[Tutorial] Using Extended Sample Character Template

[hotwingz1]

So I've been using the Extended Sample Character Mod pack to try and make my own character.

http://forums.kleientertainment.com/topic/46849-tutorial-using-extended-sample-character-template/

 

I follow the guide to the point. (I haven't gotten to the art portion of the guide yet). I load my game and I crash. Don't get to press play or anything just freezes on the main menu. 

 

I'm running Rev. 127906

Mod Version 1.1.3

Running multiplayer version not singler player (I play DST).

Here is my crash log 

http://pastebin.com/B42wq7AR

 

Any help as to what I'm doing wrong with the mod could be of GREAT assistance.

[UnionGaming]

The ghost for my Wortox character is invisible? The zip is named ghost_wortox_build, and no files are corrupt, as checked. Is there a reason for this?

[HungryBerryBush]

amazing tutorial, it will really help me when im making my own character. I was just wondering how do i do things to make a more over powered character? stuff like health regen, glowing, starting with items, or a special item only that character can use?

Thank you for your time.

Check out part of this tutorial,

http://forums.kleientertainment.com/topic/27341-tutorial-the-artists-guide-to-characteritem-modding/

after the art bit there is some info regarding changing stats and making a custom item.

 

 

So, I need to change the pivot or png to make the part in the place... why not just change the position of the image? Why it not work?

What is it you are editing?

 

 

So I've been using the Extended Sample Character Mod pack to try and make my own character.

http://forums.kleientertainment.com/topic/46849-tutorial-using-extended-sample-character-template/

 

I follow the guide to the point. (I haven't gotten to the art portion of the guide yet). I load my game and I crash. Don't get to press play or anything just freezes on the main menu. 

 

I'm running Rev. 127906

Mod Version 1.1.3

Here is my crash log 

http://pastebin.com/B42wq7AR

 

Any help as to what I'm doing wrong with the mod could be of GREAT assistance.

 

Also another note would be that I'm trying this for DST not DS. I have made sure I'm using the multiplayer version.

 

It looks like it's having a hard time finding the 'speech_arthur' lua,

check both the modmain lua and the custom speech lua and make sure they both spell 'speech_arthur' the same way.

[KuroSasori]

Thank the tutorial, I have create a character for my own )

Her name Aeni la Lisa

 

What is it you are editing?

I'm talking about editing the character's part (hair, pig tail, foot ...) in .scml file, any change in position of a part not work in game... so, only change the position in .png file or change the pivol in .scml file are the only way to adjust the character's part !?

[hotwingz1]

 

 

It looks like it's having a hard time finding the 'speech_arthur' lua,

check both the modmain lua and the custom speech lua and make sure they both spell 'speech_arthur' the same way.

 

 

You sir are a saint and a scholar! Thank you so much for your timely and accurate reply! I ran into another problem. This time when I am at the character selection screen I have no model appearing for my character. I have the png,tex,xml files in the selectscreen_portraits folder. (also have the silho files in there too)

[hybridcomplex]

a few other people have had the same issue i'm having, but no one has replied to any of them so here i am

 

i haven't gotten to the art portion yet, i'm just trying to see if i edited everything correctly

 

when i first booted up the game, it crashed and disabled all my mods. when i go to enable my custom mod, it says it crashed on startup and was disabled. clicking to enable it and applying it don't seem to work, because when i reenter the mod tab it says "to be disabled" and nothing i've tried has fixed the problem

[bpl1234]

so I finally fixed the coding and everything but my character does not show up on the character select screen.

Any fixes?

so I finally fixed the coding and everything but my character does not show up on the character select screen.

Any fixes?

[HungryBerryBush]

I'm talking about editing the character's part (hair, pig tail, foot ...) in .scml file, any change in position of a part not work in game... so, only change the position in .png file or change the pivol in .scml file are the only way to adjust the character's part !?

To my knowledge, editing the .scml file via notepad/++ is pretty much the best way to do it.

(as doing it in the png files may cause some animation problems.)

 

 

You sir are a saint and a scholar! Thank you so much for your timely and accurate reply! I ran into another problem. This time when I am at the character selection screen I have no model appearing for my character. I have the png,tex,xml files in the selectscreen_portraits folder. (also have the silho files in there too)

I am sorry I hadn't replied sooner,

though I admit I am not completely sure what the problem might be.

Though to narrow it down, I do suggest double check everything that references the png file like the xml, and modmain.

It might also be an idea to check the png itself just in case. (both the name and image.)

