How to make new models/sprites/spells/animations?

[po]

Hello. If anyone is experienced enough in making things listed in the title above, would you be able to share with me, explain step by step, or at least make some sort of guideline for it? I'm asking because I'd like to exercise in modding aspect of things (for starters only in non-module matters, though).

[The Seraph of Tomorrow]

First Question:

Have you downloaded any existing sprite mod and looked in the folder to see how it was made? (This is how I learned to edit sprites)

[po]

I'm afraid I didn't. The majority of mods in the workshop is in chinese, and even then the descriptions after translation don't make it any better to understand. Can you give me an example of a mod you used to check out myself?

[The Seraph of Tomorrow]

Originally posted by po:

I'm afraid I didn't. The majority of mods in the workshop is in chinese, and even then the descriptions after translation don't make it any better to understand. Can you give me an example of a mod you used to check out myself?

For a fairly simple one that just adds an item and a new character model:
【新角色/新职业】鹰宫/义警

While the names are going to all be in Chinese, the games programming language is English (because all major programming languages used today are), so you may need to use an online translator to figure out some things. Though most of what you'll need to know you can learn through common sense and reverse engineering.

The one I mentioned is one such case, where you can open any of the images into an image editor to look at the pixel dimensions of sprites to learn the proper sizing. Else you can do what I do, which if find a model / sprite in the workshop you like. Then just edit the sprite until it looks the way I want, (then do again for every frame) instead of building a sprite from scratch.

For instance, I am a big fan of vampires so I took the model from a different mod that had a Gothic outfit. Recolored it in every frame using GIMP, took the head of a model from another mod to replace it with, edited the hair and eyes, then took a bat animation from another spited mod and copied it onto mine.

The result was a custom character sprite of my own use, which I then did the same changes to all other sprites in the mod before renaming and copying the folder onto my PC as a backup.

[po]

Hey Tech-Priest. I've looked up the mod's files and I must say, it doesn't look convoluted. So basically the idea behind character models is sort of a slideshow with a programmed loop, is that correct?
Now, the matter of the item model is something that I'd need a bit more explaining. From what I understood from the mod's files, in order for the item to have its effects is by referring to specific lines of text, like "RoleExAttr","HeroAttribute","ThrowConfigData",etc. Would it be possible to make my own weapons that way or do I have to work with some additional parameter, since the mod's item is non-offensive?

[The Seraph of Tomorrow]

Originally posted by po:

Hey Tech-Priest. I've looked up the mod's files and I must say, it doesn't look convoluted. So basically the idea behind character models is sort of a slideshow with a programmed loop, is that correct?

Now, the matter of the item model is something that I'd need a bit more explaining. From what I understood from the mod's files, in order for the item to have its effects is by referring to specific lines of text, like "RoleExAttr","HeroAttribute","ThrowConfigData",etc. Would it be possible to make my own weapons that way or do I have to work with some additional parameter, since the mod's item is non-offensive?

Bingo, a sprite is a set of images that play in order to create a 2D animation.

As for a weapon item, tell me what kind of item you are trying to make? The easiest thing to do is to pull one of the base game weapons that is similar to what you are aiming for, and then just modify the values to fit what you are aiming for. Else give it the abilities you want.

For instance, if you look into the Guides section. There are guides where can find the item id's and stats of all items in the game, then all you need to do is type in the ID number of the item in the search bar (in your file explorer) of the games folder which will eventually find a .txt file which is said item in the game.

I highly recommend the Guide called "EA Modding Guide" for the basics of item modification and profession building.

[The Seraph of Tomorrow]

SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Depersonalization\Depersonalization-Release_Data\StreamingAssets\Game

Follow this to find all the games assets, items, buffs, etc.

[po]

Understood. As for a weapon items, I thought about creating a custom set of firearms that are just variations of the existing ones, e.g. some historical Rifles, Pistols, etc., with tweaked damage values and maybe even small buffs and status effects like bleed.

[The Seraph of Tomorrow]

Originally posted by po:

Understood. As for a weapon items, I thought about creating a custom set of firearms that are just variations of the existing ones, e.g. some historical Rifles, Pistols, etc., with tweaked damage values and maybe even small buffs and status effects like bleed.

That's simple enough stat wise, but in general that will be a lot of work sprite wise since the game doesn't really have separate attack sprites for each weapon.

Every character has an attack sprite that is used for any attack they make, whether magic or non-magic. Attack sprites are not decided based on equipped items except for a rare few cases on the default characters.

However, if your goal is just to create the weapon and a U.I. sprite (inventory sprite) so it looks unique. That's very simple, because all you're doing is creating a custom U.I. sprite tied to the item and then creating the stats for the item itself (which you can dig through the existing game items to copy from).

In short, the game doesn't really separate weapon sprites and character sprites, which is an odd choice by the devs, though given how varied the sprites are for different creatures I more or less understand why they made sprites non-uniform.

[po]

Thanks. Well, I'd better get to work then. Is it possible to start the matter of spells in the next week?

[The Seraph of Tomorrow]

Originally posted by po:

Thanks. Well, I'd better get to work then. Is it possible to start the matter of spells in the next week?

I will admit I do not have much experience modifying spells aside from changing names from Chinese to English. Though there are mods in the workshop I can point you to in order to get an idea of how to build spells. So if you'd like my help later on, feel free to ask. I'm always happy to help people who are interested in modding.

[po]

Thanks, see you in the next week :)

[po]

Hello again.
So, during the break I've almost finished the potential custom character model, but now I'm stuck at the most crucial point of it: about how the character's sprites are supposed to be set in motion.
From what I've managed to understand from the mod Tech-Priest recommended me (as well as from other character model mods), some of them use something called LUA, always located in XluaMod folder, where majority of LUA files are located in SDK folder. Does it mean I'll have to figure this from the grounds up, or should I just try to copy the files and then try to tweak well enough for it to work?

[The Seraph of Tomorrow]

Originally posted by po:

Hello again.
So, during the break I've almost finished the potential custom character model, but now I'm stuck at the most crucial point of it: about how the character's sprites are supposed to be set in motion.
From what I've managed to understand from the mod Tech-Priest recommended me (as well as from other character model mods), some of them use something called LUA, always located in XluaMod folder, where majority of LUA files are located in SDK folder. Does it mean I'll have to figure this from the grounds up, or should I just try to copy the files and then try to tweak well enough for it to work?

Have a discord? I can screen share, and walk you though what I did.

or...

Long story short. All I did is copy the main.lua folder and then edit the sprite data in the file using Notepad++

[po]

Thanks again. By "main.lua folder", you mean the one in plugins/Xluamod?

[po]

Also, can I somehow playtest my character model in action without uploading it as a mod yet?