187 replies to this topic

[Rabain]

A better indication would be download stats...you know we all appreciate your work!

[Chevalier]

Cuv,

You Rock!!!!! I am just waiting to see some of this to show up in a mod. I really hope you get Cuv's Animation Naming mod/patch working!!

[Miloch]

Still nobody has rated any of the animations???? LOL... somebody throw me a bone! Did I do good? Bad? Aside from Diana... I haven't heard anything...heh

Well, I think it's great work, as I've said before, but I've really been waiting for some slot/file naming conventions before trying out any of them in-game. Maybe someone's on it already and I missed it in the posts above. But if not, maybe I can start by looking at some of the bigger mods and see what's assigned already and what's free. I'm only partially familiar with the mods that do this though - I guess I'd probably start by looking at maybe BP and Galactygon's Bestial Animations (and I know right there, there's a conflict since they use different slots for the same animations but maybe that can be resolved somehow). What other mods add animations?

What I don't want to see happen is a bunch of modders grabbing these animations then using them in any slots they please, so we end up with a mish-mash of standards within various mods, and overwriting from one mod to another. That could get very ugly, very fast.

Oh, and I was waiting to see more humanoids, but looking at some of these again, I might be able to use some right away for some druidic summoning spells I'm working on. Maybe some of the more reptilian-looking creatures, like the Trocopotaca. Another thing I'm struggling with is figuring out exactly what these things are. I know what a Night Hag is, and a Golem and maybe an Abishai, but what's a Gronk? What's a Grillig? And so on. There's nothing in the Torment manual, and I'm not sure if they're in any PnP resources either. Of course, I could just make stuff up for them, but it'd be better to have a reference, or a short description for each at least.

On a related note, has anyone done any work with porting animations to BG1? I'm aiming for maximum compatibility in my mods... if it's just a matter of dropping some frames, that might be easy, but if it's more complex, it might not be worth it.

But yeah, keep up the good work. If I end up using any of these, I'll let you know and give full credit .

[Rabain]

There is a guide in the game that appears in your journal (?) when you encounter a creature...it gives a picture and an explanation.

I think this covers the basic info as given by PST:

http://www.gamebansh...t/creatures.php

[Cuv]

Thanks everyone... I appreciate it.

Here is where I am on the patch. I still have more research to do to determine which other mods use the Wailing Virgin animation. Below is listed from my own work, and those already in ToB

Assignment list for all BGII-ToB compatible animations:

0xE0F2 IC_WAILING_VIRGIN	MWAV	57586
	- Axe 		~ Wailing Virgin
	- Club 		~ MGHO Ghost
	- Dagger		~ MSH1 Ghost
	- Fail 		~ MSH2 Ghost
	- Halberd   	~ SM1B Shadow 
	- Mace	   	~ SM2B Greater Shadow 
	- Quarterstaff 	~ SM3B True Shadow
	- Warhammer 	~ NWN Night Hag
	- Sword	 	~ NWN Amel

Question to self:  Does the Bow slot work?  B  and ~BW~  Or if it does, will all attacks be ranged?  My Will-O-Wisps would be good in this slot too.

To use the death animation, all the files need the exact same cycle and frames in the DE and DEE or the game will crash.

________________________________________________

Creatures that use IC_WAILING_VIRGIN animation and the corresponding attack item:

BANSHE01.CRE  =   B1-8M2.ITM  Vongoethe fight scripted creation :Amkethran
SARMIST.CRE  =  No items at all/ must fix
TELWRAI.CRE  =  TELWRAI.ITM  level drain, lighting effects.. good weapon: AR3014/WK
RTWBANS.CRE  =  B3-18M3.ITM  dump this item, go with TELWRAI
RTWBANS2.CRE  = B3-18M3.ITM 
RTWBANSA.CRE  = B3-18M3.ITM 
RTWBANSB.CRE  = B3-18M3.ITM 

_________________________________________________

Weapon Patch:
example from BA (Galactygon):

