Animations

[KnightErrant]

Many thanks for the references, most of the quaternion stuff I've
got is from memos at work. There's a group that uses them for attitude
control for reentry vehicles in simulations which doesn't really
translate easily to moving bones around. Oh, it did hit me yesterday about
the cyclic permutation for the yaw, pitch, and roll, of course Mete's
convention has the y-axis as the vertical. D'oh!

Edit: Went and joined, lots of refs on quaternions in gaming. Even a few
physics ones!

[KnightErrant]

Well, I tested unpacking all the cas files and found examples
violating almost all of the rules from a couple posts back.
The first of the last eight floats is the animation time in
seconds. The header in descr_skeletons.dat say there will always
be an odd number of frames so this number will always be a multiple
of a tenth of a second. Otherwise the remaining seven floats I have
no rules for.

The header bytes aren't always 20 0 20 (14 00 14 hex), they have lots
of variations especially for the stratmap anims. The final 8 bytes aren't
always FF FF 0F 00 00 00 00 00 they have lots of variations too.
Here's a chunk with some stratmap examples from the extraction log:

 31         20   20         data/animations/MTW2_Swordsman/MTW2_Swordsman_at_mid_c_stab_v1_s1_slashrl_fail.cas                                 39586546  18149         255 255  15   0   0   0   0   0
 47         20   20         data/animations/MTW2_Swordsman/MTW2_Swordsman_at_mid_c_stab_v1_s1_slashrl_success.cas                              39604695  27493         255 255  15   0   0   0   0   0
 23         20   20         data/animations/MTW2_Swordsman/MTW2_Swordsman_at_overhead_c_stab_fail.cas                                          39632188  13477         255 255  15   0   0   0   0   0
 29         20   20         data/animations/MTW2_Swordsman/MTW2_Swordsman_at_overhead_c_stab_success.cas                                       39645665  16981         255 255  15   0   0   0   0   0
 55         20    1         data/animations/MTW2_Swordsman/MTW2_Swordsman_basepose.cas                                                         39662646  19625           1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
 41         20   20         data/animations/MTW2_Swordsman/MTW2_Swordsman_charge_jump_attack.cas                                               39682271  23989         255 255  15   0   0   0   0   0
 99         20    1         data/animations/New_Crew/Crew_Stand_to_Wide_Push.CAS                                                               39706260  35289           1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
 25         20    1         data/animations/New_Crew/Crew_Wide_Push.CAS                                                                        39741549   8945           1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
 39         20    1         data/animations/New_Crew/Crew_Wide_Push_to_Crew_Stand.CAS                                                          39750494  13929           1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
 67          2    1         data/animations/New_Swordman/Weapon/Sword_Default.CAS                                                              39764423   4601           1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
 59         19    1         data/animations/SM_D01 Diplomat unselected idle 01.cas                                                             39769024  20105           1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
 51         19    1         data/animations/SM_D01 Diplomat unselected idle 02.cas                                                             39789129  17385           1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
 45         19    1         data/animations/SM_D01 Diplomat unselected idle 03.cas                                                             39806514  15345           1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
 21         19    1         data/animations/SM_D03 Diplomat selected idle.cas                                                                  39821859   7185           1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
 25         19    1         data/animations/SM_D06 Diplomat walk loop.cas                                                                      39829044   8545           1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
 35         19    1         data/animations/SM_D11 Diplomat standing to stepping backwards.cas                                                 39837589  11945           1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
 35         19    1         data/animations/SM_D12 Diplomat stepping backwards loop.cas                                                        39849534  11945           1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
 25         19    1         data/animations/SM_D13 Diplomat stepping backwards to stand.cas                                                    39861479   8545           1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
 23         19    1         data/animations/STRAT LID_08_Stand 2 90 right.cas                                                                  39870024   7865           1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
 23         19    1         data/animations/STRAT LID_09_Stand 2 90 left.cas                                                                   39877889   7865           1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
107         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_assassinate.cas                                                   39885754  59537         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 25         19    1         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_basepose.cas                                                      39945291   8545           1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
 39         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_die_backward_1.cas                                                39953836  21729         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 83         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_die_forward_1.cas                                                 39975565  46193         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 41         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_no_mp_idle.cas                                                    40021758  22841         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 15         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_no_mp_to_stand_A.cas                                              40044599   8385         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
131         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_sabotage.cas                                                      40052984  72881         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 33         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_selected.cas                                                      40125865  18393         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 41         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_stand_A_idle.cas                                                  40144258  22841         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 11         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_stand_A_idle_selected.cas                                         40167099   6161         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
111         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_stand_A_lf_idle_1.cas                                             40173260  61761         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 81         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_stand_A_lf_idle_2.cas                                             40235021  45081         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 85         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_stand_A_lf_idle_3.cas                                             40280102  47305         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 29         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_stand_A_to_no_mp.cas                                              40327407  16169         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 25         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_stand_A_to_walk.cas                                               40343576  13945         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 59         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_stand_A_to_walk_backward.cas                                      40357521  32849         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 33         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_stand_A_turn_90_ccw.cas                                           40390370  18393         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 33         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_stand_A_turn_90_cw.cas                                            40408763  18393         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 35         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_unselected.cas                                                    40427156  19505         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 33         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_walk.cas                                                          40446661  18393         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 27         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_walk_backward.cas                                                 40465054  15057         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 29         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_walk_backward_to_stand_A.cas                                      40480111  16169         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 25         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Assassin/Strat_Assassin_walk_to_stand_A.cas                                               40496280  13945         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 55         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Diplomat/Strat_Diplomat_backward_1.cas                                                    40510225  30625         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 21         19    1         data/animations/Stratmap_Diplomat/Strat_Diplomat_basepose.cas                                                      40540850   7185           1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
105         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Diplomat/Strat_Diplomat_conduct_diplomacy.cas                                             40548035  58425         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 67         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Diplomat/Strat_Diplomat_forward_1.cas                                                     40606460  37297         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0
 41         19   19         data/animations/Stratmap_Diplomat/Strat_Diplomat_no_mp_idle.cas                                                    40643757  22841         255 255   7   0   0   0   0   0

