40 replies to this topic

[jestemwlodek]

Apparently I need this 3DS Max plugin to make custom animations (.gr2 files) - but it's nowhere to be found...

 

Does anyone have it by any chance? Please help...

[Tchos]

I saw a link to it here.  Under "You can find everything you need..."

[Dann-J]

There used to be an entry for it on the old vault, but I'm not seeing it anywhere on the new vault. There are some video tutorials for it though.

 

Some kind soul should probably upload it to the new vault so we don't have to search for increasingly obscure links to it.

[jestemwlodek]

Thanks a million times Tchos!

 

It work fine!

[jestemwlodek]

Question: can I make custom skeletons with this? By make I mean edit existing ones and make it work as seperate skeleton? Or is it just limited to animations?

[rjshae]

It used to be at this address: http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2PlugIns.Detail&id=68

 

But that was apparently taken down at some point, so we don't have a copy of the original Vault page on the new Vault's anonymous ftp site. I checked the Wayback Machine, but it doesn't have a copy either.

[kamal_]

It used to be at this address: http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2PlugIns.Detail&id=68

 

But that was apparently taken down at some point, so we don't have a copy of the original Vault page on the new Vault's anonymous ftp site. I checked the Wayback Machine, but it doesn't have a copy either.

http://neverwinterva...expotron-plugin

Vault 2.0 now has it

[rjshae]

Thanks, but... there are no downloadable files.

[Tchos]

Question: can I make custom skeletons with this? By make I mean edit existing ones and make it work as seperate skeleton? Or is it just limited to animations?

 

I don't know the answer for sure, but I seem to recall someone saying it can't import skeletons.  However, I also recall that someone made a set of standard skeletons for that purpose for the standard races and perhaps some monsters, too.  I can't recall much more than that.

[4760]

Question: can I make custom skeletons with this? By make I mean edit existing ones and make it work as seperate skeleton? Or is it just limited to animations?

 
Yes, you can create brand new skeletons. Beware that editing existing ones is likely to prevent their animations from working, unless you rename the edited skeleton (and all animations will have to be redone for the new skeleton).

 

It used to be at this address: http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2PlugIns.Detail&id=68
 
But that was apparently taken down at some point, so we don't have a copy of the original Vault page on the new Vault's anonymous ftp site. I checked the Wayback Machine, but it doesn't have a copy either.

 
Yes, as the owner of the Granny dll on which Expotron is built asked to have it removed for copyright issues.

 

I don't know the answer for sure, but I seem to recall someone saying it can't import skeletons.

No, skeletons can be imported, it's the animations that can't. It's also worth keeping in mind that there's a scale issue between the skel and the mesh: the skeleton is 100 times smaller than the model skinned around it (the trick is to load the skel at 10,000% first, then import the model).

[jestemwlodek]

I don't know the answer for sure, but I seem to recall someone saying it can't import skeletons.  However, I also recall that someone made a set of standard skeletons for that purpose for the standard races and perhaps some monsters, too.  I can't recall much more than that.

You absolutely can IMPORT a skeleton, but what I need it to do is to EXPORT it into a .gr2 file - a skeleton file. This way I could (at least I think so) copy the basic p_hhm skeleton into a seperate file and then create a completely different set of animations for this "new" skeleton (and I tottaly already did the latter).

[kamal_]

Thanks, but... there are no downloadable files.

Fixed, I forgot to hit the upload button on the files.

[jestemwlodek]

 
Yes, you can create brand new skeletons. Beware that editing existing ones is likely to prevent their animations from working, unless you rename the edited skeleton (and all animations will have to be redone for the new skeleton).

  
Yes, as the owner of the Granny dll on which Expotron is built asked to have it removed for copyright issues.

  No, skeletons can be imported, it's the animations that can't. It's also worth keeping in mind that there's a scale issue between the skel and the mesh: the skeleton is 100 times smaller than the model skinned around it (the trick is to load the skel at 10,000% first, then import the model).

 

 
Yes, you can create brand new skeletons. Beware that editing existing ones is likely to prevent their animations from working, unless you rename the edited skeleton (and all animations will have to be redone for the new skeleton).

  
Yes, as the owner of the Granny dll on which Expotron is built asked to have it removed for copyright issues.

  No, skeletons can be imported, it's the animations that can't. It's also worth keeping in mind that there's a scale issue between the skel and the mesh: the skeleton is 100 times smaller than the model skinned around it (the trick is to load the skel at 10,000% first, then import the model).

 

So if I simply rename the p_hhm_skel.gr2 into my "custom" skeleton and then copy and rename all his animations... it will work? And then I could just replace each original animation with my own...?

[Tchos]

Ah, my mistake.  It was animations I was thinking of, which you can't import.  What are the remade standard skeletons for?

[jestemwlodek]

Well I guess I can answer my own question - no, it doesn't work that way.

 

Is there a tutorial at the new vault on how to make a new skeleton? Or at least export one? I tried to find it on my own but with no result...

 

 

Ah, my mistake.  It was animations I was thinking of, which you can't import.  What are the remade standard skeletons for?

 

I want to make a humaoid spectre model that floats in the air all the time. I already made the animations for idle states and spell casting. Making ones for getting hit and making some simple melee attacks will be no harder.

