Total War Modding - User contributions [en]

Tutorial:AssetEditor

2024-05-07T12:20:07Z

Lost2Insanity:

The AssetEditor is a poor man's 3d program for Total war games (currently only supports WH2).

It aims at trying to recreate the Kit bashing feeling you get when working with plastic models.

'''Download link''': [https://github.com/olekristianhomelien/TheAssetEditor/releases/latest https://github.com/donkeyProgramming/TheAssetEditor/releases/latest]

'''Youtube tutorials:''' https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXnf2q9fRNYlMn4XULPLKgg https://www.youtube.com/@dietrichstauffer2848/videos

'''Beginner tutorial by FaallenOon:''' [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QZefJwJLvG_ny2MUMZZvvxV-4o2AAuSCmmiA-twAIXw/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QZefJwJLvG_ny2MUMZZvvxV-4o2AAuSCmmiA-twAIXw]

'''Disclaimer''': I am not good at technical writing or enjoy it, so if someone feels the desire to improve this, then please!

==The Basics==

===Creating a New Packfile===
To create a new packfile go to the top left corner of the program and click file then select New Packfile and a window will open asking you to enter a name, once you have entered a name press ok and your packfile will be created in the file browser to the left and will be marked as active which is identified by '''bold''' text.

===Opening a Model ===
To get started working with models navigate to the file browser on the left and open the All CA Packs folder, scroll down to variantmeshes, into wh_variantmodels and browse through the list for a model of your choosing and once you have found the model that you seek you can double click upon the rigid_model_v2 file to open the model within the 3d viewer.

====How to find a Model====
If you have an idea of what kind of model you are looking for you can use the Search Filter box at the top of the file browser to try and narrow down the amount of folders you need to search through but if you do not then you can take a rough guess at where models are located by the folder names which correspond to the models skeleton for example:

*hu1 = humanoid01 - which are associated with male humans.

*hu1b = humanoid01b - which are associated with female humans and female elves.

*hu1c = humanoid01c - which are associated with norscan and chaos humans.

Etc, you'll quickly become familiar with these while modding.

===Camera Controls===
While in the visual work space you can navigate the 3d area by placing your mouse cursor within the window and using the following:

*Holding down Alt + Left Mouse Button (LMB) will move the camera around a fixed point.

*Holding down Alt + Scrolling the Mouse Wheel up will zoom in towards the fixed point and scrolling it back will zoom out.

*Holding down Alt + Right Mouse Button (RMB) will allow you to reposition the fixed point.

===Saving a Model===
To save your freshly acquired model to your packfile navigate to the tool bar at the top of the screen and hit the save icon (Ctrl+S) at which point you will see the model appear under your packfile in the file browser marked in red which means that you have saved the models current state but this does not save your packfile and closing the program before doing so will delete any work you have done up to this point.

If you are working with multiple packfiles at the same time you must switch to the correct packfile before saving your models or they will save in the wrong place, to do this right click an inactive pack in the file browser and select Set as Editable Pack.

===Saving a Packfile===
To save your packfile navigate to the file browser and right click your packfiles name, select Save or Save As and select a location for your file then hit save again, your packfile is now saved and it is safe to close the program.[[File:SavePackfile.png|thumb|alt=|none]]

== Sub Tools==

=== Kitbash Editor===
Select a .rmv2 file to open the Kitbash Editor

Find your self a model to play with. Go to:

variantmeshes/

wh_variantmodels/

There is folders named after skeletons. hu1 is for humans.

In hu1 you have files for each factions that use it.

Look for a file that ends with .rigid_model_V2

Ignore the .wsmodels for now

Youtube tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeObDGqV2PM

====Re-Regging====
One of the key parts of the Kitbash editor is the ability to re-rig a mesh from one skeleton to an other. If this is not done, the mesh will turn into spaghetti when an animation is applied.

It works by doing a 1:1 mapping between bones in the original skeleton (left side) and the target skeleton (right side)

It works by selecting bones one by one on the left side and then selecting a bone on the right side. When this is done the column on the left side that says -1 should turn into the same the bone selected on the right side.

