I would think if I post something on these forums, and you feel its appropriate for the wiki, go for it.

Thanks Vkoslak!  It's up on the wiki now

Well, certainly you're getting it right 

Just for comparition let me post a rundown of how I do it. (Less weight painting involved)


1. Using Starndar Hum_m/Hum_f as base mesh. (Same)

Tip: Use ctrl+g to make the mesh into a group, then you can change the outline (Panel in the Top-Right) to organize the objects per group, helpful when working with a lot of meshes with submeshes.

2. Load the TL1 armor to work on.

Tip: Make duplicates for the "new" parts you will work on, this helps keeping the original intact in case of screw ups.

3. Transfer the Helmet and shoulders (scaling, positioning, etc), to have it use weighted to the Hum_m skeleton, you can just look at the properties panel (Righ panel), and in Modifier: Armature change the object it's using, from the original to the Hum_m, this preserves the old weights but now they move with the Hum_m skeleton.

4. Search for a vanilla armor that has a similar siluette to the TL1 armor, then mix and match the parts, a bit of editing here and there. (This parts come already weighted, so less work with that, also makes it easy to make Male/female version with less work)

5. Re-texure the TL2 armor parts with the TL1 armor textures.
I found that a good start is to re-scale, reposition and bake the textures on a duplicate of the new armor part, then fix a bit the texture editing the UV of the duplicate, then Baking the texture of the duplicate on the original to have it use the original UV map. (Most gloves/boots textures are the same for male/female so having unmodified UV maps, make the texture works for both)

The hardest part usually is the chest part for this, since is what gives a lot of character to a armor set, and Male/Female version needs different editing and texturing

6. Give it a little touch to the textures on Gimp.

7. Rename everything to the TL2 naming convention, and check to have the right material and textures per submesh

8. Export with skeleton, delete the skeleton (it exports with all the bones rotated), copy-paste a Hum_m/Hum_F skeleton and remane it to the eskeleton your armor uses.

9. Done (In theory)

Tip: Save at every succeful step, so you don't have to make everything again. Also keep a .blend file of the final version, for quick edits and fixes.

That's kind of what I do, is a bit different that transfering all the original parts and weighting, but mix and matching TL2 armor takes time and gets tedious, also retexturing can get tricky. But I post this so you have an idea of how to aproach it another way if the result you're getting are not what you really expected or are having trouble with the weighting.

Hopes you or anyone finds this useful, also keep the hard work Phan, you're making really good progress.

Thanks very much Anarch and Vkoslak!

I tried working on a smaller project so I wouldn't have to worry about so many sub-meshes > I made an "Alchemist Hair" FEATUREOPTION

Spoiler (hover to show)

I practiced the weightpainting using Vkoslak's method and I got it to move properly with the .SKELETON!  Thanks so much Vkoslak!

Then I made it into a FEATUREOPTION and got it into the game too

Spoiler (hover to show)

BUT as you can see from the screens, the texture is all messed up.  Here I learned even if you have a working UV-mapped texture for your mesh which is defined in your .MATERIAL, it seems the game insists on using its own textures.

So Anarch I found this part of your reply very interesting...

5. Re-texure the TL2 armor parts with the TL1 armor textures.
I found that a good start is to re-scale, reposition and bake the textures on a duplicate of the new armor part, then fix a bit the texture editing the UV of the duplicate, then Baking the texture of the duplicate on the original to have it use the original UV map.

What I understand you're saying is...

1. scale/reposition the texture of the new-mesh part so that it "fits" on to the existing-mesh part;

2. in the .MATERIAL file, point to the new texture for the sub-mesh (of your new-mesh model) that is supposed to use it.

Am I getting it right?  And for the scaling/repositoning, are you working in Blender, in GUTS or just in your photo editor?

Since I was successful in the weightpainting, I'm excited to try it on other armor pieces and eventually a full set (like the Homunculus set I've been working on)

I started with this since I saw this post from Kva (has a video tutorial on baking): http://torchmodders.com/forums/tl1-armors-wardrobe-mod/anarch's-wardrobe-mod/msg4585/#msg4585

You need to reposition the meshes so the baking works, that what I was talking about.

I remember that discussion now; thanks so much Anarch!  It looks like exactly what I need to learn...

For my own convenience I quote Kva's post below, and also Vkoslak's post which Kva was following...

Hooray!
I used this video:

Spoiler (hover to show)

Well, it contains some graphic bugs, but it does not matter. 
Step by step and everything works fine!



Yes, this method gives a huge potential for modding. 

Quote from: Vkoslak on April 23, 2016, 08:22:37 am

Reading through it, there is a section on copying UV maps. It is really short, so I started poking around and found this:
http://www.screencast.com/users/blenderwho/folders/Jing/media/8999e39f-0a49-464a-b558-e3ac2bcc8c4f
Transferring UV images from one model to another based on different UV layouts.  As long as the models are somewhat close.

I tried to do the same, but I failed.  I'm doing something wrong. After I press "Bake", I do not have new texture map, but only a black image.

I subscribe to "blendernation" on twitter, and a couple of days ago I saw something relevant to my interests.
https://blog.sketchfab.com/retopologise-3d-scans-low-poly-game-assets/
I have a kinect and some 3d scanning software. Hell, that's where the face and some of the boots on my witch mod came from. I just did the retopology by hand. 

Reading through it, there is a section on copying UV maps. It is really short, so I started poking around and found this:
http://www.screencast.com/users/blenderwho/folders/Jing/media/8999e39f-0a49-464a-b558-e3ac2bcc8c4f
Transferring UV images from one model to another based on different UV layouts.  As long as the models are somewhat close.

I'm still monkeying with it, but it looks promising.

Back to the journey!

While trying the baking procedure I encountered the "Feedback Loop Detected" error message (for Blender 2.65; in later versions the error message is "Circular Reference In Texture Stack").

I found this tutorial and I'm working with it to see if I can get around the problem...



Will report back...

Hi Vkoslak!  Yup that was it exactly I've since succeeded in generating the baked texture onto a new UV map.

Spoiler (hover to show)

I'm working on the "/ExChest" material, so I made a completely new UV map for it. I will next try to bake onto the pre-existing UV map of a pre-existing sub-mesh (hope it's not much more difficult !).

Ever onward!

But refuses to display properly in Dusho's viewer.

Dusho's viewer has a problem with submeshes with specific names(for example simultaneous use */chest and */exchest) .  I wrote about this earlier in my guide.
I'll show you what I mean.

2 different viewers:


In addition, the viewer may have problems with combination .png/.dds textures in a .material file.
This is not a big problem, there just need more experience. 

another viewer