 

a few other people have had the same issue i'm having, but no one has replied to any of them so here i am

 

i haven't gotten to the art portion yet, i'm just trying to see if i edited everything correctly

 

when i first booted up the game, it crashed and disabled all my mods. when i go to enable my custom mod, it says it crashed on startup and was disabled. clicking to enable it and applying it don't seem to work, because when i reenter the mod tab it says "to be disabled" and nothing i've tried has fixed the problem

So you only edited the character's name in the template so far?

 

so I finally fixed the coding and everything but my character does not show up on the character select screen.

Any fixes?

so I finally fixed the coding and everything but my character does not show up on the character select screen.

Any fixes?

Is it the art or the whole character that's missing?

If it's the character, then I am quite puzzled on what it could be. 

[hotwingz1]

To my knowledge, editing the .scml file via notepad/++ is pretty much the best way to do it.

(as doing it in the png files may cause some animation problems.)

 

 

I am sorry I hadn't replied sooner,

though I admit I am not completely sure what the problem might be.

Though to narrow it down, I do suggest double check everything that references the png file like the xml, and modmain.

It might also be an idea to check the png itself just in case. (both the name and image.)

 

So you only edited the character's name in the template so far?

 

Is it the art or the whole character that's missing?

If it's the character, then I am quite puzzled on what it could be. 

 

 

Okay i'll look into it. Don't sweat the wait I appreciate you helping me out.

[RedRock911]

To my knowledge, editing the .scml file via notepad/++ is pretty much the best way to do it.

(as doing it in the png files may cause some animation problems.)

 

 

I am sorry I hadn't replied sooner,

though I admit I am not completely sure what the problem might be.

Though to narrow it down, I do suggest double check everything that references the png file like the xml, and modmain.

It might also be an idea to check the png itself just in case. (both the name and image.)

 

So you only edited the character's name in the template so far?

 

Is it the art or the whole character that's missing?

If it's the character, then I am quite puzzled on what it could be. 

Ok, I'm a new modder too, and I have to forwarn you. In this new world, sometimes it's better just to delete everything and start from scratch. Because it's probably some minor detail. Especially with this tutorial. It takes thirty minutes to recreate everything, but it could take days to find out the exact problem. 

That's coming from experience. It took me three good times to find out that it was something on my end.

here are some of the things I did wrong, be my guest to check your stuff against mine:

1, made my ALLCAPS name in lower case

2. didn't check the version of my mod (needs to be 6)

3. didn't name my files correctly, so the game couldn't locate associated folders

4. Deleted my SCML files 

5. Screwed with Spriter, and destroyed my project completley

6. got all my recruits killed in XCOM long war. no seriously, I almost became a nun after that. which would suck because it involves a sex change,

7. made God angry and did something, not sure what, game crashed

 

So.....I made a few mistakes, I tried corrected them many times, but found out a golden rule

Garbage IN and Garbage Out

If you have spent longer then a day trying to fix something you have no idea why it's doing what it's doing, make a folder called failure to launch, stick it in there, and redo the tutorial.

eventually you'll get it, and then we all can have a big glass of rainbow. Cause once you do get it right, it's like riding a bike.

[seronis]

Just to note:  its also like riding a bike when you're NOT experienced.  You're gonna fall over a few times.  Literally 'start over' is best approach because you get the most experience at doing it right as long as you take the time to  SLOWLY and THOROUGHLY read instructions.  If you try to speed-read / skim you will fail. (and deserve to fail)

[hybridcomplex]

i found the problem and fixed it myself, but thank you for replying 

 

Edited February 28, 2015 by hybridcomplex

[seronis]

Start over.   Do ONE (and ONLY one) of those things.  Run mod to make sure your ONE change didnt break anything.   Celebrate or Retry.   Move on to next edit.   Rinse / Repeat

[bpl1234]

@HungryBerryBush 

The option to simply even select the character is gone

*edit: problem was fixed with some tinkering

 

Edited March 1, 2015 by bpl1234

[RedRock911]

Thank the tutorial, I have create a character for my own )

Her name Aeni la Lisa

 

I'm talking about editing the character's part (hair, pig tail, foot ...) in .scml file, any change in position of a part not work in game... so, only change the position in .png file or change the pivol in .scml file are the only way to adjust the character's part !?

She's very pretty! I love her eyes and hair!

Edited February 28, 2015 by RedRock911

[Dudeguy]

How would you go about a single mod that adds multiple^{_{(four in my case)}} characters?

