Hi all.

I've just renewed our hosting for 2019. We're good until June 19. 2020 now. The hosting is pretty costly and I just forked out 214 EUR. If anyone would like to help cover the cost it would be greatly appreciated. Every little bit helps.

I've set up a PayPal Pool for this here: https://paypal.me/pools/c/8ftrBRlwlG

-Wolven

I love this idea, but a few key questions come to mind. Nothing that too much of a problem, but I think we'd need to make sure we clarify before we start so we don't spend the whole time arguing!

How do we decide what content does and doesn't "make the cut"? ie what level of polish is considered acceptable?

Also how do we deem whether something is useful/useless? ie meets the critera of the mod?

Do we need to consider making sure that we "spread around" the mod contributions to reflect the community or just stick to a small handful of modder friends?

How do we chose between mods that are very similar or serve the same function?
 
Who makes the final decision? Is it a vote? Do we have an all powerful director who calls the shots?

These are good points. Making something like this requires an organized group of collaborators where participants have roles relative to their skills. It also requires "management" and an overall vision and design idea. It would have to function much like a game developer studio, where you have your lead game (mod) designer(s) mappers, UI designers, character designers, graphics designers, etc. All working towards a unified goal and design idea.

Again, I'm not sure I understand the idea correctly. Is the idea to create "yet another mod pack" where you take existing mods and wrap them up together in a non conflicting package. Or is the idea to create a new big mod, which incorporates ideas and designs from existing mods?

https://youtu.be/5Xj6OGVIKTM

Thanks for testing.

It's weird about that missing tab icon. It works just fine here. Not sure where or how to begin fixing it.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1459883484

Edit. I've attached the files used to make the tabs.

Ah. A reply from the UI master. Thank you very much. I'll see if I can get it working with these instructions.

I'll try explain better. I've gone back and refreshed some of my old knowledge. I will assume that you've already created new class, by making new UNITTYPES and cloned one of the existing classes. If not you can see how this is done in this video, by Omnifas:

Spoiler (hover to show)

https://youtu.be/65bQfH8kYHY

Browse to the folder where your mod lives, and create the directories:

\MEDIA\MODELS\PCS\HUM_F\ and \MEDIA\MODELS\PCS\HUM_M\

This is where your new custom animations will live. From now on I'll just explain how to do the rest for the Female version of the class. You need to do alle the same steps for the Male version as well.

Now we need to copy the files we're after from the original game files. So browse to: \Torchlight II\MEDIA\MODELS\PCS\HUM_F\ and then copy the following files over to your mod directory:

HUM_F.ANIMATION
HUM_F.MESH
HUM_F.MATERIAL

Since you're using the Wherewolf Run animations for your skill, you also need to copy these .SKELETON files:

SPECIAL_WEREWOLF_RUN_START.SKELETON
SPECIAL_WEREWOLF_RUN_LOOP.SKELETON
SPECIAL_WEREWOLF_RUN_END.SKELETON

You should now have these six files located here: \NAME_OF_YOUR_MOD\MEDIA\MODELS\PCS\HUM_F\

As we don't want your mod to conflict with other mods, you must give the files new unique names. Use whatever names makes sens to you, mine are just examples.

Rename HUM_F.ANIMATION to MY_CLASS_F.ANIMATION
Rename HUM_F.MESH to MY_CLASS_F.MESH
Rename HUM_F.MATERIAL to MY_CLASS_F.MATERIAL

Rename  SPECIAL_WEREWOLF_RUN_START.SKELETON to SPECIAL_MY_COOL_SKILL_START.SKELETON
Rename  SPECIAL_WEREWOLF_RUN_LOOP.SKELETON to SPECIAL_MY_COOL_SKILL_LOOP.SKELETON
Rename SPECIAL_WEREWOLF_RUN_END.SKELETON to SPECIAL_MY_COOL_SKILL_END.SKELETON

Next you need to edit the .SKELETON files to give the animations new names. I generally use the same name as the file names. (Runic also does this)
So open SPECIAL_MY_COOL_SKILL_START.SKELETON in a text editor and scroll down until you see Special_Werewolf_Run_Start
Edit this text to: Special_My_Cool_Skill_Start and save the file. Now do the same for the other two .SKELETON files. Just change the text to: Special_My_Cool_Skill_Loop and Special_My_Cool_Skill_End respectively.

