Modding Questions

[Hello]

I've been trying to teach myself how to mod 0.A.D. but i'm having trouble getting my actors working. When I try to load my Actor in the Actor viewer I get these errors any help?

Here is my skeleton XML file

[Lion.Kanzen]

@stanislas69

[Guest]

I noticed some closing tags that i couldnt find an opening one for.  And also the root bone seems to be closed too early. Could be wrong though. Im not so good with this.

Hope that was even a bit helpful. 

[Stan`]

Hey @Hello and welcome to the forums. 

Thanks for your interest in 0 A.D. modding. If indentation is correct your missing quite a few endtags.

You can do <bone></bone> but also <bone /> if there is nothing in between.

For instance <bone name="Finger_R" > should either be closed by a <bone/> tag or by being written <bone name="Finger_R"/>

If you want I also wrote a script that generates Skeletons files from dae files automatically.  https://github.com/StanleySweet/0AD-Skeleton-Generator

On a side note I don't think you have to add the prop bones. 

Happy modding and feel free to ask any questions you might have.

EDIT: Added link

[Alexandermb]

Also rename every bone with the name of the target mesh for example: Hammer guy > HG_<Bone name> or whatever you like to name it, but don't use Finger_R only or may break other skeleton using the same bone name so this way you avoid breaking other rigged skeleton you are going to use.

[Hello]

Thanks for the help everyone. I'm starting to get the hang of it.

How do you align a prop with the hand on your mesh? I have my prop point parented to the hand bone but in the game the prop is floating in the arm.

[Hello]

I got my prop fixed. i'm still not sure what the actual method is but I just made an adjustment in blender, checked the actor viewer, made another adjustment and so on and so forth until it looked right.

Is it possible to change the topic name to "modding questions" or something? I have a lot more questions and I figured it would be better to just use one topic rather than creating more.

Can you animate projectiles? I've searched all over the forum but couldn't find anything on this and haven't been able to figure it out on my own.

[Stan`]

@Hello Yes it's possible to change the topic name. Just click "Edit" on your first post and rename it there.
 

Quote

Can you animate projectiles? I've searched all over the forum but couldn't find anything on this and haven't been able to figure it out on my own.

Yes you should be able to add rigs to projectile to animate them, however I fail to see why you would do that ? In the next version you'll have projectile it animations.
 

Quote

I got my prop fixed. I'm still not sure what the actual method is but I just made an adjustment in blender, checked the actor viewer, made another adjustment and so on and so forth until it looked right.

You need to apply rotation, location and scale, and make sure the mesh is centered in the scene (at (0;0;0))

[Hello]

1 minute ago, stanislas69 said:

In the next version you'll have projectile it animations.

I'm not sure what you mean by that. I want my projectile to spin. It is rigged and animated but I'm not sure what to name it in the actor file, I tried attack ranged and naming it projectile but that didn't work.

[Stan`]

@Hello I think you should use the Idle animation instead.

I meant that you'll have a way to make grenades and stuff like that explode on hit.

[Hello]

@stanislas69 Oh okay, well that's awesome I will want explosions as well.

Unfortunately Idle isn't working either.

Edited December 10, 2017 by Hello

[Stan`]

Can you show me your actor file ? @Hello

And tell me a bit more what you are trying to achieve.

[Hello]

@stanislas69 I'm trying to make a projectile that spins in the air like a hatchet or a boomerang  as oppose to just flying straight like an arrow.  

You can see what I mean in this video. 

 

 

Hammer_Projectile.xml

[Stan`]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<actor version="1">
  <castshadow/>
  <group>
    <variant name="Base">
      <animations>
        <animation file="hammerbro/Hammer_Throw.dae" name="Idle" speed="40"/>
      </animations>
      <mesh>hammerbro/Hammer.dae</mesh>
      <textures>
        <texture file="props/Hammer.png" name="baseTex"/>
        <texture file="props/Hammer_Bump.png" name="normTex"/>
      </textures>
    </variant>
  </group>
  <material>player_trans_parallax.xml</material>
</actor>

@Hello try this instead. Notice I changed the material to make use of the bump. Also note it won't stop turning once it hits the floor.

[Hello]

@stanislas69 That didn't work either, but thanks for fixing the bump.

[Stan`]

If you give me a minimal test case I could try to make it work.

[Hello]

@stanislas69 What do you need exactly? Sorry, I'm an artist I'm not very development savvy.

Another question, is it possible to give units abilities such as in Company of heroes?

[Stan`]

At best all the files you modified in a zip file you can upload here.

Passive abilities yes active ones not yet

[Hello]

@stanislas69 Sorry It took a couple days to get back to you, here are my files. 

Mario.zip

[Alexandermb]

For the projectile you could make an armature with at least 2 bones 1 called A and the other called prop-A both in the same place but the prop-A attached (Parented) to the first bone, then attach in the XML file the axe to the prop bone (or any other thing you like to add) and animate a 360 degree rotation like a clock in the Z Axis if the axe head is in the Z Axis just 1 rotation it will took like 20 frames and then you set the speed in the XML file as an idle animation this way the prop having an idle animation it will rotate infinite times. thats my tought but i haven't tried it before. 

@Hello For the Hero "ability" you could add an aura to the hero and then specify in the aura wich units to affect if you only want to affect an specific kind of unit make sure the unit have an unique Class example=  to affect.

Edited December 12, 2017 by Alexandermb

[Hello]

@Alexandermb That didn't do the trick either. I'm out of ideas.

[Stan`]

@Hello

Looking at the code again, I don't think it's actually possible to do anything like this. Maybe @Mate-86, @wraitii will be able to confirm the fact that you can't set an animation on projectiles while they fly.

Sorry for the disappointment. Nice models by the way.

[Hello]

@stanislas69 Thanks for trying. How about guns? Are muzzle flashes and bullet projectiles possible?

On a different topic, are special powers like calling in a bombing run, nukes, or army wide healing possible?

I also want to have a mechanic where certain units would enslave enemies instead of killing them. So when a unit is enslaved it would be replaced with a slave unit and switch sides.

Also could someone point me towards a tutorial on particle effects. I've never worked with them before but I want to learn. 

Edited December 14, 2017 by Hello

[Lion.Kanzen]

@elexis ideas for the engine.

[Hello]

@Lion.Kanzen So I take that as none of those things are currently possible?