Mana Games

[manutoo]

Hello,

here the 1st version of the TE4 Anim Modding SDK : https://www.managames.com/download.php? ... mSDK_v1.7z

Here the Youtube Tutorial to learn how to process your FBX file and get an Asset Bundle to put into your Mods folder :


Basics :

• Get Unity 2019.4 (it's free, no need to pay anything !) :
  
  • Download Unity Hub from here : https://unity3d.com/get-unity/download => "Download Unity Hub" button
  • Install Unity Hub
  • In Unity Hub, install the latest Unity 2019.4 (and not any 2020, 2021 or 2022 versions)
• Decompress the Unity project contained in "TE4-ModdingAnimSDK.7z" anywhere you want
• Open the project with Unity 2019.4
• Open the scene : "Scenes -> AnimTest"
• Prepare the anims (explained in the tutorial above)
• Create the Asset Bundle(s) for the anims by clicking Window -> AssetBundle Browser -> Build tab -> Build button, then in the same tab, click on "Open in Explorer" to locate your Asset Bundle(s)
• Copy all the bundles to TE4's "Mods/MySuperMod/AnimationBundles/" (create the required folders)
• Launch TE4, your new animations should be available in the Character Customization screen..!

Notes :
- The AssetBundles created for Windows work also for the Mac version of the game ; so they might work for Linux too, and even maybe for the future console versions of TE4 ; anyway for now, you just have to create only 1 version of your AssetBundles
- You have the TE4 player's bone structure ready to be animated in "Player Models [Max]/PlayerMale-TE4.max"
- Do not animate the racket ; animate "Bone_rocket" instead (select the racket & press Page Up in 3DS Max to select that bone)
- in-game, the engine will slightly correct the racket position, both for the legacy & new anims :

• by +1.43cm on the hand X-axis => in direction of the elbow
• by +0.72cm on the hand Y-axis => outward the hand palm
• by +0.74cm on the hand Z-axis => direction of the raised thumb
  These adjustments are very small and most of the time you won't have to worry about them ; they are done so the racket handle is correctly positioned within the hand palm. (This correction isn't done in the Anim Modding SDK)

- Little change from the video tutorial : if you create an animation with the TE4 bone structure, you still have to click on the "Calculate off-hand positioning" buttons, as the off-hand is still slightly mispositioned for the male player (as the .max file bone structure doesn't match 100% the male player in Unity) , and can get more badly positioning for the female player (as her bone structure is a bit different from the male).
- One user reported some compilation issues with Unity (despite having the exact same version as me !) ; to solve that issue, he had to open Unity -> Window -> Package Manager, and remove these packages : Asset Bundle Browser, TextMeshPro and Version Control
- Really try to use a unique name for your Bundles, as Unity cannot open 2 bundles with the same name, so the game will load only the most important one (which is by default the last one by alphabetic sorting)

To convert TE2013's bone structure to TE4's one :
- Open your original anim file in 3DS Max 2013 or more recent (ie: the .max, not the .anim)
- Select a player bone (eg: the skull)
- Select the motion tab on the top right
- Click on "Figure mode" in the Biped zone (*)
- Turn on "Triangle neck" in the Structure zone
- Turn off "Figure mode" in the Biped zone
- Save your file
- (*) Little warning : turning on the Figure Mode messed up 1 of my animations (out of 150), by rotating the whole body. In such case, before turning the Figure Mode on, you have to set all keys to free (instead of planted or sliding), turn on the Figure Mode, turn it off, and then activate "Move All Mode", and apply the correction rotation so the body is oriented back correctly (in my case, it was 70°), and then set back correctly all the planted & sliding keys (it's usually used for the feet).

[Optional] To transfer a TE2013 anim to the TE4 bone structure : (to fix the hands & feet relative positioning)
If you look carefully at the TE2013 anims played in TE4, you'll notice that the feet, hands and racket aren't always correctly positioned from each other (eg: the off-hand will go inside the racket).
The "CalculateOffHandPositioning" buttons help to correct that when the off-hand is on a known position (ie: on the racket handle), but it can't do much more than that.
So if you want your animation to look perfect in TE4, you'll have to transfer it to the TE4 bone structure and then reposition the feet & hands when needed.
To do so :
- Open your animation in 3DS Max
- Select any bone in your Biped
- Ensure that Motion tab -> Biped -> Figure is disabled
- Click on Motion tab -> Biped -> Save file, and save your .bip anywhere you want
- Click on Max -> Reset
- Load the file from the Anim Modding SDK : "Player Models [Max]\PlayerMale-TE4.max"
- Select any bone in your Biped
- Ensure that Motion tab -> Biped -> Figure is disabled
- Click on Motion tab -> Biped -> Load file, and load your saved .bip
- the racket might be deformed ; to fix that, set its scaling on Z back to 100%
- Now, if you click play, you'll see your anim on the new TE4 bone structure
- Now, reposition the feet & hands as you want
- Notes :

