Modifying the default bodygroups
This only applies if you are using Linux AND are ready to compile
programs from source.
Throuhought the years, I've made multiple programs and shell scripts in the aim
to automate to a maximum the maintenance of nhbgum. This had the nice side effect
of rendering substantial modifications possible, e.g. swapping the bodygroups
with custom ones and even defining which bodygroups are used in case one wants
to make the mod compatible with custom models which use more/less bodygroups
than their default counterpart. This is also the setup I use to update the mod.
This is a rough explanation of how everything is glued together. I DID NOT CHECK TO SEE IF I FORGOT STEPS OR MADE MISTAKES, for I am lazy.
1: Get/Compile/Install the tools
- nhschema, a program reading TF2's item schema and outputing the hats' data into a format readable by other scripts.
- nhupdater2, shell scripts transforming the data of nhschema into QC files.
- nhm_factory, a collection of shell scripts making use of the tools above to easily(?) manage the generation of custom no-hats-mods.
- vpkeditcli, a program to pack mods into VPKs.
- A Windows installation of TF2. You'll figure out how to get it.
- Wine. Used to execute studiomdl.exe.
2: Set $WINTF2DIR
This environment variable is used by some scripts to know where to look for folders
and Window binaries. export WINTF2DIR="$HOME/games/win/tf2" is my definition present
in $HOME/.profile, which points to my Windows install of TF2. Change it as you see fit. (Don't
forget to log out for the changes to take effect.)
3: Setup directories and bodygroups
Copy TF2's item schema located in "tf/scripts/items/items_game.txt" in the directory of nhm_factory, alongside the scripts.
Copy the directory "no_hats_bgum" and rename it to your liking. This is because the directory tree is important.
If your models don't use the same number of bodygroups (e.g. your custom pyro model doesn't have a belt bodygroup, your custom medic model has a hat bodygroup), you can define it in <yourfolder>/masks.cnf, with this syntax:
# Refer to nhschema/src/format.c (classinfo[] definition) to know the # bodygroup names and the default values. # This is the config used for no_hats_thf. mask_soldier "" mask_demo "B_SHOES" mask_heavy "B_HAT" mask_engineer "B_HAT" mask_sniper "" mask_spy "B_HAT" mask_scout "B_SHOES | B_HAT" mask_medic "B_MEDIC_BACKPACK | B_HAT" mask_pyro ""
If you want to generate cosmetics for specific classes only, you can disable the generation for all the classes you don't want:
# Let's say you want to generate a mod that changes hats for the pyro # and the sniper only. This means you must write this: opts_soldier "OPT_DISABLE" opts_demo "OPT_DISABLE" opts_heavy "OPT_DISABLE" opts_engineer "OPT_DISABLE" opts_spy "OPT_DISABLE" opts_scout "OPT_DISABLE" opts_medic "OPT_DISABLE"
Note that this will still generate hats that share a model between different classes (which is not common), e.g. the Cheater's Lament.
Now the hard part: change the bodygroup files
(located in <yourfolder>/out_nh2/uncompiled/*/*.smd)
with the files that are used by your mod.
Once it's done, refer to your
masks.cnf file or the default bodygroups at nhschema/src/format.c bodyinfo[] to know
which files you must create next to the classes' SMD files from these names:
hat, headphones, dogtags, backpack, grenades, head, shoes, hands. (Refer once again to nhschema/src/format.c
bodyinfo[] to know which file name corresponds to which bodygroup)
The content of these files may be written in the generated QC files depending on
the bodygroups the hats replace (e.g. if
a hat for the pyro replaces his backpack and head, the content of the files
backpack and head will be written to the QC file).
This means that you must write a $bodygroup rule that calls in
the SMD corresponding to the needed bodygroup (by default, I use $include
rules in those to call QCI files, but I guess you could skip the QCI part and write
$bodygroup rules in the file directly). Look at already present directories
to see how I did it.
Once this is done, you finally can...
4: Execute the scripts
And pray that I got everything right. Otherwise, take it as a challenge.
If you're lucky, genall.sh can take care of it in one go.
Feel free to read them to see how they work. (Don't pay attention to warnings about
entries trying to mount on themselves.)
I'm not good at explaining things.
Below is the old content of this document. It probably doesn't interest you.
Info: Some of the information here is no longer up to date. Read the edits at the end. This is a response I gave to an e-mail I received that shows how no_hats_bgum can be modified to use different bodygroups instead of the default ones. ----------- https://gamebanana.com/mods/198508 Is there a way to use No Hats Mod with this other mod without having cosmetic-wearing Scouts wear lower poly versions of their default cap/cosmetic-wearing Pyros wearing lower poly gas masks and oxygen tanks? ----------- Hello, [...] Yes, there is a way, although it's probably not what you expect or want. Since the mod works by recompiling a lot of hats with the default bodygroup, it means that the bodygroups which you want to replace with a higher poly version are embedded in around 1800 models. This means that you have to recompile those models with the high poly version of the bodygroups. [...] Here's how you would do it: 1. Download the mod's repository at <https://git.pevhs.ch/no-hats-bgum.git>. [outdated: see edit 1] 2. in "/nhm_source/mechbgum_no_hats_mod/uncompiled", replace the bodygroups in each class's folder with the bodygroups coming from your mod (which you need to decompile). Example: "soldier_hat_bodygroup.smd" is the soldier's helmet and needs to be replaced with the helmet from your mod. 3. If your mod uses custom textures that are in a different location than the default ones (yours does), add the "$cdmaterials" directives that are in your mod's QC files to the files "animation.qci" which are present in each class's folder. For example, "$cdmaterials "models\player\pyro\nonhwm\"" must be added to uncompiled/pyro/animation.qci, as the textures present in that folder are used by the pyro head of your mod. 4. Finally, compile each model. This can be done painlessly with tools like Crowbar. Merge the result with the files located in 0kb_files and only then can you pack the mod into a VPK file, using Valve's tool. That is a lot. And the compilation step would need to be redone whenever this mod receives an update, so unless you know how to write scripts to simplify the process, it's a looot of work. It will probably never be simple enough to be considered useful. [...] I hope this helped, or at least, was interesting. Fedora31 -------------------------------- Edits: 1. This is no longer true. If you have Windows, you download the ZIP file located at <https://pevhs.ch/tmp/nhbgum_uncompiled.zip>, or, if you run Linux AND want to do things cleanly, see edit 2. 2. The mod is now generated automatically with the help of shell scripts and custom programs. If you want to create a mod which can easily be updated, you should read what is written here <https://pevhs.ch/tf2/nhbgum/> under "More customization". It probably isn't easy to setup for the first time and requires some knowledge in scripting, but it can come in handy if you wish to keep your mod updated alongside TF2.