54 replies to this topic

[Sam.]

Sooooo... the format for the name of a new paperdoll is the four-character prefix of the animation (as in anisnd.ids) sometimes followed by a number for various "armored" sequences and then INV. Paperdoll files can be .PLT or .BAM files. The first character of the four-character prefix seems to determine the layout of the paperdoll file. Let me explain. When the first character is:

"C" for character, weapons can be applied to the paperdoll and the paperdoll comes in a series (1-4) of various armor levels. Example: <cmnk1inv.BAM>, <cmnk2inv.BAM>, <cmnk3inv.BAM>, and <cmnk4inv.BAM> are all paperdolls for the same "monk" with different armor levels. See this post for detailed breakdown.

"M" for monster, weapons are not applied to the paperdoll and the paperdoll does not come in a series (no #). Example: <mkobinv.BAM> is the paperdoll for a "kobold" of all armor levels and <mgnlinv.BAM> is the paperdoll for a "gnoll" of all armor levels (note the weapon drawn into the gnoll's hand).

"A" for animal, weapons are not applied to the paperdoll and the paperdoll does not come in a series (no #). Example: <amooinv.BAM> is the paperdoll for a "moose" of all armor levels. (If animals can wear armor?)

"N" for NPC. They are mostly generic, non-player characters and their static forms. Weapon status is unknown. Series status is unknown. Example: <npirinv.BAM> is a "pirate". <ngrlinv.BAM> is a "girl".

"S" for static or spell, includes static people on something (like a stool or chair), noncreatures, and larger spell animations. Weapon status and series status are unknown. Example: <ssiminv.BAM> is a "static_peasant_man_stool", <spbl...> is an "exploding_head", <stnk...> is a "cloud_travel".

"U" for unique?. Unknown. Example: <uvolinv.BAM> is "Volo", <udrzinv.BAM> is "Drizzt", <uelminv.BAM> is "Elminster", <usarinv.BAM> is "Sarevok".

"L" for lounging about?, includes sleeping people. Weapon status and series status are unknown. Example: <lhfcinv.BAM> is a "sleeping_woman_human", <ldmfinv.BAM> is a "sleeping_dwarf".

Other: Includes other spell animations so they wouldn't have a paperdoll, but for the sake of being thorough.... Examples: <glph...> is "trap_glyph", <grea...> is "grease_travel" and "grease_static", <webe...> is "web_travel" and "web_static". There are only the five.

This "U" series is the one I am interested in. I have tried the .PLT and the .BAM forms of the paperdolls, in the series of armor levels and single, biffed and in the override folder and I can't get any of them to show up in game. Can anyone else get any of them to work? Pleeeeese help me! Anything underlined is a guess on my part so if you can confirm them or fill in the unknowns that would be great too.

Sources?
Editing paperdolls?
Adding Paperdoll
Avatar Naming Schemes

Other sites of interest:
WizWom?s BMP<->PLT converter programs

Misc bits of info.
Tidbit at G3

Edited by Sam., 12 July 2008 - 08:16 AM.

[Miloch]

There have been a few other threads floating around recently on this subject, but its sounds like your research has gone further than anyone's. In fact, this should all be added to the IESDP probably.

No clue why the U-series paperdolls don't work, except maybe something hardcoded preventing it. I think there is a mod or two that has Drizzt as a joinable NPC - maybe they got around it, or maybe they just made gave him an elf animation with dark skin .

[Sam.]

I think there is a mod or two that has Drizzt as a joinable NPC - maybe they got around it, or maybe they just made gave him an elf animation with dark skin .

?Region of Terror? doesn?t seem to have one but I?m not positive.
?The Drizzt Saga? says ?Drizzt has no paperdoll when you display the inventory (limitation of the game)?
Drizzt NPC doesn't seem to have one either.
Any others?

Edited by Sam., 30 June 2008 - 06:34 PM.

[vilkacis]

"N" is unknown. Example: <npirinv.BAM> is a "pirate". <ngrlinv.BAM> is a "girl".