• if you don't want to animate the fingers, then with Motion tab -> Biped -> Figure enabled, lower the number of fingers from 5 to 1 in the structure rollout ; else you'll have to reposition the fingers on every keyframe affecting the hands (if you create an animation from scratch, you'll just have to do it on the 1st frame, and then when you actually want the fingers to move)
• if the racket is misplaced in 3DS Max and you don't need to animate it, then delete all its animation keys (if there are any), then to place it in the hands, select "Parent" in the "Reference Coordinate System" (by default, it's "View"), right-click the move tool (the 4-arrow icon), and enter : 0.814cm for x, 0.149cm for y, 0.081cm for z (like in the original "PlayerMale-TE4.max" file)
• if you had animated the racket, you'll have to redo it because the .bip file doesn't contain its animation (normally the racket should be only animated for gestures and return waitings when the racket turns in the hand)
• The bone structure in the .max doesn't match perfectly the one in the .FBX, so you'll see some slight differences between your biped animation in 3DS Max and the one in Unity (eg: the off-hand won't stay exactly on the racket, but this will be corrected in-game by the engine)

To export your animation to FBX from 3DS Max :
- Right-click on the play animation icon on the bottom right
- Set the start time and end time so the timeline contains only the animation (eg: it shouldn't have a waiting time at the end after the animation)
- Click on the Max icon on the top left (ie: the file menu) then click on Export
- Select .FBX in the file dialog box, enter a name and click on Save
- In the exportation dialog, turn on "Animation" in the Animation zone, and click Ok
- Your .FBX is ready to be imported into Unity, as a Humanoid rig, which is explained in the video tutorial above

[nico75]

Thanks a lot Manu for this information ; i think i am not the only one to have waiting for this

[rharm2]

Congrats, will check it out and give feedback

[polakis]

So now modders can put real player animations in te4?

[manutoo]

Everybody,
here the tutorial :


I also updated the SDK with the resulting anim from the tutorial (so you can check anything you want), and the little change on the script for the TE4 player.

New Notes :
- The racket when creating an animation directly from the TE4 bone structure may not get positioned correctly ; I'll check that soon
- Do not animate the racket ; animate "Bone_rocket" instead (select the racket & press Page Up in 3DS Max to select that bone)

po
lakis,
yes !

[Sillytone]

I've made an attempt to convert the service, here is the brief display of my process :

Quick note: For the service, the body & leg was went wrong all over the place (70 degree orientation works but the position didn't), but the racquet orientation still fine. This case isn't work with any other shots like FH,BH,...
Also my recorder broken at the middle of the shot, so this is how the animation looks ingame:

It looks quite glitched

[manutoo]

Davide Menez,
in the animation settings, try to change "Anim. Compression" to "Keyframe reduction" instead of "Optimal".

[Sillytone]

Davide Menez,
in the animation settings, try to change "Anim. Compression" to "Keyframe reduction" instead of "Optimal".

It looks the same for me. I'll try another animations later.

[Sillytone]

I am wondering : How to make sure that the servicewaiting was registered accordingly to the particular service ? You need to export it at the same bundle or ?

[manutoo]

Davide Menez,
normally, you just need to have it the exact same name than the service animation, but it doesn't need to be in the same bundle.

[MarianoEG]

i def give a try at this one manu

[MarianoEG]

manu, i cant dl from this link. I press on it but it doesnt download :/ idk if the link is ok or what

[manutoo]

megyaem,
I just fixed the link for the Chrome browser.

[MarianoEG]

thanks manu, it works now!!!

[nico75]

Hi Manu

i donwload the UNITY link, but i have only the UNITY2019.3f1

Where can i find the 2019.4 version? There is no others links in.

Thank you.

MyFirstGame - Untitled - PC, Mac & Linux Standalone - Unity 2019.3.9f1 Personal [PREVIEW PACKAGES IN USE] _DX11_ 21_05_2021 12_42_27.png