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A19/A18 CreaturePacks - A community entity project


xyth

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CreaturePacks

 

5XZwbHI.jpg

 

 

Please Note:  If your getting lots of spam warnings when some characters are set on fire, please load the 2-CharacterEffects pack which has the fix for that.  It also contains random walktypes for all zombies, and enables humans to become infected.  Also will be testing the method of turning some quest zombies back to humans.  

 

This goal of these new modlets is to provide core "Packs" that contains various vanilla compatible and fully featured characters such as bandits, survivors, animals, wandering traders, etc. without breaking EAC or requiring the DMT utility. Included in this test version are samples of each type of character with very basic xml to get them working in game. No balancing of spawn rates, weapon power, etc was attempted.

 

There are 5 creature packs:

 

0-CreaturePackAnimals - Things like animals, birds, insects etc.

0-CreaturePackHumans - Various bandits, traders, and survivors and other humanoid rigged entities

0-CreaturePackMechs - Robots, drones and other mechanical things like SphereBot, the avatar of my modding partner SphereII

0-CreaturePackZombies - Zombies, you know, dead things that used to be human. Humanoid rigged.

0-CreaturePackFantasy - Everything else that doesn't fit in the 4 other categories. Swarms, Orcs, Pokemon etc.

 

Other character modders have committed to contributing additional characters to this pack like they do to the POI (Buildings) collection called CompoPack. Want to join them? Start here: (A18 version - working on A19 version, but the how to is the same)

 

The methods used to make this vanilla compatible were researched and developed over the past 2 years and finally it seems to be working well enough to test. However, this is something very new and challenging to develop so expect imperfections as we work out all the issues. Once initial testing is complete I plan to teach the development workflow to others.

 

Features:

 

Most characters support all vanilla character features. These include Humanoid rigging, root motion animation, collision with vehicles, rag-dolling, 100's of animated reactions (including hit locations, limping, etc.), limb decapitation and gore, and even the ability to spawn the characters with vanilla or custom weapons just by editing xml. These can also be retextured in xml to offer even more variety. There are some exceptions, especially on animals, as I just started to explore that controller. They also work very well as sleepers in POIs, but stumbling onto a bandit that has a MP7 at close range isn't something you will live to enjoy.

 

Hopes and Dreams:

 

Beyond hoping that this pack someday contains 100's of new characters, I hope some folks develop custom quests and story lines for some of the characters. Bandits are one thing, but earning a positive faction with the bandit leader by doing some hit jobs for him makes for a better end game.

 

Known issues: 

 

There are currently no footstep sounds when these guys walk or run. Vanilla footsteps require a C# script to trigger sound events and we can not use scripts without breaking EAC. I expect to create a work around for that at some point but for now, look around more.

 

Installation:

 

Just drop the modlets into your MODS folder and have fun. They are not dependent on each other so load the ones you want. If your using a dedicated server, you also need to load this into your dedi server Mods folder.  So a copy in both the clientside Mods folder and also on the servers Mods folder.

 

Compatibility:

 

The modlets are named with a prefix of 0- to insure they load before other modlets that will edit the basic xml provided in these core modlets. Nothing in these modlet's xml should change vanilla in a way that collides with other modlets but let me know if it does.

 

Testing was done on A19 exp and 18.4 stable.

 

Each submitted Unity.3d file (multiple entities in one file) should have a size less than 100 megs for Github compatibility.

 

Terms of Use:

 

The goal of everything SphereII and I do is to share information and examples of how to make this game better. So use this for yourselves or as part of a mod you develop for others to enjoy. Giving credit to the author is always a class act, but at least don't be that guy who spends an hour editing someones work and then claims to be the original author.  You can use the .unity3d models only by referencing them inside the creaturepack but you may not copy those files as they usually contain one or more copyrighted, paid assets. Any derivative modlet must ensure compatibility with the base creaturepacks, and cannot directly break them.  If you don't know how to make compatible mods, just ask for help.  

 

Download:

 

https://github.com/7D2D/A19Mods

 

 

Look for the 0-CreaturePacks, but there are other fun things there too, like No Potty Mouth.  There is also a character effectspack modlet that adds infections (humans turning to zombies) and new walktypes to humans and zombies

 

 

CreaturePacks.thumb.jpg.0fe9351188cfbfe7e385b1a6fcbee1d4.jpg

CreaturePacks.jpg.445c8cdeaa71cf17f285f3366a49c812.jpg

Edited by xyth (see edit history)
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Standards

To promote ease of reusing the characters in future mods and modlets, we think some recommended standards are needed. This is the subject of ongoing discussions, and always subject to revision, but the following are recommended standards for adding new characters to these packs.

 

 

To offer a balance between freedom to choose individual characters and still maintain some organization of kinds of characters, there will be 5 basic character groups: Humans, Zombies, Animals, Mechs, and Fantasy Characters. Each of these will be a modlet containing a resource folder of individual .unity3d asset bundles for each character. The xml for each character will be in xpath format and merged into the master xml files for that modlet.

 

Characters should be built to conform to TFP character standards and best practices as much as possible, and function in game like existing TFP characters do, with included ragdolls, rootmotion and gore. Additional information on this will be provided in video tutorials.

