Pipeline, Animation, I.E. C.G., cooking ., Bam creation revival discussion Options

[salomonkane]

Hello everyone,

I'm requiring help about news discovery in matter of animation creation for IE games, and especially for BG series .

Here could be discussed techniques and issues concerning bam editing/creation .

First of all, this is one example of amazing possibility delivered by the works of infamous heroes of various modding community,
adapted by me, in circumstance to Infinity Engine canvas, with Baldur'Gate like sprite :



Then which help, infos , I need ?

Well, could you please explain me :

1) How work the indexed palette system in I.E. ?

2) The limitations Engine about new sprites/animations integration ?

3) How to proceed to integrated new animation via modding pipeline (WeiDu & Co)

Perspective :
I'm looking also animator/modeler/modder than could, would be, give some tips about the original games creation assets (by eg vanilla model polygon structure ...), in the eventually of recreated some of them (cause they're "lost") with all this news animation possibility ...
And of course, need help to spell/fx making, to adjust effect for this new sprites (I'know that some people are very skilled about this, around )

T.Y. .



About :
http://www.shsforums.net/topic/56182-true-...rs/#entry557587

Credit :
Iavatar model by Mr. Lotboss

PS :
Because of a huge amount of .Gif/pictures in this Topic, I suggest you to switch the option board (in the bottom right) to "outline", for your navigation comfort/lag .
Cheers .

This post has been edited by salomonkane: May 5 2015, 08:10 PM

[salomonkane]

Model/Animation ModLab .
Model Ripping
Modding Tools, Instructions
Ripping Model How to,
Support Versions Platform sorting,
Files Explorer/Extractor/Viewer
Model Format vs Model Export
Model Viewer vs Model Importer vs Model Exporter
Constitution of Workflow Model Editing vs WorkStation Configuration/OS (PC, Win 32/Win 64, Microsoft (XP,Vista, Seven, etc.)/Mac/Linux)
Looking for alternative Workflow/Debugging/Issue resolution
Case of Study
Soul Calibur 2

Hi Nico.,

Detailed/Recapitulated Process, here,

a) Source used :

How can i open the pkg files with any 3d modeling program? I can't find any plugin around...

Precisely : Its depending, a bit/ the source of Soul Calibur game .iso using (is it a GameCube, XBOX first one version, PS2 version, HD Online XBOX360 ... ?)

You are right, there exists PKG_Packer/_Unpacker tools (*) & others alternative, but I would like to propose to you this guideline :


b ) Models Assets files Identification/Exploration :

I've provided a link/model importer in the precedent Post, here :
http://forum.xentax.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=10060, in the attachment you have a .VMX 3dsmax plugin importer

c) Alternative :
You have also one MilkShape 3d .VMX files plug-in import alternative .
https://www.mediafire.com/?r49e64tb29t3glb

How to/Issues :

Firstly you need to mount your Game Iso in an virtual disk or /Console Games Files Explorer/Emulator to explore/arboressence files to find :

VMX are the model files

By E.g :

For GameCube :
DolphinEmulator (open your Iso then : right-click on game image bander/Properties/Files System/root.olk -> extract files)

Then :

[Use]OLK Explorer to Extract Files from SC2
Expand any PKG to look for VMX files

Here you have an extract of concordance table about Models Refs. :

437, 445: Nightmare (P1)
438, 446: Nightmare (P2)
439, 447: Nightmare (P3)
453: Soul Edge (P1)
454: Soul Edge (P2)

For Information (for some of our SC FanBoys readers ^^) : some special guests are used in different console games version :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soulcalibur_II

I attire your attention that the 3ds max .Vmx importer it's apparently a WIP version (animation importer would be very welcome), indeed some skeleton/mesh fixing issues remains, & often the Milkshape plug-in don't import/export the skin correctly also, moreover you need to reconstitute the texture on the model, hopefully the UV are not broken .
In substance to animate the model correctly in this workflow & to integrate it in Infinity Engine : it's seem you must :
Re-assign the Texture, in most of the case re-skining properly or fixed some weight issue on it .
Tedious task or interesting job, depending your motivation in CG 3Dmodel creation.
Enough, in my case (in case of animation purposes), animated the model with IK/FK method, and/or convert it in Iclone Pipeline (via .FBX export, with some possible issue between 3ds/Milkshape compatibility in case of Model Editing/Tuning/Transfer) for animation/motion re-injection purpose as I've to try to demonstrate in this topic/project.

Take care about the fact that those plugs-in, softs, games are too much vintage for modern configuration, then by experience XP in 32 bit it's the most stable config. to enjoy this retro-modding hobbies .

But you guys don't worry, here your are maybe in the most difficult case of import Model ripping (except maybe ripping game "in live" from emulator).

To make your debut, I suggest to everyone to try/use Noesis (the tool could import a huge amount of 3d model, to visualized them, animated in some case, & export it in various usual format) : it's really a fantastic swiss-army-knife in matter of asset explorer, and lot of more (apparently you can use Kinect MoCap inside/model, what could be interested me a lot to create some hand-made motion for more Infinity Engine animation/reconstitution possibility) .
For identification/testing/model issue it's an indispensable utility/tool also.

Work Flow Screen (MilkShape 3d/Iclone 3DxChange):





Issue :



Resolution :

This is the mostly mesh/skin/importing Issues encountered in this Case Study with .Vmx importer script in 3ds & with .Fbx format export used in Milkshape/3DxChange .
In 3ds the rig is not properly imported on the mesh, in MilkShape/Iclone3DxChange the skin it's not properly assigned on the Weapons Arm, it's seems that some weight information are lost in the .Fbx export transfer from Milkshape to 3Dx .
But Astaroth Model imported most better in 3DX (something to deep search here/issue resolution) .
In some case with hard issue or because it's most convenient/yours skills, it's could be better to re-rigged/skinned the model mesh (on .obj by e.g.), or try various Model Format export combinations with various 3D Soft, or find some people/community that have rebuild always the model (as Xnalara model Nightmare Version that I've converted in animated sprite, but in this case the rig could be quite different/originals, such as no hand/clothes rigs = no hand/spring effects animation possibility) .

Textures are loaded/exported via VmxTEX Editor (*) .

Tips:
You can observe that I use some transveral tools like IrfanView Image viewer (that can read .dds), & DeskPins "Always on Top" windows a very handy widget, as-well Greed Xplorer/SC Viewer (*) that help me to reassign texture properly in 3d soft used .

(*) : https://www.mediafire.com/?7aiogb7zg6dwune

About :
http://forum.xentax.com/viewtopic.php?t=4582
http://www.richwhitehouse.com/index.php?co...nc_projects.php
http://8wayrun.com/threads/modding-soulcalibur-3.2908/
http://www.milkshape3d.com/ms3d/download.html

P.S. :
About various questions that I haven't not the time to answer before /Infinity Engine Advanced Animation Project,
I will provide an Q/A Post soon (about my ethical/organizational/timelines/Mods projects approaches) .

Happy Modding ...

This post has been edited by salomonkane: May 3 2015, 04:32 PM