General Kenobi Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 I have decided to make a MOD for everyone if I can learn how of a bunch of new heads I read Kitty's post on making new ones and got this: I need to copy the mdl and mdx files for the ones I want to MOD into the game as well as the .tga files. I plan on having several versions of each of the aliens so I need to figure out if I can use say only one twilek male mdl and mdx file for 4 versions??? I have to do something called hex editing to the mdx??? file and change the name or something to match my tga I want so far n_yoda (is this yoda/vandar? so I can put him ingame for us) trandoshan weequay gran rodian sion variation about 15 other custom heads and variations in color and such ****your suggestions on content appreciated******** Any elaboration, elation, gratification in the information would be greatly appreciated :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keiko Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 Cant wait for this!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 Originally posted by Darth Melignous I have to do something called hex editing to the mdx??? file and change the name or something to match my tga When you open an mdx file in a hex editor, you will see a bunch of code in the middle with words we can read on the side. You have to find all the times it has the name of the original texture on the part we can read, and replace that with the texture that you want to use. It is easiest if you use a Ctrl-F and enter the name of your texture so you can find them much quicker than scrolling down through thousands of lines. n_yoda (is this yoda/vandar? so I can put him ingame for us) Yeah the n_yoda is vandar, I don't know why they didn't just call it n_vandar. Hope that helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nodakrattler Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 Originally posted by DarthMoeller When you open an mdx file in a hex editor, you will see a bunch of code in the middle with words we can read on the side. You have to find all the times it has the name of the original texture on the part we can read, and replace that with the texture that you want to use. It is easiest if you use a Ctrl-F and enter the name of your texture so you can find them much quicker than scrolling down through thousands of lines. Hate to be a bugger but I believe you're suppose to edit the mdl file not the mdx. Well atleast when I was playing around with a few ideas in the past I just hex edited the .mdl and it worked fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 you are right it is the mdl I always get them mixed up whenever I am trying to help somebody but i know which one to open whevener I do it by myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boinga1 Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 If you wanted to just use default textures (for vandar), of course, you wouldn't need to hex edit. Just for the record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Kenobi Posted April 7, 2005 Author Share Posted April 7, 2005 Thanks for the feedback so far guys & gals. :) MOre more more...lol I'm trying to find the mdl files for the all of the .mdx that I've lined up so far. I"m assuming that they are named the same save for the extension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Kenobi Posted April 7, 2005 Author Share Posted April 7, 2005 OK found the MDL files to line up with all of the MDX files. I need an actual HEX editor don't I? I'm going to look through KT to see if it has an editor interface for editing mdl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkkender Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 NO, hex editing is required for the head models. All you need do is extract the model files and rename them for your new model. Hex editing is only needed for lightsaber replacement and some of the other weapons. Also depending on which one of us gets this done first we both may end up with similiar mods. If yours beats mine I will make it compatible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkReborn Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 at least! a person has heared my request! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T7nowhere Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 Originally posted by Darkkender NO, hex editing is required for the head models. All you need do is extract the model files and rename them for your new model. Hex editing is only needed for lightsaber replacement and some of the other weapons. Thats not true Darkkender most head models will require a hex edit in order to simply use a new texture or not screw with the other in-game heads. But one thing to be clear is that the game loads the files in override last , so if you hex edit a head you will have to rename the model in hex and the file name(the first model reference changed would be sufficient) If you do not rename the model properly you could get texture swapping if you have the same head model using multiple textures. If you can get away with not hex editing then thats good but