General Modding the driver - creating new helmet

[Mr. Malarkey]

Hello all -

I would like to make a change to the driver model, and I'm not sure how to go about doing it. I was hoping that someone here could help.

Specifically, I am trying to create a new 1950s-style helmet. I've been using the pudding helmet, but I think we deserve a better helmet for that era. But in doing some testing, I've found that when I convert the driver to .fbx, converting him back into .kn5 seems to break something. My new test driver will appear in the CM showroom by himself, but when I put him into a car he doesn't appear. And when I try to run him in-game, I get an error message and CM says that he didn't load.

Can anyone go over and/or provide a link to a step-by-step guide on how to mod the driver? I know it can be done, I just lack the knowledge and/or software to do it.

Thanks in advance!

(I am aware of how to change the skin, and I also know how to change drivers, I just don't know how to alter the model and save it as a workable .kn5.)

 

[Stereo]

I've used these settings to export an animated driver in Blender & then kseditor to make the kn5, you didn't say what software you're using.

 

[Mr. Malarkey]

Thanks so much for the quick reply!

Whoops! Modding is being done in Blender. I tried doing the conversion from .fbx to .kn5 in KS Editor, but I only saw the options to export as a car or a track. So I ended up using 3DSimE3D, which may be at least part of the problem.

 

[Stereo]

Yeah, you should pick 'car' (track removes object hierarchy and possibly some magic for tree objects)

 

[Mr. Malarkey]

Thanks, Nick.

So, if I understand you correctly, the steps would be:

1. Convert model to .fbx, open in Blender, make changes to helmet geometry.
2. Save .fbx using the settings you provided.
3. Open .fbx in KSEditor, then save as a .kn5 with "car" ticked.

If I've got that wrong, or if there's more, please let me know. Thanks!

 

[Stereo]

That's the most likely to work, I don't know 100% that it'll end up correct, I've had problems with how Blender imports bones in the past & I only use that for scratch made animations.

 

[Mr. Malarkey]

Thanks a lot! Bones were a problem here, too. I'll have to tinker around some more.

 

[Nicecuppatea]

You can use Content Manager to extract an existing driver model to a fbx. It will load in Blender with some of the bones rotated but if you're only changing the helmet it doesn't matter. When you save it, Blender's weirdness will rotate the bones back to the correct orientation again.

Should look something like this when you load the fbx into Blender, as long as you don't touch the bones or the weight-painting it should work in game :

 

[Mr. Malarkey]

Thanks for the reply! How do you extract the driver using Content Manager? I'm in developer mode, and I can see how to extract the cars, but I don't see how to extract the driver. Thanks!

BTW, love the 1923 driver! I only started with AC recently, but that's one of the first mods I downloaded. Looked silly to have a modern driver piloting those old cars!

 

[Nicecuppatea]

Make a folder in the 'cars' folder, call it something like 50_driver and copy a driver model to it, view the model in the CM showroom and you should see an 'Unpack KN5' option in the Tools section at the side, CM will make a folder called 'unpacked' in the same folder as the driver model with a fbx and a fbx.ini in it.

I forget who figured this out but it's how I managed to do it after months of messing about with rotated bones and Blender's wobbly fbxs.

 

[Mr. Malarkey]

Oh, brilliant! I never even considered just moving the driver to the cars folder! Crossing my fingers that this does the trick.

 

[Mr. Malarkey]

Make a folder in the 'cars' folder, call it something like 50_driver and copy a driver model to it, view the model in the CM showroom and you should see an 'Unpack KN5' option in the Tools section at the side, CM will make a folder called 'unpacked' in the same folder as the driver model with a fbx and a fbx.ini in it.

I forget who figured this out but it's how I managed to do it after months of messing about with rotated bones and Blender's wobbly fbxs.

So, your Content Manager method was spot on! One question though: once I open the model in blender and make changes, how do I save it so that it also saves an fbx.ini? Without that, it won't export as a kn5 properly. Or do you just use the fbx.ini that was generated when you unpacked?

 

[Nicecuppatea]

So, your Content Manager method was spot on! One question though: once I open the model in blender and make changes, how do I save it so that it also saves an fbx.ini? Without that, it won't export as a kn5 properly. Or do you just use the fbx.ini that was generated when you unpacked?

Save it as a fbx with the settings Stereo gave above, then use KSEditor for the textures, as with cars Blender is just for the model and creating any new materials.

Load the unpacked fbx.ini in KSEditor and then add in or change textures as you wish. CM should save a texture folder when it unpacks the driver model, so you can mostly use those and just add in some new ones for the helmet, and goggles if you have any.

 

[Mr. Malarkey]

OK, I think you've pointed me in all the right directions. You and Stereo have helped immeasurably. Thank you so much!

 

[Vanillah]

Hi, this post is just what I have been looking for months.
I followed the whole procedure step by step but I have not solved my problem

I have Blender 2.93.5

 

[Mr. Malarkey]

I worked on this for weeks, and finally got it figured out. Can you be more specific about what you're trying to do and where you are getting hung up?

 

[Vanillah]

I worked on this for weeks, and finally got it figured out. Can you be more specific about what you're trying to do and where you are getting hung up?

Hi Malarkey
As did I answer you in PM, I followed step by step the two mini tutorial but something goes wrong
Just when I open in KS Editor my fbx reworked the editor doesn't read the body, other time doesn't read the gloves, etcetera ...

Now I'm start again from zero with more pay attention and hope to resolve

 

[CiekawyMichu]

Hi, I've followed all of the steps, the driver appears in CM Showroom but crashes when I try to run him in-game - I just get an error that it couldn't load. Did you figure out what was the issue?

 

[Mr. Malarkey]

Hi, I've followed all of the steps, the driver appears in CM Showroom but crashes when I try to run him in-game - I just get an error that it couldn't load. Did you figure out what was the issue?

Can you be more specific as to what you are doing? It has been several months since I worked on this, but I'll do my best to help out!

 

[CiekawyMichu]

Can you be more specific as to what you are doing? It has been several months since I worked on this, but I'll do my best to help out!

I've been trying to create a new driver, I set up the armature properly, exported to .kn5, checked in CM and I see the model, but when I try to load the model in-game, it just crashes