3D Leader mods

[v480615]

In Civilization 6, there are various third-party mods that can alter the appearance of leaders or introduce entirely custom leaders. Why hasn't there been such mods for Civilization 7 yet? Is it because the game's official developers haven't opened up modding permissions in this area? Or is it particularly challenging to create these mods?
After all, it's been over a month since the game's release, and while we might not expect a plethora of such mods, there should at least be some related news. Yet, I've scoured this forum and haven't found any posts or mods related to this..
(I posted this through AI translation, so if my English grammar seems off or if anything I said offended you, please bear with me, I meant no harm)

Moderator Action: Updated title to be more accurate --NZ

 

[Archanist]

Mechanically, Leaders are pretty simple to implement.

Artistically, without any way to put a 2D image or change 3D assets, any modded leader will currently look like Benjamin Franklin

 

[Gedemon]

The UI is moddable, so even if there is no official support for 2D fallback picture instead of 3D model, I suppose it can be done.

 

[Ryansinbela]

Hopefully modding will improve enough to make leaders

Now the real question is if I can inevitably make a 3D background mod

 

[v480615]

Hopefully modding will improve enough to make leaders Now the real question is if I can inevitably make a 3D background mod In Civilization 7, I didn't see an option to switch leader appearances between 2D and 3D like in Civilization 6. Does this mean that leader mods in Civilization 7 must and can only be made in 3D model versions?

In Civilization VII, there is no toggle switch like in Civilization VI to switch between 2D or 3D leader appearances. Does this mean that leader mods in Civilization VII must be exclusively 3D? If so, then creating leader mods for Civilization VII would indeed be significantly more challenging compared to Civilization VI!

 

[v480615]

The UI is moddable, so even if there is no official support for 2D fallback picture instead of 3D model, I suppose it can be done.

However, if leader mods must be 3D-only, the difficulty of creating mods would increase significantly. Not everyone has 3D modeling skills, so we still hope that official updates will add support for 2D portrait-based leaders in the future.

 

[The_J]

In Civilization VII, there is no toggle switch like in Civilization VI to switch between 2D or 3D leader appearances. Does this mean that leader mods in Civilization VII must be exclusively 3D? If so, then creating leader mods for Civilization VII would indeed be significantly more challenging compared to Civilization VI!

THat can be "hacked".
In Civ4 at least there was a workaround by one modder providing a "3D wall", with a picture which could easily be exchanged. Technically that makes the leader then still 3D, but effectively it's only a picture. Probably nothing prevents people from doing the same with Civ7, besides that it needs exactly one person with a medium amount of skills to do this.

 

[v480615]

THat can be "hacked".
In Civ4 at least there was a workaround by one modder providing a "3D wall", with a picture which could easily be exchanged. Technically that makes the leader then still 3D, but effectively it's only a picture. Probably nothing prevents people from doing the same with Civ7, besides that it needs exactly one person with a medium amount of skills to do this.

That would be awesome

 

[PorkBean]

One of the first suggestions I made on the official civ discord was support for 2D leader fallbacks, like civ 5 and 6 had. Without it, leader modding is pretty much DOA, even if some kind of 2D-plane workaround becomes possible. With the diplo screen showing both characters, most players are gonna want their leaders to be consistently 3D or consistently 2D.

 

[Noble Zarkon]

"to this day" makes it sound rather longer than 6 weeks lol

 

[Mudkip1001]

From the civ7 modding discord, this is already lightyears ahead of civ 6's timeline it took to add custom civ art...

 

[v480615]

View attachment 726719
View attachment 726720
From the civ7 modding discord, this is already lightyears ahead of civ 6's timeline it took to add custom civ art...

Does this mean that the related plugins for the 2D Leader Mod are currently in development? (My English isn’t great, and the image translation was unclear, so I’m not entirely sure what it says.)

 

[Mudkip1001]

Does this mean that the related plugins for the 2D Leader Mod are currently in development? (My English isn’t great, and the image translation was unclear, so I’m not entirely sure what it says.)

yes I believe so, but rogue is working on a test civ to pair with the leader. I think the next thing he has to tackle is that pedestal floor

 

[Mudkip1001]

update from the 3d side of things.... Obviously these are static but a good start!

 

[LilBudyWizer]

It's not really my area of interest, but I assume the real barrier is the ability to import those assets into Blender. Realistically, they use standard tools in-house. If you're going to use Coherent Labs, then why would you write a 3D modeller in-house? It would cost you far more than just licensing 3DS Max, Maya, or Blender. With those, you have a large pool to hire from rather than having to spend 3 months training every new hire. So they are in the format of whatever they use in-house with, perhaps, a wrapper to add game-specific data. Think of something like Skyrim, 3D is no barrier there. There are lots of artists playing this game, and if they can get it easily into Blender they'll do all kinds of stuff.

