How to add new assets, step by step

I can definitely jump into unit modding, but I need tools with an interface and a tutorial to start with it. Seems Deliverator's onto it. I will need to fiddle around and get the hang of it, but I have plenty of assets to recook from Civ modding.

I'll start putting together a graphics modding guide soon, hopefully it will eventually cover off everything 2D and 3D. Meanwhile I've figured out Sprite Atlases...

hark1.jpg


hark2.jpg
 
Dune Wars: Old World edition!
 
Dune Wars: Old World edition!

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" :)

"Dynasties of Dune" is my WIP title. Aim will be to prove the concept enough for others to pitch in!
 
Still no joy getting Units to anything more than glide around the map in a static pose although the Idle animation plays OK when they stop.
 
Still no joy getting Units to anything more than glide around the map in a static pose although the Idle animation plays OK when they stop.

Interestingly if I swap the Run animation for Idle state the Unit carries on running when moving between tiles so it seems to be something to do with the AnimatorController and transitions between the different states.

Looking at WarriorAnimator V2.controller it doesn't make a whole lot of sense so I think it might not have extracted from the bundle correctly. For example there are no outward transitions from Warrior_Idle_A, just six repeated transitions to itself (see below).

@Solver @Dale Would it possible to get a copy of the original project file "WarriorAnimator V2.controller"? This would help confirm whether or not the extracted copy is corrupted because I think this could the source of the Unit animation issues.

upload_2022-7-12_9-22-51.png
 
Last edited:
The prefab isn't using that directly. Here's what the Warrior prefab uses:
upload_2022-7-12_19-45-51.png

That override controller than uses the one you mention, while overriding certain animations:
upload_2022-7-12_19-46-28.png

And the Warrior V2 controller does indeed look different from your screenshot:
upload_2022-7-12_19-47-18.png

I wonder if perhaps the asset extractor combined the controller and override controller into one asset, breaking it in the process?
 

Attachments

  • upload_2022-7-12_19-45-50.png
    upload_2022-7-12_19-45-50.png
    11.1 KB · Views: 32
I've made a start on the graphics modding guide. It only covers how to extract all the game assets to Unity project using Asset Ripper so far.
 

Attachments

  • Old World Graphics Modding Guide v0.1.pdf
    831.2 KB · Views: 45
Also I've confirmed that you can modify the meshes of units and still have them animate correctly. :)

bigheads.gif
 
I've written up a guide on how to add 2D art to the game. 3D guide to follow soon. Available here:
 
So, my first steps: I downloaded the Unity editor, couldn't start it, had to create a Unity account, so I could request a .ulf file with the manually created alf file, for manual activation.
Of course I should have installed Hub first but w/e. So I dl Hub, for the 3D template project that is the recommended starting point.
So then I create that sample project. Now I'm supposed to install that .git thing. Only I can't. To use anything .git, you need Git. So now I'm installing Git. Wish me luck. I feel like I need it.

edit: No luck, I miseraby fail at step Add AssetBundle Browser.
edit2: To make a change to PATH variable actually take effect, killing explorer.exe seems to be necessary. I'll try that later.
edit3: Ok actually I didn't have to restart explorer.exe, I just needed to quit Unit Hub - this little fudger doesn't shut down if you just close it, you have to find it hiding in the system try and tell it to shut down completely there.
edit4: So did get the Asset Bundle Browser, I changed 2 xml files that were txt files, dragged them both into the AssetBundleBrowser, tried Build .. . UnauthorizedAccessException even though I'm on Windows.
ok so then I'm just using the default output path. All I ever get is

Error building player because script class layout might be incompatible between the editor and the player.
UnityEditor.BuildPipeline:BuildAssetBundles (string,UnityEditor.BuildAssetBundleOptions,UnityEditor.BuildTarget)
AssetBundleBrowser.AssetBundleDataSource.AssetDatabaseABDataSource:BuildAssetBundles (AssetBundleBrowser.AssetBundleDataSource.ABBuildInfo) (at Library/PackageCache/com.unity.assetbundlebrowser@b7c279278d/Editor/AssetBundleDataSource/AssetDatabaseABDataSource.cs:87)
AssetBundleBrowser.AssetBundleBuildTab:ExecuteBuild () (at Library/PackageCache/com.unity.assetbundlebrowser@b7c279278d/Editor/AssetBundleBuildTab.cs:359)
UnityEditor.EditorApplication:Internal_CallDelayFunctions
()

edit5: Ok, I eventually I figured out I don't need to use that Unity project with all ripped assets in it to make my own Asset Bundles, I just need an empty Unity project for that. So, that big Unity project with the everything from AssetRipper, that is it just to look at the contents?
edit6: I do not enjoy Unity UI modding. Too much trial and error.
 
