Custom Animation for Custom Character

[Orange Bubs]

So I'm currently making a DST character mod from Dragon Wolf Leo and I ran into a problem pretty quick. My character has a high ponytail but I have very limited knowledge to using Spriter or any sort of coding so I'm unsure on how to animate the ponytail bouncing along like all the other characters.

I also wanted to make a follower for him that kinda works the same way as Abigail and Bernie mixed together. I'd have the follower's item (a gem in this case) work the same way as Abigail's flower and appear normally but become big and aggressive like Bernie when a player is insane when my character's stat is low. Koya (the follower) may end up needing custom animations so...yikes.

Unfortunately, all I have are minimal refs and ideas, it's getting everything done that will be difficult. Any help is appreciated though!

 

[ShadowDuelist]

Edit: sorry nvm

Edited August 4, 2020 by ShadowDuelist

[IronHunter]

Wickerbottom has a ponytail that you can imitate, I believe it uses the hair symbol that wilson used.

As for the transforming minion, I suggest you recycle some of the existing animations from the fuelweaver and/or varg and make edits for custom stuff. It is extremely daunting to make a full fledge custom animation, let alone several dozen for a minion character.

As for ai, I got very little experience making a custom ai. I would suggest checking for other mod characters who have done custom pet minions. Or maybe making a chimera of a few of the ai's if you feel up for it.

This is about all I can help you with your questions. Have fun =)

[Orange Bubs]

5 hours ago, IronHunter said:

Wickerbottom has a ponytail that you can imitate, I believe it uses the hair symbol that wilson used.

As for the transforming minion, I suggest you recycle some of the existing animations from the fuelweaver and/or varg and make edits for custom stuff. It is extremely daunting to make a full fledge custom animation, let alone several dozen for a minion character.

As for ai, I got very little experience making a custom ai. I would suggest checking for other mod characters who have done custom pet minions. Or maybe making a chimera of a few of the ai's if you feel up for it.

This is about all I can help you with your questions. Have fun =)

Ah, thank you! This really helps! I don't really know how to properly recycle animations from the base game since I'm very new at this so is there like a tutorial or something you know of that can help? If not, that's okay. I really appreciate the advice!

[Scrumch]

If you want to rip animations from the game's files you'll need ktools.

Here's how I use it.

Spoiler

 

Go to the anim folder of the thing you want to get e.g. Fuelweaver and extract its zip file to wherever you've installed ktools.

Next open the command propmt on your computer and type in "cd (full directory location of the ktools folder)"

Now all you have to do is enter "krane anim.bin build.bin (your name for the new folder)" and hit enter, it should decompile these files into the spriter animation file and the folder containing all the sprites that make up that animation.

Most things in DST have more than one set of anim files (e.g. the spear has one for when you're holding and one for when it's on the ground) - so make sure to get them all.

If you need to know how the animation files work with the mob in game - it's prefab file will show that too.

 

As for transformation stuff, I did mine using the AnimState.SetBuild command - basically I have several different template character animation files that the code will switch between. Though this only really works if the build (the skeleton of the thing) is the exact same, meaning it's only good for visual transformations - not something like Woodie's Wereforms - which is a different process iirc. I know that the mod 

Like Hunter said - If you want your followers to act exactly like a vanilla mob that would be easier, since you could just use the game's preexisting brains (ai) for the mobs your basing your followers off of. Though if you need to make your followers act totally unique, I suggest looking at how the mods that already have custom followers do it before anything else. 

 

Oh and ponytail wise! The pigtail folder for the extended character template only plays nice with sprites that are A)at the base of the head and B)are 2 pieces. A single ponytail sprite at the top of the head will not animate correctly and from first hand experience you cannot change that animation due to it being hardcoded into the game itself. Go with what IronHunter suggested, while anything part of the "hair" folder won't swing like the pigtails do, I found it still moves on its own separate to the head so the effect still looks really nice imo, have fun!

Edited August 5, 2020 by Scrumch

[Orange Bubs]

3 hours ago, Scrumch said:

If you want to rip animations from the game's files you'll need ktools.

Here's how I use it.

  Hide contents

 

Go to the anim folder of the thing you want to get e.g. Fuelweaver and extract its zip file to wherever you've installed ktools.

Next open the command propmt on your computer and type in "cd (full directory location of the ktools folder)"

Now all you have to do is enter "krane anim.bin build.bin (your name for the new folder)" and hit enter, it should decompile these files into the spriter animation file and the folder containing all the sprites that make up that animation.

Most things in DST have more than one set of anim files (e.g. the spear has one for when you're holding and one for when it's on the ground) - so make sure to get them all.

If you need to know how the animation files work with the mob in game - it's prefab file will show that too.

 

As for transformation stuff, I did mine using the AnimState.SetBuild command - basically I have several different template character animation files that the code will switch between. Though this only really works if the build (the skeleton of the thing) is the exact same, meaning it's only good for visual transformations - not something like Woodie's Wereforms - which is a different process iirc. I know that the mod 

Like Hunter said - If you want your followers to act exactly like a vanilla mob that would be easier, since you could just use the game's preexisting brains (ai) for the mobs your basing your followers off of. Though if you need to make your followers act totally unique, I suggest looking at how the mods that already have custom followers do it before anything else. 

 

Oh and ponytail wise! The pigtail folder for the extended character template only plays nice with sprites that are A)at the base of the head and B)are 2 pieces. A single ponytail sprite at the top of the head will not animate correctly and from first hand experience you cannot change that animation due to it being hardcoded into the game itself. Go with what IronHunter suggested, while anything part of the "hair" folder won't swing like the pigtails do, I found it still moves on its own separate to the head so the effect still looks really nice imo, have fun!

Thank you, I'm slowly starting to understand. However, when I type in the krane bit into the command prompt, it tells me that krane is not an internal or external command and what not. I think I may be doing something wrong but I'm unsure. Sorry for the trouble, I really appreciate the help

[Scrumch]

Here's some more clarification - you should be opening the source anim file in this part of the ktools folder

Spoiler

 You should be able to access the command prompt already, but then type "cd" and the full address of the previously shown folder

Spoiler

Then type in krane anim.bin build.bin FOLDERNAME into the command prompt, and you should get something like this:

Spoiler

Your newly created folder should look something like this:

Spoiler

If you need anything cleared up - just ask!