Extract GR2 to Blender with mesh AND skeleton and re-export to GR2

[Wolfdog]

Thanks...

Arrrrrghh... I installed Python 3 something instead of 2 something. Does that mean I need to wipe my hard drive and start over from scratch now? (I tried all this a year ago and gave up after many hours of installing and uninstalling...)

Shouldn't, I don't think you even need to uninstall python 3 as long as you have python 2.6 installed it will automatically look for it and use it even over the latest version.

 

[S3rgeus]

If you do reinstall an old version and find that it keeps trying to use the new one, check your PYTHONPATH environment variable and point it at the install you want to use.

 

[Deliverator]

Concerning the fx_triggers, I was messing around with it a bit, trying to put smoke coming out of the exhaust of the truck, and I found that most of the smoke are leaving a trail of smoke behind the bone it's connected too (don't forget to put the bones you need to triggers fx in your Bone_Usage in the fxsmlf). So I've got smoke coming out of the exhaust when the unit is moving, but not when the unit is Idle unfortunatly. I've looked for smoke effects in the fx_triggers of different existing units like MobileSam, Bombers, Nuclear bomb (this one was pretty funny!) and I finally found that the Fighter one worked the best. It was interesting seeing how these different effects react. Here's a little video oh how it looks.

Spoiler :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTvzEZxIH4M

Good stuff. No one has really explored or documented attaching particle effects in the .ftsxml yet. Attaching sounds and particle effects seems pretty straight forward - the one part I don't really understand is the FTimedTriggerTransfer entries - possibly they have something to do with transfering effects from one animation state to another.

A couple of things it would be good to try with this which shouldn't be not too difficult are:
1) Make a fire breathing dragon by attaching the Byzantine Dromon flame attack.
2) Make a wizard/mage who can throw fireballs - I think you could probably test this with the Atlatlist - just by switching the Atlatl animation for Catapults fire attack animation.

One thing is that it doesn't look like it is possible to edit or add new particle effects as easily as you could in Civ 4. The particle effects themselves are in psb format. It looks like the pro software Fork Particle Studio can export to this - but I'm not sure what else. Anyway, I'm sure there are lots of creative ways that the existing effects could be used.

 

[hugojackson18]

Attaching sounds and particle effects seems pretty straight forward - the one part I don't really understand is the FTimedTriggerTransfer entries - possibly they have something to do with transfering effects from one animation state to another.

It is pretty straight forward. You just have to have the right bone in the right place in your rig (if you're making a rig from scratch, think about it before rigging your model. Check similar units already existing to see what they are using and what effect is attached to it. Basically doing research and planning is the key here. If you are using Civ5 animation, the bones should be in the right place already so no problem. You can always add a bone at the place you want, and use it just to trigger the fx. These bones don't need to have any vertices weight so it won't be a problem) I thought the FTimedTriggerTransfer was driving how animations were transferring from one another. In Granny viewer you can see it's using Weights a lot for mixing animation, so I thought it might have something to do with this kind of thing, working the way Animation Layers work in 3d softwares, but I might be completely wrong. Your explanation seems way more accurate. I've only managed to see the effects playing in the Run animation, when the fx_bone is travelling on the map.
I'm working on a Boeing unit for Gedemon at the moment (it's nearly done, just need to paint the textures). I've put quite a few fx_bones so I'm gonna try doing some test with that, considering I'll have a lot to play around with.

A couple of things it would be good to try with this which shouldn't be not too difficult are:
1) Make a fire breathing dragon by attaching the Byzantine Dromon flame attack.
2) Make a wizard/mage who can throw fireballs - I think you could probably test this with the Atlatlist - just by switching the Atlatl animation for Catapults fire attack animation.

That's a good idea, I might try that when I've got time. Modelling and animating Organic things is not my speciality, I'm more comfortable with Mechanic things, but I'll give it a try. I've got quite a few friends of mine that could animate this for me. I don't think it's gonna be hard at all to attach these effects though so I'll give it a try!

One thing is that it doesn't look like it is possible to edit or add new particle effects as easily as you could in Civ 4. The particle effects themselves are in psb format. It looks like the pro software Fork Particle Studio can export to this - but I'm not sure what else. Anyway, I'm sure there are lots of creative ways that the existing effects could be used.

I've tried to open a few but yeah, they are weird as they don't even open with Photoshop (which psb format usually comes from), so maybe it's just a complete different thing. I'm not a particle kinda guy anyway so I'll be happy rigging the existing effects already provided for us by the game. They are plenty really nice ones!