Last edited:
So, my first steps: I downloaded the Unity editor, couldn't start it, had to create a Unity account, so I could request a .ulf file with the manually created alf file, for manual activation.
Of course I should have installed Hub first but w/e. So I dl Hub, for the 3D template project that is the recommended starting point.
So then I create that sample project. Now I'm supposed to install that .git thing. Only I can't. To use anything .git, you need Git. So now I'm installing Git. Wish me luck. I feel like I need it.

edit: No luck, I miseraby fail at step Add AssetBundle Browser.
edit2: To make a change to PATH variable actually take effect, killing explorer.exe seems to be necessary. I'll try that later.
edit3: Ok actually I didn't have to restart explorer.exe, I just needed to quit Unit Hub - this little ****er doesn't shut down if you just close it, you have to find it hiding in the system try and tell it to shut down completely there.
edit4: So did get the Asset Bundle Browser, I changed 2 xml files that were txt files, dragged them both into the AssetBundleBrowser, tried Build .. . UnauthorizedAccessException even though I'm on Windows.
ok so then I'm just using the default output path. All I ever get is



edit5: Ok, I eventually I figured out I don't need to use that Unity project with all ripped assets in it to make my own Asset Bundles, I just need an empty Unity project for that. So, that big Unity project with the everything from AssetRipper, that is it just to look at the contents?
edit6: I do not enjoy Unity UI modding. Too much trial and error.

Hi glad you managed to get somewhere in the end. I'll add a bit more detail to the start regarding Git etc. Building the Asset Library project is only necessary for understanding how the base game Unity assets are put together. If you only want to do simple 2D image stuff then you might not need to refer to it. I'll make that more clear in the intro to that section.
A lot of modding is trial and error to some extent. For re-testing most things you can just reload a modded save game and the latest changes you have built out with Unity will be picked up.
 
@Deliverator I have added an "OW Asset Template" to the Modio and Workshop platforms. It walks people through the addition of various 2D assets. It includes a Unity project with some assets, instructions on how to make your own assets using the project, plus a skeleton mod showing how to implement the assets in game.

Not sure if it's useful for you, but I'm sure others will find it useful. https://oldworld.old.mod.io/oldworldassettemplate
 
@Deliverator I have added an "OW Asset Template" to the Modio and Workshop platforms. It walks people through the addition of various 2D assets. It includes a Unity project with some assets, instructions on how to make your own assets using the project, plus a skeleton mod showing how to implement the assets in game.

Not sure if it's useful for you, but I'm sure others will find it useful. https://oldworld.old.mod.io/oldworldassettemplate
Thanks @Dale. I'm sure this will be very useful.
 
I tried Old World a couple of days ago, enjoying it so much. Enjoying it even more than Civ.

However i would like to make some small changes here and there, to enjoy it even more. New 3D Assets for some very few Units is on my list for instance.

Following Deliverator‘s Guide and the thread here, did all the steps, have a Test Warrior i edited a bit using Blender, and now the next step is to import it into a new Unity project.

I believe i have understood everything correctly so far, but it looks like my Test Warrior will not work correctly ingame, cause of that Animation Controllers, which i say without having a test done. It seems it will be not that easy.

So, long story short: Are there any news on this importing new 3D Assets project?

Is it fully possible now?

I will do my test with the Warrior later today, and will keep you informed about my progress (if i can achieve some progress).

Great job so far by you guys! It would be amazing to be fully able of adding new 3D Assets to OW.
 
So as soon as i import the needed scripts (AnimatorHelper, EffectAnimator, UnitAnimation etc.) into my Unity project and assign them to my prefab, i cannot then build the project using Asset Bundle Browser… cause Unity refuse to build the project, shows errors instead.

So i read the thread again and from how it sounds, it seems that the Scripts are not ready for use or do i overlook something completely?

I will pause the unit stuff for now, next thing i try is to add a new building model to OW… hoping buildings do not need any scripts, but we will see.

Would be cool if someone could clarify the problem with the scripts for me, explaining it a bit…
 
I believe i have understood everything correctly so far, but it looks like my Test Warrior will not work correctly ingame, cause of that Animation Controllers, which i say without having a test done. It seems it will be not that easy.

So, long story short: Are there any news on this importing new 3D Assets project?

Is it fully possible now?

Hi @Shirotora Kenshin. Yes, it is possible to import 3D assets including modifying Units. I have been planning to explain the process but I haven't done it yet. I will try and get it documented and update the guide over the next week. :)
 
Hi @Deliverator, excellent news. Then i will wait with OW 3D Modding to make life easier.
Take your time, i will wait patiently for the updated guide. In the meantime i made some plans on what to change. :)
Old World is an amazing game btw.
 
Hi @Deliverator, excellent news. Then i will wait with OW 3D Modding to make life easier.
Take your time, i will wait patiently for the updated guide. In the meantime i made some plans on what to change. :)
Old World is an amazing game btw.

Unfortunately I've run into a bit of a blocker. It seems that since Old World was updated to Unity 2021.3.24 the Asset Studio application can no longer extract assets from the asset bundles to .fbx files for import into Blender. Without the full round trip from Unity > .fbx > Blender > .fbx > Unity modding options will be quite limited - for example rigging to vanilla Old World Unit animations will not be possible. The Asset Studio project on Github has also been archived although there are still some active forks. Perhaps it will possible to get a version of Asset Studio working again with Old World files.
 
Unfortunately I've run into a bit of a blocker. It seems that since Old World was updated to Unity 2021.3.24 the Asset Studio application can no longer extract assets from the asset bundles to .fbx files for import into Blender. Without the full round trip from Unity > .fbx > Blender > .fbx > Unity modding options will be quite limited - for example rigging to vanilla Old World Unit animations will not be possible. The Asset Studio project on Github has also been archived although there are still some active forks. Perhaps it will possible to get a version of Asset Studio working again with Old World files.

Well that's an unexpected side effect.
Does Asset Explorer work? (https://iowin.net/en/unity-assets-explorer/) Is it documented anywhere that Asset Studio doesn't work with 2021 or is it just something that people notice?
 
Top Bottom