Solved: How to Edit your Character Avatar Equipment Animation Slot

[Reddbane]

I've been playing variations on Fighter-Mages for a while now in the BG games and I'm getting a little tired of watching my character walk around naked under his kilt and wearing a silly little half shirt with no sleeves. I know I can change the characters avatar to be a wizard in EEkeeper, but I'm not a fan of the beard or the widows peak. Is there a way using EEkeeper, using Opcodes, to make it so my character has the permanent appearance of wearing Leather, or Mail, or Plate Armor, no matter what armor he is or is not wearing? If not is there a way to do it using nearinfinity? Also would any of these solutions interfere with appearance changes that occur during normal play, such as polymorph, shapshifing, etc.?

 

 

So this is my original post, but after some discussion I've abandoned the idea of changing my avatar appearance using a script or a dummy equipment item since that seems to be impossible or extremely difficult and unstable. What I want to now do is make it so that when a Cleric or a Fighter sprite, when equipping a robe which uses the "Mage robe 1, 2, 3"/"2W, 3W, 4W" appearance script, rather than not changing at all, applies either the leather or chain mail world and paperdoll sprite. I know Equipment scripts can apply different appearances based on the avatar, as leather armor looks different on Fighters than on Clerics, and I know you can edit the equipment appearance animation files since Sentrizeal did it in his Alternate Avatars Mod. I just don't know how to do it yet. Can anyone point me in the right direction tutorial wise or offer some advice?

 

 

Success!

Thanks for all your help @kjeron . (Check this thread for instructions on how to so if interested)

Now I can finally play a Kensai or Fighter/Mage and not look like a naked goober!

And here is the inventory shot. Note I'm wearing no cloak, but still look cool. Also thanks to the advanced color choices in EEkeeper my character looks like he's wearing some nice threads, plus since I'm not using the chainmail code my character doesn't jingle as he walks.

Strange these days we take for granted this level of customization in our games.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Near Infinity can do this for you.. mostly.

As long a you don't add mods that have the same thing, like the 1PP avatar changing component or Item Revisions armors, as they use the same thing you would use, aka you just apply the same effect they use to switch during armor usage to be always active. The opcode is #53.

[Reddbane]

Near Infinity can do this for you.. mostly.

As long a you don't add mods that have the same thing, like the 1PP avatar changing component or Item Revisions armors, as they use the same thing you would use, aka you just apply the same effect they use to switch during armor usage to be always active. The opcode is #53.

Is there a list of the Animation IDs or at least for the Armor types.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Is there a list of the Animation IDs or at least for the Armor types.

The games own animate.ids file... here's a small portion of the nonEE games one you should set it to, depending on the race of the wearer:

0x6200 MAGE_MALE_HUMAN
0x6201 MAGE_MALE_ELF
0x6202 MAGE_MALE_DWARF
0x6204 MAGE_MALE_GNOME
0x6205 MAGE_MALE_HALFORC
0x6210 MAGE_FEMALE_HUMAN
0x6211 MAGE_FEMALE_ELF
0x6212 MAGE_FEMALE_DWARF
0x6214 MAGE_FEMALE_GNOME
0x6215 MAGE_FEMALE_HALFORC

The default game uses the THIEF_x_x to show the dual class characters if memory serves and so the robe is not shown(or more precisely like it's shown as not wearing an armor), as the game doesn't contain the animation frames for that. Which can be added to the EE engine...

[Reddbane]

Near Infinity can do this for you.. mostly.

As long a you don't add mods that have the same thing, like the 1PP avatar changing component or Item Revisions armors, as they use the same thing you would use, aka you just apply the same effect they use to switch during armor usage to be always active. The opcode is #53.

I suppose I'm finding myself a little lost, could link me to these mods (I'm having problems finding 1PP content specifically) so I can look at the code. I really only know how to use opcode 53 to set the default animation set, not to alter equipment appearance.

[Reddbane]

 

 

To clear some things up, what I want to do is somehow apply the "Equipped appearance: 3A - Chainmail" to my character without an item, and make sure that it overrides any appearance that would be applied but putting on a robe. I know theoretically I could do this by creating a dummy item in near-infinity, but I don't want any of my character's equipment, ammo, or item slots to be taken up by a useless item. Is there some way to do this?

 

 

Isn't there some way to "trick" the game engine into thinking something's equipped, or at least making it play the equipped animation using a spell or effect? It's seems so bizarre that you can use an spell/effect to do so many things to your appearance, but you apparently cannot affect this one aspect. Could something be done using a dummy quick item or ammo set, or just an bauble the remains in your inventory?

