Demo File Format FAQ

Well, I have all those numbers down now except the 5th one. It doesn't seen to change anything! Each character I've made has had a 0 value but I haven't seen any other characters with a 0 value yet.

Here's an excerpt from my soon-to-be-redone FAQ....

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>0 394 COSTUME 0 89a0ea 77 1 0 .77 .66 .20 .12 -0.1 1 -1 0 1 -1 0 1 -1 0 1 -1 0 1 -1 0 1 -1 0 1 -1 0</pre><hr />
<ul type="square"> [*]The first number on the Costume line is the basic model. 0 is basic male, 1 basic female, and 4 huge male. (I’m guessing 2 and 3 are big male and big female but setting this makes most of the character invisible and gives lots of move animation errors.) Note that many costume options do not exist for all models so switching gender will often result in no texture at all.[*]The second number is the skin color. Colors are done in hexadecimal as BBGGRR so 00ff00 is pure green and white is ffffff. While character creation limits your skin colors quite a bit, I think you can use any color you like in a demo.[*]The third is height. 0 is average height and values can range pretty far. –99 makes the character no more than a dot and at +1000 you’ll have to zoom back to see higher than the kneecap. Graphics don’t scale up too well so don’t expect a lot from characters larger than 25.[*]The fourth is the overall physique scale. –1 is as skinny as possible and 1 is as muscular. Going above 1 has no affect I can see but, when I put a huge male’s physique at –40, his head shrunk totally into his chest![*]The next number doesn’t seem to have any effect. I suspect it is something that the following numbers override.[*]Shoulders are next (.77 above). Normally between -1 and 1, you can go outside those bounds and make some real strange folk. Going negative very far will make the right shoulder come out the left side and vise versa.[*]Chest next (.66 above). Going outside the -1 to 1 range has no effect.[*]Waist (.20) work just like chest.[*]Hips (.12) work more like shoulders. If you go over 1 you start getting a very bow-legged hero. Going much under –1, though, just makes the hips vanish completely.[*]Legs (-0.1 above) are different. The max/min value the game lets you make seems to depend on other factors (probably including height). The end results are almost always pretty near 0. You can change this a lot in a demo, though. A 1 makes your legs twice as big as the rest of your body. By –0.9 you’ll have no legs at all. Below that and you start sinking into the pavement, and the game starts to act odd.[*]The last 21 numbers are all used to describe the head. The seven parts are head, brow, cheek, chin, cranium, jaw, and nose (the same order they appear in the costume creator). Each part gets three numbers reflecting the width, the height, and the depth. In the example, all seven parts are given max width, minimum height, and average depth. The range goes from –1 to 1. If you go outside that range there is no effect, it just uses the max or min. (So a nose of 9 9 –9 will look just like a 1 1 –1 nose.) The exception to this is the head. A head of –9, -9, -9 makes for a pretty tiny head, while heads over +9 start to really bury into the chest.[/list]
Maybe I can figure out new costume options tomorrow. If the Arena doesn't come up too soon, that is....

The latest version of issue four now records body sliders correctly! W00T!

(Now about those Kheldians that never return to their original form..... )

Anyone know what's up with www.cityofvillans.com? Looks like it's kaput. Be a shame if that's gone for good. One of the best demo resources out there.

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Anyone know what's up with www.cityofvillans.com? Looks like it's kaput. Be a shame if that's gone for good. One of the best demo resources out there.

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Not being a spelling N a z i, but it might help if you spelled it right. www.cityofvillains.com

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Anyone know what's up with www.cityofvillans.com? Looks like it's kaput. Be a shame if that's gone for good. One of the best demo resources out there.

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Not being a spelling N a z i, but it might help if you spelled it right. www.cityofvillains.com

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No, that's the City of Villains web site.

www.cityofvillans.com, spelled just that way, was a fan site with a database of demo resources, including NPC and FX resources for editting and customizing demos. If you read back through the thread, you'll see multiple references to it.

Don't blame me, I didn't pick the name.

I haven't seen him update things there in a long time. Guess we lost him.

Yeah, Omnicrola hasn't posted anything here since back in November. I've e-mailed him asking if the resources from cityofvillans are available to put up on another site.

If so, I'll add them in with the Heroes Hideaway revamp I'm working on.

Ok, I just got an e-mail from Omnicrola and apparently the WoW monster grabbed him and ran away.

He did say that I could get all the data and I'll get it back online as quickly as I can.

GREAT!!!!

Quick question video master. All my demo file are not loading. Each demo file begins with something like the following.

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1 2843 POS -32748.074219 -32738.949219 -32753.925781
31880959 2843 POS -65495.75 -65477.5 -65508.25
31880959 2843 POS -98241.476563 -98217.203125 -98262.875
31316894 0 Version 2

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removing this to look like this.

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1 0 Version 2

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corrects the problem and the video is playable. Any suggestions as to why my files are starting this way?


thanks

/e bow

HOLY....!! Yeah, you need to make the change to make those work. I've never seen that problem before, myself. That stuff is all figured out when it initializes so maybe your computer is really busy when you're starting the demo?

