Tutorials/Custom texture packs

Overview

 * The Purpose of this article is to teach you how to create a custom texture pack. It focuses on the extraction of files from the minecraft.jar and the putting of the edited files back into the game. For a list of modifiable files and completed community texture packs, go to:Texture Packs.

Extraction

 * To extract the editable files for a texture pack, first download a compression program, such as 7-zip or WinRAR, and make a folder on your desktop for texture pack storage. For Windows Vista/7, go to the "start" menu on your desktop and do a search for "%appdata%" (Don't use the quotation marks!). A folder titled "Roaming" should appear. On Windows XP, go to "start" menu, click "run", and type in "%appdata%" (Don't use the quotation marks!). Open it, and the first file inside should be called ".minecraft". Open this, and inside open the file titled "bin". Then go to the "minecraft" jar file and right click on it. in the menu of options should be either "7-zip" or "WinRAR". Follow the arrow from that option to the menu of actions, and choose "Extract to 'minecraft/'". (It is best that your folder for texture packs have the word minecraft in it. For example, mine is "minecraft-desktop"). Find the extracted files. They should have extracted to your desktop folder and be in a sub-folder titled "minecraft". Open this file, and there will be 676 .class files. Delete every one of these. Now you are ready to edit!

Restoring the Files

 * Once you have edited all the files to the desired look, you are ready to put them back as a custom texture pack. You're almost done! Select all the files (edited or not) Then choose the 7-zip or WinRAR option after right clicking and select "Add to archive...". The archive will open, and you can name the file. Then hit "OK", and the program will make all the files into a ZIP folder. To put into minecraft, simply start the launcher, log in, and at the tile screen go to the button "mods and texture packs". In the lower left, click the Open Folder button and drag your ZIP into the folder. Select your texture pack, and view it on your computer.

Closing

 * I hope this tutorial has made it easier to understand the extraction and re-uploading of the editable files. I have used this exact procedure many times, and will be releasing my own texture pack to the wiki sometime in the not-too-distant-future. Enjoy!   --fireglo450

 This is a very handy video by tenpindan.

Mac Users
Extractions are considerably easier on the Mac, as the Mac comes with a program called Archive Utility. First, open Finder and go to Finder>Application Support>minecraft>bin. Find minecraft.jar and right click (or command+left click). Click "Open With" and "Archive Utility". Archive Utility will create a new folder called "minecraft". Notice that this is a new folder, and that minecraft.jar is still intact. You can therefore modify and delete the new folder without altering your minecraft.jar. Create a new folder in your desktop, and drag all the necessary files into it (For a list of editable files go to: Texture Packs). Now you are ready to edit.

Restoring Files on Mac
Once you are finished editing, highlight all the files in your folder, right click, and click "compress (#) items". A new file called "Archive.zip" should appear. Rename the file to your liking. Go to Finder>Application Support>minecraft>Texture Packs, and drag your .zip in. Now you can use your texture pack by selecting the button "mods and texture packs" in the main menu of minecraft, and clicking on your pack.