Just the ability to mix and match models and clothing would drastically increase your options. Put Ibn Battuta's clothes on Augustus and call him Lawrence of Arabia. Put Catharine's dress on Napoleon and call it his Josephine persona. I guess they could have modelled them dressed, but that's not common. Likely the clothes and models are done to a standard so they are interchangeable. With 26 of each that's 26^2 or 676 potential avatars. If someone puts out a pack with 10 models and 10 clothes that becomes 67.6k. They likely model them bald then stick hair on them like clothes. So there's even more options without a single new model. It doesn't take much to give you lots of options, but the starting point is getting it into Blender.

As I said it's not my area of interest so I haven't looked at the diplomacy screen nor that part of the shell. I doubt you could mix and match in-game. Just a brief look seems like all you can do is select a model and choose animations. You would need an external tool to mix and match. You wouldn't need to be an artist to use Blender in that manner. It takes skill to create the models, i.e. create a black male leader. Just changing skins won't do that. Creating a new file by combining assets from different files is just a technical exercise. Hopefully, the SDK will have some support for that. I'm inclined to think that's the idea behind personas. Slap different cloths on the model and call it Shirley.

 

[Mudkip1001]

Update for 3d Leader models

It's not really my area of interest, but I assume the real barrier is the ability to import those assets into Blender. Realistically, they use standard tools in-house. If you're going to use Coherent Labs, then why would you write a 3D modeller in-house? It would cost you far more than just licensing 3DS Max, Maya, or Blender. With those, you have a large pool to hire from rather than having to spend 3 months training every new hire.

I mean, that sounds like a business decision that probably came down to money and not wanting people/other businesses lifting their assets/work for free... In Civ 6 we eventually found a way to use Blender, I tried to use it but the level of complication is beyond my skillset (I could never figure out how to bake textures properly)

Just the ability to mix and match models and clothing would drastically increase your options. Put Ibn Battuta's clothes on Augustus and call him Lawrence of Arabia. Put Catharine's dress on Napoleon and call it his Josephine persona. I guess they could have modelled them dressed, but that's not common. Likely the clothes and models are done to a standard so they are interchangeable. With 26 of each that's 26^2 or 676 potential avatars. If someone puts out a pack with 10 models and 10 clothes that becomes 67.6k. They likely model them bald then stick hair on them like clothes. So there's even more options without a single new model. It doesn't take much to give you lots of options, but the starting point is getting it into Blender.

"Humankind" kinda did this with its avatar creation system. nobody really fully utilized it... A Suitract mod that's custom made, highly detailed leader model is a lot different than somebody making a generic man in a suit that could either be Victor Hugo or SpiffingBritt like people made with the "AI personas" that were uploaded onto Amplitude's Website... I liked how people had the option to do this, but it kinda wasted the devs time to develop this system... (I'm very glad the firaxis devs didn't try to model the mementos and have the 3d leaders hold them).

Just a brief look seems like all you can do is select a model and choose animations.

I think this may be true, idk you would have to really ask the people fiddling on the front lines the specifics (Rogue, izica )

 

[LilBudyWizer]

Honestly, until this thread I hadn't thought about the obstacles to creating new leaders, units, buildings, wonders and terrain. What I had thought about was multi-player. Just to me, the diplomacy screen should show me, not the leader I'm playing. I'm me, not an AI. Yes, I get bonuses due to the leader, but also for the civilization. There's no real representation of the civilization. Personally, the mementos and civilization matter a great deal more than the leader as far as what are you up against. It's not going to be Helldivers. It's more something to do while you socialize so, to me, a 3D avatar would enhance that. Particularly with a side panel showing it and the ability to select animations, sort of like emoticons. That would have provided a means to create unique leaders. I would have to think that's something you could largely buy and plug in, like FaceGen.

As far as business concern it would be the DLC. There though it comes down to are you providing value commiserate to the price or are you milking your customers for all you can get? I think milking your customers is always a bad business decision. I was rather disappointed in Crossroads. Two leaders, four civilizations wasn't worth $30 to me. I thought it was a whole series over a span of months. You got like 20 leaders for $70 plus a whole game then another 2 for $30? That seems like milking your customers. You have worry about your modders killing your DLC sales doing that, but if were 18 over six months modders would be hard pressed to keep pace. If you can't beat your modders without handicapping them then you really should ask where you went wrong. You're mostly competing against a few professionals and whole lot of armatures. You have a team, infrastructure, tools, management, advertising.

They haven't released the SDK yet though. That would be worth $30 to me., yet they'll give that away for free. A 4th age is worth $30 to me. Fully implemented religious combat would be worth $30. There's lots of things worth $30 to me, but they take a lot of work. A single civilization would be worth $30 to me if it implemented a distinct architecture for the cities. $30 is nearly half the price of the game.

 

[Hawke9]

It's amazing to see the first steps of 3d model modding in civ 7, my dream would be a mod that adds all the leaders from civ V, the leader art styles aren't that different!

 

[Mudkip1001]

https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/matts-leaders-oliver-cromwell.32128/

This is so exciting!

 

[The_J]

So... where is this model from?
Is that one from the independent people?