custom character mod guide

guide for making custom character models, particularly outfit mods

what is this guide

this guide focuses on how to create custom las like outfits. i dont really talk about things like weight painting, material configs, etc so previous blender and modding experience will help a lot because this isent the most beginner friendly guide. nonetheless if you have a question then send me a message on discord, my username is "mcdonalds_cup"

Video Tutorial

i made a video tutorial but it has some differences with the written guide.

tools needed

model tool[modworkshop.net]
this model tool is used to turn the payday's .model files into .glb/.gltf and vice versa

blender 2.93.4[www.blender.org]
this is just the specific version of blender i use (at the time of making the guide)

gimp[www.gimp.org]
this is what i use for editing the textures and turning them into .dds. you could use something else like Photoshop, dosent really matter

bundle viewer[modworkshop.net]
this is what we use to extract files from the game

outfit helper[modworkshop.net]
a tool i created to help make the outfit mods files

finding a model

you will first need to have a model, here i have listed some useful resources when it comes to finding resources for free.

adams archives[docs.google.com]
a spreadsheet with links to download ripped files from games. this resource is insanely useful since it has a ton of games in its list which is useful if you want a model from a game you dont have or cant get. however a lot of models are not converted but their should be instructions in the files that tell you how to convert them yourself.

sfm lab [sfmlab.com]
sfm lab has lots of models but its for sfm so you will need the blender sourceIO [github.com]addon for that. you also don't need vtf edit to turn the images into png because you can actually do that through blender
sfm workshop
you could just get sfm and go to the workshop and download models from their

models-resource[www.models-resource.com]
an archive of game models, they seam to mostly focus around console games so if you want something from Nintendo then this is probably the place to look.

gmod workshop
you can find many models in the gmod workshop that you might not be able to find anywhere else. though you will need the GMAD [gamebanana.com]extractor to unpack the files and the souceIO addon linked above to import it into blender.

p3dm[p3dm.ru]
this is a Russian website for 3d models ripped from games. personally i dont really like the site because when i download a model the materials are usually broken or not their.

sketchfab[sketchfab.com]
sketch fab has models. a lot of them are paid but you can sort by free.

archeive[archive.org]
apparently archeive.org also has models, i never use it though i just found it funny.

preparing project/model

shape keys
you will want to remove the shape keys, you can do this just by using "delete all shapekeys". if you want to modify the shapekeys and then delete them while saving the option, you should make the changes you want, make key from mix, then delete every other key while deleting that key last.

base model

what is it?
the base model is a model from payday 2 that we will be making our mod around. for this guide i will be using bohdis model(i chose this one at random but any character model should work) to create an outfit. if you want to replace/edit the model of something that already exists (like enemies or characters) then you should use their specific model as the base.

diesel bundle viewer[modworkshop.net]
we will use this to extract the base model from the game, you should also get the hashlist [github.com](the hashlist file itself, not everything else). this lets the diesel bundle viewer see newer stuff, just download the file that says hashlist and replace the old one. you should also put a copy of this in the same directory as the model tool. the model that i will be extracting is "npc_criminals_suit_chill" you can just use ctrl + f to find it.
example of hashlist in the directory of the model tool

creating the base
to convert your base model from .model to .glb you have to go to the export tab, then select your model

then you need to change the export type from .dae to .glb
then press convert and it will save as a glb in the model tool folder

importing and aligning base

importing
you want to import your base model with bone dir set to blender(best for re-importing). the bones will look messed up and out of place but as far as i know this is the only way to do it.
THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT STEP DO NOT SKIP THE BONE DIR OPTION OR YOUR MODEL WILL BE BROKEN IN GAME THIS IS LIKE THE #1 THING PEOPLE KEEP MESSING UP.
THIS STEP IS SUPER IMPORTANT DONT MISS IT. if you dont change the bone dir then your charachter will look broken in game

prepare base
their are things in the model that we dont need, in this case the parts of other characthers but also the empties, armor, etc. by the end you should have only a head, hand/glove, and body. if any of the parts name is a large string of numbers then you need to put the hashilst in the same file directory as the model tool

aligning and posing
now you have to align your custom model to the base model by rotating and resizing. make sure things like the shoulders, and legs align. once they are as close as possible you will use pose mode to pose the arms(and legs) of the base model into your custom model. when you do this you should move the bones only through rotation and not from grabbing and dragging them around. you might also need to make edits to the arms using edit mode to do things like shorten the arm and shrink the hands but the model will look weird so avoid this as much as possible.

