Hi All,

I posted here a while back asking for tips on how to get started on building my own RPG (http://www.gamedev.net/topic/639121-rpg-beginner-steps/#entry5034690)

I had some great tips and advice, and I ended up settling on Unity. (Thanks to Olgo for the suggestion, and Moneal2001 for the links).

So, I have now been following Petey on his quest and got far enough to understand what I'm doing. I won't go into detail as it will most likely bore you all, but I'm at a point that I wish to deviate from his teachings. I intend to follow through the tutorials to the bitter end to make sure I pick up everything I can, (and will do so while awaiting advice from this post), but I want to do a few things different to Petey.

My first problem is equipment. With regards to weapons and shields Petey covers this nicely, however it appears to me that equipping armour, boots, gloves etc. I will be expected to change the material on the character model. I would like to have separate meshes for my equipment, for different shapes/looks mainly, but this will influence other aspects of my game slightly.

I can make my game just as much fun and unique without this ability, but let's face it: people want to be able to see their character wearing the gear they've equipped.

Is anyone able to offer any advice on how to achieve this? I have started off by making some meshes, however when 'docked' onto the character, they don't flex with the model, causing gross clipping errors. I've read about replacing parts of the model (chest, arms etc.) with the mesh for the armour, but I got my character model from the asset store so imagine this is not possible?

Any and all suggestions, tips and advice is gratefully received.

Thanks,

Ibzy

Hi Norman,

I have every intention to make my own model for the finished product, and I want to learn to do it myself, but where/how? Do I need to have my own model broken into components or can I pick apart the one I have? (As I say, the model I have now wont be used for the finished product, so I don't think I need to worry about EULAs for the model?)

And once I have a model separated, how do I switch out the model segments in game?

Thanks

My first problem is equipment. With regards to weapons and shields Petey covers this nicely, however it appears to me that equipping armour, boots, gloves etc. I will be expected to change the material on the character model. I would like to have separate meshes for my equipment, for different shapes/looks mainly, but this will influence other aspects of my game slightly.

There are three proven ways to do this.

First: Each armor set is its own mesh and the only other changing items are Hats,Weapons and accessories that can be parented.

The head is also a loose object, Mount and blade is example of a game made like this.

Second: You have a base mesh and armor is parented over the mesh, this is quick and easy to use, but uses more resources.

Third: You model each part on it's own -e.g. gloves, chain mail, pant, boots- then merge the meshes into one complete piece.

This is the most common method and often the best.

It has been a while since I used Unity but I think you use the Mesh.CombineMeshes function for this.

Hi Ninja,

I have considered the first, but feel it would a) be limiting to customization and b) require the same/similar resolution to the problem I have with separate items i.e. having them bend at joints.

The second idea sounds good enough for me (at least for now) but I have a problem getting the mesh to not glitch through the armour, as the model's animation moves, the armour doesn't move with it.

Option 3: separate meshes for the body parts. This is the option I think I'm going to have to go for, but I'm at a loss for how to do this. I need to split my current body/skin mesh into parts for the armour to 'replace', but when I do this I have a number of issues.

- Will I need to re-animate the mesh or split each animation the same way? I downloaded my model from the asset store so it came as one piece with animations.

- Once split, will the animation of body parts leave gaps between (for example) the armpit?

- How do I got about this in the best way? I have scoured t'interweb looking for a tutorial on this with no such luck. I can look into combining the meshes and switching them out in-game, but getting to this position is proving difficult.

Thanks for any further assistance.

Ibzy

- Will I need to re-animate the mesh or split each animation the same way? I downloaded my model from the asset store so it came as one piece with animations.

If you split a animated mesh each part should still keep there animations, because the data stored on the meshes are the Bone weight and vertex group.

- Once split, will the animation of body parts leave gaps between (for example) the armpit?

You will fix this by merging vertices that occupy the same place.

- How do I got about this in the best way? I have scoured t'interweb looking for a tutorial on this with no such luck. I can look into combining the meshes and switching them out in-game, but getting to this position is proving difficult.

http://wiki.unity3d.com/index.php?title=SkinnedMeshCombiner'>http://wiki.unity3d.com/index.php?title=SkinnedMeshCombiner

Back when I used unity this helped me.

If you have some bucks to spend, these packs are really great:

http://www.frogames.net/content-packs.html

But, some of them cost a shit load of money.

The CS:Warriors and Commoners pack have just what you need.