Cerez

Hi Asgarath. I've built on Linux frequently, and I'm currently trying to compile it on Mac OS X. I don't have a problem with working it out myself, but on my Windows I can't get to the build process because I can't get Microsoft Visual Studio running now… It just won't install… If you could compile the Windows version this time for me, that would be great. If it doesn't take too long to do it. I don't want to take too much of your time -- it's time better spent working on your mod. Perhaps you can run it in the background while you work? In the meantime I'll try to finish my Mac build on this end...

I cant't get Microsoft Visual Studio to install on my Windows machine -- it keeps throwing an error… I need to ask for a favour. Could someone with a working setup of the Windows OpenJK compiling tools download and build the following custom OpenJK source for me? https://www.dropbox.com/s/nsr2fdmdk4hi5pd/OpenJK-master.zip I need a 32-bit binary of the SP game engine (and maybe jagamex86.dll?). I can't get things working otherwise… :/ I would be forever grateful.

Not sure if this would be of any interest, but I've assembled a collection of mods over the years that seek to improve the default look of some of the key NPCs in the JKA story mode and bring them closer to a Star Wars film look. To use these models in this project we would need to ask for permission of course, but I thought I'd mention it here in case there's interest. The NPCs replaced are Alora, Kyle, Luke, and Rosh. This way Rosh stays whiny, but at least he looks like an annoying Star Wars character -- and not some punk with circus clothes and gelled hair. The same goes for Alora. Let me know if there's interest and I'll try to get some screens up.

I agree. I think only when/win, whurry/worry, wheel/will are critical here. This sounds like like a fascinating project. I wish good luck to the both of you and I look forward to what you can create. If you need any help with testing, etc., count me in for additional support. Will this project be freely available for others to integrate in their mods/projects once finished? I would be interested in seriously utilising it in an up-coming new game/mod I have planned, and in most of my cinematics work.

Thanks for clarifying that, Ensiform. The modification mentioned here does not require assets other than the default ones included with the retail version of the game. I would be happy to submit this patch so long as someone can guide me through the application process (or submit it for me) because I am quite helpless when it comes to figuring out how GIT works… >.<' I can provide detailed notes and instructions on the changes if you're interested. All the new code does is effectively add a few new scriptable Icarus commands for playing existing animation (previously inaccessible to scripting) to provide a means to create a few new facial expressions for the characters in the game. It is fully compatible with the core -- it doesn't alter anything from the original game -- and only serves to improve the development and play experience. I personally feel this is something I had sorely missed in the original release of the game, and I find it immensely useful for new in-game cinematography (cutscenes).

I'll be sure to let you in on them once I have something worthwhile.

Found the code responsible! case SET_FACEFROWN: ent->client->facial_timer = -(level.time + holdtime); ent->client->facial_anim = FACE_FROWN; break; Looks like the only way to get extra FACE animations in is to edit the engine code itself and re-compile it. That would explain why it hasn't really been attempted before. But I'm tempted to do it... Thanks so much, Asgarath! You really helped me here!

You mean SET_FACEAUX and SET_FACEFROWN. Great suggestion! I failed to think of this! Thanks Asgarath, will do.

I've found where the Icarus interpretation code resides and editing the anims.h file is clear enough, although I'm not sure how I would reference the actual animation (animated frames) in the interpretation code. The bigger problem is how to merge a FACE_ animation with a standard one (BOTH_). That's where the real trick lies...

Apart from the different sounding (differently shaped) words Xycaleth pointed out, I think even if there are slight differences, the distinction is so small that you wouldn't notice it in an animation. There is the human suspension of disbelief factor to take into account as well. The essence is more about the length and the shape of the syllables rather than the finely exact lip movement. That said, English accents between regions can change the shape/sound of a syllable drastically, such as most notably in the case of the US and the British "ask". But I expect any sound analysis would find the difference between and "eh" and an "ah"...

Wow, this sounds impressive! This is way more than what I've had in mind. I've read up on it and I think this is a great plan and project. Maintaining backwards compatibility with the base game is crucial, though. We don't want to break the extensive library of existing community created mods. Archangel/@@eezstreet, do you know how I would reference certain animations in the _humanoid GLA to make them scriptable in Icarus? Say I wanted to use the animation contained in FACE_SMILE and combine it with another existing body animation (e.g. BOTH_STAND1) through the script. Is this possible, and if not, why not? The original game engine seems to do this at least internally with the idle behaviour animations on the models...

