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Understanding In Game Head Slider Values

Crunch edited this page Dec 7, 2023 · 23 revisions

This Guide is still under development but is considered to be in a useable state.
Incomplete sections are marked with an exlimation mark (!) before their importance level.

This guide will provide a basic rundown on how to find the relevant gr2 objects and textures for your in-game character model.


Tools Required:

Assumptions:


The PSC Node and Index IDs

  1. It is recommended to open a word processor to take notes as you go, as you will be copying and searching a lot throughout this guide. Excel, Wordpad or Notepad are all perfectly suitable. This guide also assumes you have a character customization already created from within SWTOR. For the duration of this guide, we will be using the example below, however you can use your own character.


You may also want to start your note taking by creating a layout similar to this table, with three columns for Field Name, Slider Value, and Index ID as headings. Head Index ID will be required regardless of class, gender or race so ensure that is your first row. The other rows will be created/filled in as you follow this section of the guide, as they may be different depending on your class, genders and races.

Field Name Slider Value Index ID Value Model ID Value Material ID Value
Head Index ID
Nothing yet...
Nothing yet...
  1. Navigate to Jedipedia's File Reader (the link is available at the top left corner of the World Viewer page, too) and click the Add Assets button, then navigate to your SWTOR game files' Assets Directory and select all the .tor files within this folder, then open them. Loading can take between 10-60 seconds (there are progress indicators), so perfect time to check your phone.
    • Steam Install Location: C:\Program Files (86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Star Wars – The Old Republic\Assets
    • SWTOR Launcher Install Location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\BioWare\Star Wars - The Old Republic\Assets


  1. Once all the `.tor` files have loaded into the File Reader, switch to the 'Nodes' tab on the top left, and then, in the input search box `psc.` and navigate to the correct class, gender and then select the race for your character. Please note it can take a few seconds for the node to fully load.


In this case, the character example is a Bounty Hunter, Female, Human. If you're familiar with the nodes you can also type the full node path into the search box, for example. `pcs.bounty_hunter.female.human`.


  1. When the psc node loads press Ctrl + F and do a search for your characters appropriate body type. For the example used in this guide we'll be searching for bfn. Two results will be found, you want to navigate to the section that has a number of entries below the body type ranging from 1 up and not the section that mentions appPcsSkeletonDisplayList.

These are the Head IDs, and are critical for every step after this. Compare the In Game Head Slider value to the Field Name column in this table, and take note of the Value associated with it. For our example, the head Field name is 16 and the value (Head Index ID) is 1184. Write this down and clearly label it as Head Index ID: 1184 or whatever your ID may be.


  1. Using the Head Index ID we just found, perform another search until you come to the section that has Field Names of appSlotAge, appSlotComplexion, etc. These are the other sliders that make up your characters unique look. Each category makes up one of the sliders, as different classes and races have slightly different sliders, we're not going to go through them all, but the principles are the same, and most names are self explanatory. Please note the one obvious exception to the 'names just make sense' rule is appSlotAge, which is actually the characters scars.

For every category under your Head Index ID (1184), go through and record the Field name, and the appropriate index value for each category. After you've gone through the list you should end up with notes or a table that looks like this:

Field Name Slider Value Index ID Value Model ID Material Index
bfn (Head Index ID) 16 1184
appSlotAge 12 1204
appSlotComplexion 12 1222
appSlotEyeColor 2 1070
appSlotFacePaint 7 1119
appSlotHair 67 5419
appSlotHairColor 16 5375
appSlotSkinColor 20 1108
  1. Congratulations, you now know all the Index IDs required for your character. The next section of the guide will explain how to locate them.

Understanding Index IDs and Locating Model and Material IDs

  1. This section will involve a lot more searching, and copy-pasting in the psc node we've been exploring. To start we're going to locate the head Model and Material IDs To do this, press Ctrl + F and search for the Head Index ID we found earlier, for the character example of this guide it is 1184. Record the values for appAppearanceSlotModelID and appAppearanceSlotMaterialIndex in your notes, 1000970 and 1583915 respectively.

  2. You will need to repeat Step 1 of this section for every Index ID Value you've found for each respective category. Not every Index ID Value will have an associated appAppearanceSlotMaterialIndex, in which case you can leave that blank in your notes. Some categories will have a field called appAppearanceSlotType which will give you an indication that you've found the right section, although not all do so use this as an aid not a requirement only.

  3. When you have completed finding all the required Model IDs and Material Index values, your notes should look like this:

Field Name Slider Value Index ID Value Model ID Material Index
bfn (Head Index ID) 16 1184 1000970 1583915
appSlotAge 12 1204 1003688
appSlotComplexion 12 1222 1415003
appSlotEyeColor 2 1070 1001083
appSlotFacePaint 7 1119 1003494
appSlotHair 67 5419 3053962 3053940
appSlotHairColor 16 5375 1721482
appSlotSkinColor 20 1108 1001053
4. Congratulations, the easy part is over and we're done with the `pcs` node. You can close it using `Shift + W` and move onto the next section of the guide.

Understanding Index IDs and Index.xml Files

Each of the Categories/Field Names we found above will have an associated index.xml file. These .xml files are human readable instructions for the game which denote things such as .mat., .gr2 and color specific .xml files.

There is no right or wrong way to go about this section when it comes to taking notes vs finding the files immediately. This guide will assume you're noting down the files found throughout the various index.xml files and locating .gr2 and .mat files at the end. However if you would prefer to locate the files as you go, it is recommended to open up a second copy of the File Reader in a new Browser Window so you can move between them without closing your index.xml search that is covered in Step 1 of this section.

  1. Back on Jedipedia's File Reader switch to the 'Files' tab on the top left, and then, in the input search box type index.xml. Allow it a second to load, and then have a quick read through the various options below the dynamic category. To start, we'll find your characters head, so navigate to Dynamic > Head > index.xml and select that file. Index files can be large, so allow them a few seconds to load.

  2. When the index file loads press Ctrl + F and do a search for your characters Head Model ID. For the example used in this guide we found the value of 1000970 so we'll look for that. The Model ID should appear only once in the correct index.xml file, and in this case is associated with a BaseFile of head_human_bfn_asian_a02.gr2.

  3. As this asset has multiple material options, we're going to refer to the Material Index value we found to find which .mat file is correct. The head used in this guide has a Material Index of 1583915, so if we look for that we'll find the correct .mat file is head_human_asian_a02c01_f.mat

Table of Contents


INTRODUCTION

IMPORTING SWTOR MODELS INTO BLENDER: A BRIEF OVERVIEW.
Check this intro first. Afterwards, you can jump directly to the guides on extracting PCs, NPCs and others.


TOOLS

No need to read this section right now: each extracting/assembling guide explains its required tools anyway.

Applications and Blender Add-on tools:

Online Tools:

Deprecated Tools:

  • EasyMYP (Windows app).
  • Noesis (Windows app).

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO AUTO-EXTRACTING AND ASSEMBLING PLAYER CHARACTERS AND NPCs:

READ THE BROAD STROKES FIRST: YOU'LL SEE IT'S EASIER THAN YOU THINK!


ASSEMBLING GAME LOCATIONS AUTOMATICALLY:


LOCATING AND ASSEMBLING ASSETS MANUALLY:


OTHER GUIDES (WIP):


MODDING (to do)

Modding isn't working at the moment due to SWTOR's change to a 64bit codebase. It's going to take a while 🙁.


DATAMINING (to do)

  • Overview.
  • Tools.

SWTOR TECHNICAL INFORMATION:


OTHER RESOURCES:

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