Changing a Character Model

[Elwood288 8]

So I would like to change the sith soldiers in K1 to use the Sith Commando model from K2.

I have the mdl, mdx and textures renamed appropriately  yet when I try to run the game I get a crash. What am I missing?

[Kexikus 995]

You need to convert the models from TSLs format to K1s format first.

I might be wrong here but I think all you need to do for that is open them in MDLEdit while in TSL mode while also having the K1 supermodel in the same directory and then change MDLEdit to K1 and export the model again.

The supermodel is where all the animations are stored and I don't know which one the Sith soldier uses but it's probably S_Female02.

[JCarter426 1,215]

Renaming the textures isn't enough either.  You'll need to either leave a copy of the K2 texture files with their original names or edit the model to change the texture name. Probably easiest to do that with a hex editor to find and replace all instances of the texture, if they have the same number of characters. If not, you can edit them in MDLEdit by right-clicking each mesh.

Also, it's usually a good idea to edit the model name to match the file name. You can do this in MDLEdit by right-clicking the header to edit the values.

[Elwood288 8]

Thanks for the help. Converting to K1 got it in game but the animations are comical to say the least. The supermodel is S_Female02 but where do I find that file?

As far as textures go, the normal soldiers look great but the officers (red ones) texture mapping is wrong. How would I correct that?

[JCarter426 1,215]

1 hour ago, Elwood288 said:

The supermodel is S_Female02 but where do I find that file?

KOTOR 1 > BIFs > models.bif > Aurora Model & Aurora Model Extension

1 hour ago, Elwood288 said:

As far as textures go, the normal soldiers look great but the officers (red ones) texture mapping is wrong. How would I correct that?

That texture is N_SithSoldier02. All the soldiers use the same model but different texture variants. You'll have to replace 1, 2, and 3 to cover all of them.

[Elwood288 8]

Ok textures are fixed. Animations not so much. I found S_Female02 but it doesn't seem to have helped. Screenshot shows what files are in the folder. Let me run through the process and y'all can tell me where I'm going wrong.

1. Open MDLEdit in K2 mode

2. Load n_sithsoldier.mdl

3.Switch to K1 mode

4.Save as binary

 

[JCarter426 1,215]

You aren't supposed to install S_Female02. You just need it in the same folder as N_SithSoldier when you convert that from K2 format to K1 format. Both MDLEdit and MDLOps need to read data from the supermodel to compile a model's animations properly.

[Elwood288 8]

Right I know I'm not supposed to install it. That screenshot is of the folder where I'm storing the files and doing the conversion. It's not my override.

 

To clarify do I need the K1 or K2 version of S_Female02 and for placement it just needs to be in the same folder as the model I'm converting?

Also this models name is n_sithcommando and I just changed it to n_sithsoldier. Was that just a big dumb mistake or is that how I would make it replace sith soldiers?

[JCarter426 1,215]

You need the version for the game you're porting to, so in this case K1. Everything else seems fine, so if that's still not working, it's possible MDLEdit requires you to convert to ASCII, then load the ASCII before compiling. I usually do manual adjustments with KOTORMax rather than a straight port so I don't remember the specifics on that. And if that is the case, then you would likely have to do manual adjustments as well, because MDLEdit & MDLOps don't always get the smoothing groups right when converting.

[Elwood288 8]

That was it! A whole lot of shenanigans swapping between ascii/binary and game formats! Thanks alot! They are in and working properly!

[Effix 532]

Glad I ran into this post, I managed to fix the missing animations for my own mod.

Thanks all!