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Bit of Help Creating Armour Sprites


aajs

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I have been putting it off in my mod for a while now, however its about time I get on and create the custom armours for my mod.

Can I ask a question of some of the more experienced artists. Is it better to try and modify the existing sprites using something like gimp and work in 2D.

Or should I be using blender to create animated 3D models that I can then turn into sprites later?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

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Both are extremely difficult. So much so that I'm paying a chap whose profession is modelling to do it for me. But I can tell you now;

1) With modelling, if you don't have the correct camera setups it will take a while and experimentation to figure out.

2) Making simple colour changes to frames is easy through a batch process. If you want to do anything more complex than that, you will find it really fiddly - even if it's something like transplanting an alien helmet onto a human body.

3) If you decide to go the modelling route, each set of animations clocks in at around 1000 frames per facing, for around 8000 frames per weapon per armour type.

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Thanks for the tips.

I better start small with a colour change.

As an experiment I created a new armour called armour scout in the armours.xml and armours_gc.xml

I also created the folder structure .\units\xenonaut\armour.scout and copied in the animation folders from the wolf armour (not folders containing xml files only). However when I assign this armour to a player and enter ground combat they do not show with the armour I copied (wolf) but they show with (jackal). This means I have missed an entry somewhere or its hard coded. Can anyone let me know where I am going wrong?

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Does anybody have a working example as a mod, just armour addition so its easy to understand by looking at the included files.

There are an lot of posts with people starting to make armours and they start very enthusiasticly, however they peter off very quickly.

This leads me to believe its either very difficult or very tedious.

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Both are extremely difficult. So much so that I'm paying a chap whose profession is modelling to do it for me. But I can tell you now;

1) With modelling, if you don't have the correct camera setups it will take a while and experimentation to figure out.

2) Making simple colour changes to frames is easy through a batch process. If you want to do anything more complex than that, you will find it really fiddly - even if it's something like transplanting an alien helmet onto a human body.

3) If you decide to go the modelling route, each set of animations clocks in at around 1000 frames per facing, for around 8000 frames per weapon per armour type.

Hi Max - I have posted a template for the Blender file I used to render all the tiles in the game in a sticky thread at the top of this forum; hopefully that should make things easier.

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I think XNT uses a new armour set.

Not sure if I am getting warmer, how I have no armour (invisible) as opposed to wrong armour.

I looked at the XNT mod to see how they managed it but not sure about the xml files.

is the <sequence name= path relevant as it seems to point to a hard coded address outside the mod.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<!DOCTYPE sequence SYSTEM "sidewalkdtd">

<sequence name="D:\Chris England\New Task\Received File\impjackal_unarmed\unarmed\NW\crouch_nw.xml" source="./crouch_NW*.png">

<img regx="61" regy="90" name="crouch_nw" savedname="crouch_nw.png" w="0.000000" h="0.000000"/>

<framelist>

<frame regx="20" regy="76" name="crouch_NW001.png" w="39" h="80" x="0" y="0"/>

<frame regx="20" regy="76" name="crouch_NW002.png" w="39" h="80" x="0" y="81"/>

<frame regx="20" regy="75" name="crouch_NW003.png" w="39" h=

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Hi Max - I have posted a template for the Blender file I used to render all the tiles in the game in a sticky thread at the top of this forum; hopefully that should make things easier.

Thanks for that Aaron, makes life easier for the rest of us :)

That path is the same as in the vanilla files if I remember rightly so I doubt it is needed.

If you want to post up the mod you have so far so people can try it I will try to have a look at it and see if I can find a problem. It has been a while since I added my own armour but I am sure it is something you never forget...

Edited by Gauddlike
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Thanks for that Aaron, makes life easier for the rest of us :)

That path is the same as in the vanilla files if I remember rightly so I doubt it is needed.

If you want to post up the mod you have so far so people can try it I will try to have a look at it and see if I can find a problem. It has been a while since I added my own armour but I am sure it is something you never forget...

Thanks Gauddlike,

I deleted the armour out of my xenonauts choices part 2 so I wil post the link as soo as I put it back in again.

Is there any strings that somehow get added to the png file?

I only as because I download the XNT mod (Very nice mod by the way) to see how they did it, and I basically searched for all the strings they touched renamed them to my armour type and copied their sprites and sheets but renamed the sprite sheets in the appropriate places, however the armour does not show for me as soon as I rename it.

By any chance are there any string that actually end up in the png files. I only as because when I search the xnt mod folder for the armour names the search returns the png files (name not in title of file) So I am guessing there must be some clear text string in the png file somewhere. I have no idea how to set this if that is the case.

Any help from someone who has managed this would be appreciated.

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Ok, what I think you're probably missing is changing the filepaths in the soldier_spectre.xml files.

Every subfolder for the armour types has a soldier_spectre.xml file which tells the game the filepath for the animations for that armour/weapon combo. These need to be set to your new armour for it to work.

For anything else that is causing an issue, I've just spent today making a new armour type (just a colour swap, mind). I'll be posting it within the next day or so, therefore if you're still having problems you could possibly look at that.

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Ok, what I think you're probably missing is changing the filepaths in the soldier_spectre.xml files.

Every subfolder for the armour types has a soldier_spectre.xml file which tells the game the filepath for the animations for that armour/weapon combo. These need to be set to your new armour for it to work.

For anything else that is causing an issue, I've just spent today making a new armour type (just a colour swap, mind). I'll be posting it within the next day or so, therefore if you're still having problems you could possibly look at that.

Thanks Kabill that will be really useful, I was just trying to get the armour working when you are holding nothing but, I was not having much success. A working example would be so helpful.

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