[WIP] Animations For SH4

propbeanie · 01-03-18, 11:43 AM

Please excuse my vulgarity then. My comments are not intended as such. I only mean to express my gratitude for such a good "thread" on this site... I mean nothing other than respect for all who share their thoughts and knowledge of the workings of the Silent Hunter series of games.

Jeff-Groves · 01-05-18, 10:37 AM

Alex,

propbeanie meant nothing bad.

Things must have been lost in translation again.

I PM him quite often and he is a Good Guy and a friend.

Jeff-Groves · 01-05-18, 11:37 AM

I did a quick scan of SH4 files and found no MeshAnimationData2 files.
That's probably because the movement of the body parts are Skeletal in SH4.

So the facial stuff can be changed just as I did it in SH3.

Will be doing an example today with needed images for a select few people.

S3D should be all we need to do this.

Rockin Robbins · 01-05-18, 11:44 AM

Isn't translation just (not so) great sometimes! Good to see you Anvart. You are one of a handful who understand the Silent Hunter series in true depth.

Jeff-Groves · 01-05-18, 11:51 AM

Just as was done in the SH3 thread? Create a safe folder to work in!
To follow along copy 2 files into this folder.

I've got Marine.dat from the Library/Characters folder and cap_m13.dat from the animations/headmorphing folder that I will be working with.

Jeff-Groves · 01-05-18, 12:16 PM

open the cap_m13.dat with S3D.

Lets look at it just a bit.
Open Node 1 and then node 2. We are going to export the Normal Speech animations.
Open node 11 and go to node 12, MeshanimationData.

That is the animations we want! There are 8 frames.
Now S3D says "Full support? Yes"
I always had a problem with that until I figured out HOW to make S3D do this stuff. So I can live with that.

(To this day I don't think Swasjer even knew We could do this!)

Jeff-Groves · 01-05-18, 12:33 PM

Keeping the cap_m13.dat file open, Go to the menu in S3D.
File/open

Open the Marine.dat in the SAFE FOLDER!!

YES! S3D will open multiple files as long as you use the File/open.
(Took me awhile to figure that out at first

)

Open Node 3 in the Marine.dat file.
Scroll WAY down to Node 1684
Hmmm cap_m13

Anvart · 01-17-18, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by propbeanie

Please excuse my vulgarity then. My comments are not intended as such. I only mean to express my gratitude for such a good "thread" on this site... I mean nothing other than respect for all who share their thoughts and knowledge of the workings of the Silent Hunter series of games.

Sorry, dear, for my stupid "runglish".

propbeanie · 01-17-18, 11:51 PM

Anvart, do not worry again about that. I would say it is more the fault of my stupid "Englian" mangles...

Jeff-Groves · 04-19-21, 05:20 PM

Several years down the road I know.
Kind of hoped someone would pick up off of all I have posted and run with it.
Seems that is not the case here.
So I'll update a bit.

In the last few years I've learned more and have better Scripts for 010 to rip the stock animations from SH4.
That script produces a Script for 3DMax to allow import to 3DMax as a biped.

Once imported I can change the animations as I wish.
The last part is to export the needed info to a standard I can change to SH4 needed info.

Now I know the dae format has the info I want so I don't need the original animations.
I just need to finish ripping that info from a dae format then write a script to convert to the SH4 standards.

Will there ever be a stand alone program to do that? Time will tell.

Jeff-Groves · 05-23-22, 02:17 PM

Up till now I've givin information on the Secondary characters in SH4.
Never about the Crew in and on Subs.

That is a whole different Skeleton with many more bones.
I've got a program that can rip the information from SH5 animations so I can convert those to the SH4 format. So SH5 animations can be converted once I do a few Scripts for 010.

Amazing thing is not a single person has taken the information I have provided and done Jack squat with it!

I'm more then sure that once I release new animations? The Vultures will swoop in and gain a "stolen glory" by taking My work and renaming it.

Happened with MY and Thunders animated Survivors for SH3 so I'm sure it will happen again.

Let it be known right now! I can encode a hidden message in dat files!
S3D CAN NOT READ IT!
One can also NOT READ IT IN HEX!

I've also decide that "Wolves of the Kaiser" will be the 1st major benefactor of my knowledge and years of work.

The Fort Drum project will be the 1st to actually show my work. But on a very limited scale.