I thought one of the primary objectives of OpenJK was to fix bugs/mistakes made by the original Raven development team. I would consider these non-scriptable facial animations a big mistake that takes a lot away from the gameplay experience. I may be wrong, but I really don't see why this wouldn't be in the scope of OpenJK. The goal is to improve on the original product, is it not?

Which is one of the reasons the "acting" in the JK games is really awful. I think this should be a point of improvement for OpenJK for the sake of all JK SP mods and machinimas. I had a look at the source code, and it would need to be changed as well in order for it to segment the new GLA correctly, or the new animations need to be matched exactly to the old GLA's timeline. About the your second point, how does one "change the Icarus setting" to include new animations made scriptable from the GLA file? Essentially this is the point I am failing to understand, and I would appreciate help from @@Serenity937, @@mrwonko, @@Xycaleth, @@redsaurus, @@ensiform, @@eezstreet, or someone from the OpenJK team who knows enough about this. Anyone? Thanks.

Thanks for the break-down of your sample script, Asgarath. I appreciate the detailed explanation. Have you managed to make a character smile at another character's response yet? How about smirk? Or gape in surprise? That's what I mean about this serious limitation with the unscripted facial animations of the engine… It only really lets you make the character frown or stare, but it could do so much more! The necessary animations are there, they just needed to be scripted. Raven really messed up with this…

Clone Wars 3D models/reference resource: http://tf3dm.com/3d-models/star-wars-clone-wars-adventures Most of the models from CWA in OBJ format.

That's fine, but they still need to be scriptable. SET_FACEAUX, SET_FACEFROWN and SET_FACEBLINK are not enough! >.<'

Here's a little something I've put together as an illustration of what I'm talking about: The default JK animation scripts only allow a frown/angry and empty "blink" expression, but these other animations are there, just no-one has bothered to make them scriptable -- or so it seems. I would really appreciate some help with getting these animations scriptable. It would add so much to the JK experience, and allow me to resume with my work.

Okay, I'm really stuck, and I need this awfully bad for my projects. Could I ask a serious coder to help me out with this? The animation I'm looking to apply are so called "head anims". They seem to be applied by the game in a random script -- would be good to know which -- by default on all cinematic stationary characters. The game does this somehow, it calls upon them, and I'd like to be able to do the same. For cinematic projects it is crucial that the characters can express scripted emotions beyond the default set of frown and blink. Their exact scripted names are the following: FACE_ALERT FACE_SMILE FACE_FROWN FACE_DEAD FACE_TALK0 FACE_TALK1 FACE_TALK2 FACE_TALK3 FACE_TALK4 There is also a smirk animation somewhere used by the same default "stationary behaviour" character script. What I want to be able to do is to paste these head/face animations on top of an active body animation. Could someone dig into the source and find out where this "stationary" character script is located, please? That would give us a clue how to apply the head animations.

Oh, and he did a fantastic review of the original Star Wars saga. Let me see if I can find it... EDIT: My Internet's stuffing up, but I think this is it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2WFzMEU6rM

I like James' episodes. Some of them are hilarious. And other just go a bit too far… He's bringing out a movie sometime this year.

To everyone who's been waiting on this, it's finished. I have uploaded the first version of the Ahsoka JK model package here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/m5zt9ndhkugoaqo/ahsoka.pk3 There are still certain issues that need to be resolved with the model, so I'm also posting the source files here as well, and I ask in return that all progress with this model be contributed back to this thread share-alike to everyone's benefit: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bjkrrdsyojdb8ei/ahsoka-source.zip @Asgarath83 has put a great effort into this, and I'm grateful to him sincerely for trying his best, and for sharing his source. Credits: Model adaptation, Skin files, Shaders - Asgarath83 Sound sampling, Bot, NPC - yours truly (I've left some extra sounds in there for your customisation needs.) And finally, because we all love screenshots: If anyone is interested in fixing the remaining problems, or giving their own go at this, you have my (and Asgarath's) full support, and we'd love to see your work.

About breaking up the model, I remember a discussion of this years back when some serious modellers in the community were thinking of raising the level of quality for their JKA work, but back then we didn't have today's graphics performance and certainly no source code.

It would certainly be heavy on the performance, but I wonder with today's graphics cards if something like this would be plausible and actually work well in JK. Are we talking tweaking, or a complete rewrite?

Would there be any way to circumvent this restriction? Or is this absolutely the maximum the Quake 3 engine can handle in terms of detail?

That's not a bad solution, but I can't see a SET_FACESMILE, for example, but there is a FACE_SMILE animation for it...