Day Of Defeat Source : Tutorial 4 - Making Custom Sniper Crosshairs

Let's Clear Up Somethings

When you play as a sniper in DOD Source you are given a basic black crosshair with the usual circle area to snipe from, with the majority of the screen blacked out as if you are a real sniper.  In this tutorial you will see how to change the crosshair and also remove the blackout area, making it easier to hit and also spot the enemy players.  Below is a sample image of the basic sniper view.

We will turn this view into the image shown below.

As you can see the black fog has been lifted completely, the crosshair has been made red and also joined up at the middle to make it easier to see what you are going to hit.

This is a reasonably easy process if the steps are followed well.

1. Download GCFSCAPE. It is here
2.  Download PAINT.NET. It is here.
3. Download VTF PLUGIN FOR PAINT.NET. It is here.
4. Install GCFSCAPE, PAINT.NET and the VTF PLUGIN (comes with instructions).
5. Run GCFSCAPE.
6. Select Open. Go to C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps.
7. Select Day Of Defeat Source.gcf - which contains all of the game materials.
8. Navigate to root/dod/materials/sprites/scopes in GCFSCAPE.
9. Drag that folder to your location C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps\USERNAME\Day Of Defeat Source\Dod\Materials\sprites\scopes - this puts the sniper crosshairs in your game folder.
10. Run PAINT.NET and open all of the scope_k43 files in the Scopes folder e.g. scope_k43_ll.vtf
11. Edit the file in PAINT.NET to make your own crosshair.  The design is up to you.  There are 4 files for each sniper scope.  Each representing a corner of the scope.  ll = lower left, lr = lower right, ul = upper left, ur = upper right.
12. In order to remove the fog use the eraser tool in PAINT.NET with a large brush size.  This can be tricky but once done the effect is great. 
13. Save the crosshairs files.
14. Run Steam and DOD Source, select a sniper class in game.
    
     

You now have an effective custom sniper crosshair in your game - this makes aiming better if the crosshair works well with you..  Here is a sample of the sniper crosshairs I like to use.  I use the same one for both sniper rifles.  I have left a sample of all the scopes here.  There are also scope_spring files for the allied sniper.