Is there a pig in the house?

chimeric

Is there is a pig CRE - are there pigs - in any of the Infinity Engine games? I don't remember. If no, does anybody know where or how I might get animations for a pig? From another game? I have an idea of a mod, but it's quite swine-dependent.

OlvynChuru

Well, there are large boars in Siege of Dragonspear and Icewind Dale 2, but if you're looking for pigs without tusks, you're out of luck.

chimeric

They could have tusks for all I care, I'm not gonna kiss 'em. Repaint them maybe. Make 'em smaller. Do you happen to have a screenshot?

ineth

chimeric said:

Do you happen to have a screenshot?

This is mboaa1.BAM (animation cycle 2, exported with NearInfinity, then converted to GIF):

I guess this corresponds to the "BOAR_ARCTIC" entry in ANIMATE.IDS.
There's a "BOAR_WILD" entry too, but I can't seem to find a BAM for it.

(EDIT: Turns out "BOAR_WILD" uses the same BAMs, but overrides the color map.)

chimeric said:

Repaint them maybe. Make 'em smaller.

I think you can do this in the BAM editor directly in NearInfinity.

chimeric

Shit, that is gonna be one mean pig. Hey, can anybody help me out with this? Remove the tusks. I'll try it, but I've never done it.

chimeric

By the way, to make them smaller in the game, I just make the BAM pictures smaller, right?

chimeric

No, this boar really won't do. It's way too lean for any kind of pig and it's hairy, too. I won't try to repaint it. We need a round, fat, glistening hog.

ineth

I don't think adding a new animation is easy.

@argent77 is adding some new golem animations in his new Golem Construction for Spellcasters mod, so maybe he can give you some guidance / tell you what it involves.

argent77

I'm merely adding modified copies of existing creature animations to the mod. Creating completely new ones is far too time-consuming (and probably beyond my abilities).

In this case I don't see any viable solutions if you don't want to base it on the existing boar animation.

chimeric

It takes real drawing skill, painting skill even. Someone would have to basically draw a pig, with shadow, from several angles, then shrink the pictures and convert them... Definitely beyond what I can do.

ineth

The existing creature animations were rendered from 3D models, not painted by hand.

In fact, it wouldn't really be feasible to paint them by hand due to the sheer number of images that would have to be painted.

The Arctic Boar, for example, has a total of 1488 animation frames spread over several BAMs, for all its walking / attacking / falling down / getting up / dying animations from all camera angles.
I'm sure some of those frames are duplicates, but in the end it'll still be a lot.

argent77

I don't know what you're planning with your pigs. But if they are just standing around you can use the creature animation format used for cows or horses, which only needs a handful of frames for each direction. See ACOWG1.BAM, ACOWG1E.BAM for cows, and AHRSG1.BAM, AHRSG1E.BAM for horses.

chimeric

Well, I'd still have to get the frames from 3D models. Too much work.

Thanks for giving me an idea of how difficult modding for the Infinity Engine really is, though!

Aquadrizzt

@chimeric , don't be discouraged. A lot of IE modding is just trying to make do with the limited resources we have. If I may offer a suggestion, having read your mod idea, it would be to start smaller and build up. Make a couple items or a single new quest using existing characters/resources/maps. As you work, you'll learn more about what can and cannot be done, and what parts of modding you find rewarding or don't.

chimeric

Thanks, @Aquadrizzt . The problem is that I already have a pretty good idea about what I want to do. Other factors in my life considered, I don't believe I would enjoy studying all of the aspects of modding for this engine, editing maps, various resources, its strange quirks and so on. Especially with things like 3D graphics for this pig. I might try to find a 3D pig model online somewhere, but learn Photoshop or whatever it is they use to work with 3D models, then convert it... it's a whole field. Other people already know this stuff, they like it, why not invite them over? I know I can write characters, I have ideas, but not about more kits or +3 swords, so what is the point of learning that? In a professional team you won't find the same people being responsible for art direction, and 3D models, and dialogues and writing, AND...

Seeing how there don't seem to be modder groups here and everyone must fend for himself and learn all the aspects, I think I'll have to drop that mod idea. I might make some NPC, some dialogues, maybe even find that pig, but more as a diversion, if nobody else signs up. In fact, re-drawing the Beregost map to make it messier is a big task in itself - and not, I guess, epic enough.

chimeric

In case somebody wants to make a pig for the game, I found two decent-looking ones:


http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/puo-41116.html

And this one is grimier and better, I think:



http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/pig-13314.html

Aquadrizzt

There are plenty of modding teams. It's all just more freeform. And yes, while in professional settings people would be able to specialize, we don't really enjoy that kind of luxury. I have people I can ask to make spells or icons (because I don't enjoy coding spells and I'm not artistically skilled enough to make icons), but often I have to be the one to see my own ideas through.

I suggested items or kits because those are much easier than dialogue, areas, or scripting. They provide a good introduction to not only using WeiDu, but also working with the limitations of the engine and available resources.

chimeric

I'll tell you this much: I won't post on the modding forum again until I've done something - a dialogue mod, custom NPC in an area, something.

mf2112

chimeric said:

I'll tell you this much: I won't post on the modding forum again until I've done something - a dialogue mod, custom NPC in an area, something.

If you run into problems doing a particular thing then you will find plenty of people here willing to help if you post the details of what you are trying to do, errors you are seeing, files you are trying to modify, etc. What @Aquadrizzt has recommended is good advice and I have seen a number of people here start just like that, building something small and getting a feel for the tools. Once you have something going it is easier to build it up. You have some good ideas but the basics are pretty much something everybody does individually, then you have more common ground to work with.

[Deleted User]

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chimeric

Well, in my mod I would need to make one custom item. So I can start with that. Thanks...