Character Sprite Animation help

[BrotatoTips]

your mod is set up quite difficultly. it doesnt limit it to 3 letters, but its a bit more simple. i havent used the extended template, so im actually not of much help other than theory right now. DragonDePlatino should know much more about this than me since he has experience with that template and method. ill continue to look at your log though.

[DragonDePlatino]

OK, so you're currently working on renaming the character and changing all instances of "esctemplate" to "yourcharacter"? Here's how I did that...

 

First, go find Notepad++ and download it. It's a very nice free text editor that will make things much easier. After you download that, press "ctrl + H" and it will open up a menu that lets you replace text. Go up to the "Find in Files" tab and you'll see a bunch of fields. Enter these parameters...

 

Find what: esctemplate

Replace with: yourcharacter

Filters: Don't change this.

Directory: Wherever your mod is, like "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\dont_starve\mods\yourcharacter"

 

Then click "Replace in Files" and it will automatically go through every file and replace everything for you. After that, you'll need to change all of the files named "esctemplate" to "yourcharacter". Once that's done, go into your anim folder folder and find a file called "yourcharacter.zip". Inside that .zip file, there will be a file named "build.bin". Open that file with a text editor (I recommend Tiny Hexer), change "esctemplate" to "yourcharacter", and you're done! Oh, and after you add your own character name, make sure to add an "01" byte right after it so that you can have a custom name length.

[EbonyDream]

Oh! You're converting .PNG to .TEX? That explains a lot...

 

If you're using one of the character templates like wod or extended sample character, go into the exported folder and edit those images. I can vaguely remember running into an issue like this when trying to convert .PNG to .TEX. It's a lot simpler to just edit the exported images and let the game compile everything for you. And if you find that weird or time-consuming because you can't edit a sprite sheet, I could PM you the sheet guide I've been using, and you can paste your images into the exported images. I just recently finished texturing my own character using this method and it seems to work fine.

 

Really then what do I do with the atlas files? And if that's the case then that must have been what was wrong the first time since I also had export file then too. Using those files would actually be easier so I really don't mind transferring my progress I will just have a lot of pages open in PTS.

 

Since you seem to be familiar with this template and modding I am curious how do I change my characters voice and how hard it would be to give him an Abigail-esk companion that's more like the pigman.

[DragonDePlatino]

Since you seem to be familiar with this template and modding I am curious how do I change my characters voice and how hard it would be to give him an Abigail-esk companion that's more like the pigman.

 

Sorry, I don't know diddly-squat about scripting! I just finished the art for my character and I was thinking of asking around on the forums for scripting help. Sounds, though, are easier. Here is a nice tutorial on how to add those. I have yet to try this myself, though.

[EbonyDream]

Sorry, I don't know diddly-squat about scripting! I just finished the art for my character and I was thinking of asking around on the forums for scripting help. Sounds, though, are easier. Here is a nice tutorial on how to add those. I have yet to try this myself, though.

 

Heheh Okay I guess I will ask around for scripting help as well when I get to that point. But I am still wondering as to what I do with the atlas files if I ain't supposed to use them?

[BrotatoTips]

for the scripting a pigman follower, i assume there would be a way to have somewhat of an eyebone effect or something. maybe even having the flower tag work exclusively for the pigman entity. but i imagine that it would be somewhat wonky using it that way as they might end up treating you as if you were food, or make it appear they were somewhat kiting you. ill look into exception types in scripting. ill have to get back to you about that tomorrow as i have someone playing with the spiderwhisperer tag in a simular way.

[BrotatoTips]

with your atlas files, since its split two ways, it might be easier to try to place them into a normal sample character template. ill look around for one on my pc that you could use instead of the one you are using. that means ill be giving you the build for that template also. plus if you are really good with making animations (atlas-0) for custom characters, i may need a bit of assistance for something im working on at the time too.

found it. there is a template image and build for wod in the anim folder.

samplecharacter_templates1.zip

[EbonyDream]

actually I want my character Weston to have a special item like Abigail's flower that after a certain amount of time(or with enough nightmare fuel) will awaken into a follower like Abigail but I don't want it to just attack but also help get supplies. And I would like it to have both health and hunger. This is a picture of my character in his mostly final design with said companion

[BrotatoTips]

um. for that it you might want something more simular to waxwells shadows, but without the sanity fragmenting. you might want to look at the code for waxwells book (forgot what its called in the code) and possibly copy what it does without the removal of maximum sanity. at most, they will attack or help you cut down trees or mine rocks. i guess you could get someone to help with the scripting for picking up things and giving them a storage base sorta like chester. if you wanted that, the walk speed should be a bit higher so that it manages to keep up if its picking things up. lol

 

[EbonyDream]

Okay I Got most of my sprite art done in the exported files this time and want to test it in game but the autocompiler won't compile my sprites so I can see them in game. My character just looks like the default Extended Sample Character template character. How do I make it Auto Compile my mod so my character sprites will show up in game?

[EbonyDream]

Oh! You're converting .PNG to .TEX? That explains a lot...

 

If you're using one of the character templates like wod or extended sample character, go into the exported folder and edit those images. I can vaguely remember running into an issue like this when trying to convert .PNG to .TEX. It's a lot simpler to just edit the exported images and let the game compile everything for you. And if you find that weird or time-consuming because you can't edit a sprite sheet, I could PM you the sheet guide I've been using, and you can paste your images into the exported images. I just recently finished texturing my own character using this method and it seems to work fine.

 

Okay I did that and finished drawing everything for the in game sprites but It doesn't want to compile it for me and I just look like the default Extended Sample Character. How do I make it compile it for me?

[DragonDePlatino]

Okay I did that and finished drawing everything for the in game sprites but It doesn't want to compile it for me and I just look like the default Extended Sample Character. How do I make it compile it for me?

 

Is the mod itself inside "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\dont_starve\mods"? Did you successfully change all of the names? Did you go into your Steam library and download the Don't Starve Mod tools?

 

If you did all of this, then every time you start up the game a command prompt window will open. It will automatically compress everything and you'll be good to go.

[EbonyDream]

Is the mod itself inside "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\dont_starve\mods"? Did you successfully change all of the names? Did you go into your Steam library and download the Don't Starve Mod tools?

 

If you did all of this, then every time you start up the game a command prompt window will open. It will automatically compress everything and you'll be good to go.

 

Yes I have done all of  that and a command prompt does show up and I always let it run but when ever I go to test it out in game instead of looking like he does in Spriter he looks like the default cat girl.

 

[DragonDePlatino]

Yes I have done all of  that and a command prompt does show up and I always let it run but when ever I go to test it out in game instead of looking like he does in Spriter he looks like the default cat girl.

 

weston 2.png

 

Ohh! That's a really nice character!

 

Tell you what...we could sit here and troubleshoot this for a few hours, but I think it would be best if you just PM'd me your mod and I gave it a look myself. What did you rename esctemplate to? "weston"?