Well I have made a few demos since and the info is no longer there! go figure. Very strange.

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HOLY....!! Yeah, you need to make the change to make those work. I've never seen that problem before, myself. That stuff is all figured out when it initializes so maybe your computer is really busy when you're starting the demo?

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I've had that happen before--for demos shot during hami raids. Three out of my first four demos were like that (hey, there were like 160 people there) and some of them had a hundred lines of action before the header. But a little snip-snip and everything was back to normal.

Does anyone have a saved copy of the "Big Bad List of NPCs, Objects, and Actions"? Because the site it was originally on (Might have been CityofVillans.com) is, of course, unavailable now.

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Does anyone have a saved copy of the "Big Bad List of NPCs, Objects, and Actions"? Because the site it was originally on (Might have been CityofVillans.com) is, of course, unavailable now.

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Yes. It was named demodata.txt from MasterMarbles and promoted in the Custom Demo Creation Guide.

His site was down as of his last posting in that guide, but as also metioned in the thread I have maintained a local copy that I've updated a bit. (Still need to organize the file into a cleaner format and add in various FX, models, costume pieces, MOVs, but since they are all from local demofiles I have it isn't a high priority for me. Some day. )

As noted in Marbles' guide, the file is available for distribution to those that want to drop me a PM with a valid email address.

*All Star*

I keep a partial list of model names for villains and major NPCs. No actions/FXs at this point, though may add those down the line if I find the time.

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Does anyone have a saved copy of the "Big Bad List of NPCs, Objects, and Actions"? Because the site it was originally on (Might have been CityofVillans.com) is, of course, unavailable now.

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I should have the CityofVillans site back up in some form by this weekend.

Are fixed map objects (buildings, etc...not doors or cars) integrated in the demo somehow?

I am looking at the demo files and wondering if there is some minimum_height that an object can occupy. For example, if I have a toon walking up a hill, must I adjust his Z manually?

My main concern for this is obviously to save time but also to prevent ground clipping. Any ideas Zloth? Anyone else?

Edit:
Again for the point of clarity - I want to know if these objects are somehow detected in the demo file.

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Does anyone have a saved copy of the "Big Bad List of NPCs, Objects, and Actions"? Because the site it was originally on (Might have been CityofVillans.com) is, of course, unavailable now.

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I should have the CityofVillans site back up in some form by this weekend.

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Or not

I'm having some minor script/db issues on my server that are causing the data to not display. Site up when I get it resolved.

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Are fixed map objects (buildings, etc...not doors or cars) integrated in the demo somehow?

I am looking at the demo files and wondering if there is some minimum_height that an object can occupy. For example, if I have a toon walking up a hill, must I adjust his Z manually?

My main concern for this is obviously to save time but also to prevent ground clipping. Any ideas Zloth? Anyone else?

Edit:
Again for the point of clarity - I want to know if these objects are somehow detected in the demo file.

[/ QUOTE ]

There is no collision detection in demofile editing. The map models, character models, and FX models appear to interect with one another through manipulation.

The map models are static, and unable to be manipulated, rotated, scaled, or otherwise transformed. What you see is what you get.

Character models can be placed anywhere within the map models. Including within map 'objects'. So a character model can walk directly through a hill, building, other character model, etc., by altering the model's XYZ.

Generally speaking, using an existing demofile as a baseline for model locations is the easiest way to precisely place a character model within a map model. Alternately, (and with greater practice) an editor can make a 'best guess' at the intended destination and run the demo to adjust as needed through observation in veiwing it. (Having the model use CHAT to state locations helps with this process.)

In order to save time, you may want to record a demo that has your (or another) character model in the locations you desire and use that as a base. Raw location editing is a time consuming process if you are trying to use it with any precision. While it can be done, the edit time scales up tremendously if you want everything looking 'just right'. (I probably could have done Go. Hunt. Kill Skuls. The Movie in 3 weeks vs. the 6 it took with raw editing. )

For clarity - there is NO collision detection within demofile editing; which is what you are asking.

*All Star*

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Character models can be placed anywhere within the map models. Including within map 'objects'. So a character model can walk directly through a hill, building, other character model, etc., by altering the model's XYZ.

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Yep. In fact, there doesn't seem to be any in the game client itself. The server figures out how high things should be. You'll still sometimes see pedestrians walk through fountains and stairs.

I am planning a demo with multiple actors doing various things at the same time. Some of the actor movement involves climbing up beaches (in striga) and running up the side of the volcano...

Which would be the easiest/fastest way to do this?
1) record several demos of my toon doing various actions in the same area, then splicing them into the main demo (replacing my toon with other toons)?
2) Manually insert NPCs

First one, though what could be even faster is to actually get some friends to help out and have them all do it at once. You can put them 'in costume' by doing a demo edit.

ok heres a stupid question but how do i rotate the camera in fron of my character ( to see my face ) i can only rotate the sided and up and down but they don't allow me to view my toon from the front im having a little trouble understanding camera postion right now :-P

Object question: Does anyone know if there are any good placeable light fixtures available?

I was hoping that the lazer lights of the PDP or the spot lights that show up all over the city were objects, but no such luck.