Tutorial: How to Import Custom NBA 2K25 Jerseys

This guide will walk you through the process of replacing an existing NBA 2K25 in-game jersey with a custom design created using the Basketball Jersey Creator tool. This method requires some familiarity with file management and basic image editing.

Prerequisites:

• Basketball Jersey Creator: The application used to design your custom jerseys.
• NBA 2K25 installed: The game for which you are creating the jersey.

Modding Tools:

• mod.exe: A utility found within your NBA 2K25 game folder, essential for exporting and manipulating game files.
• NVIDIA Texture Tools Exporter (or a similar program) to convert .png files to .dds format as required by the game.
• Archiving Software (e.g., 7-Zip, WinRAR): For creating and extracting .zip / .iff files.

Step 1: Download Your Custom Jersey from Basketball Jersey Creator

1. Create your desired jersey design in Basketball Jersey Creator.
2. Crucial Step for Resolution: Before downloading, ensure you set the export resolution within Basketball Jersey Creator to 2048x2048. This is vital to prevent later issues with .TXTR files and ensure proper texture mapping in NBA 2K25. The resolution setting can be found in the Settings panel (cog icon) on the left side.
3. Once satisfied with your design and the resolution is set, download the zip by clicking the Download button in the bottom right corner of the site. This .zip will contain the following .png texture files:
   • jersey_color.png
   • jersey_normal.png
   • jersey_region.png
   • shorts_color.png
   • shorts_normal.png
   • shorts_region.png
   
   
4. Extract the contents of this .zip file to a readily accessible folder on your computer.

Step 2: Identify the ID of an Existing Jersey in NBA 2K25

To replace an existing jersey, you first need to identify its unique ID within the game's files.

1. Navigate to your NBA 2K25 game folder. This is typically located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\NBA 2K25 or similar. Tip: You can find this folder easily by going to your Steam libary: start by right clicking NBA 2K25, then click on properties > installed files > search. This will open the game directory in the file explorer.
2. Locate the manifest file within the game folder and open it with a text editor.
3. Search for the jersey you wish to replace. Jerseys are located in the "char/uniforms/directory" and their name will include information about the team and type of jersey. A typical entry in the manifest file will read something like "char/uniforms/u[three-digit team ID][three-letter team abbreviation]_["year" for classic jerseys, or "current" for the current season jerseys]_[type of jersey, e.g. "home" or "away"]/[same as directory name].iff. For example, the Sixers home jersey is "char/uniforms/u000phi_current_home/u000phi_current_home.iff".
4. Once you find a suitable entry, note down the ID associated with the jersey. This ID will be used in the next steps.

Step 3: Export the Existing Jersey using mod.exe

Now you will export the .iff file of the jersey you identified in the previous step.

1. Open a Command Prompt or PowerShell window as an administrator.
2. Navigate to your NBA 2K25 game folder using the cd command (e.g., cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\NBA 2K25").
3. Execute the following command: mod.exe <JERSEY_ID>. Replace <JERSEY_ID> with the ID you found in Step 2. For example, if the ID was "char/uniforms/u000phi_current_home/u000phi_current_home.iff", the command would be "mod.exe char/uniforms/u000phi_current_home/u000phi_current_home.iff".
4. Upon successful execution, a new folder named mods will be created within your NBA 2K25 game folder (if it doesn't already exist). Inside mods, you will find subfolders containing your exported jersey.

Step 4: Extract the IFF File

The exported .iff file is itself a container. You need to extract its contents to access the individual texture and configuration files.

1. Navigate to the mods folder within your NBA 2K25 game directory (e.g., NBA 2K25\mods\char\uniforms\<JERSEY_ID>).
2. Locate the .iff file you just exported.
3. Right-click on the .iff file and use your archiving software (e.g., 7-Zip, WinRAR) to extract its contents into a new subfolder within the same directory. This will typically create a folder named after the .iff file, containing numerous .dds, .txtr, and .rdat files.

Step 5: Clean Up and Prepare Texture Files

The extracted .iff often contains many texture files, some of which are not needed for custom jerseys, especially those related to "tiled" patterns.

1. Navigate into the extracted folder (mods[...]\<JERSEY_ID>).
2. Identify and remove unneeded .dds and .txtr files. These are typically files related to tiled patterns, used mostly by modern jerseys. Delete all files but the ones named jersey_color[...].dds, jersey_color.TXTR, jersey_normal[...].dds, jersey_normal.TXTR, jersey_region[...].dds, jersey_normal.TXTR, jersey_region[...].dds, jersey_region.TXTR, shorts_color[...].dds, shorts_color.TXTR, shorts_normal[...].dds, shorts_normal.TXTR, shorts_region[...].dds, shorts_region.TXTR, and [...].RDAT.
   
   • Note: Because you set the resolution to 2048x2048 in Basketball Jersey Creator, you should NOT need to edit any .TXTR files. The game will correctly interpret the dimensions from your .dds files.
   
   
3. Locate the downloaded .png texture files from Basketball Jersey Creator. These are:
   
   • jersey_color.png
   • shorts_color.png
   • jersey_normal.png
   • shorts_normal.png
   • jersey_region.png
   • shorts_region.png
   
   
4. Convert these .png files to .dds format with specific settings using your image editor (settings for NVIDIA DDS Texture Exporter can be found below):
   
   1. Open each .png file in your image editor.
   2. Make sure to set the DDS settings as shown on the image below:
      
      
      Make sure to check the "Use DXT10 Header" option when saving the normal maps (found under "Image Options")
   3. Save the .dds files into the extracted .iff folder, overwriting any existing files with the same name. Ensure the filenames match exactly.

Step 6: Replace the .RDAT File

The .RDAT file controls how the game renders the jersey, including its material properties and tiling behavior. This is a critical step to ensure your custom textures are displayed correctly.

Remove the existing RDAT file from the folder and replace it with the one from the downloaded .zip.

Step 7: Create a ZIP from Edited Files

Now that all your custom textures and the modified .RDAT file are ready, you will re-package them into a .zip file.

1. Navigate to the folder containing your edited files: This is the folder you extracted the .iff into
2. Select all files: This includes all jersey[...] and shorts[...] files as well as the .RDAT file
3. Right-click on the selected files and use your archiving software to "Add to archive...".

Step 8: Replace the Previously Downloaded IFF File

This is the final step where you replace the placeholder .iff file (which was a container) with your newly created .zip file containing your custom jersey data.

1. Delete the original .iff file that you extracted in Step 4.
2. Rename the new .zip file you created, changing the extension from .zip to .iff.

Explanation: mod.exe and the game's modding system expect .iff files. When you place a .zip file with the .iff extension in the mods folder, the game system will recognize it as a package to be loaded.

Step 9: Launch NBA 2K25 and Test

1. Launch NBA 2K25.
2. Navigate to the team whose jersey you replaced.
3. Check if your custom jersey is visible and renders correctly.

That should be it. If your jersey appears correclty ingame, you're done here.

If there are any issues such as incorrect or missing textures, or game crashes, double-check the previous steps or try repeating the process carefully from the start.