01-03-18, 11:43 AM	#1
propbeanie CTD - it's not just a job Join Date: May 2016 Location: One hour from Music City USA! Posts: 10,098 Downloads: 451 Uploads: 2	Please excuse my vulgarity then. My comments are not intended as such. I only mean to express my gratitude for such a good "thread" on this site... I mean nothing other than respect for all who share their thoughts and knowledge of the workings of the Silent Hunter series of games. __________________ "...and bollocks to the naysayers" - Jimbuna

01-05-18, 11:44 AM	#4
Rockin Robbins Navy Seal Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: DeLand, FL Posts: 8,900 Downloads: 135 Uploads: 52	Isn't translation just (not so) great sometimes! Good to see you Anvart. You are one of a handful who understand the Silent Hunter series in true depth. __________________ Sub Skipper's Bag of Tricks, Slightly Subnuclear Mk 14 & Cutie, Slightly Subnuclear Deck Gun, EZPlot 2.0, TMOPlot, TMOKeys, SH4CMS

01-17-18, 11:51 PM	#9
propbeanie CTD - it's not just a job Join Date: May 2016 Location: One hour from Music City USA! Posts: 10,098 Downloads: 451 Uploads: 2	Anvart, do not worry again about that. I would say it is more the fault of my stupid "Englian" mangles... __________________ "...and bollocks to the naysayers" - Jimbuna

04-19-21, 05:20 PM	#10
Jeff-Groves GLOBAL MODDING TERRORIST Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 5,652 Downloads: 137 Uploads: 0	Several years down the road I know. Kind of hoped someone would pick up off of all I have posted and run with it. Seems that is not the case here. So I'll update a bit. In the last few years I've learned more and have better Scripts for 010 to rip the stock animations from SH4. That script produces a Script for 3DMax to allow import to 3DMax as a biped. Once imported I can change the animations as I wish. The last part is to export the needed info to a standard I can change to SH4 needed info. Now I know the dae format has the info I want so I don't need the original animations. I just need to finish ripping that info from a dae format then write a script to convert to the SH4 standards. Will there ever be a stand alone program to do that? Time will tell. Last edited by Jeff-Groves; 04-19-21 at 05:30 PM.

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01-05-18, 10:37 AM	#2
Jeff-Groves GLOBAL MODDING TERRORIST Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 5,652 Downloads: 137 Uploads: 0	Alex, propbeanie meant nothing bad. Things must have been lost in translation again. I PM him quite often and he is a Good Guy and a friend.

01-05-18, 11:37 AM	#3
Jeff-Groves GLOBAL MODDING TERRORIST Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 5,652 Downloads: 137 Uploads: 0	I did a quick scan of SH4 files and found no MeshAnimationData2 files. That's probably because the movement of the body parts are Skeletal in SH4. So the facial stuff can be changed just as I did it in SH3. Will be doing an example today with needed images for a select few people. S3D should be all we need to do this.

01-05-18, 11:51 AM	#5
Jeff-Groves GLOBAL MODDING TERRORIST Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 5,652 Downloads: 137 Uploads: 0	Just as was done in the SH3 thread? Create a safe folder to work in! To follow along copy 2 files into this folder. I've got Marine.dat from the Library/Characters folder and cap_m13.dat from the animations/headmorphing folder that I will be working with.

01-05-18, 12:16 PM	#6
Jeff-Groves GLOBAL MODDING TERRORIST Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 5,652 Downloads: 137 Uploads: 0	open the cap_m13.dat with S3D. Lets look at it just a bit. Open Node 1 and then node 2. We are going to export the Normal Speech animations. Open node 11 and go to node 12, MeshanimationData. That is the animations we want! There are 8 frames. Now S3D says "Full support? Yes" I always had a problem with that until I figured out HOW to make S3D do this stuff. So I can live with that. (To this day I don't think Swasjer even knew We could do this!)

01-05-18, 12:33 PM	#7
Jeff-Groves GLOBAL MODDING TERRORIST Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 5,652 Downloads: 137 Uploads: 0	Keeping the cap_m13.dat file open, Go to the menu in S3D. File/open Open the Marine.dat in the SAFE FOLDER!! YES! S3D will open multiple files as long as you use the File/open. (Took me awhile to figure that out at first ) Open Node 3 in the Marine.dat file. Scroll WAY down to Node 1684 Hmmm cap_m13

05-23-22, 02:17 PM	#11
Jeff-Groves GLOBAL MODDING TERRORIST Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 5,652 Downloads: 137 Uploads: 0	Up till now I've givin information on the Secondary characters in SH4. Never about the Crew in and on Subs. That is a whole different Skeleton with many more bones. I've got a program that can rip the information from SH5 animations so I can convert those to the SH4 format. So SH5 animations can be converted once I do a few Scripts for 010. Amazing thing is not a single person has taken the information I have provided and done Jack squat with it! I'm more then sure that once I release new animations? The Vultures will swoop in and gain a "stolen glory" by taking My work and renaming it. Happened with MY and Thunders animated Survivors for SH3 so I'm sure it will happen again. Let it be known right now! I can encode a hidden message in dat files! S3D CAN NOT READ IT! One can also NOT READ IT IN HEX! I've also decide that "Wolves of the Kaiser" will be the 1st major benefactor of my knowledge and years of work. The Fort Drum project will be the 1st to actually show my work. But on a very limited scale.