Fix for skins in Tekkit Classic

[Zachary2897]

About a month ago, Mojang discontinued all of the legacy skin APIs. Until 1.3.1 Minecraft retrieved skins from an s3.amazonaws.com/MinecraftSkins/, however this database has not been updated since April 2014. Because of this, skins would no longer update in any version prior to 1.3.1, although they would still technically work if you had an older account. Versions 1.3.1 through 1.7.5 used skins.minecraft.net instead, so a number of patches came out to make older Minecraft versions retrieve skins from skins.minecraft.net. Unfortunately, in February, Mojang discontinued all Skin APIs except the current UUID-based one, and deleted both of these older databases. This newer API is not really usable with older Minecraft versions, because it would require backporting the 1.7.x+ UUID system. To solve this problem, I have made a fix for Tekkit Classic which tells Minecraft to retrieve skins from an API called Minotar, which still uses usernames to designate players.

You can download my fix here!

Edit: The change from s3.amazonaws.com to skins.minecraft.net occured in Minecraft 1.3.1, not in Minecraft 1.3. Likewise, the change from skins.minecraft.net to the modern UUID-based skin system occured in Minecraft 1.7.6, not Minecraft 1.7.8. Also, bear in mind that this fix only works for skins, not capes, as the latter were downloaded from a different database (s3.amazonaws.com/MinecraftCloaks/) which was deleted in April 2018, a month after this fix was originally posted.

Edited May 22, 2019 by Zachary2897

[evo_royale]

Well, it worked... sort of. I have my skin, it's just not wrapped onto the model properly. I added both files as stated in the README, and I understand this is an old topic, but if I could get some help, I'd appreciate it. A screenshot showing the error is attached.

[LaDane]

On 14/10/2018 at 5:32 AM, evo_royale said:

Well, it worked... sort of. I have my skin, it's just not wrapped onto the model properly. I added both files as stated in the README, and I understand this is an old topic, but if I could get some help, I'd appreciate it. A screenshot showing the error is attached.

Hey,

I am having the same problem, have you found a fix for this?

Thanks!

[evo_royale]

I actually did find a fix! The issue is the new skin format. Instead of the new 64× skin texture with space for the arms/legs/jacket layer, you need the old 64×32 with the legs and arms sharing the same texture, as well as the hat layer, like the attached image. Upload a 64×32 version of your skin to use through, say, the official Minecraft launcher, and it should all be fine. The skin may not update immediately, just give it some time. Restarting the Technic Launcher may work as well.

[Zachary2897]

On 10/13/2018 at 11:32 PM, evo_royale said:

Well, it worked... sort of. I have my skin, it's just not wrapped onto the model properly. I added both files as stated in the README, and I understand this is an old topic, but if I could get some help, I'd appreciate it. A screenshot showing the error is attached.

 

On 11/15/2018 at 2:43 PM, evo_royale said:

I actually did find a fix! The issue is the new skin format. Instead of the new 64× skin texture with space for the arms/legs/jacket layer, you need the old 64×32 with the legs and arms sharing the same texture, as well as the hat layer, like the attached image. Upload a 64×32 version of your skin to use through, say, the official Minecraft launcher, and it should all be fine. The skin may not update immediately, just give it some time. Restarting the Technic Launcher may work as well.

Sorry for the late reply. The new skin format (including extra layers, slim skins, etc.) is only supported on Minecraft 1.8+, so skins using this format will look broken in earlier versions. This obviously affects Tekkit Classic, as well as the later 1.7.x versions which still have working skins. Unfortunately, fixing this would involve re-coding the player model itself. My fix only changes the database that Minecraft pulls skins from, not how the skins actually work.

Edited May 22, 2019 by Zachary2897

[jt_1258]

On 5/22/2019 at 2:17 PM, Zachary2897 said:

 

Sorry for the late reply. The new skin format (including extra layers, slim skins, etc.) is only supported on Minecraft 1.8+, so skins using this format will look broken in earlier versions. This obviously affects Tekkit Classic, as well as the later 1.7.x versions which still have working skins. Unfortunately, fixing this would involve re-coding the player model itself. My fix only changes the database that Minecraft pulls skins from, not how the skins actually work.

Sorry for such an old bump but I am using the correct format as far as I can tell but it still seems to not be rendering correctly. Most of the body is black with some bits here and there with most of it scrambled onto the head.

[Zachary2897]

On 6/7/2019 at 4:49 PM, jt_1258 said:

Sorry for such an old bump but I am using the correct format as far as I can tell but it still seems to not be rendering correctly. Most of the body is black with some bits here and there with most of it scrambled onto the head.

I've tested your skin and it seems to be working fine with the fix installed.

