Hello dear Modsonline users!

In the last weeks I got some skill in creating models in Maya and importing them into CoD2 and it seems to work pretty well.

Now I'm thinking about first maybe editing, then creating a new xanim for a character. What I mean is e.g., to edit the body position of a character when it is holding an MG. But I have no idea about how to do it.

That's why I ask you. It would be really nice if somebody could tell me something about creating xanim's for characters (or maybe even in general - but about that I already read a bit).

Kind Regards,
Leal

Leal writes...

Im not familiar with COD2 and not sure as to what Maya Rig are in the Modtools but the idea is to load a Stock RIG for a character and then to record your animation frame by frame then you export it using the plugins. The only tutorial i know on this is this viewmodel MG one:

http://wiki.modsrepository.com/index.php/Call_of_Duty_4:_ViewModels

Maybe you can use this:

click here

He's very good at it, his name is MCh2207Cz

Thanks for the fast answers!

Zeroy, if I understand you well, when making an animation for a character what I need to do is to open any CoD2 character itself in Maya which includs all the bones, create the animation and export it.
And that's it? I mean, isn't there missing some script part where I call and run the animation? This normally isn't needed if you only modify an existing animation, but if you create a new one, do you know what to do? (You said you are not familiar with CoD2, but if you are with any other CoD it's probably the same I think.)

Thanks for the link paulix, but that's not exactly what I'm searching for. This tutorial explains how to create a new character for CoD2 and how to rig it to they bones etc. It doesn't explain you how to create an animation for it :).

P.D.: I think there is no way to get an animation of the game on Maya, right? (Or maybe to see or read what movements it does.)

Leal writes...

No thats not possible, start by looking up Maya Animation tutorial on Youtube as you need to know how to create them. Once you have an anim done in Maya (say you load a viewsleeves cod2 maya file and do a reload animation) then you simply export it to Xanim_Export using the COD2 Maya plugin. After this you use Asset Manager to convert your anim export to an anim file. Finally you would set this new anim in the Weapon file for reload.

All right. But in my case it would be a bit different because I want to create like a "body state". What I mean with that is what you see in my enclosed file: I want to create an animation where the player is sat down on a seat (sorry for the bad ilumination of the screenshot).
This means that after having created and exported the animation, I need to make some kind of script where I call and run the animation.

Do you know how that would work or rather which is the script function to run an animation?

It also would be interesting for me to know if it's possible to take an xanim file from a character of CoD UO and use it at CoD2. This way I could directly use the animation I would like to.

Okay. I finished my animation, but looking through game scripts and trying to search some mp animation script it's giving me the impression that mp animations are hardcoded... I can't just add a new one and let it run, can't I? flick!

i don't know the exact differences between cod2 and cod4, but cod4 has definately no animation function in mp and i guess it's that same with cod2

nonetheless, animations are not or at least only partially hardcoded. there are 3 kinds of files:

- raw\mp\playeranimtypes.txt

this anim-types file seems to contain animation "states"

none
other
pistol
smg
autorifle
...

- playeranim.script

this file associates anim states and animation files for mp. I don't know if there is something hardcoded, nor if you can add custom states + animations for them

// Character Animation Script     M U L T I P L A Y E R
//
// All player states should have animations sutable for a two handed rifle type weapon.
//
// This defines the animations and events that might occur at different times
// for this character. State changes, and random behaviour during idle/alert
// states will look here for default behaviour, if that character doesn't have
// something specific in their scripts for that level.
...

http://www.zeroy.com/websvn_pub/filedetails.php?repname=Call+of+Duty+Modern+Warfare&path=%2Fsdk%2Fraw%2Fmp%2Fplayeranim.script

- animation trees, for mp: raw\animtrees\multiplayer.atr

it appears like a list of animation names and is divided into sections like torso and leg anims. It doesn't contain anim states:

main
{
        // Torso Animations
        torso
        {
                // Temp placeholder anims
                pt_chicken_dance        // Animation which indicates another animation is not completed yet
                pt_chicken_dance_crouch // ditto for this one
        
                // Shooting anims
                pt_stand_shoot_RPG
                pt_stand_shoot
                pt_stand_shoot_auto
                pt_stand_shoot_ads
...

http://www.zeroy.com/websvn_pub/filedetails.php?repname=Call+of+Duty+Modern+Warfare&path=%2Fsdk%2Fraw%2Fanimtrees%2Fmultiplayer.atr

Thank you for the analysis Sevenz.

Anyway, I guess I can't create a new state. Maybe I could add it to these files, but there wouldn't be any way to run the animation (I looked it up and the files also exist on CoD2 with the same name).

kk, so nothing really changed in cod4 compared to cod2

the only way i know to set a certain playerAnimType (=state) is using a weapon file (image attached)

this method is used for the briefcase animation (planting and diffusing in S&D) in cod4. Here the important code line:

self.useWeapon = "briefcase_bomb_mp";

this struct variable is handled in the _gameobjects.gsc:

	useWeapon = self.useWeapon;
// ...
	player giveWeapon( useWeapon );
	player setWeaponAmmoStock( useWeapon, 0 );
	player setWeaponAmmoClip( useWeapon, 0 );
	player switchToWeapon( useWeapon );
	// ...