 

This is so aggravating. Even if I set a custom ring or bracer or helmet's custom equipped appearance to "3A - Chainmail" it does not apply that appearance to the sprite when equipped to their slot. Apparently certain sprite changes are somehow stuck to a certain slot, though I'm confused then why you can choose them for any item. Is this all hard coded? Is there any way to get around this? Is there anyone who can explain how the engine decides when and when not to change equipment appearance?

 

A slightly different question: currently if your character has a thief or cleric or fighter sprite, and you equip a robe there is no change to your appearance other than color, even though either "Mage robe 1, 2, 3"/"2W, 3W, 4W" is applied. As far as I know these codes only change the Mage Sprite appearance. Is there some edit I can make to that these animation scripts also when applied to a cleric/fighter they make him apply the chain mail or leather armor script. I know equipment animation sets can apply different appearances based on the sprite they apply to, as a thief and a cleric and a fighter all look different when wearing the same leather armor. Is that choice connected to the individual Sprite scripts or the item appearance script? Can someone here with more experience with infinity's animation modding offer so advice? I know Sentrizeal was able to mod the appearance of the elf fighter sprite leather armor sprite; is this in anyway similar?

 

I could make a custom robe that applies the chain mail appearance to my character, but once I pick up a real in game robe I don't want my character to be suddenly be running around in his skivvies, and I don't want to edit all in game robes to the default chain mail appearance, as it will rob regular mage sprites of their fancy robe sprites.

[subtledoctor]

I really only know how to use opcode 53 to set the default animation set, not to alter equipment appearance.

For my own purposes: can opcode 53 be used in a .spl effect to make you use the avatar from a different class? If I have a thief kit that is meant to be burly and thuggish, could I give it a clab ability to switch to the warrior avatar?

 

On-topic for you: could you create an item that has the appearance of an armor, but goes in a different item slot (like the amulet slot, or even better, in the invisible 4th ammo slot)?

[Reddbane]

 

I really only know how to use opcode 53 to set the default animation set, not to alter equipment appearance.

For my own purposes: can opcode 53 be used in a .spl effect to make you use the avatar from a different class? If I have a thief kit that is meant to be burly and thuggish, could I give it a clab ability to switch to the warrior avatar?

 

On-topic for you: could you create an item that has the appearance of an armor, but goes in a different item slot (like the amulet slot, or even better, in the invisible 4th ammo slot)?

 

 

Never thought I'd be giving advice to a veteran, not the least of which subtledoctor, but yes to the first, like Jarno said you can find the animation codes on iesdp.

 

Here is a quote from another thread where Gwedolyne explained how to:

 

 

Add the following effect to your creature :

Opcode: Graphics: Animation Change [53]

Target: 1 Self

Timing: 1-Permanent

Parameter1 (Animation ID): (set to whatever avatar code you want)

Parameter2: 2 (Change animation - permanently)

Power: 9

All other values set to 0.

 

 

However, as you will note from iesdp the player animation files are divided not only by class but by race, and gender, so that each the fighter avatar is actually 12 distinct animation sets:

0x6100 FIGHTER_MALE_HUMAN

0x6101 FIGHTER_MALE_ELF

0x6102 FIGHTER_MALE_DWARF

0x6103 FIGHTER_MALE_HALFLING

0x6104 FIGHTER_MALE_GNOME

0x6105 FIGHTER_MALE_HALFORC

0x6110 FIGHTER_FEMALE_HUMAN

0x6111 FIGHTER_FEMALE_ELF

0x6112 FIGHTER_FEMALE_DWARF

0x6113 FIGHTER_FEMALE_HALFLING

0x6114 FIGHTER_FEMALE_GNOME

0x6115 FIGHTER_FEMALE_HALFORC

So to set up the spell/effect properly you would have to also code it to check the race and gender of the character so that it applied the correct respective animation file.

 

In regards to your second question, I tried this, but even if you give a custom amulet, helmet, ring, ammo, quick item, etc., an armor equipment appearance (like say 3A - Chainmail) it will not apply it when equipped. It would seem that equipped appearances are coded to their respective slots, so a ring cannot change your armor appearance, and a armor cannot change your helmet appearance, and so on. Again this other thread I started to ask the same questions gives more information about the subject.

 

Again I'm a little fuzzy because currently their doesn't seem to be a tutorial on tutorial thread which goes into depth about how animation files in the IE work.

[subtledoctor]

I wouldn't call myself a veteran. I only know what I've done, and I haven't done this.

 

Here's the best idea I can come up with: do what BG2Tweaks does to make switchable 1-handed/2-handed bastard swords. Make a clone of every robe, exactly the same except with the equipped appearance of chain mail. Then add an item ability to each one, which destroys the original and adds the clone to your inventory. and add an item ability to the clones which destroys the clone and adds the original to your inventory.