The tool can also attempt to auto fit the mesh onto the skeleton by selecting the "Fit mesh to skeleton" checkbox.

[[File:ReriggingImage.png|none|thumb]]
[[File:RemappingBoneSelected.png|none|thumb|Bone selected and mapped correctly]]
[[File:Remapping.png|none|thumb|Old and messy tutorial]]

====BMI tool====
The BMI editor allows the scaling of a mesh along its normals. This gives the impression of adding or removing thickness to and object.

All the bones that are selected in the tree view is applied to the scale when the apply button is pressed.[[File:BmiTool before.png|none|thumb|Before]]
[[File:BmiTool After.png|none|thumb|After]]

===Mount Animation Creator===
The tool also allows for attaching an animation to a vertex on an other skeleton. This is useful for creating mount animations for mount that does not exist in the game.

An example of this would be adding a Squig mound to Karl Franze or a Lion animation to the High Elf Princess. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dKFXAu4R1Y

'''Excellent, must read tutorial for how to use the tool''': https://docs.google.com/document/d/123LZH16sY2EGRJWwTH4T3XvT0ENUUQXLLfL6tVUtezk/edit

A run-through of the UI components:

#Information about the rider and mount (mesh, skeleton and animation)
#Control how the rider is attached to the mount
#*Rider root bone (probably never change this)
#*Leg animation (disabled for now)
#*The vertex the rider is attached to. Select the mount, press F3 then select the vertex that the rider should be select to and press Set. The first selected vertex is used if multiple vertexes are selected
#Settings for the animation - Hopefully pretty intuitive
#Rider and mount animation fragment and active slots
#*Mount is the animation fragment used by the mount
#*Rider is the animation fragment used by the rider
#*Mount animation tag is the animation used by the mount
#Save and Preview:
#*Update the preview to reflect changes done in the animation settings view
#*Active fragment to add items to
#*Slot in the active fragment to add to
#*Batch process based on the values in "Mount link shortcut view"
#Drawing related things
[[File:Mount tool defaultworkflow.png|none|thumb|Screenshot]]
[[File:Image2.png|none|thumb|Selecting vertex]]

====Workflow====
#Select rider and mount meshes
#Select attachment point
#Select rider and mount fragment
#Play around with the settings until you are happy with how it looks
#Press Batch prosess to generate animpack, bin and fragment.
#Look at the report to see if manual tweaks are needed.
#If manual tweaks are needed:
##Load the new fragment into "selected fragment"
##Find a slot that needs to be fixed.
##Select the correct Mount tag for the selected rider slot
##Select a rider tag that looks good
##Press add to fragment
##Repeat
[[File:Mount tool defaultworkflow fixstuff.png|none|thumb]]

====Sliding====
If the rider is sliding around or popping, make sure that the scale of the mount is correct.

====Matched animations====
Matched animations does not work well right now, I recommend deleting them.

===Anm.Meta files Editor===
The tool can display and edit most meta file, more information will be added later[[File:ImageMeta.png|none|thumb]]

=== AnimPack Editor ===
The tool comes with an animation pack editor. The animpack is the file which controls how animations are configured.

Refer to the "animation and you" tutorial for more information about how they are structured

[[File:Images.png|alt=|1226x1226px]]

==== How to create a new fragment (animation set) for a unit ====

Go to '''File -> Create -> New AnimPack(game''') and enter a name when prompted. This gives you a very basic example of how the file works. For more information I recommend looking into the existing game animpack

By default the tool creates a placeholder bin entry[[File:CustomAnimPack.png|left|alt=|1373x1373px]]

Create a new fragment by going to '''File->New AnimationSet(Game)''' inside the animpack editor. This gives you the fragment where the animation information about the unit is stored

Edit the bin to to be sensible values. Best way to do this is by copying a bin which is the closest to what you want to do. In this case it was the "hu2_orc_2handed_axe" entry and then I replaced the "hu2_orc_2handed_axe" names with the new name of the fragment.

