not .var package just extract images inside 'custom/atom/person/textures/' (in whatever sub-folder inside, example: tattoo or decals)
You can't put zip/rar/7z files inside addonsPackages and hope for it to work, only .var files goes there.
(without proper meta & folder structure it wont load)

So, you have two .jpg images that you wanna use as tattoo on decal slot (torso and limbs)?
Now ideally for decals you wanna use .png (transparent) format, so it doesn't 'overlap' your skin diffuse texture.
But in any case i don't see the reason why they won't show or load at all,
even if using incorrect jpg format or incorrect resolution or incorrect position on limbs/torso parts...
you should be able to load it (unless you have corrupted images)?
Ignoring the resolution, are you sure images are .jpg and not .jp2 (jpeg2000)?

All skin textures should be 4096x4096 res as "optimal", but not mandatory.
Ideally (with not much quality loss):
- .jpg for diffuse, specular, gloss, normals (it can be .png or .tiff)
- .png for decals
Again not mandatory, you can load lower or higher res textures (only 'true' drawback is that auto-gen feature doesn't work with torso textures bellow 4k).

You best option is to get tattoo in .png format first.
If you are using custom textures already than .jpg decal is not gonna work well with it.
In any case if everything is installed correctly, there's no reason for image to not load/show (it's strange anomaly at best).
You can try clearing VaM cache...

 

[cyran lycan]

Hey, thanks for your reply and also to RandomVAMUser.

I did put the images into that custom... folder and applied them. However, they were indicated in the decal box as applied though don't show on the person and I got the error message below:


!> Error during texture load: Exception during caching of Custom/Atom/Person/Textures/qingfeng tattoo torso.png: System.IO.IOException: Path F:\VaM Local\Cache\Textures\qingfeng tattoo torso_png_149501_132857539300000000__C.vamcachemeta is a directory
at System.IO.FileStream..ctor (System.String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, Boolean anonymous, FileOptions options) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at System.IO.FileStream..ctor (System.String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.IO.FileStream:.ctor (string,System.IO.FileMode,System.IO.FileAccess,System.IO.FileShare)
at System.IO.StreamWriter..ctor (System.String path, Boolean append, System.Text.Encoding encoding, Int32 bufferSize) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at System.IO.StreamWriter..ctor (System.String path, Boolean append, System.Text.Encoding encoding) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.IO.StreamWriter:.ctor (string,bool,System.Text.Encoding)
at System.IO.File.WriteAllText (System.String path, System.String contents, System.Text.Encoding encoding) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at System.IO.File.WriteAllText (System.String path, System.String contents) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at ImageLoaderThreaded+QueuedImage.Finish () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0

 

[SPQR]

that's weird. in Custom/Atom/Person/Textures/ did you put the actual images directly there, or do you have a directory that for some reason is named " qingfeng tattoo torso.png"? If you do, remove the ".png" from the directory name

 

[cyran lycan]

that's weird. in Custom/Atom/Person/Textures/ did you put the actual images directly there, or do you have a directory that for some reason is named " qingfeng tattoo torso.png"? If you do, remove the ".png" from the directory name

I put them into Custom/Atom/Person/Textures. I can't make sense of the error message but wonder if VaM is confused about where to cache?

 

[RandomVAMUser]

huh? ...so it's .png and not .jpg? ...okay weird?
-try making another copy of that image (simple ctrl+drag) and name it something short like test.png (try loading that copy)
-if that doesn't work try clearing vam cache (under user perferences or manually delete content inside Cache folder)
-or temporary disable caching & restart vam (or hard reset)
-i agree with SPQR, for testing use only .../person/textures folder (than add image inside sub-folders, after you figure the issue)

btw what VaM version you use?
(i'm asking because some people still use 1.19.x/1.20.0.x or some older version, even though v1.20 key is valid all the way up to v1.20.77.9)

 

[SPQR]

or attach the images. let us take a closer look and judge your kinks!

 

[cyran lycan]

huh? ...so it's .png and not .jpg? ...okay weird?
-try making another copy of that image (simple ctrl+drag) and name it something short like test.png (try loading that copy)
-if that doesn't work try clearing vam cache (under user perferences or manually delete content inside Cache folder)
-or temporary disable caching & restart vam (or hard reset)
-i agree with SPQR, for testing use only .../person/textures folder (than add image inside sub-folders, after you figure the issue)

btw what VaM version you use?
(i'm asking because some people still use 1.19.x/1.20.0.x or some older version, even though v1.20 key is valid all the way up to v1.20.77.9)

Thanks for all the help. Updated and that didn't fix the issue. Cleared the cache and that did.

 

[cyran lycan]

or attach the images. let us take a closer look and judge your kinks!

Not that exciting. But, a cool tattoo by qingfeng search for his Lumik armor. Outfit and tattoo free.

 

[RandomVAMUser]

Not that exciting. But, a cool tattoo by qingfeng search for his Lumik armor. Outfit and tattoo free.

found it...

https://www.patreon.com/posts/sor-lumik-60715178?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copy_to_clipboard&utm_campaign=postshare

So for some reason you have issue loading images from Tattoos.7z ?

I really have no clue, everything loads just fine (2k or naming is not the issue).

 

[SPQR]

Updated and that didn't fix the issue. Cleared the cache and that did.

Nice. Probably something broke when you tried loading the converted 7z

 

[RandomVAMUser]

....Cleared the cache and that did.

Nice. Probably something broke when you tried loading the converted 7z

I totally misread that part, i read "didn't" twice.
Yeah, anytime there's load issue with textures (skin, clothing...) simply clearing cache can fix it, or deleting cached files for that particular item/texture.
But it's always better to 'flush' everything, it also dumps all unused stuff (or content you no longer have installed).