be aware of the potential bug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Kenobi Posted April 7, 2005 Author Share Posted April 7, 2005 Well Darkkender we WON't have mods out at the same time. I knew you were workin' on one. I don't conflict with my buds I'll wait till after you get yours done, you've been working longer on it and in my little head that wouldn't be nice I'll be working on this one the whole time trying to figure out how though. I figured if i'm gonna do one and its no harder to do 1 head vs say 30 heads I'd do the 30 heads. I'm planning on using the three 2da files I'll have to edit (from what I can tell) via EDITED: The files weren't in the mod i was referring to here The Ossus Keeper's head mod he released. That's the only way I could think of to make sure that I'm not gonna conflict with any of the popular modders like Seph, ChAiNz, T7, Mav, etc. That issue has been runnin' through my lil' head on compatibility. I tell you what I'd like. ONE SITE that has (say) the appearance.2da file and others "compatible cautioned" Then someone could download it via ftp (say svosh) and make changes to include their mods, then save it back up through FTP then on and on. You'd end up constant uploads and downloads but then the upcrystals.2da would have ALL mods listed. (that sorta thing) Anywho back on topic :) TO T7, thanks for the heads up I was hopin' to get some help from the moders' on this as well as (lets face it) you guys are our repository of Jedi Archival Modding Info I have something called a hex workshop and I'm gonna tackle trying to figure out how to use it to do what I want. QUESTION:????? Example: I'm wanting to use the files: n_devaronian.mdl, n_devaronian.mdx, (textures) n_devaronian01.tga and N_DevH01.tga I"m assuming those are all I need to put the devil boy in game. The question is what should I change the names too? I understand you find the "player" listings in the 2da files and edit them to your own names but here's my problem. Do I leave it as the original name (model name, texture names)?? or make a custom one? I plan on say a red, blue, green, orange devil man. How exactly should I name them to make them work? (any example will do) ALL HELP APPRECIATED Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Kenobi Posted April 7, 2005 Author Share Posted April 7, 2005 One more question other than the ones above??? Do I have to have for say a devil man red, blue, green, orange also a custom mdl & mdx file for each skin tone I make? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Kenobi Posted April 7, 2005 Author Share Posted April 7, 2005 Originally posted by boinga1 If you wanted to just use default textures (for vandar), of course, you wouldn't need to hex edit. Just for the record. Thanks boinga1 !!! So for those that stay the same I could just edit the appearances.2da and the other two files and make him selectable and show up in game? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Maker Posted April 8, 2005 Share Posted April 8, 2005 A DS Bith head would be cool, but thats just my opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Kenobi Posted April 8, 2005 Author Share Posted April 8, 2005 Already in the works for the Dark Side Bith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nodakrattler Posted April 8, 2005 Share Posted April 8, 2005 I was just looking in the heads.2da and noticed something that will probably help. If you notice line 163 it has p_CarthH entered in the head column, which means it uses Carth's head model, but in the next column, the alttexture is N_SaedheH, so this texture is used instead of Carth's texture. This is also done with the Twilek heads. So if you can just do that you shouldn't have to do any hex editing of any model files. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lord_yig Posted April 8, 2005 Share Posted April 8, 2005 Originally posted by Darkkender NO, hex editing is required for the head models. All you need do is extract the model files and rename them for your new model. Hex editing is only needed for lightsaber replacement and some of the other weapons. Originally posted by T7nowhere Thats not true Darkkender most head models will require a hex edit in order to simply use a new texture or not screw with the other in-game heads. I've belived it work like Darkkender says... With my WIP Twilek Heads i have renamed the originals Female Twileks Heads Models and linked the Texture to the models using Appearance.2da and it worked perfectly... Maybe this is not the right way to do this in order to avoid any bug and texture swapping like T7 has said I don't know... I'm confused Originally posted by Nodakrattler If you notice line 163 it has p_CarthH entered in the head column, which means it uses Carth's head model, but in the next column, the alttexture is N_SaedheH, so this texture is used instead of Carth's texture. This is also done with the Twilek heads. So if you can just do that you shouldn't have to do any hex editing of any model files. Exactly the way my WIP Heads are working except i have extracted and renamed the heads models just to be sure every thing works