Skins @ Hive World Terra

I've added transparency by erasing part of the picture, so why is it showing up white in-game?

Erasing part of an image might make it transparent in the art package, but the game uses a different form of transparency. When you save the image, any areas that show the 'transparency checks' through them will be 'matted' with a flat colour (normally white).

To get real transparency in-game, you need to add an Alpha Channel and paint all of the areas that you want to be transparent as black.

I've downloaded a file and it says it needs to be put within the 'Dawn of War installation folder'. Where is this?

The 'Dawn of War installation folder' is the location that you installed the Dawn of War game to. The most common location for the original CD and DVD-based installation is C:\Program Files\THQ\Dawn Of War\, although some people may have installed Dawn of War to another location.

If you are playing Dark Crusade then you will need to install to C:\Program Files\THQ\Dawn Of War - Dark Crusade\, or whichever alternate folder you installed the game to.

If you have installed the games through Steam then it will use a different directory. Right-click on the game in the Steam interface, click Properties, click the "Local Files" tab and then click "Browse Local Files…" to find the installation folder.

Note: This is only the base directory. Files will go in a folder below this - see more.

My badge/banner is showing up with a white background. How do I make it transparent?

The long answer is to read the Badge and Banner Tutorial that is available in our Tutorials section. It details how to make badges and banners in any graphics program.

The briefer answer, for those who know their graphics package, is to use the Alpha Channel. Both Dawn of War and Winter Assault badges and banners allow full 8-bit transparency using the Alpha Channel. To make an area transparent, paint it black on the Alpha Channel.

My badges/banners aren't showing up in online skirmishes any more. Why?

There is a known bug in some versions of Dawn of War (including 1.3 and 1.4) that stop the banner and badge being shown online in the second and subsequent games. This problem only occurs if you haven't changed your army colour scheme since the last game.

This bug has not yet been fixed by Relic, but has an easy work around. Simply select a different army scheme and then select your original scheme before you start the game and everything should show up as normal.

My badges/banners aren't showing up in the Army Painter. Why?

This could be for a couple of reasons. The most common is that the badge or banner isn't the correct size or format.

If they are the correct size and format, then there is a known issue of name conflict. Even though they are in different folders, make sure that your badge and banner have different names. Even adding "_badge" and "_banner" to the end is enough.

What size and format do banners and badges have to be in?

Badges have to be 64px by 64px, while banners have to be 64px by 96px (taller than they are wide).

Both badges and banners have to be save as .tga images with no compression. They also have to be saved as 32 bit colour, which means that they must have an Alpha Layer, even if the layer is just pure white.

Where should I put my banners and badges?

Installing banners and badges is easy. Simply put badges in the "badges" sub-folder of your Dawn of War installation and banners in the "banners" sub-folder.

Which program do I need to edit the TGA files?

Any paint package that understands TGA files is suitable. Most skinners on the Relic Forums use Adobe Photoshop (very expensive, unless you can pick up a slightly older copy from a computer fair or similar). Jasc's Paint Shop Pro is also suitable, and cheaper than Photoshop. The free alternative is The GIMP - the GNU Image Manipulation Program.

Please note that if you are using Photoshop 7 you may need to download Adobe's Targa plugin to allow you to save with Alpha Channels.

Will new patterns (.WTPs), banners and badges stop me playing Dawn of War in an online multi-player game?

No. While other game content can cause synchronisation issues with online games (to prevent cheating) new art content does not cause such issues.

New textures and patterns have been used in online games from very shortly after the release of Dawn of War, and no-one has yet encountered any problems.