'''Save the bin.'''

[[File:BinValues.png|alt=|1376x1376px]]

Go the the frag, it contains some example data. Replace it with the data you want. Typically this means copy pasting in the fragment the closest to what you want, then updating it. In this case it was the "hu2_orc_2handed_axe" and I updated some of the meta files to use the new files I have created (Note, the files on the left in the tree view has not yet been renamed!)

'''Save the frg, then save the animpack by going to File->Save'''
[[File:EditAndSaveFrg.png|thumb|alt=|none|1375x1375px]]Now your animpack is done, but you need to link it to a unit. Dindi has kindly created an example animpack for how to do this!
[[File:Anim db example.pack|none|thumb]]

[[Category:Tools & Resources]]

Unique ID

2024-04-24T23:38:59Z

Lost2Insanity: Lost2Insanity moved page Database: Unique ID to Unique ID

=== What is a Unique ID? ===
Unique ID's are found throughout the database in various tables and these act as numeric identifiers that must be unique from each other in order to not cause compatibility issues within the games tables as well as mods.

==== Warhammer III Tables with Unique ID's ====
db/armed_citizenry_units_to_unit_groups_junctions_tables
 db/army_special_abilities_tables
 db/battle_set_piece_armies_tables
 db/building_chain_availabilities_tables
 db/building_level_armed_citizenry_junctions_tables
 db/building_units_allowed_tables
 db/campaign_agent_subtype_factorial_effect_junctions_tables
 db/campaign_building_level_factorial_effect_junctions_tables
 db/campaign_character_arts_tables
 db/campaign_post_battle_captive_options_tables
 db/cdir_events_dilemma_option_junctions_tables
 db/cdir_events_dilemma_payloads_tables
 db/cdir_events_incident_option_junctions_tables
 db/cdir_events_incident_payloads_tables
 db/cdir_events_mission_option_junctions_tables
 db/cdir_events_mission_payloads_tables
 db/culture_settlement_occupation_options_tables
 db/faction_set_items_tables
 db/main_units_tables
 db/mercenary_pool_to_groups_junctions_tables
 db/names_tables
 db/ritual_payload_spawn_mercenaries_tables
 db/slot_set_items_tables
 db/technologies_tables
 db/unit_special_abilities_tables
 db/units_custom_battle_types_to_factions_tables
 db/units_custom_battle_types_tables
 db/warscape_animated_lod_tables

Unique ID

2024-04-24T23:32:19Z

Lost2Insanity: Created page with "=== What is a Unique ID? === Unique ID's are found throughout the database in various tables and these act as numeric identifiers that must be unique from each other in order to not cause compatibility issues within the games tables as well as mods. ==== Warhammer III Tables with Unique ID's ==== db/armed_citizenry_units_to_unit_groups_junctions_tables db/army_special_abilities_tables db/battle_set_piece_armies_tables db/building_chain_availabilities_tables..."

Texture Formats

2022-04-12T15:13:03Z

Lost2Insanity: Created page with "=== '''Total War Texture Formats''' === == '''Total War: Warhammer 2''' == '''CA DDS Formats''' - Diffuse, Specular are in DXT10, BC1 Unorm sRGB + alpha - Gloss_m..."

=== '''Total War Texture Formats''' ===
 
== '''Total War: Warhammer 2''' ==
'''CA DDS Formats''' 
- Diffuse, Specular are in DXT10, BC1 Unorm sRGB + alpha 
- Gloss_map is in DXT1, Gloss is BC1 Unorm + alpha 
- Mask, Normal are in DXT5, BC3 Unorm + alpha 
 
'''Intel Texture Works v1.0.4 settings''' 
- Diffuse, Specular use Color and BC7 8 bpp Fine (sRGB, DX11++) or Color+Alpha and BC7 8 bpp Fine (sRGB, DX11++) 
- Gloss_map use Color and BC1 4bpp (Linear) 
- Mask, Normal use Color+Alpha and BC1 4bpp (Linear) 
 