The header and trailers are in decimal and I'm showing the three header
bytes as a short and a byte so 20 0 20 is shown as 20 20.

I modified two .cas files for MTW2_Spear and tried putting them in game
using the no_animdb=1 and no_animdb=true under [util] in my cfg file
under the assumption it was like the io_filefirst switch, i.e. only put in
modified files under /data/animations. No joy. Thinking it might be an
all or nothing I put the whole unpacked animations directory and
renamed pack.dat and pack.idx. This just crashed. That's all the experiments
so far.

Edit: The .evt event files referred to in descr_skeleton.txt aren't in pack.dat
so is it crashing because they're not there? Couldn't find them by hexing through
events.dat, that's related to other sound events.

[SigniferOne]

Erf, the .evt files caused a major problem in RTW also, and ultimately led to downfall of all attempts by CA helpers to allow us to keep animations unpacked. They always had to be packed back into the files, or else the game would crash. (Editing the animations and then stuffing them back into pack files was only way of modding them.) Maybe Caliban can help us there.

[KnightErrant]

Ahh, thanks for that info. Reading zxiang1983's thread has me thinking
re-packing is the only way to get this to work too. Kind of ugly if that's
the only way, though.

[KnightErrant]

OK, documentation is out of the way. Back to the fun stuff.
Wrote an animmerge script to combine a stock ms3d mesh with
a cas file. Here's the walk animation in Milkshape:



EDIT: Forgot the significant part, the shields held up is done by changing the animations in Milkshape.

and also the celebration .cas in Milkshape:




From here you use the animextract utility to extract to a .cas to put in
game as:



EDIT: These are the shields held up in-game.

NOTE This ain't right, everybody has become left-handed. Not that I mind, I'm
left-handed myself.

Unresolved Problems:

(1) Does no_animdb=1 work? PM into Caliban hasn't been answered.
Can't unpack skeleton.dat into the /animations directory because OS constraints don't allow a file without an extension to have the same
name as a directory. (Repeating xziang1983 here, been down this road.)

