Automatic Sprite Rendering

[Serpyderpy]

On 5/3/2024 at 8:19 PM, HENDRIX said:

Incase any of you are interested, we have finally cracked the animation format of cobra engine games (Planet Zoo, Jurassic World Evolution 2), so rendering their models to sprites is now feasible.

 

Would this mean that the plugin will be updated (if not compatible already) to newer versions of blender or would there be some possibility of importing Frontier models and animations to older versions of blender? Either way this is really cool, there are some ZT2 anim sets I am not too fond of and having alternatives would be so nice! Actual wizardry stuff.

[(Designer)HENDRIX]

22 hours ago, Serpyderpy said:

 

Would this mean that the plugin will be updated (if not compatible already) to newer versions of blender or would there be some possibility of importing Frontier models and animations to older versions of blender? Either way this is really cool, there are some ZT2 anim sets I am not too fond of and having alternatives would be so nice! Actual wizardry stuff.

For the time being you probably have to use FBX as an intermediate format to bridge blender versions, as a backport of cobra tools is impossible and a rewrite of the ZT1 sprite tools is not planned.

[MrTroodon]

Ah well ignore my previous issue, but, what would be the more common reasons for the converted sprites to cause ingame crashes?

[Fern]

Sounds like you need to edit the uca. There is an editing guide over at ZKL

http://www.lunamanar.com/zklounge/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=116

There are lots of lines in the uca that done wrong will cause crashes.

Missing graphics links might do it too. If there is a line that says use x graphics and the graphics are not there that will crash too.

You could run one of the checkers on the file too.

There are heaps of reasons for crashes.

[MrTroodon]

Well the thing is Im not even using APE, this is a remake of the styracosaurus in the game. If I convert the sprites using ZooT they work just fine but if I use the Blender addong they just lead to ingame crashes whenever the sprite is meant to appear.

[Fern]

So how are you loading the graphics?

You do not need to use APE but your file should have a uca file. All animals have a uca file and that might need editing.

[MrTroodon]

Is not using an uca but a copy of the ai file of the styraco since well, is a remake. But the sprites do work if I create them with ZooT, the problem is when they are done with the Blender addon, wich yeah id prefer to use since it can make the process quite faster.

[Fern]

Both Zoot and APE code the graphic to the ZT ai or uca you are using. Blender would not do that.

[MrTroodon]

24 minutes ago, Fern said:

Both Zoot and APE code the graphic to the ZT ai or uca you are using. Blender would not do that.

But then whats the "Convert sprites to ZT1" option meant to do?

[MrTroodon]

30 minutes ago, MrTroodon said:

But then whats the "Convert sprites to ZT1" option meant to do?

Okay so good news, works now but bad news, dont know why.