 

I figure you would just need four times the files in each folder^{_{(speech_redknight; speech_blueknight; etc)}}, but what about the contents of modmain.lua?

 

I think that I would AddModCharacter once for each character but everything else seems like it wouldn't work.

I first thought that I could just copy all the parts that start with STRINGS. for each character,^{_{(STRINGS.CHARACTERS.REDKNIGHT = require "speech_redknight" ; STRINGS.CHARACTERS.BLUEKNIGHT = require "speech_blueknight" ; etc)}} but wouldn't it freak out and try to pull all of those files into one person? It probably works fine here, because it specified the character^{_{(STRINGS.CHARACTER.REDKNIGHT)}} it was pulling the files into each time.

 

I could probably get away with that for the PrefabFiles part up at the top, even then I hit a roadblock.

If I copied the Assets part four times then how would the mod know which character to pull each set of assets into? It never specified which character gets the files to the right. I don't even think it would freak out and pull them all into one character, because there should be four now!  

 

What should I do?

[seronis]

since the character name is used as one of the keys in the strings sub tables they wont conflict with each other.  now you still shouldnt have those in modmain.  they should each be in their own    'newbie1_speech.lua'    'newbie2_speech.lua'   files.  Then have modmain load those files.  Things stay far better organized this way

[Dudeguy]

Yes, I understand, I was referring to speech_redknight.lua, which over in the scripts folder.

 

So the 'STRINGS.' Sub-tables are fine because they specify the character, so that's good.

 

But the main problem I still have is how to give each character unique assets and prefabs. And minimap atlases, whatever they do.

[Tufst11]

Ello, I was wondering if anyone could help me with an error I keep getting when I select my custom character and try to load it into the world. Every time I do the screen just fades to a complete black where I can't use debug commands. I checked the log, and I got this (my character's name is Marat by the way).

 

[00:00:43]: Mod: Marat (Marat the Revolutionary) Registering prefabs

[00:00:43]: Mod: Marat (Marat the Revolutionary)  Registering prefab file: prefabs/Marat

[00:00:43]: Mod: Marat (Marat the Revolutionary)    Marat

[00:00:43]: Mod: Marat (Marat the Revolutionary)  Registering default mod prefab

[00:00:43]: Mod: workshop-357186881 (No Mods Warning) Registering prefabs

[00:00:43]: Mod: workshop-357186881 (No Mods Warning)  Registering default mod prefab

[00:00:43]: Mod: workshop-363112314 (Map Revealer for DST) Registering prefabs

[00:00:43]: Mod: workshop-363112314 (Map Revealer for DST)  Registering default mod prefab

[00:00:43]: LOAD BE

[00:00:44]: Could not preload undefined prefab 0x20e21d7a (puppet_wes)

[00:00:44]: Could not preload undefined prefab 0x20e21d7a (puppet_wes)

[00:00:45]: LOAD BE: done

[00:00:45]: Begin Session: 033000056416E262

[00:00:45]: saving to server/033000056416E262/server_save

[00:00:45]: MiniMapComponent::AddAtlas( minimap/minimap_data.xml )

[00:00:45]: MiniMapComponent::AddAtlas( ../mods/Marat/images/map_icons/Marat.xml )

[00:00:45]: Loading Nav Grid

[00:00:45]: ClearCurrentResurrectors CB

[00:00:49]: 1 uploads added to server. From server/033000056416E262

[00:00:49]: Telling Client our new session identifier: 033000056416E262

[00:00:49]: ModIndex: Load sequence finished successfully.

[00:00:49]: Reset() returning

[00:00:49]: QueryServerComplete no callback

[00:00:50]: Creating Steam Room

[00:00:50]: Attempting to send resume request

[00:00:50]: ReceiveResumeRequest

[00:00:50]: Received request to resume from: session/033000056416E262/KU_JY3GcvvG

[00:00:50]: OnResumeRequestLoadComplete - UserID KU_JY3GcvvG

[00:00:50]: ReceiveResumeNotification

[00:00:50]: DeleteUserSession session/033000056416E262/KU_JY3GcvvG

[00:00:50]: Console_CreateRoom: roomName Mod Testing created for id 109775241893930790

[00:01:04]: Received request to spawn as Marat from Tufst1.1[Host]

 

[00:01:04]: Can't find prefab marat

The prefab is within the "prefabs" folder so I'm not quite sure what it is complaining about. I went through trying to look at other lua. files to see if I could find much, and I couldn't. :/ As well as a side note this is my first time really using lua. coding so it could be me doing something wrong, well it most likely is me doing something wrong. Hopefully someone has some idea about it. If not I'll go through starting with the template character again(4th time). As well on the upside I'm still going through doing texturing on the side (not adding it into the current mod version just getting something set for when I am able to get in game with my edited character name). Some of the textures I currently have were using what I think may have been an older template for Don't Starve that had lower resolutions so I'll have to go through redoing the textures I have for my guy's mask+trench coat.

