getscale and setscale

[codo85]

hi guys, I was just wondering if in DA there is something similar to good old bethesda's getscale/setscale in order to change the size of pc and npc...

if not, what is the next best thing?

can I export a model, rescale it and import it back?

 

thanks in advance ;)

[Roana]

hi guys, I was just wondering if in DA there is something similar to good old bethesda's getscale/setscale in order to change the size of pc and npc...

if not, what is the next best thing?

can I export a model, rescale it and import it back?

 

thanks in advance ;)

 

Hello,

 

there is no such command in the scripts in DAO. You can read, what possibilities are there, if you open the "Scripts.erf" with a simple text-editor located in the core/data folder in the installations folder, where you can also find the DAUpdater (so NOT under My Documents/etc. :smile: )

 

This is one of the few ".erf" files that are readable even without any special tool installed. It is a list of all script commands, variables and integers, with comments from the programmers :wink: )

 

I have read it, before I recognized, that the toolset and my Os don't want to cooperate equal, what I'm trying to do.

 

Unfortunately, I haven't found a good modded script decompiler/compiler yet, even if I have found a modded way, to open the ".erf"-files and entpack them, I cannot write even simple scripts for DAO, cause I can get the sources now, but can't compile them.

 

Well, that's what I'm doing instead of playing: search for good tools, that will deal with modding this game without the toolset installed... I wish the time back, as I had only to get Near Infinity (for BG1&2) and work with one bugfree tool with a whole large game... *sigh*

 

Hope that helps a bit

 

Greetings

 

Roana

[DarkeWolf]

Unfortunately, Roana is correct, that this game doesnt use a system like that. Instead, it uses seperately sized 3d meshes. (which in my mind, is really stupid, and very OLD tech!)

 

One thing to mention about this, before going any further, is that if you are going to adjust the size of the PC's, you are going to have to adjust each and every single piece of clothes/armor that you want them to wear. Because the clothes aren't layers, per say. they don't go on OVER the body, they REPLACE that part of the body.

They are completely seperate meshes, that go on IN PLACE of the particular body part.

So.... say that you made it so that a human male was the size of an ogre (not recommended because they then won't fit thru doors, and may have collision problems with objects that hang low from ceilings), and then throw on a pair of boots that hasnt been resampled. You'll end up with a humongous guy, with little itty-bitty gimpy looking feet. and probly a big gap of empty air between the calf right below the knee, and the actual boot.

You'll have the same issue with any NPC that use the multipart meshes, instead of just a singular mesh. Best way to describe this, is that the PC races have 6 body parts. Head and neck, Main Torso (upper arms, upper legs, and main trunk), lower arms, and lower legs, and then eyes. There are a few monsters in the game which have 3 parts. Head, eyes, and entire body. Dragons have 2 parts. Head, and body (eyes are just put in on the skin/texture file, and don't move).

 

You will also have to resample the eyes, any hair meshes, any tattoo art, and maybe have to edit the texture (.dds) files that accompany them.

 

Now, that said. I know of two possible methods. But havent tested either of them. I repeat, I HAVE NOT TESTED EITHER OF THEM, because my knowledge of 3d manipulation is less than zero.

 

DaTOOL- http://social.bioware.com/project/41/ this program can read the vanilla DA files, and export them, tho the meshes are as simple objects, and dont contain the animations, bones, or rigging. It can however, supposedly, adjust the scale of an object via increments of % without actually replacing them. Again, I havent tested this, so I dont know if it messes up any of the rigging, bones, or animations.

 

The second would be to download, and install a comptibility patch for Lightwave, 3dsmax/gmax or Blender. This will allow those programs to import the .msh files into those programs, scale them using those programs, and then export them out again. Again, I havent tested those, as I know jack about any of those programs. I do know however, that some of them still need work. I do know that the blender script lacks the ability to import the rigging animations, and bones. Which means that the mesh won't be able to move, or have any of it's animation settings anymore. (this is a big fat reason why we dont have more custom armor mods for this game yet!).

you can find all three of these plugins over at http://social.bioware.com by just searching for the plugin name, like 3dsmax blender or lightwave.

 

 

So, if I may ask, what are you trying to resample, whats the project and it's end result?

[codo85]

Roana and DarkeWolf, thanks for the answers!

 

first thing to say: I'm a complete noob in modding, especially in modeling.

that said, I've already tryied DATool, and it works very well!

if you modify the scale of the single pieces of a model, even an animated one like that of a human male, you get a fully working scaled creature. you have to modify the feet, body, hands, hair, eyes, eyelashes and base model.

like I said the scaled model is fully working, I didn't notice any issue with animations; however, love cutscenes will show some proeblems, I guess.

 

that said, there's a crucial problem: the base model is shared by a whole category of npcs (human females, elven males, kids etc etc), and in the toolset you can't add a custom base model, for example to be used only by your character; so if you edit the base model the changes will affect many npcs. This is a problem beacuse a scaled base model works fine only if the other pieces of the creature are scaled too, otherwise animations don't work well.

 

do you see any solution?

[DarkeWolf]

well! that is really good to hear, I'm glad to find out that you've gotten part of it down already :D

 

 

Ok, here's basically what you would have to do. This example is for making a regular character into a qunari male, but the principle is the same. http://www.greymeister.net/?q=node/7

But requires toolset.