fine... @Darth Melignous By the way while experiencing Head modding i have noticed that the length of the names in Appearance.2da, Heads.2da and Portraits.2da are limited depending on the file and column... I guess, but i'm not sure of it, that the names are limited to 11 or 12 caracters. That's something to check. I have experienced problems with textures not showing with textures names longer than 16 caracters. So i would advise you to check the longest name in those files and limit yours to the according name length. And by the way for some textures the game automatically adds a "01" before the .tga extension at the end of the name you specify in the 2da files, for the body and clothe textures for exemple. Hope that help you and avoid you some bug while checking your work in game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beyt Posted April 8, 2005 Share Posted April 8, 2005 This maybe should go in the request thread but since we're talking about heads here... Is anybody planning to make a Dopak PC head? Dopak is the merc with a ponytail on Dantooine, if you don't remember. I tried to make the Dopak head for myself but I couldn't get it to work...I messed something up so badly I had to re-install the game. My one techical talent seems to be the ability to break TSL in less than 10 minutes. So if any one of you talented persons wants to do a Dopak PC head, I would be deeply appreciative. Thanks, Beyt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedHawke Posted April 9, 2005 Share Posted April 9, 2005 Originally posted by lord_yig @Darth Melignous By the way while experiencing Head modding i have noticed that the length of the names in Appearance.2da, Heads.2da and Portraits.2da are limited depending on the file and column... I guess, but i'm not sure of it, that the names are limited to 11 or 12 caracters. That's something to check. I have experienced problems with textures not showing with textures names longer than 16 caracters. So i would advise you to check the longest name in those files and limit yours to the according name length. Actually you are reading a little too much into that, in KT's 2da editor you can resize the column width just like you would in MS Excel and then you can easily view any longer filenames. They don't vanish if the column is too short they are still there, just hidden from view. Originally posted by lord_yig And by the way for some textures the game automatically adds a "01" before the .tga extension at the end of the name you specify in the 2da files, for the body and clothe textures for exemple. The game doesn't automatically alter the tga files, it just assumes the 01, 02, 03, etc. is there at the end of the proper file for the use of the texture variations. You will have to manually name the tga files you want to use in the order of the texture variations you want. I hope this helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Kenobi Posted April 9, 2005 Author Share Posted April 9, 2005 Hawke, It does indeed Thanks for the heads up! I'm trying in earnest to learn how to do this but there are NO tutorials specifically covering this Thanks for the help man I appreciate it :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedHawke Posted April 9, 2005 Share Posted April 9, 2005 Originally posted by Darth Melignous Thanks for the help man I appreciate it :) You are welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoffe Posted April 9, 2005 Share Posted April 9, 2005 Originally posted by RedHawke Actually you are reading a little too much into that, in KT's 2da editor you can resize the column width just like you would in MS Excel and then you can easily view any longer filenames. They don't vanish if the column is too short they are still there, just hidden from view. Are you sure about this? At least before (in Neverwinter Nights) a Resref was limited to 16 characters max. The CResRef data type in Bioware's GFF Editor and GFF format documentation also only accepts 16 characters. Though I suppose it's possible they have changed the ResRefs to allow longer values for KotOR/TSL. EDIT: Since 2DA files are plain text you could specify longer filenames/resrefs there, though that does not necessarily mean that the game reads them properly from that file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Kenobi Posted April 9, 2005 Author Share Posted April 9, 2005 I've been editing them and they do recognize the longer file names, etc. Or at least they let me type them in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChAiNz.2da Posted April 9, 2005 Share Posted April 9, 2005 Originally posted by stoffe -mkb- Are you sure about this? At least before (in Neverwinter Nights) a Resref was limited to 16 characters max. The CResRef data type in Bioware's GFF Editor also only accepts 16 characters. Though I suppose it's possible they have changed the ResRefs to allow longer values for KotOR/TSL. Nope, you're right stoffe... 16 is the limit... I ran into that problem with a particular .uti in the USM.... needless to say it was a re-do & re-name of over 20 .uti's... ugghhh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.