(2) Unpack in a higher directory? Maybe, haven't tried this.

(3) Unpack in a lower directory? Same answer, try later.

(4) Repacking the pack isn't that bad. Live with it.

(5) Maybe the TYPE files have an implied extension we just don't know
about. This would be nice but we need information.

(6) What the heck is the global data? I just saved it in the materials comment
section but need to know what it really is. Also the mystery 8 floats at
the end, also written into the materials comment section.

(7) Outside the bounds, but the TYPE files (using the language of
descr_skeleton.txt) have bone info in them, can these be modded
to change the sizes of units re Bwian's question in the mesh thread?

[alpaca]

Haha those sergeants are really screwed
The arms look weird... hmm, maybe the game saves some bone positions you didn't export correctly?

[KnightErrant]

I just don't know how to use Milkshape. The verts didn't
move with the joints when I edited the keyframes. Anyway,
just an experiment for repacking and putting modded cas's
back in game.

Got a reply from Caliban. He showed me a .jpg of his /animations
directory. Could not see from that if the type files were unpacked
there or not but the .evt files are definately there so they need to
be found and unpacked.

I asked for two experiments: try searching for navy_strat*.* and
fs_camel*.*. If these don't turn up any files then skeletons.dat
isn't meant to be unpacked and the question should be settled.

I've been looking at the data at the top of the type files
before it gets to the animation families and the standard skeleton rig is
in there. These could probably be modded to make custom
animations for re-rigged figures, i.e. like dwarves etc., if the engine
will accept more entries in skeletons.dat and skeletons.idx.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Hi KE et al

EDIT: These are the shields held up in-game.

NOTE This ain't right, everybody has become left-handed. Not that I mind, I'm
left-handed myself.

Ahh, you're a firm but cruel drill sergeant, making your men dislocate their shoulders just so they reverse their arms and pretend to be The Queens Own Left Handed Regiment - specialists in guarding the left flank!! . My guess is that you've misplaced the axes conversion x*-1 somewhere.

Unresolved Problems:

(1) Does no_animdb=1 work? PM into Caliban hasn't been answered.
Can't unpack skeleton.dat into the /animations directory because OS constraints don't allow a file without an extension to have the same
name as a directory. (Repeating xziang1983 here, been down this road.)

Nope, been playing with this, no_animdb is not available in the retail version so we'll have to pack. With the skel name and folder conflicts, my thoughts are that the skeleton names are just handles so if we modify them by the additon of "_skl" and consistently use this across all the relevant files (modeldb,etc) it should take away this bugbear

(2) Unpack in a higher directory? Maybe, haven't tried this.

(3) Unpack in a lower directory? Same answer, try later.

The retail game seems to just run off the idx/dat files, unless the file name and folder conflicts are causing the game to crash

(4) Repacking the pack isn't that bad. Live with it.

Agreed, it's not too much of a price to pay

(5) Maybe the TYPE files have an implied extension we just don't know
about. This would be nice but we need information.

If you have a look at the calls to the skeletons in modeldb just the normal name is used, if they were it would have to be hardcoded but it doesn't help us with name and folder conflicts.

(6) What the heck is the global data? I just saved it in the materials comment
section but need to know what it really is. Also the mystery 8 floats at
the end, also written into the materials comment section.

Once I lash myself into a frenzy of documentation completion (hardest part for me) for the RTW CAS to M2TW converter, I'll go back and have another look at the animation files and tie down the loose ends.

(7) Outside the bounds, but the TYPE files (using the language of
descr_skeleton.txt) have bone info in them, can these be modded
to change the sizes of units re Bwian's question in the mesh thread?

I'm pretty sure that we can modify skeletons adding, moving and rescaling bones as long as we remember tha the engine is looking for various flags for animation ie bone_Rhand, saddle, etc

Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

[KnightErrant]

Yep, it was a missed x -> -x in the animextract that did the
parity inversion on my guys. I was so careful to take these
OUT of the animmerge. I'll do some surveying on the cas's
to see how the globals and final floats vary. It is an addiction,
good times!

Edit: Read up a little on animating, better example of raised shields
with the MTW2_Spear_walk.cas.