The Witcher 1 armors in DA: origins

[amycus]

thanks a lot for the tutorial :thumbsup:

I will wait for the information for each pic, but did you really convert the mage armor from DA2 ?! what import/export tool did you use ?

 

I hope I'm not annoying you but would you make a mod for it ? I think it'll be great,

 

thanks again :D

 

I'm currently working on 2 mod projects, "armor of the wardens burden" that is already here on thenexus (pretty bad textures though, still working on it), and an unreleased that is so far called "amycus junkyard" in my folders. I'm planning to release various armor parts, some of them ported from DA2, and the mage armor is part of that. EDIT: Scratch that, I will upload it as a separate mod later. That is, if no one else has already uploaded this that I'm unaware of?

 

If you wish to know how I got the mage armor ripped:

 

While I still had the game I read about the GFF editor, and used it to extract the erfs. Unfortunately they are still a bit different from DA:Os, and thus eshmes tools can only PARTLY import them. If you try to import them with eshmes tools you get several error messages, but if you keep pressing "enter" for a long time it will eventually load. Sadly the UW map gets messed up.

 

Then I read about someone who had written an import script for 3ds max which I now use. Here is the thread: http://forum.xentax.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6119&sid=0d217d0c995e390ce2117aad99a6e70e

 

And well, since I still had the extracted files on my computer, why not go for it?

 

I'm going shopping some groceries now, will start writing the rest of the tutorial after that. Just thought I should answer your most recent question.

Edited August 30, 2011 by amycus

[amycus]

The tutorial is finished since long ago, though I'm not sure if you have noticed it since it is on the previous page and something I only edited in afterwards. If you need any more help you are welcome to ask. Oh, and some shameless advertising, the mage armor is uploaded here now: http://dragonagenexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=3098 if you are interested.

[acateatsarat]

thanks a lot amycus for the tutorial and sorry I was very very busy in the last few days, but here I'm back again to modding :biggrin:

 

I actually followed your tutorial step by step but unfortunately the problem still exists, so I concluded that it's not a rigging problem and is about something I did before importing the vanilla mesh, and I've some questions in that:

- in the select-and-link step, what do I select and link exactly? I found something called "GOB" and another called "GOD", when I select the mesh and drag to the skeleton, these GOB and GOD become linked, so is that right or I should do something else?

 

- also when I first import the witcher armor, there's a green box at the base of the armor and named after it and called "witcherbase" as in the photos, what I did is that I deleted this box, did I delete the "GOB" or what? or is this what should be linked with the skeleton in the select-and-link step?

 

http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/acateatsarat/test1.jpg

 

http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/acateatsarat/test2.jpg

[amycus]

Hi again :smile:

I've actually learned a bit more myself since the last time, so I will update the tutorial after posting here. You can forget everything else I have said before the last tutorial with the mage armor, and only follow that one. Should be easier for you to follow. That being said I will answer your questions here to in order to avoid any misunderstandings.

 

ignore the "select and link" thing, I have redone my working procedure so that one doesn't need to do that. As for the "witcherbase" that followed when you imported the witcher armor, delete those. Before you start my tutorial you should make sure that only the mesh itself is on the scene. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

Grented, when I post this I will still need to edit those 2 posts from before containing all the pics, so be aware that it might not have been updated yet when you read it. In that case, just wait for another hour before checking again.

 

EDIT: done. Hopefully you know what to do now, but otherwise I will give it a try to make another attempt at a tutorial when I rig another armor. Will try to give you pictures that are more "up to date" with the new workflow.

 

2nd EDIT: Yup, reading through the tutorial I think I really should redo it with a bit more effort. I'm planning to rig several armors tomorrow, so plenty of opportunity to make it. You can obviously still try the old tutorial that I just updated, but it's understandable if you have trouble finding some buttons and similar I'm talking about.