[bantar]

On 6/11/2019 at 5:59 PM, Zachary2897 said:

I've tested your skin and it seems to be working fine with the fix installed.

I also am having the same issue, followed all your steps with the fix, I proporley formated my skin and am also getting my parts moved around, do you know any other possible issue? Im on tekkit classic 3.1.2

Edited August 4, 2019 by bantar

[Nova_Plus]

how long does it take Minotar to update your skin?

[Zachary2897]

On 8/4/2019 at 3:05 PM, bantar said:

I also am having the same issue, followed all your steps with the fix, I proporley formated my skin and am also getting my parts moved around, do you know any other possible issue? Im on tekkit classic 3.1.2

Try comparing the skin file you're using to this template from the Minecraft Wiki. It should be an exact match, otherwise Minecraft 1.2.5 won't render it properly.

On 8/7/2019 at 10:14 PM, Nova_Plus said:

how long does it take Minotar to update your skin?

Based on how Minotar fetches skins, it should update at or near the same time as Mojang's skin server.

[mattiecraft]

On 8/11/2019 at 2:30 AM, Zachary2897 said:

Try comparing the skin file you're using to this template from the Minecraft Wiki. It should be an exact match, otherwise Minecraft 1.2.5 won't render it properly.

Based on how Minotar fetches skins, it should update at or near the same time as Mojang's skin server.

Sorry to bump this post in 2020 but I'm having the same issue. Double checked with the template and all.

Edit: Despite the skin updating almost instantly on Minotar it takes at least several hours before it updates on both the Technic Launcher and Tekkit Classic.

Edited January 28, 2020 by mattiecraft

[Zachary2897]

On 1/27/2020 at 8:17 PM, mattiecraft said:

Sorry to bump this post in 2020 but I'm having the same issue. Double checked with the template and all.

Edit: Despite the skin updating almost instantly on Minotar it takes at least several hours before it updates on both the Technic Launcher and Tekkit Classic.

My fix doesn't change how skins are rendered, it just changes the URL that skins are downloaded from. The way skins actually function in-game will be identical to how skins originally functioned in Minecraft 1.2.5 before the old skin servers were taken down. My skin has always worked fine using this fix, but if there are any bugs affecting how your skin is rendered then it's probably an issue with this version of Minecraft. Unfortunately, any bugs in this version of Minecraft can't be fixed without additional mods since it's nearly 8 years old now.

As for the skin not updating instantly in-game, I have no idea why. Old versions of Minecraft had always taken a long time to update skins, but I had assumed that was because the old skin servers were slow. Again, this might just be an issue with the version of Minecraft that Tekkit Classic uses.

The Technic Launcher doesn't download skins the same way as the actual game, so if that's taking a while to update it's probably an issue with the Technic Launcher itself. Mods (my fix included) have no control over how launchers work.

Edited February 23, 2020 by Zachary2897
fixed typo

[Baobei]

Every time I try the skinfix, it looks like an extremely jumbled version of a skin I was using earlier today. I've tried changing the skin several times, but it keeps using that one, even though minotar shows my skin as being different, and my correct skin shows up on minotar and tekkit legends(but not tekkit classic). I can't figure out where the skinfix is grabbing my skin from. I know this is an old thread, but any help would be appreciated.

[Zachary2897]

Minecraft 1.2.5 (the version that Tekkit Classic runs on) normally grabs skins from "http://s3.amazonaws.com/MinecraftSkins/", which had previously not been updated since 2014 and was shut down entirely in early 2018, which is why skins broke in Tekkit Classic in the first place. The only thing this skin fix does is change the URL it grabs skins from to "http://minotar.net/skin". Nothing apart from the URL is changed by this mod, so if skins are rendering weirdly then that's an issue with Minecraft 1.2.5 itself (i.e. a vanilla bug). Most of the time this happens because certain skin formats supported in later versions of Minecraft weren't available back in 2012 and therefore aren't supported by this version of Minecraft.

When I first released this skin fix back in 2018, it was (as far as I'm aware) the only working fix for Tekkit Classic skins available at that time. About four months ago, a mod called Lumy Skin Patch was ported to Minecraft 1.2.5, so I recommend using that instead. It backports the entire skin system from modern versions of Minecraft instead of just changing the URL it grabs skins from, so in theory it should work much better with newer skins. I've tested it and as far as I can tell it's fully compatible with Tekkit Classic.

[Tychus_Balrog]

Amazing fix! it worked great. But now it suddenly doesn't work again. The logo of my face in the bottom left of the Technic Launcher has also changed back to Steve. And yet I can play Vanilla Minecraft using the Technic Launcher and my skin appears. But on Tekkit it doesn't anymore.

[Tychus_Balrog]

Now it suddenly works again. So weird.