applying pose
now you apply the pose of the base model(i like to combine all the parts into one) and then apply the pose as the rest pose. then you can re-attach the base model to the armature.

weight paint/transfer

weight paint
the weight paint is what controls what parts of the mesh a bone controls and how much influence it has over that part.

since making the guide, i wrote a custom blender script to help with the weights. i would reccomend using it since it will make this a lot easier and look a lot better then if you did it by hand
Weight Mover[modworkshop.net]

after this you will want to limit the weights to 3, since payday 2 has a limit to how many bones can influence a part of the model, in weight paint mode select the weight tab and then the limit total and set it to 3. make sure that the subset option is set to "Deform Pose Bones" instead of all or else it will ruin the weights


parent
now you want to parent the models to the armature, select all of the parts, drag them on top of root_point, hold shift and release click

exporting model

exporting model
now you want to export only your custom mode and armature as glb and name it "my_model", what i like to do is hide the base model and then export my model with objects set to visible only. other then that you should export with default settings. there is also an option for exporting with tangents which can help with shading on the model, but it might cause errors in the model tool.


converting to .model
now you want to make sure that your custom model is inside the same folder as the model tool. from here you want to open the model tool, check create new model, press browse for object and import your custom model. then pick a spot to save the model and convert it.
if you are replacing/overwriting an existing model, then you should uncheck create new model and import the base model as the base

creating mod folders and .textures

outfit helper
im going to use a app i made called outfit helper to make it, if you dont want to use it you could download someone else's mod and just change the names and stuff to your own.

NOTE:you dont have to click save options at the end, it just makes a save file so you can open the options back up in the future

replace placeholders
the outfit helper creates placeholder texture and models which you will have to replace with your own model and textures(make sure their names match). dont replace the other files like .object and .material_config, those actually have stuff in them (unless you want to change something).

creating textures
this topic is better covered on the wiki[wiki.modworkshop.net]

i use gimp in order to create the textures, you need to take the original textures and turn them into .dds and then rename them to .texture. also the more transparent the texture the less shiny it will be in game. i tend to set my opacity to 2% but if you want a more shiny texture then increase the opacity. you also want the compression to be dxt5 and generate mip maps. if you are making a normal texture(the _nm one) then you will have to turn the red into the alpha, this can be done by decomposing the colour, duplicating the red and moving it to the alpha, and recomposing it

polishing

as you can see, the model looks really bad because it is not polished and has many flaws. so i will be fixing it by cleaning up the weight paint

things to look out for
common parts of the model that mess up are all of it the hair, the shoulders and armpits, the wrist and fingers, and between the legs. also if a part of the model is supposed to be static (like the hands on tomura) then make it be influenced by only one bone(you could parent it as a solid object but i dont feel like it)

after working on it a bit in blender this is what i got, i dont feel like explaing how to weight paint because i suck at it so try googling it or something idk
i moved on after this but you should make sure the model is good quality. weight painting is fairly time consuming and you should not skip over it or half-ass it

fps model

fps model
for the fps model i usually just copy the arms and then just use that. you will also need a co_box so it renders properly. then just export it as usuall and replace the _fps.model file. also make sure that the .object file for the fps model has the right object.

you should polish the fps rig more since it will be in your face while in game. look for clipping in the wrist and stuff.

icon, name, description

icon
replace the placeholder in the last folder of the guis path.

name/description
change the english.txt in the localization. the global value text color can be changed in the main.xml in the third line whete it says

<GlobalValue id="tomura_shigaraki" color="Color(10, 114, 177 )"/>

. [its rgb, red green blue]
note that outfit helpers default is 10, 114, 177 but the value is supposed to be between 1 and 0.