Edited September 7, 2011 by amycus

[acateatsarat]

I don't beleive myself :woot: thank you thank you thank you :dance:

it worked, I tried it in a cutscene in the toolset and the character became visible and moved with every animation I added to it, it looks amazing :D ... I don't know how to thank you...I found what the problem was, it was with the textures I used, after you updated the tutorial I tried the texture part and applied it to the model I made before and it appeared normally after that :dance:

 

but there's still one single small problem; the witcher game has a bitmap and a normal mask and all in dds format (the same as DA) but there's no specular mask or gore mask in "the witcher" game so I left their slots empty, and the result is that the armor was dark almost black and no gore appears on it.

 

also, I find that adjusting the witcher armors to exactly match the DA skeleton a bit tiring and may deform the armor, so is it possible to adjust the DA skeleton instead to match the model and then after attaching it to the model return back to its original pose?

 

finally I thank you from my heart, you helped me a great deal thanks again and I'm sure lots have found the tutorial useful :thumbsup:

thanks and good luck

[amycus]

Glad you are getting somewhere ;)

 

but there's still one single small problem; the witcher game has a bitmap and a normal mask and all in dds format (the same as DA) but there's no specular mask or gore mask in "the witcher" game so I left their slots empty, and the result is that the armor was dark almost black and no gore appears on it.

If there isn't any specular map you will need to make one (a lot easier than you might think). In your position I would start by putting a copy of the diffuse map(the "colour" map) as specular map as well(you should give this .dds file a different name from the real diffuse map). Then play the game and note down what parts of the armor looks too shiny, and what parts will have to be "tuned" up or down (for example the chainmail part might need more shine, while the cloth parts needs a lot less. Then you need either photoshop or gimp with a .dds plugin, and edit the file you are using as specular map. The darker the areas in the texture map are, the less they will shine, and vice versa. Then save the file and put it in your override folder for the time being (if it asks you for settings while you wish to save as .dds, choose: DXT5 ARGB 8bpp Interpolated alpha). Run the game, and check if the dpecular map needs further adjustments.

 

As for the gore map, ignore it. I'm not sure what it's for. None of my imported armors has a gore map, but they still get blood on themselves.

 

also, I find that adjusting the witcher armors to exactly match the DA skeleton a bit tiring and may deform the armor, so is it possible to adjust the DA skeleton instead to match the model and then after attaching it to the model return back to its original pose?

Might be, I havn't had any need to try it since it so far has only been the arms and legs that needed some editing. Theoretically it should work, although the weightpaint in that area might get weird, but if that is the only problem you can always put weightpaint on that part manually. I think you got some basic instructions on how to do that in the previous tutorial.

[acateatsarat]

Hi amycus, here are some photos of the armor in the game and I'd like to know your opinion about it:

 

http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/acateatsarat/Screenshot20110909162845127.jpg

 

here the shoulder needs some adjustement, and this one

 

http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/acateatsarat/Screenshot20110909162830125.jpg

 

I don't like the shadows, it's too dark from that direction compared to ser Gilmore's armor,

so what do you think ?

[amycus]

Looks really good :)

Maybe you should try to raise the specular a little bit though. If you have the specular map in your override folder you can edit it directly there, then save and run the game to test how it looks.

[acateatsarat]

Hi amycus, I'm now making the helmet of the armor but it doesn't appear in the game so I guess the problem is in the gda file, so the question is: does making a helmet is the same as making an armor in the .gda file and the only difference is instead of "arm" we write "hlh" only or there's something more I don't know that's making the helmet disappear?

 

thanks and I hope I don't annoy you by my many questions :rolleyes:

Edited September 12, 2011 by acateatsarat

[amycus]

Hi amycus, I'm now making the helmet of the armor but it doesn't appear in the game so I guess the problem is in the gda file, so the question is: does making a helmet is the same as making an armor in the .gda file and the only difference is instead of "arm" we write "hlh" only or there's something more I don't know that's making the helmet disappear?

 

thanks and I hope I don't annoy you by my many questions :rolleyes:

 

Yes, I usually just use hlh (remember that the filenames of the .mao, .mmh, .msh etc should also have that in the name when you export them, otherwise the game won't find them).

 

Also, if you notice that you get the helmet in, but your head just consists of some floating eyeballs, then you need to change the value of "FULLFACE" in the GDA file. I think it's supposed to be a zero there when you want it to render the whole face when you equip the helmet.

Edited September 12, 2011 by amycus