Author Topic: Head Tutorial  (Read 548 times)

Legacy_WoC_Builder

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Head Tutorial
« on: December 18, 2012, 05:43:45 am »


               I'm going to be adding some of the heads I've discovered in the CC Challenges, but heads is something I have never done before.  I've looked for a tutorial, but seem to have come up blank.  any ideas where I can find one to teach me how to treat the models and .plt's?

As we get further into my journey, I'll be asking the question I've always wondered; why do some of our heads show up as shiny silver in the toolset, and bugger up my viewing other, working heads after I scroll past one of them?  lol
               
               

               
            

Legacy_Malagant

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Head Tutorial
« Reply #1 on: December 18, 2012, 09:44:22 am »


               Heads are relatively simple but can be finicky. Make sure each head has the right internal numbering, as too often I come across a situation where someone has modified the head number but not the internal numbering, and make sure they have the correct corresponding numbered plt for their internal bitmap reference. The 255 limit applies to each race.

Keep in mind: Heads 1-99 will show up in character creation if numbered sequentially without any break in numbers. For example, Bioware male human heads end  with the Gith head (pmho_034) but if you start your new heads at pmho_036-099, skipping over 035, then character generation will still only show 1-34. Any heads from 050-099, while appearing in character generation, will not be available for use in the toolset. This is why CEP and some others repeat those same head models under different numbers after 099.

Heads 100-199 are available only by builders in the toolset (for NPCs) and do not need to be sequential for any in that range to be accessed by it. 200-255, however, can not be accessed by character generation or the toolset and must be either manually assigned (either by LETO or some other method) or accessed through scripting by a player (a body tailor or other method) within the game.

The silver head syndrome is usually caused by an incorrect internal numbering within the model for the head and/or plt. Once the toolset comes across one of these heads, it bungles the rest until you close the wizard and reopen it. Open the mdl file up in notepad and make sure all those internal numbers match the external number then view the head in NWNExplorer (where it will show up white as opposed to silver if it's off) before re-inserting it into a hak.

That being said, there are three or four high-poly heads I've come across who's plts wont look right in NWNExplorer no matter what but appear fine in the game and toolset.
               
               

               


                     Modifié par Malagant, 18 décembre 2012 - 09:48 .
                     
                  


            

Legacy_WoC_Builder

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Head Tutorial
« Reply #2 on: December 19, 2012, 03:49:05 am »


               And that was the issue that I found today.  '<img'>  Thank you very much for verifying it!  '<img'>  Years this has plagued us, but now I know where to start from.  *breathes a huge sigh of relief*

I had opened the hak, and looked at some of the models, and noticed that the internal numbers were off.  So I changed one as a test, and guess what?  Worked like a charm.

Very good information regarding heads though overall, and I will copy/paste/print for the file.  '<img'>

Thanks again.  '<img'>
               
               

               


                     Modifié par WoC_Builder, 19 décembre 2012 - 03:51 .
                     
                  


            

Legacy_WoC_Builder

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Head Tutorial
« Reply #3 on: December 19, 2012, 05:53:20 am »


               And a related question...once upon a time I saw an image with all of the stock bioware heads, but for the life of me I can't find it now.

Does anyone know what I am talking about, and if possible, where it might be?  I checked the Lexicon, the CC guide, even pulled up a google search...nothing.  I need to do some comparison work to overwriting standard heads I found in our hak.  For the most part, they appear to be the same appearance as the Bioware heads, but I need to do a live visual check.
               
               

               
            

Legacy_WoC_Builder

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Head Tutorial
« Reply #4 on: December 19, 2012, 06:35:13 am »


               Found it.  It was available in Leto, the images.  '<img'>
               
               

               
            

Legacy_Rolo Kipp

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Head Tutorial
« Reply #5 on: December 19, 2012, 10:20:52 pm »


               <bowing to...>

The Spirited Lass also did a get deal of work cataloging things, including heads.

Just browse some of the other things she's put together.

<...the mistress>
               
               

               
            

Legacy_Malagant

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Head Tutorial
« Reply #6 on: December 20, 2012, 01:52:09 am »


               As Rolo, Spirited Lass' .doc file was what immediately came to mind regarding head references for the Bioware heads. LETO was good for portraits, but I typically use ACDSee or ThumbsPlus for viewing and working with those. I've since started my own Excel reference with a separate tab for each race using 100x100 caps of each head, 10 per row, but I don't think it would be much use to anyone but my own players and some people don't have Excel anyway. Besides, it would be redundant to put up after Lass' efforts.
               