Could it stand for NPC? Since both the examples are generic, non-player characters. I don't know if there's other stuff under that name as well.

[Miloch]

“Region of Terror” doesn’t seem to have one but I’m not positive.
“The Drizzt Saga” says “Drizzt has no paperdoll when you display the inventory (limitation of the game)”
Any others?

There is a Drizzt NPC mod I think jastey translated from German - I haven't really looked at it yet though.

The fact that the Drizzt Saga already says there's an engine limitation is a bit suspect.

[Sam.]

There is a Drizzt NPC mod I think jastey translated from German - I haven't really looked at it yet though.

It doesn't appear to do it either.

[Sam.]

"N" is unknown. Example: <npirinv.BAM> is a "pirate". <ngrlinv.BAM> is a "girl".

Could it stand for NPC? Since both the examples are generic, non-player characters. I don't know if there's other stuff under that name as well.

Let's see... others include:

npir = pirate
nsai = sailor_man
nsol = amish_soldier
[color="#0000FF"]nboh = bodhi
nell = ellesime[/color]
nshd = shadow_thief
[color="#0000FF"]nire = jon_irenicus[/color]
nbeg = static_beggar_man
npro = static_harlot_woman
nboy = static_boy
ngrl = static_girl
nfam = static_fat_man
nfaw = static_fat_woman
nsim = static_peasant_man
nsiw = static_peasant_woman
nnom = static_noble_man
nnow = static_noble_woman
nslv = static_slave
nbeg = beggar_man
npro = harlot_womannboy = boyngrl = girlnfam = fat_mannfaw = fat_womannsim = peasant_mannsiw = peasant_womannnom = noble_mannnow = noble_womannslv = slave

Almost all of them seem to be GENERIC, non-player characters and their static forms (with three exceptions). The "S" series, however, seems to be static people on something (like a chair or stool). Interesting. NPC still seems to fit best... better than what I had thought of....

Edited by Sam., 30 June 2008 - 07:26 PM.

[Sam.]

Corrected and updated 1^st post.

[Sam.]

"M" for monster, weapons are not applied to the paperdoll and the paperdoll does not come in a series (no #). Example: <mkobinv.BAM> is the paperdoll for a "kobold" of all armor levels and <mgnlinv.BAM> is the paperdoll for a "gnoll" of all armor levels (note the weapon drawn into the gnoll's hand).

If I was confused before then I am clueless now. There are two inventory paperdolls for bears. <mber0inv.BAM> is a Black Bear and <mber1inv.BAM> is a Brown Bear. These filenames do not follow the pattern of other ?M? series paperdolls and do not seem to correspond with their ANISND.IDS entries. See below.

0x7200 MBER4 CGAMEANIMATIONTYPE_BEAR_BLACK
0x7201 MBER CGAMEANIMATIONTYPE_BEAR_BROWN
0x7202 MBER3 CGAMEANIMATIONTYPE_BEAR_CAVE
0x7203 MBER2 CGAMEANIMATIONTYPE_BEAR_POLAR

Secondly, the paperdolls for the ?M? series bears do not seem to be palletized while the ?M? series gnoll is. (See below.) How does that work? Any ideas?

Attached Files

•  M_paperdolls.bmp   900.05K   704 downloads

Edited by Sam., 28 July 2008 - 10:37 AM.

[Bearwere]

probably, bear paperdolls are needed for druids, who can shapechange. There should be more (wolf, rat, spider, salamander, etc)

[Erephine]

Okay, I'm not sure how much help this is, but anyway:

Paperdolls can be PLT or BAM files. If a PLT exists, it will always take precedence over any BAMs, unless it is not a valid PLT file.

