i'm making textures for someone but i dont have the full texture set how do i view it in toribash without having the texture item?

Make a custom folder like "test" and put it in the custom folder of toribash. Then put the texture items in there with names like head.tga breast.tga l_hand.tga etc.

Full list: http://forum.toribash.com/showthread.php?t=28309

i tried but it's not working
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is it slightly different for mac?

Not at all, but I always put l_leg.tga for example in uke's folder. Make sure the name and extension is correct.