Guide: How to swap armors in TERA (3 Viewers)

[Tricks]

All templates are actual armors. They share the same models. Also all crafted armor can be used as templates.

Yep, you're quite right. I spent last night re-learning hex editing. (Last time I did it was adding weapons to my mechs in The Crescent Hawk's Inception that were never used in-game.)

Anyway, to not bother with the length business, I swapped HighElf_F_L02_Body_Skel, _Hand_Skel, and _Leg_Skel with L13, and did the same with L03 <--> L18. Also did the swap at the top of the file.

Went to the template dealer with a deleteable-character-just-incase-I-corrupted-something, previewed the beginning templates, and the L13 and L18 armor appeared! I bought each template, put it on (you can wear any template at any level - I had a level 3 character that had bought the lowbie armor at Noob island which had the modifyable stat (I forget what the stat is called in-game), and was able to apply the templates), and both armors worked!

Kinda.

(Also: I went to the dye merchant, and successfully dyed both armors also. So they are still dyable).

The L13 armor, when doing the basic combo attack animation, "stuttered" a little bit at the end of each combo. Since it was a slayer, I didn't have the mana to try the other powers. I used the racial once, but I wasted it. Running around and doing random emotes (including idle animations) seemed to be OK.

The L18 armor was the same as the L13, but a little worse. The L18 armor has a half-skirt in the back, covering one leg. It doesn't animate AT ALL. Not when running, not when doing the basic combo attack, nothing.

I went looking around the files, and noticed:

HighElf_F_ANI
HighElf_F_Att00_ANI
HighElf_F_Att13_ANI ... HighElf_F_Att21_ANI
HighElf_F_AttA_ANI ... HighElf_F_AttC_ANI

Since the L18 armor was the worst with that half-skirt problem, I concentrated on that one. Messing about with the F_Att18 and F_ANI files, trying all sorts of things, didn't work.

Trying to make more swaps within Highelf_F_L didn't work.

I even tried copying the F_Att18 file, and renaming it to F_Att03 (and renamed all the Att18's within to Att03), and of course that didn't work either, but I wanted to try anyways. :)

I kept re-reading this thread, but still got nowhere.

There is a bit where infinity496 says

"Because R10 also uses the C skeleton, it became broken when I switched skeletons on it."

When you click on the "broken" link,

http://i.minus.com/ijRFzm1R1MHM4.jpg

it shows the broken portion of the armor not displayed at all. I tried doing that also, but didn't get anywhere. Is there any hints on how to break (in this case, outright remove) that section of armor? It would be great (better, even) if that unanimated half-skirt in L18 didn't show up at all, then there would be no need to try to get it to animate!

---------- Post added at 04:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:05 PM ----------

I was working on that today as well. Unfortunately, all I've managed so far is to get the animated parts of the armor anchored to right places (i.e. pair it with the correct bone skeleton). They move, but only as if the additional armor parts were completely stiff. This was for both cases where both armors had their own _Bone_Skel as well as where one did not.

The armors that don't have their own _Bone_Skel use a generic one (e.g. Highelf_F_R*_Bone_Skel, where * = A, B or C, for high elf female robes).

I haven't found a way yet to get the swapped mesh to animate appropriately with the correct bone skeleton.


Edit:
It looks like the attachment animations come from the <race>_<gender>_Att<skeleton code>_ANI GPK files. These contain animations for that number for ALL armor classes, so switch one for another would alter every other armor class that uses the same bone skeleton id.

Edit2:
Got it working! :D
View attachment 571View attachment 572

The same principles apply as with the other swapping, but it's really messy because so many things are coming from the same place (and the swapping involves 2 different animation files).


@Kazume
I'm not sure that it really makes a difference. At least when viewing the mesh within umodel, it pulled the same specular map, no matter what I called it. Also, your second picture is of the castanic robe underwear. Its leg seam is much higher (as almost all the robe legs are stockings).

In the OP, you had stated your first swap was Robe 11 and 16, and what is pictured here is 16, so it looks like in this post you swapped a Robe 11 (that does not have an HighElf_F_Att11_ANI file) with a Robe 16 (that does have a HighElf_F_Att16_ANI file), AND you got the animations working. I'm trying to replicate what you did so I can go back to my original L03 <--> L18 swap, but I'm dead-ending again. I don't know what file to swap since Robe 11 doesn't have an animation file. Did you swap HighElf_F_Att00_ANI with HighElf_F_Att16_ANI? I'm still plugging away while I should be playing, but I want to see if I can get this working... LOL...

