Animations tool won't work for me!

[Bwian]

This is silly...

I have an animation I want to get in game, and I just can't seem to get the thing to use my new animations. It's not the animation itself...since I have tested this with other 'stock' anims and had no joy either.

I am trying to follow a tutorial : https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=44451

But some bits of it don't work. There is a command in the XIDX Shell 'COPY' that is supposed to copy the animations to a new folder...and this doesn't work at all. It is not even listed as available under the 'help' option, and keeps telling me I have an 'incorrect number of arguments'

I have extracted all the animations, and made a new skeleton. I have checked the new skeleton IS there by deleting everything and re-extraction. I have also set up a model to use the skeleton, and it does so with no errors.

Since I had no luck copying stuff, I just added my new anims 'bot_stand' and 'bot_roll' to the animations folder. I added them to the anim list and re-packedthe animations

Then, I used the XIDX Shell to 'chpath' the animations for the 'walk' and 'stand' and also replaced the taunt animations with copies of the stand animation. Taunting is not appropriate for the droids !

No errors....no messages.... just when I use the new skeleton, I get only the stock animations. Can't figure out what I am doing wrong

[Sundjata Keita]

Hmmmm, firstly did you add your new animations to the text files (plus the new skeleton if you have one). Also remember if you want to redirect the game to use a certain set of animations for a particular skeleton you need to create a folder and use the chpath function to direct the game to that folder. Then you can also use the chpath ALL function after that to copy all the existing animations assigned to the skeleton into the folder you created. Then you can either edit these or add new ones. After this don't forget to repack the new animations or they won't work. I know you have said you have done a lot on that list but its best to check that all the chpath commands direct to a new folder so you can easily see which animations to replace.

Regards,

Sundjata

[Bwian]

success...and now I know where I went worng, I will share this just in case anyone else gets tripped up the way I just did!!!!
OK...careful step by step breakdown on EXACTLY what I have done.

Step 1: Run 'unpack skeletons'

Step 2: Copy fs_dagger, and call it fs_roller

Step 3: Add fs_roller to the 'list' textfile

Step 4: Run 'repack skeletons'

Step 5: Modify Roman Peasant unit to use fs_roller and run the game. As an extra 'indocator' I changed the model to my robot model. so there was no doubt that the model in game was the one with the new skeleton.

All works fine so far.

Moving on....next step was to remove all the 'stuff' from the extract, just to keep things tidy. I know I don't need to..but it pays to be tidy when you are stumbling in the dark....

Now for animations. I have a new standing still animation, and a new walking animation. I want to replace, also, the 3 taunt anims in the fs_dagger set with a stand still. Same goes for the 9 standing 'incidental' animations. No reason why a droid would fidget.....

so...

step 1: Run extract animations, and create all those extra folders and animations. 913 in total.

Step 2: Under my new 'data/animations' folder, I create a new sub-folder called 'fs_roller'

Step 3: Into that folder I place my new animations.

Question... Do they have to have the same name as the file I am going to replace? If I replace 'LID_57_06 Taunt 1.cas' with a new animation...does it have to be named the same, or could I call it 'STAND.cas' ?

Anyway..I have taken the safe course, and named them exactly the same as teh original animation cas files. They are different...and in a new folder.

Step 4: Fire up xidx shell ( I am using v0.94 by the way )

Step 5: change the path of the animation to point at the new one.

chpath fs_roller "data/animations/LID_57_06 Taunt 1.cas" "data/animations/fs_roller/LID_57_06 Taunt 1.cas"

stp back...the thing fails. The skeleton file MUST BE UNPACKED for the animations to get updated....

Step 6: unpack the skeletons again, and re-type the chpth command.

Step 7: Add the revised animations to the anim list text file with the new path in the description

Step 8: Re-pack BOTH animations and skeletons. I noted that I had 913 animas before, and I have added 5 new. Run, march and 3 taunt. Now it has packed 918...so that is correct.

Step 9: Run them in game...and

It works. The wheels are rolling just as expected.

The problem, it seems, was all down to me trying to update a skeleton file, thinking that XIDX was updating it INSIDE the pak file, when it wasn't.

Next job will be to speed up the Run animation...it takes forever for them to get into battle...and also make some walk-run and run-walk etc . anims. The current animation is using the stock ones, and it looks wierd.

[wlesmana]

Bwian> I'm not familiar with xidx for editing animation, I just use AnimEditor. Since I'm only replacing a few animations, is there a good reason why I should switch to xidx? It seems a lot more hassle than AnimEditor.

[Vercingetorix]

The AnimEditor is broken, please don't use it...

Glad you could figure it out Bwian, the whole process is complex until you get the hang of it.

[Ciaran]

Thanks for this real idiot-proof step-by-step description, that was precisely something I was looking for.

[Bwian]

Once you DO get to grips with the tool, XIDX is a LOT simpler than AnimEditor to use, as well as a lot less bug-prone. Vercingetorix has made XIDX a whole lot better than the old tool. It requires a slightly more controlled regime to how you work, and that was what tripped me up.

It was also something that all the tutorials I read through didn't cover...hence my 'step by step' post. I was forced to go back to a very basic step by step approach to crack the problem, and I figured I wasn't alone

Anyway...as you add more animations to the new skeleton, you just have to update the new ones. You leave all teh files out of the pack, and just re-build both skeleton and anim archives before a test. It's actually quite logical once you get into it

Now I have the run anim, plus some speed up and slow down ones. Need to alter some of the idle anims, and make some more appropriate fighting anims...and then this one os done