I've got a template related question for you Deliverator. I've tried to export a NB2 of some units (bomber, frigate and galleass) but when I try to import them into Blender, nothing happens. I'm using all your latest scripts, and the latest Nexus Buddy, so I don't really know why it's not doing anything. The NB2 files definitely contains information. It's not a really big deal as I'm making the rigs myself but I like to see how the existing units are laid out and rigged, just for reference, so I thought I'd ask.
Another thing, a couple of times when I opened a GR2 into Nexus Buddy, and saved it to view it, it looks like its duplicating the model. It appears twice in the Model and Material list. And even if I reopen a fresh clean version of the GR2, it still shows me 2 (or 4) models, even though I just opened an original file. Do you have any idea why is this happening?

 

[Leugi]

Just wanted to say, seriously amazing discoveries hugojackson18!

 

[Deliverator]

That's a good idea, I might try that when I've got time. Modelling and animating Organic things is not my speciality, I'm more comfortable with Mechanic things, but I'll give it a try. I've got quite a few friends of mine that could animate this for me. I don't think it's gonna be hard at all to attach these effects though so I'll give it a try!

I can convert a dragon and a wizard/mage type model to test this out. If your interested in collaborating I could upload them and then potentially you could test out attaching the effects seeing as you've done the most in that area.

I've got a template related question for you Deliverator. I've tried to export a NB2 of some units (bomber, frigate and galleass) but when I try to import them into Blender, nothing happens. I'm using all your latest scripts, and the latest Nexus Buddy, so I don't really know why it's not doing anything. The NB2 files definitely contains information. It's not a really big deal as I'm making the rigs myself but I like to see how the existing units are laid out and rigged, just for reference, so I thought I'd ask.

Have you tried zooming in and out a bit in the 3D View after the NB2 load completes. Some times you need to refresh the view before the loaded data renders. I'm assuming that no error is coming up when you run the script. Otherwise it could be down to Blender/Python version although that's probably unlikely. It should just work (or spit an error if there's a problem).

Another thing, a couple of times when I opened a GR2 into Nexus Buddy, and saved it to view it, it looks like its duplicating the model. It appears twice in the Model and Material list. And even if I reopen a fresh clean version of the GR2, it still shows me 2 (or 4) models, even though I just opened an original file. Do you have any idea why is this happening?

Yeah, Nexus Buddy 2 is still fairly unstable despite my efforts to stabilise it. It's because it does some fairly hacky things to the guts of the .gr2 file.

I would advise the following:
1) Always make a quick backup copy of the .gr2 you're working on.
2) When adding/removing/assigning materials always use Save As and save as a new file rather than Save. Using Save following editing Materials seems to be the most unstable action.

Behind scenes does a lot of things by making temp copies of .gr2 files, copying objects between files and renaming stuff - something around this obvious causes the instability. I will upload the Nexus Buddy source code at some point soon - maybe someone else with more time can investigate.

 

[hugojackson18]

I can convert a dragon and a wizard/mage type model to test this out. If your interested in collaborating I could upload them and then potentially you could test out attaching the effects seeing as you've done the most in that area.

Yes I'd be happy to have a look at it! If you just send me a FBX, it'd be easier for me as I'm working in Maya.

Have you tried zooming in and out a bit in the 3D View after the NB2 load completes. Some times you need to refresh the view before the loaded data renders. I'm assuming that no error is coming up when you run the script. Otherwise it could be down to Blender/Python version although that's probably unlikely. It should just work (or spit an error if there's a problem).

When the script completes, it doesn't do anything, the basic cube is still there, and I've got nothing in the Outliner. About the python version, that might be where the problem comes from, as I installed the python software mentionned by Woldfog in the list of tools, but I recently uninstall it for some reasons. I'll try reinstalling it and see if this fixes it.

Yeah, Nexus Buddy 2 is still fairly unstable despite my efforts to stabilise it. It's because it does some fairly hacky things to the guts of the .gr2 file.

I would advise the following:
1) Always make a quick backup copy of the .gr2 you're working on.
2) When adding/removing/assigning materials always use Save As and save as a new file rather than Save. Using Save following editing Materials seems to be the most unstable action.

Behind scenes does a lot of things by making temp copies of .gr2 files, copying objects between files and renaming stuff - something around this obvious causes the instability. I will upload the Nexus Buddy source code at some point soon - maybe someone else with more time can investigate.

