Upload a Video
Upload a Screenshot
Signup
A list of skins from CSS
"Skins," or "models" in Counter Strike are visual replacements for objects (such as weapons or players) within the Counter Strike world. They do not affect the performance characteristics of any of the weapons involved, only the look.
When a player installs a custom model, it only changes how the game looks for that player. Everyone else playing the game will still see the player and weapons as they look by default.
Table of Contents
Where to Get Skins
CS-Nation: Arguably the most popular Counter-Strike site around also has one of the best skin archives... well, around. The CSN Skin of the Day section has skins/models for all of the weapons in Counter-Strike, including player models and sprites. Most of the skins, models, and sprites at CSN are top notch even though there are a few sub par ones. Nevertheless, if you're looking to customise your CS with some of nicest weapon and player skins available, give CS-Nation a look.
Counter-Strike Sprites: Since Tragic Sprites no longer exist, Counter-Strike Sprites is here to fill the void, not only do they have any sprite you'd possibly need to customise your CS hud, they also have tutorials, kits, sprite tools and various packs available for you to enjoy in the comfort of your own home.
Games-Fusion: Known around the CS community for their 'Fusion Packs' - replacement packs that customise almost every aspect of Counter-Strike. But you can't download these packs without signing up for a membership to the site, which, you guessed, costs money. Even so, Games-Fusion has a nice selection of models and skins you can download for free. There aren't any player skins available for free download though, so you'll just have to find those elsewhere.
How to Install Skins
Before you can install your first custom skin, there are a few directories that you must create. This is a one-time step, and after completion you will simply copy files into these directories to install new skins. To create a directory in Windows, Right-Click in the folder area, select New -> Folder.
First off, locate your "Steam" directory. For most of you, it's probably at:
C:\Program Files\Steam\
Next, browse to your "cstrike" directory, which is probably:
Steam\SteamApps\(your@email)\counter-strike\cstrike\
Next, you're going to need a models directory, so create one:
Steam\SteamApps\(your@email)\counter-strike\cstrike\models\
The "models" folder is where most of the custom model files will go, with only a few exceptions:
- To install any model with "_shield" in the name, you need to first create a "shield" directory in the "models" folder. (Steam\SteamApps\(your@email)\counter-strike\cstrike\models\shield\)
- To install player replacements, you need to first create a player folder under the models directory. (Steam\SteamApps\your@email\counter-strike\cstrike\models\player\) Each player gets its own directory, so each of the 9 following folders will need to be created under the "player" directory: arctic, gign, gsg9, guerilla, leet, sas, terror, urban, vip.
Those are the main directories needed. You can skip ones of those that you won't be needing (ie, if not installing any player replacements, you can skip creating those directories).
In addition to the custom models themselves, there are sometimes extras included in the packs, such as sounds and sprites. Determine which of the following folders you will need, and create them as well.
For custom sounds, you need to create a "sound" directory (Steam\SteamApps\(your@email)\counter-strike\cstrike\sound\) and then three subdirectories:
- Steam\SteamApps\(your@email)\counter-strike\cstrike\sound\player\
Holds the sounds that players make when moving or taking damage. - Steam\SteamApps\(your@email)\counter-strike\cstrike\sound\radio\
All radio calls and hostage replies. - Steam\SteamApps\(your@email)\counter-strike\cstrike\sound\weapons\
This is the directory we'll be most concerned with. Holds all the sounds that any weapon in the game makes, including knives, guns, grenades, and the C4 explosive.
For sprites, you'll need:
Steam\SteamApps\(your@email)\counter-strike\cstrike\sprites\
Pretty much all custom sprites go into that one big directory.
Whenever you install a custom model, make sure you copy each file into the appropriate directory, or it will not function properly.