 

 

in order to this, you're going to need to change your model into something else, and makes sure that it fits into the filename parameters that the game uses. so instead of it being "HM_UHM_BASa_0" (whch is Human Male, Universal Human Male, Base something something.) Change it into something like "BM_UHM_BASa_0" Bigger Male, Universal Human Male, base yada yada yada. (JUST an example, check to see if that's taken before you use it)

And make it so that any thing that works with this model, also matches your BM_ prefix so that it knows that this is for this particular race

 

Now, BEFORE you can do this tho, you are going to have to go in and modify your chargencfg.xml file, if this is to be a playable character. Otherwise toolset won't add it to the list. Roana has made an extensive walkthru on how to edit that particular file, http://thenexusforums.com/index.php?showtopic=190683 post #4

 

The only 3rd party software you'll need in order to edit it, is a text editor like notepad, ms word, ms works, or equivilent. click once on the chargen file to higlight it, then RIGHT click on it while holding down the SHIFT key, and click Open With, then browse to the appropriate program, if it's not already in the list.

You might have to use the windows search engine to locate the particular program .exe that you want to use.

I prefer notepad, as it doesnt have any bells and whistle that might see what you're doing as a typo or misspelling, and automatically try to correct it.

 

 

Its cool that you're already familiar with DAtool, as you can use it, to browse the exiting models, to make sure that your prefixes aren't already taken by another creature. It's file, browse models, creatures, then just shift thru each of the folders.

 

OR you could attempt to make it as an override file for DAModManager in which case that program would assign the body to it. http://www.dragonagenexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=277

However, thats going to be rather complex.

 

 

Thanks much for posting that DATool works for something like this. After reading the tutorial on how to make qunari males into PC's, there was a request for making hair and stuff for them. Not to mention that I've considered the idea of trying to make a female sized body to match them. (Give sten a chance to visit the wife he left back home or w/e.)

[codo85]

awesome DarkeWolf, with your help I'm starting to understand how all this stuff works!

but there's a point I don't get.

 

as you said, our bigger male needs a base model like "BM_UHM_BASa_0", and this will be a "HM_UHM_BASa_0" scaled and renamed.

so, when I open the toolset, go for file->new->morph, and get to the above menu [Choose base] (with "HM_UHM_BASa_0", "HF_UHM_BASa_0" etc), I'd expect to find the additional option "BM_UHM_BASa_0". likewise, your qunari female would be "QF_UHM_BASa_0". right?

ok, I don't understand how to get these new coices in the menu.

 

I have found the file chargenmorphcfg.xml, in packages/core/data/misc. editing it shouldn't be a problem but there, for every race and gender, I can add lines related to available hairs, beards etc, but I don't understand how could I add a new race with its related models.

I could surely start a group of models called "bigger male" or "qunari female", but how can the engine manage correctly these lines if I don't say anywhere that there's a new base model related to them?

[DarkeWolf]

Glad to hear it :-)

 

Actually, for female it would be BF_UHF_ yada yada yada, as M stands for male, F for Female. (the game designers made that rule, we dont have to agree with it, we just have to follow it :wink: )

 

to add the new models into the actual toolset is something that I havent done yet. What I do know, is that you will have to create a new module/add-in. I think, that once that is done, the game splits it up into two seperate files, tho I'm not sure what those file's extensions are.

 

you might want to check here- http://thenexusforums.com/index.php?showtopic=167987

its old, and kind of outdated, but it's got a lot of links for tutorials. Going to go ahead and direct you there, because now we're reaching into realms that I havent traveled yet, and don't understand the roadmap for. IE- actually adding it INTO the toolset is something that I really don't know much of anything about. My experience with toolset so far has been copying face morph info, tinkering around with weapon/armor settings, and some failed attempts at trying to figure out cutscenes and voice overs, and totally botching up a savegame file.

 

And on THAT last note, my advice is ALWAYS make backups before you even OPEN the toolcrap!

 

Oh, and when you do your edited chargencfg.xml file, you will want to drop it into documents/bioware/dragon age/packages/core/override folder. that way your new one will simply override the original.

 

The actual BODY you don't add to the chargen. Thats selected automatically when you choose a race. Just the heads, hairs, eyes, skins, tattoos, etc is all that will be read in the chargen. The body itself is where you will need to figure out how to add it to the core.

[codo85]

ok, after hours of thinking I've figured out this procedure to customize the body (shape, height, texture...) of a single character.

for example, a human male main character.

 

1. extract apr_base.gda from 2da.erf.

2. edit it with a tool like GDApp: delete all the lines apart ID 15. then change this ID to something > than 89 and change the letter in MODELRACE column in an unused one, for example B.

3. save the file with a name like "apr_base_varianthuman.gda".

4. put this file in override folder.

5. open with DATool the models related to human male: hm_uhm_basa_0 as a base model and then the models related to body, feet, hands, hair, eyes and eyelashes.

6. retexture rescale or re-whatyouwant these models.

7. save base model as bm_uhm_basa_0, and the other models accordingly.

8. put all this stuff in override folder.

9. open a savegame with toolset and change the number related to the appearance of the character to the ID in file "apr_base_varianthuman.gda"

10. save the change.

 

now the character is customized, but I have no idea if this would cause problems in the official campaigns.

 

Actually, for female it would be BF_UHF_ yada yada yada, as M stands for male, F for Female. (the game designers made that rule, we dont have to agree with it, we just have to follow it :wink: )

 

the letter that says that a model is male or female is the second one, the following block is always uhm.

indeed if you simply put a model called "qf_uhm_basa_0" in override folder, and then change the appearance of your female main character to qunari, you see this model.

[DarkeWolf]

Well now, very cool! I'm glad to hear that you got something figured out, and working :thumbsup:

I'm interested in hearing how it turns out. And I definitely applaud you for all the work on it. I just wish that things could have been Simpler for you, but it seems like nothing about working with this game is easy. :sad:

Kudos given for taking the intiative, and for all the hard work :wink:

 

Thanks for the tip! I'll try to remember that, from now one :thumbsup: