Creating a character from scratch.. Do I understand this right?

[zeropoint101]

Ok, so I'm a total beginner at modding. I'm oh so slowly learning from the forums and tutorials(they're great, this is all just a bit above my head for now), but I want to see if I understand this correctly about creating a character from scratch..

 

Between the info in the "New Asset Tools" thread and the "[Tutorial] The Artist's Guide To Character/item Modding", I'm getting a bit confused. I still don't even grasp what a lot of these file types are or do, but I'm trying to get there. I first did the tutorial mentioned above, and it has you edit the template, then convert it to a tex file, rename the build, replace filenames in the lua files, etc. I followed this and it worked fine. However..

 

The info in the "New Asset Tools" thread seems to say that all I need to do is create all my pngs, make an scml file, put it in the right mod folder, and it will all be automatically converted to the proper tex and atlas files when I run the game. So why did I manually convert to tex files, etc. in the first tutorial I mentioned?

 

I've been reading and tinkering and watching this stuff for hours today, and it's probably something simple I'm not getting, but.. any help here understanding the process? The more I look at my question and all this info, the more my brain is just getting stuck.

[zeropoint101]

Btw, is there a way to change my thread title? I realized I sort of changed my question and the title doesn't really make sense after posting, but I can't see a way to..

[TheDanaAddams]

Creating characters through an scml is a fairly new thing, that hasn't really bed explored thoroughly, yet. When I wrote the guide, editing the template was the only possible method.

The newer scml method opens a lot of doors for things that previously weren't possible, but there aren't any thorough guides, yet. I did explain the process I was going to try in another thread, but... it's fairly convoluted and speculatory. The basic difference, though, is that each body part needs its own separate image file, in the scml method, while the template requires one image sheet, and a bit of manual tweaking to the technical files.

The scml method also poses a problem in that... you can only do it on Windows, right now.

 

When I am able, I want to break down the scml method and provide a guide to effectively using that as well.

[zeropoint101]

Creating characters through an scml is a fairly new thing, that hasn't really bed explored thoroughly, yet. When I wrote the guide, editing the template was the only possible method.

The newer scml method opens a lot of doors for things that previously weren't possible, but there aren't any thorough guides, yet. I did explain the process I was going to try in another thread, but... it's fairly convoluted and speculatory. The basic difference, though, is that each body part needs its own separate image file, in the scml method, while the template requires one image sheet, and a bit of manual tweaking to the technical files.

The scml method also poses a problem in that... you can only do it on Windows, right now.

 

When I am able, I want to break down the scml method and provide a guide to effectively using that as well.

 

Thanks once again, Dana. The fact that it's a new method explains why I was seeing two different explanations. I keep thinking that Don't Starve is a game that's been out for quite a while and therefore when I see mod tools and techniques listed as "new", I assume they are old posts that just still say "new". I'm realizing as I learn about this that a lot is still happening with new mod tools/techniques/etc. I guess I'm getting in at the right time with all these new tools. Luckily I'm a Windows guy(for the moment), but I hope things work out for other platforms soon(if I remember from your spriter vid, you are a Mac person).

 

Could you direct me to your speculatory thread just for curiosity sake? Who knows when I will ever get a mod done the way I want it, but I like to learn for the sake of learning.

 

So am I correct in assuming that to use the scml method, I can just create separate body part images in GIMP as png files, start a new spriter project and load them up, animate them how I like, place the images and scml build file in the proper mods folder and then just start the game and it will compile everything itself?

[TheDanaAddams]

I'm very much a Mac girl, yes. =)

It's true that the game has been around for a while, but it has been in active development this whole time - the "All's Well That's Maxwell" update being the last major non-DLC update to the game. Mod capabilities have been steadily improving and evolving this whole time, and indeed, still have room for improvement!

 

I describe what I was going to do here:

http://forums.kleientertainment.com/topic/31293-understanding-some-art-basics-for-modding/#entry410933

 

I'm afraid it's not quite that simple.