Thanks that's some useful information. I always make bake ups of GR2 before saving them, so I never overwrite the original ones. I'll be more careful of how I save them from Nexus Buddy, thanks for clarifying these steps!

 

[hugojackson18]

It looks like the pro software Fork Particle Studio can export to this

I just found out that the particles of Civ5 were actually made in this software. I might try to find it and play around a bit with it someday if i've got time. Might be interresting

http://www.forkparticle.com/ultimate.php

 

[hugojackson18]

Guys, have any of you messed with the AnimState files before? I'd like to change the way the animation are following each other, and I was wondering if anyone here had any experience with that. Cheers!

 

[Ekmek]

I haven't played with them but it manages the transitions so you can make unique animations by altering how they start, stop, and flow together if I remember right. There is a lot of potential there for those that have the time to learn it.

 

[hugojackson18]

God I've tried to have a look at it, and it's so complicated... Opening the text file is really no help. I opened it with Nexus in the State Graph, but it doesnt allow me to modify an existing one, and when I try to create a new one, I have no idea how to connect 2 states together, and it keeps crashing....

 

[Pazyryk]

I did some tests with a couple of things with this unit. I did tests for Materials, Textures, and a bit with the Fx_triggers file.

Concerning the materials, I found out that it doesn't make any difference in the way the material reacts to specular whatever MaterialTag you choose in the UnitArtDefine. It's a bit of shame, and I don't know why we can choose different type of material if they all react the same, but that's what I found out.

Concerning the textures, I worked specially on the SREF file and found out that the color channels drive the intensity of the reflection (Black 000=No reflection, White 256=Full Reflection), and the Alpha channel drives the Glossiness of the Reflection, in other words, how blurry the reflection is (Black 0=Full Glossy and Blurry, White 1=Full Sharp, like Chrome).

<snip>

And concerning the DIFF file, I'm sure you all already know that the alpha channel drives the CivColor on the unit, so any part that is Black in the alpha channel of the Diff is going to be replaced (actually more multiplied) with the color of the Civ you're playing. If on your color channels, these areas are white, it's going to put the color of the Civ at 100%, and if there's already a color there, it's going to multiply it.

This is really helpful. Some questions:

1. If my understanding is correct, this means that it is impossible to make a partly transparent unit. Correct?
2. Does anyone know if the same rules apply for other 3d assets, specifically landmark graphics (improvements and resources)? There is no civ color for these (???) so what is the alpha channel doing in the Diff file? (Note: if you try to substitute a base terrain graphic into an improvement or resource, it's clear that the sref and diff files and/or the alpha channels are being used in a very different way.)

I was thinking of doing some simple reskins for ghost-like or magical versions of some units. I don't think I can make a partly transparent ghost, but perhaps a white/blurry reflective skin would do the job just as well. And a sharp/chrome reflective skin on some swordsmen would make a nice magical guardian.

 

[Leugi]

Alpha channels for Landmarks and Buildings define transparency, so it is possible to make transparent improvements and probably wonders... but yeah seems units wouldn't be possible... unless, is it possible to put a unit model a Building material?

 

[TPangolin]

Translucent units eh?

Anyone willing to convert this lion into something transparent and ghostly cyan?

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=519893

I really want a "Ghost of Mufasa" prophet replacement for a Lion King civ I'm making

 

[Leugi]

Transparent is impossible with units, as far as I remember. (They use alpha channels for the team color, so when you use it you can only get Team Color and not transparency)

 

[TPangolin]

Might have to just retexture the Lion to look sp00ky then.

 

[Pazyryk]

Look in my quote of hugojackson18 above. There's no alpha channel that can give you transparency, but the SREF file gives you a lot of flexibility with reflective quality. I suspect a blurry reflective surface would give at least a rough illusion of translucency.

 

[TPangolin]

Would you be able to do one of these "simple reskins for ghost-like or magical versions of some units"?

 

[Pazyryk]

Would you be able to do one of these "simple reskins for ghost-like or magical versions of some units"?

I plan to make a few for myself. But I haven't started on it and probably won't have time for while now (bogged down in coding for my mod release).

 

[Nutty]

I really want a "Ghost of Mufasa" prophet replacement for a Lion King civ I'm making

OK, quick cyan recolor. I played with the sref, and it had to be pretty low [a gray at about 25% white], otherwise the shine was distracting and made him look like a liquid-metal-from-Terminator-2 lion.

EDIT: I didn't include the lion animations (since you'll have already included them with your other lions).