[DragonDePlatino]

Hey, Dleowolf! It's nice to see you updated the OP with a much better tutorial. The autocompiler is a piece of garbage and working through all the technicalities is a nightmare, so it's nice to see a shiny new tutorial has been put up.

[SakiPai]

Okay so for anyone who was having a problem with the DST version crashing after enabling the mod:

I discovered that renaming the anim zip folders instead of deleting them fixed this! It does, however (upon my only test of this fix) leave you without a sprite. I'm going to play around to figure out how to fix this, but at least the crashing isn't a problem anymore.

[pepalito]

This is a guide for my extended sample character mod.

 

Video Walkthrough

Provided by Sabeku.

 

What You Need

• Extended sample character mod. You can get it here: http://forums.kleientertainment.com/files/file/950-extended-sample-character/ There's separate version for single player and multiplayer
• Also on the Steam Workshop. Single player version. Multiplayer version.
• Don't Starve Mod Tools in Steam. (See below)
• An image editor with transparency support, such as GIMP, Photoshop, or Paint.NET. Basically anything that isn't Microsoft Paint.
• A text editor. Notepad++ is recommended. http://notepad-plus-plus.org/
• TEX Tools, to convert image files ignored by the compiler. (The mod icon) http://forums.kleientertainment.com/index.php?/files/file/73-matts-tools/

 

Where to get the Mod Tools

Games > Tools > Don't Starve Mod Tools

 

Installing the Mod

Check this thread for instructions on installing the mod: http://forums.kleientertainment.com/topic/29657-how-to-install-and-use-mods/

 

Editing the mod's info

Open modinfo.lua with your text editor. This is the information displayed in the Mods screen. This is pretty straightforward, so you shouldn't have much of a problem here.

Renaming the character

You probably have an amazing new name for your character, so you probably want to change the template's name to that. Let's walk through what has to be renamed.

In Notepad++, press Ctrl + Shift + F to open the Find in Files dialog.

There are two ways the character is named, all lowercase (esctemplate) and all uppercase (ESCTEMPLATE). The capitalization is important! Set Directory to the location of your mod, and check the Match Case checkbox. Replace esctemplate with yourcharacter, and ESCTEMPLATE with YOURCHARACTER.

Open modmain.lua with your text editor.

We should already see your character's name since we used Find in Files. So now, you can go through and change the strings such as your character's title, quote, and description.

Next, go to scripts\speech_esctemplate.lua. Change the file name to speech_[your character's name].lua. If you want to change your character's speech, this is what you'll edit.

By default, this includes Wilson's lines for Base Don't Starve. If you want to use a different character's speech file as a base, get it from dont_starve\data\scripts.

If you have Reign of Giants, it is highly suggested you use a speech file for that instead. Get it from dont_starve\data\DLC0001\scripts.

Next, go to scripts\prefabs\esctemplate.lua. Change esctemplate.lua to [your character's name].lua. Open it.

Just like in modmain.lua, replace all instances of esctemplate with your character's name.

Let's change your character's voice. Find the line inst.soundsname = "willow". Replace willow with the character's voice you want to use. The voices available are wilson, willow, wolfgang, wendy, wx78, wickerbottom, woodie, and maxwell.

Now on to renaming the rest of the files.

In the bigportraits and images folders, there are many .png, .tex, and .xml files. We want to change the name of the .png files to replace esctemplate with your characters names. While you can change the names of the .tex and .xml files, it's not necessary since the compiler will rebuild these files, so you can actually delete these and let them re-appear with your character's name when compiling.

Go to the exported folder. There are two or three folders, esctemplate, esctemplate_cleared, and if you're modding DST, ghost_esctemplate_build. For now, you can ignore esctemplate_cleared (if you want) since that's only there for reference, but you should rename the other two to your character's name, and also the .scml files inside them.

Finally, let's go to the anim folder.

