Rakghoul Editing

[Icebuckets 2]

I am attempting to replace the Rakghoul mesh with an updated Old Republic mesh. Only I'm running into some snags. 

Because the Rakghouls have their own animations, I am unsure how to proceed. Doing it the normal way - which involves an outside supermodel - obviously results in a unanimated mesh. 

Then I tried taking the original Rakghoul mesh and renaming it so a new mesh could be named as a replacement and use the old default as it's supermodel. Only this change didn't take and the game just uses the default rakghoul. 

Then I tried rigging a mesh with animations (import Geom/Anim) and then exporting with animations and the results was an upside down distortion of the animations (thankfully, the weights were preserved so it didn't look too disastrous). I feel there is a setting I'm missing or something I need to compensate for in max.   

[Stormie97 253]

When you click on the Odysseybase "C_Rakghoul", in the Modify tab on the right there's a field labelled "Supermodel". Indeed, rakghouls don't seem to use any supermodels. So here's how I recommend you to proceed:

First, let's import the vanilla model. In the KOTORMAX panel, navigate to the converted .ascii of the vanilla Rakghoul model, then select "Import Geom+Anims" and hit import ; it should come loaded with its own set of animations. From there, replace the vanilla meshes ("ghoul" being the torso + legs, "head", "LArm" and "RArm") with your the model you want to port. Your model should also be split up in a similar manner, as well as having similar size and proportions.

Make sure those parts are editable meshes, give each a "OdysseyTrimesh" and "Skin" modifiers in the "Create" tab of the KOTORMAX panel. Add the corresponding bones to each split part in the Skin modifier, but before doing so, scroll down to "Advanced Parameters" and change the "Bone affect limit" to 4 (limition of the Odyssey engine apparently, very important).

Spoiler

Also make sure all parts have the following controllers assigned:

Spoiler

Click on the Odysseybase, in the Modify panel choose an export directory and hit "Export Model+Anim" since the Rakghoul model doesn't use any supermodel. If you don't get any warning popup, it should have gone smoothly. Convert the exported .ascii file back into binary using MDLedit and give a quick test in-game before bothering with weighing the individual vertices.

[DarthParametric 3,767]

Typically it's easier to use the vanilla model as the supermodel for your new model. Then just edit appearance.2da to point to your model. Screwing around with anims if you don't know what you are doing is going to cause problems.

[Icebuckets 2]

17 hours ago, Stormie97 said:

When you click on the Odysseybase "C_Rakghoul", in the Modify tab on the right there's a field labelled "Supermodel". Indeed, rakghouls don't seem to use any supermodels. So here's how I recommend you to proceed:

First, let's import the vanilla model. In the KOTORMAX panel, navigate to the converted .ascii of the vanilla Rakghoul model, then select "Import Geom+Anims" and hit import ; it should come loaded with its own set of animations. From there, replace the vanilla meshes ("ghoul" being the torso + legs, "head", "LArm" and "RArm") with your the model you want to port. Your model should also be split up in a similar manner, as well as having similar size and proportions.

Make sure those parts are editable meshes, give each a "OdysseyTrimesh" and "Skin" modifiers in the "Create" tab of the KOTORMAX panel. Add the corresponding bones to each split part in the Skin modifier, but before doing so, scroll down to "Advanced Parameters" and change the "Bone affect limit" to 4 (limition of the Odyssey engine apparently, very important).

  Hide contents

Also make sure all parts have the following controllers assigned:

  Hide contents

Click on the Odysseybase, in the Modify panel choose an export directory and hit "Export Model+Anim" since the Rakghoul model doesn't use any supermodel. If you don't get any warning popup, it should have gone smoothly. Convert the exported .ascii file back into binary using MDLedit and give a quick test in-game before bothering with weighing the individual vertices.

Thanks but this solution didn't pan out. Same result. 

 

13 hours ago, DarthParametric said:

Typically it's easier to use the vanilla model as the supermodel for your new model. Then just edit appearance.2da to point to your model. Screwing around with anims if you don't know what you are doing is going to cause problems.

However, this solution did actually work! Granted my initial slicing is shoddy at best.