The layout for the C series is as follows:

C (Player Character)
+
Race (H = Human, E = Elf, I = Halfling, D = Dwarf, O = Half-Orc, G = Gnome)
+
Gender (F = Female, M = Male)
+
Class (F = Fighter, C = Cleric, T = Thief, W = Wizard, M = Monk, B = Uniform)
+
Armour level (1, 2, 3, 4)
+
Identifier (this is either an animation sequence, or INV)

The links are hardcoded as follows:

· Fighter and cleric avatars use 'B' animations for the first three armour levels but retain original animations for level 4. Thieves use B1, and their unique animation for second level armour. Paperdolls are unaffected by this though, so they exist for all combinations. (In BG1, all classes used individual avatars for all armour levels)
· Halflings have no mage animations or paperdolls.
· Monks for obvious reasons have only one armour level and only exist for human characters.
· Female dwarves use male dwarf avatars but retain unique paperdolls in the scheme above.
· Gnomes use halfling animations for all classes except mages where they use male dwarven animations. They, too, retain unique paperdolls.
· Half-orcs use human animations but have unique paperdolls for all classes (this includes mages, if you add them!)




The M/etc. animations are individually hardcoded as well. I haven't really done much with them, so I can't say a lot about them.

I have however not seen any monster paperdoll support animation series or other things like that. The simple skeleton animation is probably one of the most sophisticated of the monster animations, since it is compatible with (BG1) PC animations and allows character helmets, weapons, and shields to be equipped and displayed. I don't know if this extends to a potential paperdoll as well, but I think it would be the most likely candidate if any.

Some animations have defined paperdolls (following no uniform convention, but usually *anim_ID*INV, or *anim_ID*xINV with x being usually 0, or 1). These work, but it doesn't mean they do for any given animation. It seems to be largely trial and error when it comes to animations which currently have no paperdolls at all since some (but I don't think all of them) do support rudimentary paperdolls even if the content isn't there.

Bears have different 'classes' (brown, black, etc. like you would be fighter or ranger) which seem to use the two hardcoded paperdolls accordingly. This is necessary as all bears do in fact use the same animation set (MBER), so if different paperdolls should exist you need a way to tell the game which to use. Note that trolls, for instance, do not and all have the same class.

If you tried UDRZ1INV and UDRZ10INV as paperdolls and neither of them worked, chances are they're not supported (I noticed you forgot the '1' in your first post).


As to the palette thing: if a BAM uses the standard BG palette and is used for a colourable element (paperdoll, avatar, weapon animation) it is supported, if it is real-colour, that will be used instead. Real-colour animations or paperdolls cannot be set with the standard colour values, although the effect character_color (set entire animation to a RGB specified gradient, as in stoneskin) may affect it.

One last thing: the BMP/PLT converter is fine for real-colour images, but not suitable for any BAM (paletted) images. If you convert the gnoll paperdoll from BAM to BMP, for instance, and then to PLT it will be screwed up. This is not a fault of the converter, but incompability of the involved file formats.

Edited by Erephine, 04 July 2008 - 01:17 AM.

[Sam.]

Thanks so much for all the info, Erephine.

(I noticed you forgot the '1' in your first post).

Not all of the paperdolls seem to need a number, and not knowing if the "U" series needed them, I left them out....

If you tried UDRZ1INV and UDRZ10INV as paperdolls and neither of them worked, chances are they're not supported.

I tried UDRZ0INV, UDRZ1INV, UDRZ01INV, UDRZ10INV, UDRZ2INV, UDRZ3INV, and UDRZ4INV (all .BAMs). None of them worked, but I'm hoping it's just me being incompetent or my install being falty. Sooooo if anyone else can spare a couple of minuites to try it, you'll be my best friend!

One last thing: the BMP/PLT converter is fine for real-colour images, but not suitable for any BAM (paletted) images. If you convert the gnoll paperdoll from BAM to BMP, for instance, and then to PLT it will be screwed up. This is not a fault of the converter, but incompability of the involved file formats.

Isn't that becaues .PLTs and .BAMs have a different color mapping scheme thing? The BMP/PLT converter can still make a paletted .PLT, it just doesn't use the same colors as a .BAM. The .PLT paperdoll WizWom made for Meeop from Classic Adventures is paletted.

[Erephine]

Thanks so much for all the info, Erephine.

(I noticed you forgot the '1' in your first post).