               

               
            

Legacy_WoC_Builder

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Head Tutorial
« Reply #7 on: December 22, 2012, 04:12:33 am »


               Thanks again for the help, gentlemen.  One of our staff is proficient in PERL, so was able to automate the internal renaming of the stubborn content.  '<img'>  Now all that is left is a little reorganization, and adding some of the fantastic CC work for desert areas that was recently produced.  '<img'>
               
               

               
            

Legacy_CalSailX

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Head Tutorial
« Reply #8 on: December 23, 2012, 01:43:29 am »


               Glad I ran acrossed this thread... got a charactor in the module that has a cloth hat and looks silly when they undress and are left with something stupid on thier head that changes color.

Guess that head will get swapped for a modified model without hat on undress... and will become #35 in my module.

Thanks for the info guys on the sequential ordering... don't think I'd seen it documented before.
               
               

               


                     Modifié par CalSailX, 23 décembre 2012 - 01:46 .
                     
                  


            

Legacy_Malagant

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Head Tutorial
« Reply #9 on: December 23, 2012, 01:57:58 am »


               I guess I should add that I think any 035-099 heads need to also be in the override during generation even if they are in the hak and can then be removed once the character is made. I seem to recall that for some reason, even when you have those heads in a hak, the game client will pull up the unused test helms that are numbered as heads in that range from the actual game files instead.

I'd check it right now, but I am encoding a movie at the moment from a Blu-Ray and it pretty much maxes out the CPU for a few hours.
               
               

               


                     Modifié par Malagant, 23 décembre 2012 - 01:58 .
                     
                  


            

Legacy_CalSailX

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Head Tutorial
« Reply #10 on: December 23, 2012, 02:30:01 am »


               I'm dealing with a NPC... a  PC entering the module will get one shot with it's guardian to swap his/her head.  Head changer firing from script before the entering the first area, should take care of most complaints although if some don't hate my work I'll have not hit enough buttons. '<img'>
               
               

               
            

Legacy_henesua

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« Reply #11 on: December 23, 2012, 03:17:14 am »


               

WoC_Builder wrote...
One of our staff is proficient in PERL, so was able to automate the internal renaming of the stubborn content.


FYI - you do not need to know PERL to do this. All you need mastery of is regular expressions. Notepad++ , Emacs, and other text editors often have batch processing for find/replace with regular expressions.
               
               

               
            

Legacy_Rolo Kipp

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Head Tutorial
« Reply #12 on: December 23, 2012, 04:30:09 pm »


               <heading...>

Malagant wrote...
...
I've since started my own Excel reference with a separate tab for each race using 100x100 caps of each head, 10 per row, but I don't think it would be much use to anyone but my own players and some people don't have Excel anyway. Besides, it would be redundant to put up after Lass' efforts.

Allow me to disagree :-)

1) Excel spreadsheets can be opened/edited just fine with Libreoffice (free, opensource) by The Document Foundation.
2) TSL is busy with other things lately and what we have is what we have. Your reference may be newer or not, but it has the potential of being maintained, eh?
3) A tab for each race? Brilliant :-)
4) One day my twin projects would both benefit from your spreadsheet, especially if you expand to other resources: The Custom Content Conservancy is aimed at cataloging and indexing all the resources it can find, including standard and custom body parts. The Vault Preservation Project is evolving into a repository for both projects *and* resources.

So, if you are feeling like contributing, *please* don't hold back because someone else did something similar (but different!).

<...to the office>
               
               

               
            

Legacy_WoC_Builder

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Head Tutorial
« Reply #13 on: December 23, 2012, 06:32:07 pm »


               

henesua wrote...

WoC_Builder wrote...
One of our staff is proficient in PERL, so was able to automate the internal renaming of the stubborn content.


FYI - you do not need to know PERL to do this. All you need mastery of is regular expressions. Notepad++ , Emacs, and other text editors often have batch processing for find/replace with regular expressions.


Thank you for the info!  '<img'>  I'll start adding that to the list of "things I need to learn" and, since I already have Notepad++, use that to work with.