How to create CS:GO skins

This is how you look at top-end knives, rifles and AWPs costing more than 1.5-2 thousand bucks and start thinking about how to create a skin in CS GO to become famous and earn a lot of money. You just need to take into account 2 points: your work must be approved on Steam + you will have to master Photoshop, and not at the “remove red eyes” level. Serious creativity requires serious preparation and at least basic knowledge of working with texture.

After reading this guide, you will not learn how to rivet masterpieces at the level of the “Speed ​​Beast” and “The Story of the Dragon”, but this is a real chance to get into the big league, where you will be noticed by professional guys who create sets in the spirit of Asiimov. In any case, until you start — You won’t understand what’s what.

Where to start

So, let's imagine that you're fired up with an idea and plan to revolutionize the skins market in your favorite shooter. To do this you will need at least 4 programs:

• Adobe Photoshop. It is advisable to buy or download the latest version you know where. This is your main tool in which all creative attempts will be made;

• GS:GO SDK. A proprietary utility that is offered directly on Steam in the developer tools section. Then you have to somehow fill your creativity;

• VTF Edit. A free program that is easily found online. It converts files in VTF resolution into a more familiar PSD, which is needed for processing in Photoshop;

• A set of 3D models of weapons in the form of an exploded base. This is the only way to create a skin in CS:GO. Fortunately, the basis for any pistol, rifle and shotgun is available on the Internet in unlimited quantities, and for free. 

The entire software package is installed within an hour, depending on the power of the hardware and Internet speed. 

The process of creating a masterpiece

And now the long and tedious work of creating creativity begins. Let us immediately note that it is possible to create CS GO skins without knowledge of Photoshop, but it is extremely problematic. You need to know the tools at least at a basic level. Moreover, it is advisable to improve your knowledge of English well, since almost no one publishes sensible guides in Russian, or they are extremely superficial. 

First of all, open the folder with all previously downloaded 3D models and select one suitable one. An example would be the classic AK-47, so beloved by terrorists.

Now open the file in the layers section on the right and select a texture that allows you to lay out the cannon as a flat pattern so you can decorate it with a skin. The layer looks something like this.

Now you need to select a color, and then press Ctrl+Shift+N on your keyboard, making a transparent background under the future masterpiece. You will have both a ready-made machine gun and its expanded texture at your disposal, which you can distort at your discretion. Just let’s do it without the various three-letter words and those very symbols that are usually painted in entrances. We are making weapon skins, not doing stupid things. 

When all actions are completed, it is necessary to save the intermediate result in TGA format.

So, the preliminary model has been created and even has some kind of appearance (we hope so). But it is built in VTF format, which means you will need the same converter you downloaded earlier.

Open VTFedit, then click on “Import” and find on your PC the TGA file that you just mocked for fun or commerce. After this, the General menu will open (remember what we said about the English language), where you need to set the settings one to one, as in the screenshot below.

If you want to study in more detail information about why these parameters are needed when creating your own CS:GO skin, study guides on YouTube or on the Internet. There you will definitely find a lot of interesting things for yourself. For now, save and switch to the Advanced tab, where you need to duplicate all the values ​​​​from the screenshot below.

Save, after which the Flags item will open, where you should select three items at once:

• Eight Big Alpha;

• No Level of Detail;

• No Minimap.

And once again we will have to preserve creativity, but in a more correct VTF format, for the sake of which everything was started. No time to explain — Click Save. All that remains is to add the gimbal cannon to the Steam workshop, i.e. to the same Workshop section. 

Attention: the TGA file CANNOT be deleted; it will still be needed in the future.

Final preparations

Let's move on to the final part — uploading the skin to the Steam workshop. Only in this way will it be included in the list of game files and become known. In this case, the following procedure is maintained.

1. Go into the CS:GO game, just don’t play out of habit, but bring up the console, where you need to register “workshop_workbench”;
2. You find yourself in the workshop, where you need to go to the main menu, and then find the “Custom Paint Job” command
3. Now unpack the previously made VTF file, and then set up highlights, reflections and other beauties, if necessary. If not — go straight to the shipping item;
4. Don't forget to tell the workshop the path to your TGA file (we warned you that it will be needed when creating a skin in CS GO);
5. Upload an image showing the weapon with the new design (used as a preview);
6. Confirm the publication action and you will see how a page with your top Kalash, which you have been working on all day, has appeared in the Workshop. It seems like a small thing, but it made some contribution to the development of the game.

But remember that the skin does not appear in the game by clicking it. In order for the section moderators to pay attention to it, you need to raise the ears of all your friends and acquaintances on the forum. The latter should actively vote for your work, so show your creativity in this area too. If Steam sees the potential and active support of the project, they will definitely add weapons to CS:GO.