Hello folks! Im kinda new in this comunity, though not new to Grim Dawn ! Im seriously considering creating my own mods for Grim Dawn eventually, and as I am trying to figure out the implications and the scope of the idea, I want to first know if it would be possible to, a bit like the author of GrimTex did with upscaling textures, to augment the number of polygons of the 3D meshes of Grim Dawn assets? So basically, to make the edges of the meshes look more ‘smooth/rounded/polished’, if that makes sense. Either in 3Ds Max or eventually with AI tools.
I am trying to figure out by myself through lots of reading here if its possible lol but in the meantime, if someone has the answer, let me know Cheers!
Fundamentally, the engine supports the visual portion of the animation you want to achieve (as you noted in the Harpy spawn), but you may run into other technical problems by doing so. To break things down a bit, you are correct in the assumption that Target_CTRL is the root bone used for any animation that requires root motion (walk, run, leap, etc). The Harpy spawn is a sort of bastardized form of root motion in that it’s technically fake, at least in the engine’s eyes. The Harpy in this instance is animated on it’s own root bone (in this case Bip001), so in order to achieve a similar result, you would simply need to have a root bone as a child of Target_CTRL which could move independently and offset your model without affecting Target_CTRL.
I will caution you, however, that if you try this approach for your attack animation, your creature in question will not actually “move” to the player’s location when playing its animation, but instead, only leap forward a set distance (based on your animation) and then attack/leap backwards. In other words, the actual monster location will be the spot prior to the leap. So the hitbox, physics, etc will all be in the location of the Target_CTRL node, which means players won’t actually be able to hit the creature during this attack (maybe not a huge deal for you). The main issue I’d foresee, however, is that your leap orientation and distance might not actually be at the player’s location unless you can specify that the monster only performs this attack at a very specific distance and orientation, but then that’s also assuming the player doesn’t move at all after the animation fires.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure if there’s existing tech for a locomotion-based attack that moves forwards and then back. the Special AnimRef “JumpAttack” animations kind of do what you’re trying to do, but there’s no ‘return’ portion that would take the monster back to origin. You could try to fake it with having the return portion in the same animation, but given that the actual Target_CTRL offset is controlled by “StartJump” and “StopJump” callbacks in the aif file, I have no idea if a return jump even works. If it were to work, you’d need two StartJump/StopJump callbacks, one for each time the monster leaps forwards/backwards and the callbacks would need to match the correct frames. I can ask around and see if there are any other tricks you could try, but that’s all I’ve got for now.
I deleted my message because I managed to get something like this working. My creature is small and has a big “radius” that causes it to hit from farther than it should, so instead of fixing that radius I thought it would be cool to have the creature close the gap visually. The creature in question is a squirrel and the animation is basically the critter jumping up and flipping off the enemy.
I’m not too worried about it looking off or anything I’m just really trying to learn different things, so I appreciate you taking the time to write a detailed answer.
Ah ok, I was going to say, if the distance is minimal (like in your case) then the first option should work no problem. Glad you figured it out and got things working!
This stuff seems intimidating, so before i plunge myself into the deep, I’d figure I’d ask first.
I’ve got the .msh files for various TQ spears, that I want to put in as two-handed spears. But i’ve sadly lost the source files (or, i’ve never received them). Lastly, they’re all flipped (poking with the back of the spear instead of the pointy end).
So my question is: can I import .msh files in 3ds max 2019 and then export/save them as .max files? The follow up would be, can I flip the spears? But I can assume that’ll work (as to how, i’ll figure that out later).
The spears are built-in in my “dev version”, but whenever I export all the .arc files to update the mod, the spears don’t show up. I thought the .arcs was all that was needed, but perhaps I do just need the .max files and build those, or something?
So my question is: can I import .msh files in 3ds max 2019 and then export/save them as .max files? The follow up would be, can I flip the spears? But I can assume that’ll work (as to how, i’ll figure that out later).
Yes, in theory. The tool originally made for TQ mods (mesh tools) I think still works, though I haven’t tested it in many years, so can’t guarantee it. Many other modders on this site have extracted msh files to objs using this method though, so if you dig around, you’ll probably find links and/or other tutorials on how to use it. I will not provide a link here, however, as I have not personally tested these tools and do not want to point you in the wrong direction.
Yes, assuming you have access to 3dsmax, flipping the orientation of a weapon is pretty straight-forward. I’d suggest following some modeling/UI tutorials to help you get some basic understanding of how to manipulate objects in 3dsmax.
The spears are built-in in my “dev version”, but whenever I export all the .arc files to update the mod, the spears don’t show up. I thought the .arcs was all that was needed, but perhaps I do just need the .max files and build those, or something?
Not entirely sure what all you’re doing here or how your files are set up, so it’s hard for me to speculate on where you issue is without more information. In dev, we work with max files and build msh/tex files which in turn are hooked up in dbr files; arc files are generated after building with the asset manager. I don’t know if just transferring an arc file works, depending on internal references/how you’re updating these arc files, etc.
Thanks. I think i have found a working 2019 trial version, but ive not installed it yet so i can look for some more info before the trial time starts running
But the clearify my situation: on one pc i mod Reign of Terror. On the mod/dev version, i have several spears which work (they are visible).
When I update the game for public use, i package the arcs and database.arz, and people then downlaod this. This “live” version, is what i have on my laptop. All those spears, are invisible in the live version. So something is missing in the arc files. Which i assumed to be sufficient as they do work in my dev kit.
But i do not have the source files, so i thought perhaps that is the reason. Thats why i hoped to reverse engineer the .msh to .max files. Maybe thats a bit more clear now.
For now ill dig around a bit and see how itll all work.
! Im seriously considering creating my own mods for Grim Dawn eventually, and as I am trying to figure out the implications and the scope of the idea, I want to first know if it would be possible to, a bit like the author of GrimTex did with upscaling textures, to augment the number of polygons of the 3D meshes of Grim Dawn assets? So basically, to make the edges of the meshes look more ‘smooth/rounded/polished’, if that makes sense. Either in 3Ds Max or eventually with AI tools.
