Minecraft Dungeons II Custom Skin Loader Mod v1.1

                    
Minecraft Dungeons II ships with a fixed set of skins and capes. The Custom Skin Loader mod swaps them for your own PNG files. The game loads those files itself, so nothing needs building and a dropped PNG appears in the skin picker. As a result, a custom look only needs a PNG, a matching name, and one key press.
What’s Included

CustomSkinLoader (v1.1): the whole mod in one 1.2MB archive, with a templates folder to start your own skins.

Why You Need This Mod
Every PNG in the skins folder replaces the skin with the same name. Therefore, you can swap as many skins as you like. Skins can use any size, since the layout matches the game’s 64×64 skins and simply scales up. A 128×128 skin gets twice the detail. Similarly, capes use the capes folder, with textures at 32×16 or any larger size with the same layout. Additionally, the mod builds each skin picker icon automatically, in the same pose as the game’s own icons. To use your own picture instead, add a _Icon.png file next to the skin. Optional MRES textures control metallic, roughness, glow, and subsurface scattering. Meanwhile, extra eye and mouth shapes go beyond the game’s own, with a template for each one.
How to Get Started

Download the mod and extract the archive to your PC.
Next, install the Blueprint Loader mod, which loads this mod.
Close the game, and fully close the Minecraft Launcher if you use it.
Open your Minecraft Dungeons II Paks folder. On Steam, right click the game, choose Manage > Browse local files, and open Dungeons\Content\Paks. In the Minecraft Launcher, open C:\XboxGames\Minecraft Dungeons II\Content\Dungeons\Content\Paks, or the same path inside your own install folder.
Create a folder called ~mods inside Paks if there is not one already.
Extract the archive into a new folder called CustomSkinLoader inside ~mods, so the files end up in Paks\~mods\CustomSkinLoader. Do not rename or move it, because the mod looks for the skins and capes folders there.
Then start the game once, and the mod writes every default skin and cape to skins\_defaults and capes\_defaults.
To make a skin, copy its PNG from skins\_defaults into skins, edit it, and keep the exact file name. Afterward, press F5 in game to reload. Capes work the same way with capes\_defaults and capes.
To uninstall, delete the CustomSkinLoader folder from ~mods. Copy the skins and capes folders somewhere else first, since deleting the folder also deletes your custom files.

Good to Know

Custom skins and capes only change what your own game shows, because other players see the originals.
Install Second Skin Layer as well to add the Java jacket, sleeves, and pants layers. It also gives the hat its proper Java size. With both installed, skin picker icons show the outer layer and the bigger hat.
Java skins and capes use a different layout. Convert them first with the Custom Skin Converter for Minecraft Dungeons II, then rename them.
Do not edit the files in skins\_defaults or capes\_defaults, since the mod rewrites them every time the game starts.