Now you need to edit the MY_CLASS_F.ANIMATION file to add your new animations. So open it in a text editor an look for this code block:

[ANIMATION]
<STRING>FILE:special_werewolf_run_end.skeleton
<STRING>NAME:Special_Werewolf_Run_End
<FLOAT>DURATION:0.266667
[KEY]
<STRING>NAME:FADEINMESH
<FLOAT>FRAME:1
[/KEY]
[KEY]
<STRING>NAME:SPAWNPARTICLE
<FLOAT>FRAME:0.174603
<STRING>LAYOUT:media\particles\playerskills\berserker\werewolfdash\end.layout
<BOOL>PARTICLEATTACHES:false
[/KEY]
[KEY]
<STRING>NAME:PLAYSOUND
<FLOAT>FRAME:0.15873
<STRING>SOUND:POISONWANDIMPACT
[/KEY]
[KEY]
<STRING>NAME:FADEINMESH
<FLOAT>FRAME:1
[/KEY]
[/ANIMATION]
[ANIMATION]
<STRING>FILE:special_werewolf_run_loop.skeleton
<STRING>NAME:Special_Werewolf_Run_Loop
<FLOAT>DURATION:1.6
[/ANIMATION]
[ANIMATION]
<STRING>FILE:special_werewolf_run_start.skeleton
<STRING>NAME:Special_Werewolf_Run_Start
<FLOAT>DURATION:0.333333
[KEY]
<STRING>NAME:FADEOUTMESH
<FLOAT>FRAME:0
[/KEY]
[KEY]
<STRING>NAME:HIT
<FLOAT>FRAME:1
[/KEY]
[/ANIMATION]

Copy that block and paste it inside the same file. (MY_CLASS_F.ANIMATION)

Now edit the block of code you just pasted, so it refers to your new animations and not the werewolf_run animation.

[ANIMATION]
<STRING>FILE:special_my_cool_skill_end.skeleton
<STRING>NAME:Special_My_Cool_Skill_End
<FLOAT>DURATION:0.266667
[KEY]
<STRING>NAME:FADEINMESH
<FLOAT>FRAME:1
[/KEY]
[KEY]
<STRING>NAME:SPAWNPARTICLE
<FLOAT>FRAME:0.174603
<STRING>LAYOUT:media\particles\playerskills\berserker\werewolfdash\end.layout
<BOOL>PARTICLEATTACHES:false
[/KEY]
[KEY]
<STRING>NAME:PLAYSOUND
<FLOAT>FRAME:0.15873
<STRING>SOUND:POISONWANDIMPACT
[/KEY]
[KEY]
<STRING>NAME:FADEINMESH
<FLOAT>FRAME:1
[/KEY]
[/ANIMATION]
[ANIMATION]
<STRING>FILE:special_my_cool_skill_loop.skeleton
<STRING>NAME:Special_My_Cool_Skill_Loop
<FLOAT>DURATION:1.6
[/ANIMATION]
[ANIMATION]
<STRING>FILE:special_my_cool_skill_start.skeleton
<STRING>NAME:Special_My_Cool_Skill_Start
<FLOAT>DURATION:0.333333
[KEY]
<STRING>NAME:FADEOUTMESH
<FLOAT>FRAME:0
[/KEY]
[KEY]
<STRING>NAME:HIT
<FLOAT>FRAME:1
[/KEY]
[/ANIMATION]

Make the changes you want to the particle effects, sounds, etc and save the file.

Next we need to make the custom class use your copy of the MESH file. So start GUTS and launch the Player editor.
Select the Female version of your class and click the Files tab. In the Mesh File box change the mesh from hum_f to my_class_f

Now save.

Repeat all of the above steps for the Male version of your class.

The last step is to make the custom skill use the newly created animations.

So in the skill change the strings:

<STRING>ANIMATION:special_werewolf_run_start
<STRING>ANIMATIONLOOP:special_werewolf_run_loop
<STRING>ANIMATIONLOOPEND:special_werewolf_run_end
To

<STRING>ANIMATION:special_my_cool_skill_start
<STRING>ANIMATIONLOOP:special_my_cool_skill_loop
<STRING>ANIMATIONLOOPEND:special_my_cool_skill_end
Save the skill and you should be done.

If all went to plan and I didn't forget something, the custom skill should now use the custom animations.

I hope that was clearer and easier to follow than my links and ramblings in my previous replies. Good luck.

BONUS: Here's a video I rediscovered, while looking through my modding tutorials bookmarks. It's a stream of an Runic employee teaching how to make custom classes and skills. You might find it educational.

Spoiler (hover to show)

https://youtu.be/_0_EwsMSD-g

You're welcome. If you get stuck, just ask and we'll help you out. Can't wait to see what mods you produce down the line. The learning curve can be a bit steep, but that's why this site and community exist. Welcome to Torchmodders and enjoy your modding journey!