 

Right now I have 2 options: **** the skeleton and just save my animations as extra p_hhm animations and then call them with specific scipts in-game on  a character that has the standard p_hhm_skel (which is doable) OR find the holy grail -> a seperate skeleton, so that way I can just make a seperate appearence type and roll with it.

[kamal_]

Misery Stone has a floating humanoid creature skeleton (spoilers if you haven't played it). It also would be perfect for prisoners with bound hands.

https://www.youtube....h?v=O-4Utjvjbj4

[jestemwlodek]

Misery Stone has a floating humanoid creature skeleton (spoilers if you haven't played it). It also would be perfect for prisoners with bound hands.

https://www.youtube....h?v=O-4Utjvjbj4

 

Naaaaaaaaah... That's not what I want. That one kinda looks like a glitch in the game... I mean something like this:

 

He's hovering like 40-50 cm above ground and I made an animation for him to cast spells while "floating". It's now playing the animation as a result of his OnHeartbeat script.

 

I guess I COULD immobilize the creature and make it teleport from point to point and instead letting it cast spells just call scripts with the right animations and effects and shiz... BUT I'd really prefer to have it flying around, casting spells, attacking, reacting to taken damage an so on...

[jestemwlodek]

But the floating thing isn't the only reason I really wan to have that skeleton - it would be super useful in many other ways. For example: I created a character who fights with a quaterstaff and I want him to have a similar fighting style to one of Oberyn Martell. I could just make the animation and override the standard ones, BUT I don't want to override it for everybody - just for him. Cause I want his fighting style to stand out, to be recognizable (i.d.: I want his animations to be awesome while others' are as terrible as they are now). That would make the character much less forgettable.

[4760]

So if I simply rename the p_hhm_skel.gr2 into my "custom" skeleton and then copy and rename all his animations... it will work? And then I could just replace each original animation with my own...?

 
No, renaming existing animations will not work, as they still include the name of the skeleton they're designed for.
As I said, you have to give your skeleton a unique name, and make all the animations for it. Even if you just wanted to use a different spell casting animations, you'll need to create brand new gr2 files with the correct skel name for idle, walk, etc...

 

Well I guess I can answer my own question - no, it doesn't work that way.
 
Is there a tutorial at the new vault on how to make a new skeleton? Or at least export one?

Exact, it doesn't work that way (see above).
Let me find the link, but there's a very nice tutorial by Frank Perez (aka Elisyus) on his blog. Look for "creating new life with expotron, part 5" at nwn2faithless.blogspot.com

[jestemwlodek]

"They still include the name of the skeleton they're designed for"

 

Question: does the skeleton file somehow include the animations?

 

Cause there are models in game that don't have the animations for every single action - hell: some even have the idle animation only. So that when they walk around, cast a spell or hit something they just play the idle animation. I was hoping to maybe export a unique skeleton file (de facto a copy) and then create ""de novo" just the animations the character would use - in this case: idle floating, spell casting, attacking and getting hit while floating and a death animation... I don't know if it works this way thou...

[4760]

Short answer: no.

 

Long answer: there are two types of gr2 files: the skeletons (all those ending with _skel.gr2) and the animations (all the others).

The way the engine knows which animation to play is first because the skeleton name (the part before _skel) is not only in the animations files but also in the name of the animations, and second the name of the animation is imposed.

Therefore, P_HHM_skel will play all animations p_hhm_idle, p_hhm_playguitar, p_hhm_1hs_1attack01 etc since they all refer to p_hhm, and the part after p_hhm defines which animation we're talking about.

 

 

In your case, assuming you'll name your creature c_floatingspectre, you'll need to have:

- a skeleton named c_floatingspectre_skel

- an idle animation named c_floatingspectre_idle (maybe c_floatingspectre_UNA_idle as well)

- a set of casting animations named c_floatingspectre_***_conjure, c_floatingspectre_***_conjureloop and c_floatingspectre_***_cast where *** is either GEN (for general spell casting), ATK (for attack spell casting), DEF (defensive spell casting)

- all other animations you'd like to use, again starting with c_floatingspectre_

 

All these animations will have to be created with the new c_floatingspectre_skel (even if you use p_hhm_skel as your basis for c_floatingspectre_skel, copying the p_hhm animations and renaming them c_floatingspectre_anim will not work - I didn't check if opening an animation file with a hex editor will tell for which skeleton it is designed. Maybe p_hhm_skel will show and then renaming it would work? Worth trying I guess, but no guarantee).

l

[jestemwlodek]

Well unfortunately you didn't tell me anything I didn't already know... Thanks for the effort thou! 

 

I can also answer your question about the hex - no. I already tried editing it with hex editor. Didn't find ****.

 

As I mentioned earlier, I already created the animations you enlisted (no - you dont need una_idle -> you can make una_idleM for a melee idle animation). However, THE PROBLEM is still unsolved - I don't know how to make a skeleton .gr2 file with the expotron.

 

I think I'll search for the "creating new life" thing you mentioned - maybe I'll find what I need.

[4760]

Ah, that one is easy: when you export the gr2 file, select model instead of animation.

[jestemwlodek]

Doesn't work... 

[4760]

I can also answer your question about the hex - no. I already tried editing it with hex editor. Didn't find ****.

But it's definitely somewhere in the file: I just opened an animation I made, and not only did the granny viewer (which I downloaded on the radgametools website) showed the name of the skeleton used in the animation, it also gave the names of the bones.