// Pit Fiend hand-to-hand
COPY_EXISTING ~P3-12M4.itm~   ~override/P3-12M4.itm~
WRITE_ASCII 0x0022 ~WH~
WRITE_BYTE 0x001c 21
WRITE_ASCII 0x003a ~IWOLF~

Details:
WRITE_ASCII 0x0022  // two-digit designation
~AX~ = Axe
~CL~ = Club
~DD~ = Dagger
~FL~ = Flail
~HB~ = Halberd
~MC~ = Mace
~QS~ = Quarterstaff
~S1~ = Sword
~WH~ = Warhammer

WRITE_BYTE 0x001c  // weapon catagory
 25  = Axe
 44  = Club
 16  = Dagger
 23  = Flail
 30  = Halberd
 17  = Mace
 26  = Quarterstaff
 20  = Sword
 21  = Warhammer

WRITE_ASCII 0x003a ~IWOLF~ // look and feel.  Inventory icon
_______________________________________________________

I'm currently working on an installer for the current 9 animations. This composite slot assignment frees up 3 slots. After this, will work on the Wights and any other creature that can share a death animation that I invent for them...heh.

Question: Should I wait until I have more mod info, or just finish this up as a Beta and upload for feedback?

Maybe someone's on it already and I missed it in the posts above. But if not, maybe I can start by looking at some of the bigger mods and see what's assigned already and what's free. I'm only partially familiar with the mods that do this though - I guess I'd probably start by looking at maybe BP and Galactygon's Bestial Animations (and I know right there, there's a conflict since they use different slots for the same animations but maybe that can be resolved somehow). What other mods add animations?

I don't think anyone is currently working on this except for myself. Galactygon, Sir BillyBob and a few others have offered help if I get tied up. As for compatibility- consolidating as many slots as possible will help immensely and free up the slots that other mods already use. Classic Adventures (or any other Total Conversions) are kinda exempt from the need for a standard, but it will help them too to pack more content. I am still unsure what mods use which animations, and my guess is that the ones that port animations already probably use whatever slot the creator felt like using at the time. I know that I did that too with RTW (fixing that with this project). If anyone could do some leg-work and get me the info on each mod that uses new animations, what slot they use, and a current list of their use of the IC (IWD) animation use... that would be REALLY helpful. I simply do not have the time to download every mod to check them all out.

What I don't want to see happen is a bunch of modders grabbing these animations then using them in any slots they please, so we end up with a mish-mash of standards within various mods, and overwriting from one mod to another. That could get very ugly, very fast.

Yes, my fear too. Hopefully anyone seriousely wishing to make use of the animations in a mod will do some research... or perhaps shoot me a PM to see what plans I may have for a particular slot.

Oh, and I was waiting to see more humanoids, but looking at some of these again, I might be able to use some right away for some druidic summoning spells I'm working on. Maybe some of the more reptilian-looking creatures, like the Trocopotaca. Another thing I'm struggling with is figuring out exactly what these things are. I know what a Night Hag is, and a Golem and maybe an Abishai, but what's a Gronk? What's a Grillig? And so on. There's nothing in the Torment manual, and I'm not sure if they're in any PnP resources either. Of course, I could just make stuff up for them, but it'd be better to have a reference, or a short description for each at least.

Well, for example: the first animation listed in my upload is ACAB: Night Hag. That isnt really the PST Night Hag... but what I wanted to use it for. That is actually Acaste (sp) the Zombie Queen. I would say that is the animation looks cool to you and you have your own idea of what it should be called... go ahead. The Golem, as another example, could be some kind of greater Mummy??? Who knows, who cares? I kind wish that Worm had converted the Intellect Devourer from NWN... want that one in BGII. If there is no canon reference... make one up. I made up several for my sadly unreleased as yet mod: Spectral Gauths and Spectral Beholders.

On a related note, has anyone done any work with porting animations to BG1? I'm aiming for maximum compatibility in my mods... if it's just a matter of dropping some frames, that might be easy, but if it's more complex, it might not be worth it.

That is not going to be easy. The original BGI engine doesnt support very many animation slots... and the ones it does are the G1 - G25 variety. They are difficult to accurately construct with the current tools, and there is no wiggle-room for extra creatures... something will have to be overwritten. Most people run either BGT or Tutu now though... and that is the BGII engine, so everything I am doing should work if ToB is also installed.

