The Trouble With Jan

[Landry070]

So far, I have been successfully importing JO models into the game, but my Star Slayer Askani skin, which is based on the Jan model, doesn't want to appear without her vest. If you turn the vest off in the .SKIN file, her torso disappears altogether.

Does anyone know how to work around this? I've tried making all sorts of changes to the .SKIN file, but can't quite figure these out. It's frustrating, because I really thought I had this conversion process down.

 

[Prime]

Her torso disappears because you haven't turned on the replacement torso. The best way to figure out what surfaces need to be turned on and off is to load the model in ModView. Load the model into that and then turn on or off what surfaces you want. Then you can save a script file which stores this (it is just a text file). I suspect what your lacking is an entry in your model_default.skin file that specifies what surface and texture to us for the torso.

[Landry070]

Thanks for responding, Prime.

I've never been able to get ModView to run properly, so I've always edited skins by manipulating the .SKIN and .Surf files.

This was something I learned through trial and error in JO, but I guess JA has a slightly different way of doing things.

I understand what you're saying I have to do.

In JO, this model came with the following SURF file:

 

surfOff "torso_vest hips_chaps torso_computer head_goggles torso_comp hips_belt l_hand_watch"

surfOn "torso_augment_off hips_augment_off hips_torso_off"

 

This accomplished what I need to do now, turning off the unwanted surfaces and turning the correct ones on. I tried to insert these lines into the .NPC file I created for the model, but it had no effect.

Instead, I have now edited the .SKIN file to remove the vest etc. but I can't seem to turn the correct surfaces on. My assumption was that I simply had to remove the "_off" lsegment of the relevant lines. The .SKIN file now looks like this:

 

hips,models/players/star_slayer_askani/legs.tga

hips_belt,*off

hips_chaps,*off

r_leg,models/players/star_slayer_askani/legs.tga

r_leg_cap_hips_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

l_leg,models/players/star_slayer_askani/legs.tga

l_leg_cap_hips_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

torso,models/players/star_slayer_askani/torso.tga

head,models/players/star_slayer_askani/head.tga

head_face,models/players/star_slayer_askani/face.tga

head_goggles,*off

head_cap_torso_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

head_eyes_mouth,models/players/star_slayer_askani/mouth_eyes.tga

torso_comp,*off

torso_vest,*off

torso_augment,models/players/star_slayer_askani/torso.tga

torso_cap_head_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

torso_cap_l_arm_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

torso_cap_r_arm_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

torso_cap_hips_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

r_arm,models/players/star_slayer_askani/torso.tga

r_arm_cap_r_hand_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

r_arm_cap_torso_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

r_hand,models/players/star_slayer_askani/accesories.tga

r_hand_cap_r_arm_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

l_arm,models/players/star_slayer_askani/torso.tga

l_arm_cap_l_hand_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

l_arm_cap_torso_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

l_hand,models/players/star_slayer_askani/l_hand.tga

l_hand_cap_l_arm_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

l_hand_watch,*off

hips_augment,models/players/star_slayer_askani/legs.tga

hips_cap_r_leg_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

hips_cap_torso_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

hips_torso,models/players/star_slayer_askani/torso.tga

hips_cap_l_leg_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

 

Could you maybe have a look at this and see if you think I'm in the right ballpark? It's quite possible that I'm simply toying with forces I cannot possibly understand.

Thanks for your time.

[Londo Mollari]

Thanks prime I also had a Jan problem now all those mp skins that didn;t work in SP Jo because of the vest now work

[Prime]

Originally posted by Landry070

surfOn "torso_augment_off hips_augment_off hips_torso_off"

 

hips,models/players/star_slayer_askani/legs.tga

hips_belt,*off

hips_chaps,*off

r_leg,models/players/star_slayer_askani/legs.tga

r_leg_cap_hips_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

l_leg,models/players/star_slayer_askani/legs.tga

l_leg_cap_hips_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

torso,models/players/star_slayer_askani/torso.tga

head,models/players/star_slayer_askani/head.tga

head_face,models/players/star_slayer_askani/face.tga

head_goggles,*off

head_cap_torso_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

head_eyes_mouth,models/players/star_slayer_askani/mouth_eyes.tga

torso_comp,*off

torso_vest,*off

torso_augment,models/players/star_slayer_askani/torso.tga

torso_cap_head_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

torso_cap_l_arm_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

torso_cap_r_arm_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

torso_cap_hips_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

r_arm,models/players/star_slayer_askani/torso.tga

r_arm_cap_r_hand_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

r_arm_cap_torso_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

r_hand,models/players/star_slayer_askani/accesories.tga

r_hand_cap_r_arm_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

l_arm,models/players/star_slayer_askani/torso.tga

l_arm_cap_l_hand_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

l_arm_cap_torso_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

l_hand,models/players/star_slayer_askani/l_hand.tga

l_hand_cap_l_arm_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

l_hand_watch,*off

hips_augment,models/players/star_slayer_askani/legs.tga

hips_cap_r_leg_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

hips_cap_torso_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

hips_torso,models/players/star_slayer_askani/torso.tga

hips_cap_l_leg_off,models/players/stormtrooper/caps.tga

 

You can't remove the "_off" from the surface entry, because that is the actual name. Removing it will confuse the game because it doesn't know what the new name represents. Try replacing the above lines marked in italics with the following:

 

torso_augment_off,models/players/star_slayer_askani/torso.tga

hips_augment_off,models/players/star_slayer_askani/legs.tga

hips_torso_off,models/players/star_slayer_askani/torso.tga

 

In the .npc file you should be able to use the surfOff and SurfOn parameters to turn these surfaces on and off. Check out the jedif.npc file in asset1.pk3 for an example. I believe this actually is Jan with those surfaces turned off. You can spawn jedif and see if it is what you are looking for.

 

Hope that helps

[Landry070]

Prime:

Thanks for all your help. It's working now. I made those alterations you suggested. I actually had those lines before, but took the "_off" parts out when I simply couldn't think of anything else to do. The answer seemed to be that and properly aligning the text in the NPC file.

I copied the "Surf0n" and SurfOff" lines from the JediF.npc file and placed them very carefully in the Askani.npc file.

There's still a strange thing, though.

The JediF in Outcast was, as you say, Jan with the vest, chaps etc. turned off via the "SurfOn" and "SurfOff" lines in the NPC file. It appears that that is the intention in JA as well. But every time I spawn JediF I get Jan with full gear on. Even the goggles.

Do you think this means that making the alterations in the NPC file is not enough anymore?

Askani wouldn't work unless I altered both the SKIN and NPC files.

Anyway, thanks again for your time.

Have a good night.

[Prime]

Hmm. It could very well be that the surfOn and surfOff parameters in the .npc file no longer do the same thing as it did in JO. It might just be a leftover. I haven't played around too much with this myself. I suspect that now using the *off in the .skin file is enough to turn surfaces off, and simply having an entry and texture path is enough to turn surfaces on.

 

As long as it works