You'll see one or two .zip files, esctemplate.zip, and if you're modding DST, ghost_esctemplate_build.zip. These aren't quite easy to rename, since it requires also changing the name within build.bin to work. But you don't need to. The contents of the exported folder will compile into this folder, so you can just delete these. New ones will appear, already renamed to your character's name.

Now our character should be fully renamed. It's a good idea to test the mod at this point to see if we've done this correctly.

Compiling

Compiling the mod will convert your .png files to .tex and .xml files, and your .scml to .zip files in the anim folder. This is usually done automatically, since the autocompiler launches whenever you start Don't Starve, as long as you have the mod tools installed.

Alternatively you can force-run the compiler by running Steam\steamapps\common\Don't Starve Mod Tools\mod_tools\autocompiler.exe.

If you need it, there's another way to compile the Spriter project by using scml.exe in the mod_tools folder directly. Start your Command Prompt, and drag the path of scml.exe, the path to your .scml file, and the path to your mod folder.

It should look something like this:

 

Png files that aren't in the exported folder can be converted in a similar way, but using png.exe instead.

 

Additionally, a helper file was provided by XHunter. http://forums.kleientertainment.com/topic/46849-tutorial-using-extended-sample-character-template/?p=590522

 

If for some reason the compiler won't work, sometimes you may need to get someone else to compile the mod for you.

If everything ran smoothly, we can work on the art next.

Creating art

Remember, you need an image editor with transparency support!

All edits to images will automatically compile except for modicon.png. This is what we need TEX Tools for. If you decide to draw a new modicon, use TEXCreator to convert from .png to .tex.

 

The images in the bigportraits and images folders are meant to be automatically compiled by the autocompiler. You can also use png.exe in the mod_tools folder if you wish to do it yourself.

 

Though, if you wish to use TEXTools for these instead, convert the .tex files to png first rather than using the ones provided. This is to avoid crashing caused by textures that don't have dimensions of the power of 2.

Now let's take a closer look at how to draw our character's in-game art. Your character's art is in all the folders within the exported folder. Open the .scml with Spriter, which comes with Don't Starve Mod Tools. You can preview the changes you make by opening this. This will save you time as opposed to opening Don't Starve every time you make a change.

The template provided includes all animatable parts, but it's likely the character you wish to make doesn't need a certain part, such as hairpigtails, tail, and/or skirt. Rather than having to edit the .scml to remove these, you can clear out the .png files of these parts. This is why I included the folder esctemplate_cleared. You can simply replace a part with one of these cleared version to "remove" it.

Try not to change the dimensions of any part, unless you absolutely know what your doing. Changing the dimensions of the images will require editing the .scml as well, which includes updating the length and width of a part, and also having to recalculate pivots using this complicated equation if resized from the center of the image:

NewPivot = (OldLength*OldPivot+((NewLength-OldLength)/2))/NewLength

Additionally, this will make updating to future versions of the template a bit more inconvenient.

 

Don't forget to compile your mod to see the changes.

Cleaning up

If you've finally completed your mod, and want to release it to the public without taking up any unnecessary file space, you may want to remove some of your extra work files. (Though, if you like the clutter, you don't have to do any of this!)

Please back up your mod before deleting anything!

The entire exported folder can be removed, since everything compiles into the anims folder.

All .png files can be removed, since all image data is stored as .tex and .xml files. This includes the ones in the bigportraits and images folders, and also modicon.png.

Do not remove anything else.

 

Troubleshooting

If problems arise, check your log to see what the error is. For Don't Starve, this is located in Documents\Klei\DoNotStarve\log.txt. For Don't Starve Together, this is located in Documents\Klei\DoNotStarveTogether\log.txt

This is the basics for using this template. I hope this tutorial was helpful.

 

I have two problems.

One: It tries to find tail.png (My character does not have a tail)

Two: It says it cant use something called "int" because it is not subscriptable

[seronis]

Please dont quote an entire post.  its spammy

[HungryBerryBush]

@pepalito,

Yeah, I personally suggest mention tags in most cases. (unless you're highlighting a part of a post.)

 

As for your first problem, did you make the tail images transparent or did you delete the files or folder?

You actually need all the images in order for it to work, whatever part you don't want you can make transparent.

 

If you did delete it, I suggest going into the esctemplate_cleared folder, (Which has transparent versions of the character images.)

and getting the tail images from there.

 

I am not sure what the second problem is. (maybe it's a typo of "inst"?)

[RedRock911]

Does anyone know, If you can use another body type, as long as you use the anim files attached to it?

for instance, If I wanted to play as a walrus, I would just need their bank,build, and related scripts?