Trouble Shooting

i will post things that cause errors here. things like errors importing into the model tool and missing textures.

too many faces import error

having too many vertices will give an error when importing into the model tool, according to Grey Heron (the creator of this model tool) "The exact limit on vertices is 65535 per material slot per mesh, but gets counted *after* splitting on all sharp edges, UV seams, and material boundaries, so it's a bit awkward to measure it inside Blender."

too many materials crash

for whatever reason, when one of your objects has the same name as something that is already in the model (in this case something like "g_body_bohdi") then you cant have more then 2 materials. also when an object has the same name as one of the base objects then the pose dosent reset and it will look weird in game.

un-parented object

iirc, objects that dont have a parent or aren't given one by the mscript cause crashes/import errors.

glowing grey/black model

if your model is missing a material then depending on if you are using amd or intel your model will either glow grey or be black. this is always because of a material_config issue, specifically the material and the name of the material. if you gave the material the wrong name then it will cause this error.

invisible outfits

if you select the model and it dosent load or appears as invisible then there are 2 common issues causing this. first is that the bodies name in the .object are misspelled or different then the objects name in blender. second, it could also be that you added an extra image but didint put it in the main.xml

mask appearing even when turned off

if you dont have las installed then the no mask dosent work, you will either have to install las or the no mask mod

spaces in name

if your put spaces into the outfit helper then it will cause the game to crash. im not sure why but specifically clicking crimenet causes a crash (i assume the game is trying to load the fps model but cant find it when the file path has spaces, no idea why it dosent do this with the third person file though)

additional information

additional information
basically when i think of something i want to include but dont want to include it into the main guide i will put it here.

optimisation
the model tool will re-add deleted objects from the base model. this causes the file size to be way larger then it needs to be. according to Columbus you can prevent this by including the code "<port-rigging file="input.model" />" in your mscript to only use the bases armature and not include the rest of the objects.

when you put your .glb file into the model tool and turn it into a .model it actually re-adds the original models. since their is many other models in that one file it bloats the size of your mod. you can fix this by using another base file or by turning your glb into a .model, exporting it again as a glb and then using another smaller file and using that files rig for your character.

cloth physics
EDIT:so i learned how to add custom physic bones to a model and make it so that the physics dont collide with and stop the player from moving. i want to investigate this a bit more before updating the guide but you could ask me for help (only do this if you are already good with making normal outfits)

you can have cloth physics if you use commissioner garrets model and copy the bodies and constraints from his .object to your outfits. however outfits with cloth physics still have hitboxes that you cant walk through. so if your ai is wearing one then they can block you. you also cant use the third person mod without it bugging out.

[Deadly Tiger]

for anyone who might run in to this, if your model has UDIM Textures in blender (usually when the texture names end in .0001, .0002 .0003 and so on, this *will* make the textures break in the game.
to fix, you have to manually split what was previously UDIM's, in to separate materials, and make sure blender isn't still considering it to be UDIM's

[HellHoundss]

I followed the video tutorial. Some issues but i managed in some way to do everything up to the point where you select the model in-game. In the video the model appears Blue and Yellow but when i select my model it crashes payday 2 instantly. What am i doing wrong?

[Bollocks]

All of my textures are in the xml file and named correctly so i dont know whats going on

[THOT_PATROLL]

a texture is probably missing, or its trying to load a texture that wasn't declared in the main.xml

[Bollocks]

hey uh my model loads fine in the menu but when i try to go into a mission the game loads forever

[Mister Copper]

I know it's probably been ages since you done this, but I wanna ask if I can add you on Discord because I'm running into an issue with the model during the weight paint process.

[THOT_PATROLL]

sure, discord is mcdonalds_cup

[Kasane Teto]

can i dm you on discord? model im trying to port unfortunately causes my game to crash.

[THOT_PATROLL]

I made some changes to the guide, including removing the mscripts step

[THOT_PATROLL]

add me on discord for help with troubleshooting: mcdonalds_cup