'''Paint.Net Settings''' 
- Diffuse, Specular use BC1 (sRGB, DX 10+) 
- Gloss_map use BC1 (Linear, DXT1) 
- Mask, Normal use BC3 (Linear, DXT5) 
 
'''GIMP Settings''' 
- Diffuse, Specular use BC3 / DXT5 (Does not work well with wsmodel shaders) 
- Gloss_map use BC1 / DXT1 
- Mask, Normal use BC3 / DXT5 
 
== '''Total War: Warhammer 3 (Preliminary information)''' ==
'''Paint.Net Settings''' 
- Base_colour, Material_map use BC1 (sRGB, DX 10+) 
- Mask, Normal use BC3 (Linear, DXT5) 
 
'''Intel Texture Works v1.0.4 settings''' 
- Base Colour use Color+Alpha (optional) and BC3 8bpp sRGB DX10+ Linear 
- Material_map use Color and BC1 4bpp (Linear) 
- Mask use Color+Alpha (optional) and BC3 8bpp Linear 
- Normal use Color+Alpha and BC1 4bpp (Linear)

Tutorial:AssetEditor

2021-11-26T01:25:43Z

Lost2Insanity: The Basics

The AssetEditor is a poor man's 3d program for Total war games (currently only supports WH2).

It aims at trying to recreate the Kit bashing feeling you get when working with plastic models.

'''Download link''': https://github.com/olekristianhomelien/TheAssetEditor/releases/latest

'''Youtube tutorials:''' https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXnf2q9fRNYlMn4XULPLKgg

'''Beginner tutorial by FaallenOon:''' [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QZefJwJLvG_ny2MUMZZvvxV-4o2AAuSCmmiA-twAIXw/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QZefJwJLvG_ny2MUMZZvvxV-4o2AAuSCmmiA-twAIXw]

'''Disclaimer''': I am not good at technical writing or enjoy it, so if someone feels the desire to improve this, then please!

==The Basics==

===Creating a New Packfile===
To create a new packfile go to the top left corner of the program and click file then select New Packfile and a window will open asking you to enter a name, once you have entered a name press ok and your packfile will be created in the file browser to the left and will be marked as active which is identified by '''bold''' text.

===Opening a Model ===
To get started working with models navigate to the file browser on the left and open the All CA Packs folder, scroll down to variantmeshes, into wh_variantmodels and browse through the list for a model of your choosing and once you have found the model that you seek you can double click upon the rigid_model_v2 file to open the model within the 3d viewer.

====How to find a Model====
If you have an idea of what kind of model you are looking for you can use the Search Filter box at the top of the file browser to try and narrow down the amount of folders you need to search through but if you do not then you can take a rough guess at where models are located by the folder names which correspond to the models skeleton for example:

*hu1 = humanoid01 - which are associated with male humans.

*hu1b = humanoid01b - which are associated with female humans and female elves.

*hu1c = humanoid01c - which are associated with norscan and chaos humans.

Etc, you'll quickly become familiar with these while modding.

===Camera Controls===
While in the visual work space you can navigate the 3d area by placing your mouse cursor within the window and using the following:

*Holding down Alt + Left Mouse Button (LMB) will move the camera around a fixed point.

*Holding down Alt + Scrolling the Mouse Wheel up will zoom in towards the fixed point and scrolling it back will zoom out.

*Holding down Alt + Right Mouse Button (RMB) will allow you to reposition the fixed point.

===Saving a Model===
To save your freshly acquired model to your packfile navigate to the tool bar at the top of the screen and hit the save icon (Ctrl+S) at which point you will see the model appear under your packfile in the file browser marked in red which means that you have saved the models current state but this does not save your packfile and closing the program before doing so will delete any work you have done up to this point.

If you are working with multiple packfiles at the same time you must switch to the correct packfile before saving your models or they will save in the wrong place, to do this right click an inactive pack in the file browser and select Set as Editable Pack.