You must use one of the Spriter Character Builds as a base, altering each image and - if expanding beyond the given image dimensions, adjusting the pivot to compensate.

You can find the source assets here: http://forums.kleientertainment.com/index.php?/topic/29265-spriter-source-assets/

While it allows a bit more freedom in creation, it is certainly a bit more complicated once you start tweaking pivots.

You cannot add any animation - these files have (somehow) been set up so that only the pivot position data is taken into account, and thus makes them compatible with the default character animations.

[zeropoint101]

I'm very much a Mac girl, yes. =)

It's true that the game has been around for a while, but it has been in active development this whole time - the "All's Well That's Maxwell" update being the last major non-DLC update to the game. Mod capabilities have been steadily improving and evolving this whole time, and indeed, still have room for improvement!

 

I describe what I was going to do here:

http://forums.kleientertainment.com/topic/31293-understanding-some-art-basics-for-modding/#entry410933

 

I'm afraid it's not quite that simple.

You must use one of the Spriter Character Builds as a base, altering each image and - if expanding beyond the given image dimensions, adjusting the pivot to compensate.

You can find the source assets here: http://forums.kleientertainment.com/index.php?/topic/29265-spriter-source-assets/

While it allows a bit more freedom in creation, it is certainly a bit more complicated once you start tweaking pivots.

You cannot add any animation - these files have (somehow) been set up so that only the pivot position data is taken into account, and thus makes them compatible with the default character animations.

 

Ok. So... I got confused again after your post. I've spent the time since trying to learn more and hopefully come at this with more knowledge, but I'm not sure I've really accomplished much other than learning a bit more about how the files are structured(which will help me in the long run I suppose). It's the fact that you say I can't add any animation that's confusing me.

 

In this thread...

 

http://forums.kleientertainment.com/topic/29265-spriter-source-assets/

 

you say that custom animation CAN be made and brought into the game. After trying for hours to understand the conflicting statements, I'm thinking you mean that I could make custom animations for an npc, but not for a player? Is that right?

 

After going through some of the 8 creature mod tutorials, I'm noticing that the animation assets registered in the prefab lua file are assets only within that particular mods' folders, while a character mod has to use a whole bunch of character animation files from the actual game data folders. This makes since because the creature doesn't use items and obviously isn't as overall complex and connected to so many other parts of the game. So I'm assuming you technically could add a completely custom character with custom animations if you rebuilt every animation and image relating to every item and action the player can use in the game? Obviously too much work, but am I on the right path of understanding this?

 

Also, this thread...

 

http://forums.kleientertainment.com/topic/27247-new-asset-tools-animations-textures-sounds-and-layouts/

 

in the "animation pipeline" section, basically makes it sound as simple as what I asked about before, but I'm assuming it's the same problem in that it doesn't specify these animations can only be made for custom creatures/npcs, but not for characters?

 

And when you say in the first thread I mentioned that we can already make new animations but can't extend the existing animation sets, does this mean basically what I've already been getting at? I could make a completely new creature(or I suppose an item or structure as well), but not change or add any character animations?

 

I'm sorry my questions are so long and drawn out. When I learn things, I tend to always come at it in the most difficult way possible.

[TheDanaAddams]

So I'm assuming you technically could add a completely custom character with custom animations if you rebuilt every animation and image relating to every item and action the player can use in the game? Obviously too much work, but am I on the right path of understanding this?

 

----------

 

And when you say in the first thread I mentioned that we can already make new animations but can't extend the existing animation sets, does this mean basically what I've already been getting at? I could make a completely new creature(or I suppose an item or structure as well), but not change or add any character animations?

 

Precisely correct.

Animation for a custom creature or NPC must be created from scratch. You couldn't take the Beefalo into Spriter, and make it moonwalk, then be able to have moonwalking Beefalos.

Yet.

 

You could make a completely new creature, but you cannot change or add animation to existing things, such as characters. Unfortunately.

[zeropoint101]

Excellent. Thank you very much, Dana. It's good to know I'm somewhat on the right track of understanding all this. Your help is much appreciated.