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Let's first have an overview of what defines a Skin:

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S_SKIN:

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Each skin in a pwad is identified by a 'skin marker': this is a resource by the name 'S_SKIN'. The resource contains data in the form of a text file, which describes what is replaced by the skin, and gives the name of the skin.

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Skin sprites:

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A skin is basically a sprite replacement for the player avatar.  ALL the frames of the player sprite must be replaced : this includes the normal run, attack, hurt sequences, as well as the 'normal' death, and the 'explode' death sequences.

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Skin face:

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Though the status bar face is viewable only by the player who uses the skin, it may be replaced in order to be consistent with the player character appearance. As soon as we ran some tests with a 'Leprechaun' skin, and saw the marine's head in the status bar.. we added support for replacing the status bar face. Like the sprites, ALL the face graphics need to be replaced, if some are not defined, the game will quit.

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Skin sounds:

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To make it more fun, a skin can have a set of up to 10 sounds replaced, these are called the 'skin sounds'. Skin sounds are replacements of a set of the original Doom sounds, which are given out only by the skin that defines them. All the sounds need not be replaced.

 

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