===Saving a Packfile===
To save your packfile navigate to the file browser and right click your packfiles name, select Save or Save As and select a location for your file then hit save again, your packfile is now saved and it is safe to close the program.[[File:SavePackfile.png|thumb|alt=|none]]

== Sub Tools==

=== Kitbash Editor===
Select a .rmv2 file to open the Kitbash Editor

Find your self a model to play with. Go to:

variantmeshes/

wh_variantmodels/

There is folders named after skeletons. hu1 is for humans.

In hu1 you have files for each factions that use it.

Look for a file that ends with .rigid_model_V2

Ignore the .wsmodels for now

Youtube tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeObDGqV2PM

====Re-Regging====
One of the key parts of the Kitbash editor is the ability to re-rig a mesh from one skeleton to an other. If this is not done, the mesh will turn into spaghetti when an animation is applied.

It works by doing a 1:1 mapping between bones in the original skeleton (left side) and the target skeleton (right side)

It works by selecting bones one by one on the left side and then selecting a bone on the right side. When this is done the column on the left side that says -1 should turn into the same the bone selected on the right side.

The tool can also attempt to auto fit the mesh onto the skeleton by selecting the "Fit mesh to skeleton" checkbox.

[[File:ReriggingImage.png|none|thumb]]
[[File:RemappingBoneSelected.png|none|thumb|Bone selected and mapped correctly]]
[[File:Remapping.png|none|thumb|Old and messy tutorial]]

====BMI tool====
The BMI editor allows the scaling of a mesh along its normals. This gives the impression of adding or removing thickness to and object.

All the bones that are selected in the tree view is applied to the scale when the apply button is pressed.[[File:BmiTool before.png|none|thumb|Before]]
[[File:BmiTool After.png|none|thumb|After]]

===Mount Animation Creator===
The tool also allows for attaching an animation to a vertex on an other skeleton. This is useful for creating mount animations for mount that does not exist in the game.

An example of this would be adding a Squig mound to Karl Franze or a Lion animation to the High Elf Princess. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dKFXAu4R1Y

'''Excellent, must read tutorial for how to use the tool''': https://docs.google.com/document/d/123LZH16sY2EGRJWwTH4T3XvT0ENUUQXLLfL6tVUtezk/edit

A run-through of the UI components:

#Information about the rider and mount (mesh, skeleton and animation)
#Control how the rider is attached to the mount
#*Rider root bone (probably never change this)
#*Leg animation (disabled for now)
#*The vertex the rider is attached to. Select the mount, press F3 then select the vertex that the rider should be select to and press Set. The first selected vertex is used if multiple vertexes are selected
#Settings for the animation - Hopefully pretty intuitive
#Rider and mount animation fragment and active slots
#*Mount is the animation fragment used by the mount
#*Rider is the animation fragment used by the rider
#*Mount animation tag is the animation used by the mount
#Save and Preview:
#*Update the preview to reflect changes done in the animation settings view
#*Active fragment to add items to
#*Slot in the active fragment to add to
#*Batch process based on the values in "Mount link shortcut view"
#Drawing related things
[[File:Mount tool defaultworkflow.png|none|thumb|Screenshot]]
[[File:Image2.png|none|thumb|Selecting vertex]]

====Workflow====
#Select rider and mount meshes
#Select attachment point
#Select rider and mount fragment
#Play around with the settings until you are happy with how it looks
#Press Batch prosess to generate animpack, bin and fragment.
#Look at the report to see if manual tweaks are needed.
#If manual tweaks are needed:
##Load the new fragment into "selected fragment"
##Find a slot that needs to be fixed.
##Select the correct Mount tag for the selected rider slot
##Select a rider tag that looks good
##Press add to fragment
##Repeat
[[File:Mount tool defaultworkflow fixstuff.png|none|thumb]]

====Sliding====
If the rider is sliding around or popping, make sure that the scale of the mount is correct.

====Matched animations====
Matched animations does not work well right now, I recommend deleting them.

===Anm.Meta files Editor===
The tool can display and edit most meta file, more information will be added later[[File:ImageMeta.png|none|thumb]]

==Tips and tricks==