Problems encountered when making first custom character

[Lurdiak]

I've very recently started to work on my first custom character, using the guide available on this site. I'm slowly learning to understand how the scripting works by looking at other mods and the in-game script files, and I'm making slow but steady progress realizing my goals for the character. But I've run into two problems so far that I don't understand at all.

The first is that the character is completely invisible in-game, with none of the animation assets showing up at all. This is from what I understand a common problem, but I still don't really know why it's happening. I uploaded the character via the don't starve mod tools, and it's fully functional other than that, the custom description shows up and everything...

The other, even more mysterious problem is that the character is using Wilson's speech strings. I've done a fair amount of editing of the speech lua file and the modmain.lua file is pointing to the appropriate file, at least from my understanding.

 

STRINGS.CHARACTERS.wagner = require "speech_wagner"

The speech file is called speech_wagner.lua so I don't know why it's not displaying his dialogue...

Obviously I can continue working on the other aspects of the mod without immediately solving these issues, but they certainly make testing a bit annoying, so if you have any insight into why these problems are occuring, I'd be very grateful.

[Goregonzola]

Hey there!

The invisible character:

The first thing I would check is the mod's anim folder after you've compiled the mod. If there is no ZIP file for your character's animation, it's usually about naming something in a wrong way or about wrong folder structure. Are the Spriter files properly named inside the export subfolders?

Another thing I would test is if the character's ghost is visible in-game. If it is, that would mean the compiler works, and the problem should be searched elsewhere.

Speech file issue:

It is weird. As a first try, I would try replacing STRINGS.CHARACTERS.wagner to STRINGS.CHARACTERS.WAGNER.

Let me know if any of this works or if you get any progress!

Edited January 28, 2022 by C_Thun

[Lurdiak]

How do I check if the spriter files are properly named? The smlc file opens up properly in spriter but I don't know if I'm supposed to do more than that. I also don't know where to check in the code if it refers to a specific smlc file or what. The ghost doesn't show up either, so we can rule that out. The only thing that does work is the minimap icon, which I believe is a .tex file that came with the example character mod I'm using.

 

On the plus side, that fix for the dialogue worked, so thank you.

[Goregonzola]

Your exported folder should look something like this (the prefab name being wagner instead of hercegno, of course):

Your wagner folder inside the exported folder should look like this (the zip file should appear after the compilation, if I remember correctly):

Your modmain.lua should start with this:

You don't have to rename anything inside Spriter, just the scml file's name itself (just like in the picture above).

Worst case scenario: Open an unedited version of the Extended Sample Character (Extended Sample Character - Modding Tools, Tutorials & Examples - Klei Entertainment Forums) and compare its files, folders and codings to your character's.

If you don't find any difference, try replacing the Sample character's body parts with the ones that belong to your character - without renaming anything, ergo keeping everything named as esctemplate. If it works that way, it means that there truly has to be some difference between yours and the template. If it don't works, it means your image assets are the stinky ones in this situation.

Again, let me know it any of this works!

Edited January 28, 2022 by C_Thun

[Lurdiak]

Oh I think the problem is I'm not doing the compiling part before uploading the mod...  There is no zip file there, I just upload directly from the folders.

[Lurdiak]

All right, I had a chance to try your suggestions out.... the sample character does show up in-game when nothing is renamed. But here's the strange part: replacing the images and reuploading didn't actually change the in-game sprite at all. I look in spriter and it's my character (or at least the bits of him that are done), but when I update the mod on the workshop and go in-game, it's still the sample character with its tail and everything.

This is definitely an unexpected point for the process to fail... I don't really know what it means, though.

And for the record, the modmain appears correct on both characters.

[Lurdiak]

I'm very sorry to triple post but I was just really hoping to get some useful feedback... It's a bit frustrating to be this stuck on such a basic part of character creation. Not being able to see my character means I can't really test things like if his animations look right or if he's doing  certain things at the correct speed....

[Goregonzola]

You don't have to upload your mod to the workshop to test it, simply copy and paste it into the game's mods folder:

Quote

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Don't Starve Together\mods\"

Once your mod is there, launch Don't Starve Together. Whenever you launch the game, the autocompiler acivates itself and creates the ZIP files for you assets - containing all the animations you need.

I suspect you miss out this step by directly uploading to the workshop. You should only share it there once you compiled it. When you choose the folder you want to upload to the workshop, locate the compiled folder inside the game's mods folder.

If I remember correctly, you need the Don't Starve Mod tools to be installed on your computer to be able to use the autocompiler.

If this isn't the problem, let me know.

Cheerio!

[Lurdiak]

Oh hooray! It finally works (sort of).

 

 

I've still got so much work to do but now I can properly test it in-game. Thank you so much for your help.