Edited by Cuv, 29 November 2007 - 10:23 AM.

[Cuv]

Wohoo!!!!

CVGhosts is uploaded to the downloads center. I tested it out, and it seems to work fine. Anyone that wants is free to mirror it.

The ReadMe is posted as the description.

CVGhosts at Resource Center

[Zyraen]

Saw the screenshots, NICE I'd say more but being non-FR person and never touched PS:T before, I'm really in no position to comment.

[Sir BillyBob]

Well I will be using this ghost animation in our next version of CA. I use several of the ghosts now so this frees up some needed slots for me. Not sure how long it will be before anyone besides my self will get to test it in CA. I just put a release out for people to bang on. Hopefully I can test this and let you know Cuv.

BTW, when I go to the download section, it says I can't rate the download. Is that because I am also a modder (conflict of interest) or because it was simply never configured to let me do so?

You want someone to throw you a bone? How about all of the giant skeletons at once? Can they all be combined? More free slots!!!!

Oh, and several of your PST animations are in our last release, the giant skeleton, gronk, grill(?), and gehrel(? - can't remember spellings). So far they all seem to work just fine.

[Cuv]

Well I will be using this ghost animation in our next version of CA. I use several of the ghosts now so this frees up some needed slots for me. Not sure how long it will be before anyone besides my self will get to test it in CA. I just put a release out for people to bang on. Hopefully I can test this and let you know Cuv.

BTW, when I go to the download section, it says I can't rate the download. Is that because I am also a modder (conflict of interest) or because it was simply never configured to let me do so?

You want someone to throw you a bone? How about all of the giant skeletons at once? Can they all be combined? More free slots!!!!

Oh, and several of your PST animations are in our last release, the giant skeleton, gronk, grill(?), and gehrel(? - can't remember spellings). So far they all seem to work just fine.

Very cool Thank you... yeah, let me know if there are any problems with the animations.

Yeah, was also thinking of the skeletons... and getting that PST giant skeleton construct in there too. IC_SKELETONO has weapon animations. I'll see what can be done.

Not sure about the rating thing... I cant rate any mods either. It might be because we are in the Modder catagory... not sure.

[leahnkain]

Great work! I am unable to rate this as well. I am able to rate other mods though...maybe it isn't configured to let anyone do so.

Edited by leahnkain, 29 November 2007 - 07:49 PM.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Well, the latest files work perfectly, but what did you write about the 4 to 10 minutes, it took less than a minute with my comp.(CAmod game)
Exept the club wielding skeleton, it doesn't stand, if it is still;

[Erephine]

I was curious after this post, because I pretty much hoped/thought something could be done with that approach.

Anyway,

I don't know if I'm understanding this properly, but I downloaded and had a look at CVGhosts...

and I thought death animations do not work for weapon overlay BAMs?

The 'vanilla' slot is cleared, except for the death animations (which use those from the black IWD ghost), so I'd imagine they will be played when a creature of that slot dies. Now, all the other animations (for the different creatures) have death animations too - and this is where it gets confusing:

A lot of them have the black ghost death animation copied over (even if it doesn't fit the animation at all?). Some have their own animations (see the white ghost). Do they play? Or don't they?

If they do, why aren't you using the creature's proper death animations?

And if not, why do some of the creatures have death animations in there? Or any at all?

Your readme says:

To use the death animation, all the files need the exact same cycle and frames in the DE and DEE or the game will crash.

But the supplied files do just that..

The NWN Amel animation doesn't have a DE animation (it's cleared out?) but it does have a DEE animation, which definitely has different frame counts, etc. The NWN Night Hag animation has its own death animations, too. (So does the IWD white ghost, but that might have the right frame count?)

If they work, why not the PST Shadows? Won't the original animation play too so it'd be displaying two different death animations simultaneously?

If they don't... I assume all those animations have the same death animation then? i.e. the white ghost will die exactly like the black one, like the PST true shadow, and the Amel?