Not all of the paperdolls seem to need a number, and not knowing if the "U" series needed them, I left them out....

But the name of the animation itself is UDRZ1, not UDRZ. So adding a number you'd have UDRZ10 or UDRZ11; without a number, UDRZ1.

[Miloch]

But the name of the animation itself is UDRZ1, not UDRZ. So adding a number you'd have UDRZ10 or UDRZ11; without a number, UDRZ1.

But UDRZ10INV is not a valid filename (needs to be 8 characters or less).

[Sam.]

Thanks so much for all the info, Erephine.

(I noticed you forgot the '1' in your first post).

Not all of the paperdolls seem to need a number, and not knowing if the "U" series needed them, I left them out....

But the name of the animation itself is UDRZ1, not UDRZ. So adding a number you'd have UDRZ10 or UDRZ11; without a number, UDRZ1.

In my ANISND.IDS, the only entry for Drizzt is:

0x6400 UDRZ CGAMEANIMATIONTYPE_DRIZZT

It is just UDRZ, no number. Am I looking at the wrong thing?

[Sam.]

But the name of the animation itself is UDRZ1, not UDRZ. So adding a number you'd have UDRZ10 or UDRZ11; without a number, UDRZ1.

But UDRZ10INV is not a valid filename (needs to be 8 characters or less).

The ?M? series (and only the "M" series) has entries in ANISND.IDS that have a fifth character (always a number). Some of the basilisk, bear, dog, doppleganger, ghoul, slime, and wolf series have entries in ANISND.IDS with a fifth character. Soooo, IF you took one of these 5-character entries and added another number for the armor level and then ?inv?, you would POTENTIALLY have a 9-character paperdoll name. ALTHOUGH, by all accounts and examples, the "M" series paperdolls can not come in armor-level series. Soooo, I would think (and agree with Miloch that) it's not a valid filename (needs to be 8 characters or less).

Edited by Sam., 06 July 2008 - 10:27 AM.

[Erephine]

From what I've seen those which would end up with 9 characters usually omit one of the first couple (if MBER would be too long it would be MBR or something like that).

ANISND by the way is not a link to animation files (which paperdolls are based on) but as the name suggests it (seems to) link animations with sounds. If you change your character animation to the IWD zombie for instance, you'll notice your character will intermittently make zombie-esque sounds. This is without changing a line in your CRE file or soundset or anything, except the animation slot.

Quite a few entries have links that do not exist as animations; MBER2 for example does not exist as an animation (instead it uses MBER for all of them). There are others which do not match perfectly, or may even be missing entirely. The actual Drizzt animation is UDRZ1 (with UDRZ1A1, etc.), and paperdolls are part of the same naming scheme.

Isn't that becaues .PLTs and .BAMs have a different color mapping scheme thing? The BMP/PLT converter can still make a paletted .PLT, it just doesn't use the same colors as a .BAM. The .PLT paperdoll WizWom made for Meeop from Classic Adventures is paletted.

No.

Paletted PLTs are possible, but they are not interchangeable with paletted BAMs. The following might not make sense to you if you've never worked with them but I'll try to explain anyway (I don't know if this is on IESDP so I'm sorry if it is):

The BG standard palette has seven gradients. These are the different colours you see on the animations or paperdolls. They are grey, teal, pink, yellow, red, blue and green. While this is true for both BAMs and PLTs the way they are handled is different:


On a BAM...


You have a standard palette consisting of:

• Transparency colour
  
• Shadow colour
  
• Two empty colours
  
• The seven base gradients (12 shades each)

and (this is the important part)

• any given combination of the base gradients (8 shades each).

These are in the same sequence as the first ones so they go grey-teal, grey-pink, (...) blue-green.

So, say, you assign a brilliant red to the red gradient, and a brilliant blue to the blue one. The red-blue 8-shade gradient (third to last on the palette) will be purple. This is extremely useful since it effectively allows anti-aliasing between colour edges as well as mixed colours of any kind.


On a PLT...

