[SPOILER ALERT] Resizing a character appearance.

Sneaky_Unicorn

I'd like to use the appearance of Melissan, the one she has during the final fight in ToB. She has a great look and really nice fighting animations. I can change the appearance with EE Keeper without problems. The problem is she's so big, she gets stuck in doorways and small stairs.

Is there a way to modify her size ? Or maybe modding an item similar to the big metal unit, changing the appearance to Melissan instead of an iron golem, would be an alternative ?

Shin

Modifying her size can be done, but not easily - you'd need to resize each .BAM file in her animation separately using a program like BAM Workshop. Then you'd either have to create a new animation slot for it and use that for your character, or put up with the actual Melissan being smaller as well.

Modding an item to change appearance on the other hand would be simple - you could create a new item or just copy the big metal unit, change to Melissan from iron golem, and remove all effects that alter stats and abilities.

Shin

Having said this, I'm realizing now that resizing the animation is no guarantee navigating doors and stairways will be easier. I'm not sure whether the hitbox/collision detection of a creature correlates to the current size of its animation, or if it's controlled by another value. @Cuv is good with animations, so he might have more insight.

Cuv

Well, you can resize it with bambatcher or bamresizer.exe easy enough. but then you will need to change the size of her footcircle. You can do that with the EXTANIM.2da by referencing that animations' hex offset and changing the footcircle size and basically use that to override the core values.

Shin

So it's the footcircle size that decides whether or not a character can e.g. pass through a doorway, regardless of the animation?

Ammellisan

Also, how would a complete noob accomplish this?
also should note i use the steam version, and after looking into it, it seems these files do not exist in it....

LiamEsler

You'd encounter further problems with equipping things -- Melissan's final form is not dynamic like PC animations. You'd be stuck with spears.

Ammellisan

LiamEsler said:

You'd encounter further problems with equipping things -- Melissan's final form is not dynamic like PC animations. You'd be stuck with spears.

as with most appearance changes this is true, hate to speak for the original poster but in my case i wouldnt care about that, as ive always used custom appearances, that still begs my question of how a total noob(me) with a steam version would accomplish it though

Miloch

BAM Resizer can do it. Use the 2.1 version which fixes some bugs (though I totally can't find it right now). You'd have to then move the resized one to a slot with a smaller footcircle via extanim.2da.

Ammellisan

sadly these files appear to not exist in steam though, so should the original poster of the discussion edit these files, and see it fit to somehow give them to me so i could use them in override, id be appreciative....if not, remind me to yell at steam some more:)

Shin

@Ammellisan They exist but they aren't placed directly in the game directory but rather compressed inside other files. To get going you first need a program that lets you view and extract BAM files (to get your hands on the actual animations) and 2DA files (to be able to assign them to a new slot when you've edited them). Near Infinity is a good program to use for this.

Overall, resizing and replacing an animation is a fairly daunting project if you haven't done any modding previously, so be advised that it might take some effort.

Ammellisan

Edit: After a lot of hassle and 4 hours of figuring it out, i finally did it!!!

heres the explanation for the OP should you want the hassle it can be done under an hour prolly.
use Near infinity to extract the files(they are called MMELG1 MMELG2 and MMELSPIN(you dont need the last one), then use Bamresizer to change them(it should automatically adjust it to the right size).
after that, download Viader's Extended animation pack
now, replace the MKURG1 and MKURG2(mdkurt animation which arent used) with our newly created bams, naming them the same. THEN install the pack(its in weidu, should be self explanatory).
After that, use EEkeeper to change your appearance to MDKurt.

that should be it

belasco

An interesting prospect would be to edit the half-orc animation a little bigger(maybe 5%) to differentiate them from humans.

Ammellisan

heh that would be interesting, though a small % like that would barely be noticible, and imo, not really worth the many many hours of work, especially because editing a 'player appearance' takes a lot longer than an npc appearance, because of all the different armor types etc.
it would prolly involve about the same 'ritual' to accomplish though, so if u plan to try, lemme know how that goes:)

Sam_

Miloch said:

BAM Resizer can do it. Use the 2.1 version which fixes some bugs (though I totally can't find it right now).

Here it is, although after a little more testing I'll probably be pushing v2.2 out the door.

Probe

You'd have to then move the resized one to a slot with a smaller footcircle via extanim.2da.

where to find that in extanim.2da? i cant see there sarevok or death knight reference and their footcircle id

Ammellisan

Probe said:

You'd have to then move the resized one to a slot with a smaller footcircle via extanim.2da.

where to find that in extanim.2da? i cant see there sarevok or death knight reference and their footcircle id

its easier to use the extended animation pack i linked, as it adds new animations, and you could just replace the ones you dont need\want. That way you also dont mess with the integrity of the animations already present within the game

Sneaky_Unicorn

Thanks a lot for the answers guys !!