I'm sorry if I'm not making sense.


Also, random note:

it seems like you accidentally converted the Greater Shadow's shadow for the standing ones (MWAVMSD.BAM, MWAVMSDE.BAM) instead of the standing ones.

[Cuv]

I was curious after this post, because I pretty much hoped/thought something could be done with that approach.

Ah that, still working on that approach for the other animations. This set didnt need that ghastly workaround. See below.

A lot of them have the black ghost death animation copied over (even if it doesn't fit the animation at all?). Some have their own animations (see the white ghost). Do they play? Or don't they?

If they do, why aren't you using the creature's proper death animations?

And if not, why do some of the creatures have death animations in there? Or any at all?

If they work, why not the PST Shadows? Won't the original animation play too so it'd be displaying two different death animations simultaneously?

If they don't... I assume all those animations have the same death animation then? i.e. the white ghost will die exactly like the black one, like the PST true shadow, and the Amel?

I'm sorry if I'm not making sense.

Okay, yeah... I forgot to mention that in the features section of the Readme. Me bad.

All of the creatures in that slot use the same death animation, the one you pointed out that I constructed from the ghost animation. When killed, they all use that animation. None of their native death animations will play on the weapon slots. Why are some still in there? Laziness... they are harmless files... but something needs to be in those bam assignments to prevent crashing.... why not the originals?

The NWN Amel animation doesn't have a DE animation (it's cleared out?) but it does have a DEE animation, which definitely has different frame counts, etc. The NWN Night Hag animation has its own death animations, too. (So does the IWD white ghost, but that might have the right frame count?)

Ah... you have a keen eye and noticed You are correct, Amel doesnt have a DE... this was another little trick that I did to squeeze an additional animation into this slot----> Sword slot. Amel's Death animation frame would be MWAVSDE... this conflicts with the blanked out bams... if I put viewable animation content in that slot, it would play over all the creatures when they stand EAST. So... I let them 'share' that bam. It is Amel's death animation... so it wont play anyway... so the trick was to let the engine share the bams.

Also, random note:

it seems like you accidentally converted the Greater Shadow's shadow for the standing ones (MWAVMSD.BAM, MWAVMSDE.BAM) instead of the standing ones.

Yep, I see what you mean and I noticed it when I was converting the animation. Those are actually the standing casual animations in PST. When not hostile... that shadow hides partially under the ground. I can fix that if you dont care for it. His animation was an odd one to convert as he did do alot of things out of the ordinary in his animations.

Okay... so I need a patch or re-upload to amend the Readme and to change that?

Edited by Cuv, 30 November 2007 - 06:28 AM.

[Cuv]

Okay, gotta fix for the animation. Is this better?

[igi]

Not sure about the rating thing... I cant rate any mods either. It might be because we are in the Modder catagory... not sure.

I cannot rate the downloads either, and I am not a member of the modder group.

[Cuv]

Updated!

New version uploaded with added Readme information and the Greater Shadow fix. Yes, I just saw that made I typo.. fixed Greater Animation standing animation. LOL... sorry.

I will ask Seb or Liam to delete the other version.. although it does work aside from the Greater Shadow.

Cuv

Edited by Cuv, 30 November 2007 - 07:31 AM.

[Erephine]

All of the creatures in that slot use the same death animation, the one you pointed out that I constructed from the ghost animation. When killed, they all use that animation.

Ah, okay...

Ah that, still working on that approach for the other animations. This set didnt need that ghastly workaround. See below.

Well, I'll just hope someone will make this 'ghastly workaround' work for these then, when you figure it out

Oh... one thing:

Have you tried any of the freely coloured animations with the weapon slot method? The PST humanoids etc., for instance? It would be interesting to know if colour overlays (set_item_colour) work for all of the animation slots. You'd have to re-set the skin/hair/etc. colours for the weapon (i.e. using different locations), but it'd be nice if it works... I feel it adds a lot to animations. I know it works for player character animations (and those that use them, like BG1 skeletons), but I'm not sure about those with pre-coloured weapon animations.