There is no palette as such. A PLT stores information differently:

Every pixel has a 'brightness' setting which can range from 0 to 254 (255 is transparent). It also has a second bit of information which tells the game which of the seven gradients it is supposed to be (0 to 7, where 7 is shadow).

This means you have 255 shades for every gradient as opposed to 12 on a BAM. However, it also means you have *no* merged shades whatsoever. If you have one colour bright red, and one bright blue, there simply is no purple. As a result, soft edges on the size you're working on (like 128 by 160) are not possible.

If the image is pre-painted this is obviously not a problem (you can just blur beforehand) but if it is done on-the-fly as is the case with colours you actually want to be able to change, you don't have that benefit. And thus, your image ends up looking very, very, pixelated. This is also a big part of why the BG2 paperdolls look as awful as they do.


So you see why converting from one format to another might be a problem. PLT->BAM you lose most of your brightness information (12 shades look good at such small sizes if you paint it that way, but horrible if it's computer dithered) and BAM->PLT you'll lose any mixed colour information which isn't any better. I don't know how this converter in particular does manage it, but there's no way to have a paletted PLT and BAM look the same. They're simply different approaches with different benefits and capabilities.

I hope that made sense >.<

[Sam.]

ANISND by the way is not a link to animation files (which paperdolls are based on)

Interesting, even IESDP linked anisnd.ids with the animation name.

The actual Drizzt animation is UDRZ1 (with UDRZ1A1, etc.), and paperdolls are part of the same naming scheme.

Well, I tried 'udrz10inv.bam', 'udrz11inv.bam', 'udrz12inv.bam', 'udrz13inv.bam', and 'udrz14inv.bam' and that didn't work for me either. I kind of thought the "U" series animations were like the PC animations except for the first 4 characters. Take for instance "udrz1a1.bam". The first four characters are "udrz" for Drizzt. The next character is the armor, in this case "1" which is 'none' (as Drizzt's animations are all the same armor). The next character is the action, in this case "A" which is 'attack'. The last character is the detail, in this case "1" which is '1-handed overhead'. That would mean that the actual Drizzt animation is UDRZ (not UDRZ1), and paperdolls are part of the same naming scheme.

[Erephine]

Interesting, even IESDP linked anisnd.ids with the animation name.

That's probably because it does fit for some of them.

If you look at BG1, you'll find it has no anisnd at all.

Well, I tried 'udrz10inv.bam', 'udrz11inv.bam', 'udrz12inv.bam', 'udrz13inv.bam', and 'udrz14inv.bam' and that didn't work for me either.

Last straws would be trying UDRZ10IN, UDRZ11IN or any other shortenings of it.

I kind of thought the "U" series animations were like the PC animations except for the first 4 characters. Take for instance "udrz1a1.bam". The first four characters are "udrz" for Drizzt. The next character is the armor, in this case "1" which is 'none' (as Drizzt's animations are all the same armor). The next character is the action, in this case "A" which is 'attack'. The last character is the detail, in this case "1" which is '1-handed overhead'. That would mean that the actual Drizzt animation is UDRZ (not UDRZ1), and paperdolls are part of the same naming scheme.

If it were like characters, then indeed every armour level is a separate animation and paperdoll. As such a paperdoll to CHFF2 would be called CHFF2INV, not CHFFINV.

[Sam.]

I kind of thought the "U" series animations were like the PC animations except for the first 4 characters. Take for instance "udrz1a1.bam". The first four characters are "udrz" for Drizzt. The next character is the armor, in this case "1" which is 'none' (as Drizzt's animations are all the same armor). The next character is the action, in this case "A" which is 'attack'. The last character is the detail, in this case "1" which is '1-handed overhead'. That would mean that the actual Drizzt animation is UDRZ (not UDRZ1), and paperdolls are part of the same naming scheme.

If it were like characters, then indeed every armour level is a separate animation and paperdoll. As such a paperdoll to CHFF2 would be called CHFF2INV, not CHFFINV.

That's waht I was saying: It wouold be CHFF2INV, not CHFF22INV. With Drizzt it would be UDRZ1INV, not UDRZ11INV.