 

Characters should have descriptive names to help end users know what they might be loading, so names like SnowFox is good if its a Snowfox, but Mylittlepal would be a bad name for a Snowfox.

 

Keep the characters low/mid poly and watch texture sizes. Go for 2k texture maps - 1k additional maps. I try to keep most entities under 10 megs. TFP is changing to higher definition zombies, so we will conform to what they do when we get to see that.

 

The material index used should be listed in the xml, so modders can do material overrides in xml and know what material they are targeting. For example, the TFP nurse zombie would be: <!-- Retexturing Index: Materials : 0 Body,1 Eyes -->

 

LODs are not required, but if added keep those down to 1 or 2 max.

 

More will be added here as we go.

Edited by xyth (see edit history)
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Contributors

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following community members have donated resources to this project. Please thank them for their contributions!

 

I will try to keep this list current.

 

 

DarkStarDragon - Zombies

 

GuppyCur (Guppy) - Zombies

 

Robeloto - Spider sounds

 

TSBX - Zombies

 

Mumpfy - re-texturing and new asset creation

 

Kergan - XML

 

SaltyAF - XML

 

Chikorina (Chiko) - XML

Edited by xyth (see edit history)
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Nicely done! Testing it was pretty cool and I found that their silence was mitigated by their shooting at me or their loud mouth, so the footsteps weren't missed.

 

I happened to be testing some other toys when you put this out so I did double testing; all worked out, I'll post the youtube once it's finished processing, because I made a few comments.

 

Edited by Guppycur (see edit history)
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@Xyth:

Great job on the mod and looking forward to even more variety of zombies+NPCs in the future. Perhaps at some point you will incorporate ALL of the zombie models from StompyNZ+Khelldon BadCompany UMA zombies. A couple quick suggestions...

 

The non-standard entity naming (placing the class Uppercase at the end, instead of lowercase in the front) might cause some issues for other modlets that use [starts-with(@name, 'zombie')] to mass modify entries. Also, may want to consider adding a banditTemplateMaster or similar entry(even if it is just a verbatim copy of the zombieTemplateMale entry) to use for extending bandits. These may not effect your mod, but should help make it more compatible with other modlets.

Edited by Cernwn (see edit history)
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Well, I tried this for 18.3, but I get NRE's when near a trader (I think it's Joel's place), but the errors stop when I go far enough away from it. I'll try 18.2...

 

I forgot that was reported as an issue before. Likely the 2 joel traders are fighting in the code. Best to just comment out Joeltrader out of the entitygroups till I can look at it.

 

So the only "vanilla" fix is to turn off trading post protection in the trading post POI's prefab's XML. This isnt a very good vanilla solution, so I will comment out the Joeltrader in version 1.01, but for now just remove him from the entitygroups.xml. Thanks for the bug report!

Edited by xyth (see edit history)
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I forgot that was reported as an issue before. Likely the 2 joel traders are fighting in the code. Best to just comment out Joeltrader out of the entitygroups till I can look at it.

 

So the only "vanilla" fix is to turn off trading post protection in the trading post POI's prefab's XML. This isnt a very good vanilla solution, so I will comment out the Joeltrader in version 1.01, but for now just remove him from the entitygroups.xml. Thanks for the bug report!

 

Interestingly, it works just fine in 18.2. But I'll comment it out for 18.3...

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Also, is there a way to remove the bandit arrows that get stuck in you when the bandit archer shoots you?

 

From my experience with the original SDX (later DMT) version of the mod, the only thing that works is exit and load the world again.

 

EDIT: Not sure, but if you play in multiplayer, your friend may be able to pick it up, but we haven't tested this.

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Well, commenting out the JoelTrader from the entitygroups didn't work, as I'm still getting the NRE's.

 

Also, is there a way to remove the bandit arrows that get stuck in you when the bandit archer shoots you?

 

The NRE may linger until you start a new game. I appologise for that error. The arrows can usually be removed in third person view or by another player. They will automatically removed when you restart the game. You can edit the items.xml in the modlet to stop sticky arrows. I will document that in the next version.

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I did start a new game, but the error still persisted. :(

 

So if we stop sticky arrows in the items.xml, does it affect all arrows, or just the bandit ones?

A new game should not error if the trader is not spawning. Either you made an error in editing the file or you have found an unrelated error. If you can link to your logfiles perhaps we can find the error. This is the first report of an NRE error since tearing began. I believe you can take the sticky property just off the bandit arrow ammo item.

Edited by xyth (see edit history)
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Double checking the entitygroups.xml (and your instructions, in case I misread), the JoelTrader is currently commented out. Just to make sure I have it right, it's only the JoelTrader entity I'd need to comment out of the entitygroups.xml? Or do I need to comment out the JoelBandit entity as well?

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So it seems there is a vanilla bug (not a modlet bug) where any entity class that extends off of the EntityNPC class (This means bandits, traders and survivors) will cause an NRE when they wander into the protected trader area. This was a known issue for traders, but will also include the bandits and traders. Removing the trader area protection is the known fix but that introduces a small bug where 2 traders might spawn in a trader POI. We will research if there is any other alternate fix but likely we will need to create a code fix and ask TFP to add that to a future vanilla game release.

 

Zombie and animal characters are unaffected by this bug.

Edited by xyth (see edit history)
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