If you’ve played CS2 for more than five minutes, chances are you’re already aware of the importance of weapon skins in the game. Skins in CS2 not only let you express yourself in a variety of different ways, but they also help you make a style statement on the heated battlefield.

While you may have purchased or used a variety of skins yourself, have you ever wondered how to make skins in CS2? Understanding the process behind skin creation can give you a deeper appreciation for CS2 skins and even open up opportunities to earn significant money if your designs are accepted by Valve.

In this article, we’ll take a look at what you need to know to get started with making your own CS2 skins and submit them to Valve for review.

How To Make CS2 Skins: Guide

First, head over to your Steam Library and select Counter-Strike 2. Now click on the gear icon located at the right-hand side of your screen and hit ‘Properties’.

Once done, go to the DLC tab and check ‘Counter-Strike 2 Workshop Tools’.

Wait for the download to finish, then launch CS2 from the Steam Library. When you’re prompted with the option, select “Launch Workshop tools for items.”

Go to the left folder “Custom Paint Shop” and find cu_paintkit_example. You can then open the AWP model with the applied skin. Hit the “Inspect” button located in the top-right corner of your screen to open the in-game preview of the AWP.

To change this skin for the weapon, you’ll need an image file in TGA format. You can freely convert any PNG file to TGA via various third-party websites.

Once done, right-click the square, align the textures, and go to the attachment. Now, insert your TGA image into the form. Let’s say the file is named ‘x.tga’

You now need to change the path for “items/assets/paintkits/workshop/example_custom_paint.tga” to “items/assets/paintkits/workshop/x.tga.”

Using the “Texture Scale” slider, you can adjust the quality and size of your new image.

To check how your skin looks in-game, you can simply hit the ‘Preview’ button, which will open a server showcasing your skin.

And that’s it! You have now created your first skin in Counter-Strike 2.

How To Publish CS2 Skins

In order to publish this skin for the world to see, you’ll need to upload it to the Steam Community Workshop.

You can do so by clicking “Publish”, which will open the menu for workshop submission.

Once you’ve filled in the appropriate fields, hit “Submit”.

If your skin passes the moderation check, it will be available for other players to view and rate in the Steam Workshop. However, for it to be featured in the game, Valve must officially approve it themselves.