Designing Programs ListHere are a list of all of the programs you will need in order to design, including downloads for some.
DXTBmp: Allows you to open and save the .dds files, the files that give color to the game.
WinRar: Allows you to open up .z2f files as well as save your projects as .z2fs as well
Notepad: Allows you to view and edit a number of files, including .xml, .dl, .bfm, .beh, and .tsk files
WinHex: allows you edit the text in .nif files
Some sort of graphics program: You can use Adobe Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, even Paint. A free Graphics program called
GIMP is also used. Whatever program you feel most comfortable using, or whichever one you can afford, is perfectly fine to use.
Helpful ProgramsThese programs are not necessary, but make the lives of many designers much easier.
Nifskope: Tired of waiting for Zoo Tycoon 2 to load
everytime you want to test out your skin? The waiting stops now! Simply have the .nif file in the same folder as the .dds you are working on, and it will load the skin with the model, allowing you to preview it much less time than it takes for the game to load!
Flash Renamer: need to rename 20 files? This program will make it easy work. Just type what you want replaced and with what, and with one click, it does them all for you!
Inforapid Search and Replace: actually changes words inside of files, saving you the hassle of having to replace the original codename with your codename in a bunch of different files individually
NVIDIA DDS Plug-in: Are you Using Photoshop, but are tired of using DXTBmp? This is the plugin for you! Let's you open DDS files right into Photoshop. Amazing!