If you ever get the VVC thing to work, you might have to pre-colour or remove affected parts for the death animation though (I don't think you can set those colours for effects)... like Annah's punch daggers - they aren't supposed to be bright turquoise

[Cuv]

Oh... one thing:

Have you tried any of the freely coloured animations with the weapon slot method? The PST humanoids etc., for instance? It would be interesting to know if colour overlays (set_item_colour) work for all of the animation slots. You'd have to re-set the skin/hair/etc. colours for the weapon (i.e. using different locations), but it'd be nice if it works... I feel it adds a lot to animations. I know it works for player character animations (and those that use them, like BG1 skeletons), but I'm not sure about those with pre-coloured weapon animations.

If you ever get the VVC thing to work, you might have to pre-colour or remove affected parts for the death animation though (I don't think you can set those colours for effects)... like Annah's punch daggers - they aren't supposed to be bright turquoise

I havent tried that yet... not sure what will happen. Soon though. My plan is to continue consolidating animations into slots that can use a shared death animation until all are done that can be done... then move on to the workaround method. Its possible that I might free up enough slots to not need it.

[Cuv]

Still busy working. Had the good fortune to be off work. Here is my latest endeavor: Wight Slot



I got all of these working on the mummy slot. There are 8 total animations here that all have similar death animations... so I will come up with a good catch-all for the bunch. When finished, this one will free up 7 full slots. That is valuable real estate. This one shouldnt take me nearly as long as the last slot... I only need to construct a death animation for the lot.

Oh, btw... Liam unlocked the function to rate downloads. You may now rate whatever you like. If you dont like something... that is good too, it shows I need to get better.

Cuv

Quick update: created a satisfactory common death animation... turning grey, then falling down. Why not? they are dead things...heh. Uploading the next package now... it's finished.

Edited by Cuv, 30 November 2007 - 09:09 PM.

[Miloch]

If anyone could do some leg-work and get me the info on each mod that uses new animations, what slot they use, and a current list of their use of the IC (IWD) animation use... that would be REALLY helpful. I simply do not have the time to download every mod to check them all out.

Here you go:
BG2 Animation Slots

Also, here is the source spreadsheet if you want to sort it differently (it's sorted by prefix). This includes an analysis of all animations added by the larger mods. I started with King Diamond's spreadsheet and Galactygon's readme for Bestial Animations and went from there.

As you can see, there are loads of conflicts. Frankly, I don't know how anyone does a mega-mod install, since they'll be overwriting creature animations left and right. Maybe that is exactly what happens and no one knows what the original creatures should've been. (Though you'd think when you see something like "Drider- Death" and you just killed a Wight, you'd get suspicious...). Total conversions, as you said, are different but even those might be running out of slots, and most of the other mods are supposed to work together in BP installs.

I think all these conflicts could probably be resolved, but it might take some work and some serious patching. It looks like you and Galactygon use the IWD style animation naming scheme, which is probably the most efficient. That way you have separate series under each 4-letter prefix for each weapon. The drawback is you need to make sure all the CREs have that particular weapon (or so I'm guessing). Another drawback is the death animation thing, though it sounds like you have a workaround (though I'm not sure how well it works).

Cuv, did you know your slots MWAVD and MWAVF for the IWD Shadows (and maybe the Ghost too) duplicate Galactygon's in the MLER (0xE050 IC_LICHBLACK) slots? Maybe you can put something else in the duplicate slots, since they're already assigned. Although your assignments might make more sense if all animations on the same slot share the same death animation (it doesn't make sense to have, say, a wight and a beetle on the same slot in that case).

I'd like to see some of the reptilian creatures (Trocopotaca, Grillig, Gronk) assigned next. I'm thinking maybe one of the basilisk or salamander slots could be rearranged for this... not sure.

So leaving the conflicts between existing mods aside, are there any slots open now? I didn't look to see if there are any more unused slots in the game, just those slots used by other mods.

Edit: Oh, I forgot there were a few animations I couldn't identify exactly. I could guess, but I don't want to do that. Anyone know what these are?

Edited by Miloch, 01 December 2007 - 02:40 AM.