Make a Copy of a Costume / Different patch on right arm & left arm of costume

Hey guys,

what is the best/easiest way to make a copy of an existing costume to create a new version out of it (without overwriting the existing one)?

The reason I ask is that I made considerable changes to the texture of the police officer's uniform (com_m_pol_tz3_shirt_1_v00.dds). While the new texture (com_m_pol_tz3_shirt_1_v05.dds) does show up in game, the problem is the highlights (shiny buttons, badge) do not match the new custom texture. I do know that those highlights are found in the file com_m_pol_tz3_a.dds, but changing/modding that one would create problems with the standard police uniforms.

So I would like to just make a copy of the entire police costume, giving it a new name, so I can assign it the new texture and make a matching highlights file without touching the originals.

Also while I am at it: Is there a way to add custom patches to a uniform that are different for the left and right side? Just editing the normal texture file will result any marking showing up on the right and left arm. Again the reason for my question is that there are police uniforms that sport different patches on the right and left arm and I would very much like to recreate that.

Sorry for asking so many questions, but maybe someone here knows the answers. Thanks!

The easiest way is to raise the number before the dot. Every texture starts with the number ...v00. So if you haven't extracted all the textures (with a programm like "Reshoot" or "PakPoker") and you don't know how many variations of this texture already exist, then you can count them by changing the clothes. If there are 4 different shirts for example, then the last number ist v03. So give your texture the first free number (in this case ...v04) and you will sustain the old textures. It's important to have no gaps between the numbers. If you name it ...v06 and the ...v05 ist missing then the texture won't appear.

If that's not enough and and you really have to copy the whole costume then the easiest thing is to extract it with "The Movies Editor" and rename all single data you receive. Everywhere the old name of the costume appears, the new name must replace it (also in the text-datas). And you should place it in an own category because the "MED" doesn't extract the complete list (the S&E costumes are missing - so if you just overwrite the "category work" there are some costumes missing). But this method has a catch: the actor can't get fat or having big breasts in this costume anymore. He/she always has the standard size
If you've got problems, I give more details.

Thanks for your input Tonda, I will give that a try and report back.