Edit2: You swapped HighElf_F_AttC_ANI.gpk with HighElf_F_Att16_ANI.gpk?
Edit3: Going on the guess that you swapped Att16_ANI with AttC (a generic, since Robe 11 doesn't specify a specific file), how did you determine which generic file goes with Robe 11? I looked in AttA, B, C, and even HighElf_F_ANI.gpk: AttA only had references to Robe 4, AttB had references to robe 8, and AttC had references to Robe 12. No Robe 11. (Or Robe 10, for that matter: you had mentioned swapping C for 16 broke Robe 10, because Robe 10 used C...)
I think I'm getting closer, but I'm obviously still missing something...

 

[infinity496]

Well, it sounds like you're on the right track.

Looking at the bone skeletons in umodel, I noted the bone placement and names (S to show skeleton, B to show bone names). Unfortunately, both AttA and AttC for high elf robes look identical as far as I could tell, but it wasn't until I swapped C's Bone_Skel with 16's that the mesh was assembled correctly (in swapping R11<->R16). From there I only had to swap the animations to make the dress animate properly. Of course that broke R10 as it still expected C's bone structure (which I'd swapped with 16).

You say I made the skirt vanish, which isn't true. It's actually behind my character in the screenshot, floating by itself, unanimated. If you look closely, you can still see the front and back of it on the left side.

How can you say what robes the generic skeletons are referencing? All the robes have to reference some kind of skeleton, even if it doesn't have loose bits.

 

[Tricks]

Well, it sounds like you're on the right track.

Looking at the bone skeletons in umodel, I noted the bone placement and names (S to show skeleton, B to show bone names). Unfortunately, both AttA and AttC for high elf robes look identical as far as I could tell, but it wasn't until I swapped C's Bone_Skel with 16's that the mesh was assembled correctly (in swapping R11<->R16). From there I only had to swap the animations to make the dress animate properly. Of course that broke R10 as it still expected C's bone structure (which I'd swapped with 16).

You say I made the skirt vanish, which isn't true. It's actually behind my character in the screenshot, floating by itself, unanimated. If you look closely, you can still see the front and back of it on the left side.

How can you say what robes the generic skeletons are referencing? All the robes have to reference some kind of skeleton, even if it doesn't have loose bits.

I'm trying to follow you. In my L18 <--> L03 attempt, I swapped the file names of ATT18 and ATTC, and swapped 6 animations within (package definition, the slayer class animation, and the 4 shared animations). To restore the files to their original lengths, I either added 6 bytes or removed 6 bytes from the Lancer's idle animation name.

When I did this, nothing changed.

I then swapped ATT18 and ATTB. Nothing changed.

I then swapped ATT18 and ATTA. Nothing changed.

(EDIT: I had originally posted here that I had crashed when swapping the ATT18 and ATTA files. I figured out that when I modified the Lancer idle animation name, I had subtracted 6 bytes from the 4 hex number preceding it instead of adding 6. Putting in the correct # stopped the crashing.)



Edit2: After I got passed the crashing above, I once again tried the swapping of bone_skel within the Highelf_F_L. Since L03 has no bone_skel file, I swap out LA for L18's bone_skel. AND IT WORKS!

I now have, as a template armor, the L18 armor, that is fully animated (well, with what animations I could test with the few powers I have at level 3), and dyable!

I have to wonder what is broken throughout the game, though, and if I'll experience random crashes like pete22 reports here:
http://gamevixenzone.undertow.club/hot-stuff-21/tera-mods-45/index4.html#post1026

I made a couple batch files, so I can copy the original files or the modified files (Highelf_F_L, HighElf_F_AttA_ANI, HighElf_F_Att18_ANI) to the game directory at will. I think I'll use the originals for a while before I use the modded ones full time, just incase something comes up. Or maybe I'll mod the files more, copying more animations over. Again, I wonder what I'm breaking elsewhere.

At least I have basic sucess now, and its all thanks to infinity496. Thanx man!

 

[trumpdog]

You shouldnt have to mess with any ani files. swapping the la_bone_skel with l18_bone_skel should be enough. I havent experienced
any crashes but im certain ill eventually run into someone wearing a set of armor that uses the la_bone thats not fully animated.
Unless your swapping for another classes armor.

 

[infinity496]

If I'm understanding you correctly, you're saying that the only file needing change is the one with all the armor meshes/textures, and that only the bone labels need to be changed?

From my experience, that only made the additional clothing snap to the right position, but it was left stiff and moved as a chunk altogether at the anchoring position. That might be okay for some things, but for long dresses, it looked pretty bad.

 

[trumpdog]

i tested this with armor, just tried a robe...it is as you say and i would imagine that the same issues apply to the armor as well.The ones with long skirts.I swapped and armor that had no skirt but had pauldrons. I havent noticed any issues with that though.
but like you said...looks ok for some but not all. Looks really bad on robes lol

 

[nethera]

I'm having trouble with my editing... I think I'm doing something wrong. I can't find files such as "HighElf_F_L02_Body_Skel" - all I have is this:



I want to swap a Leather amour on the Elin so that I can use R17 (popori_f_r17 » Robe » Elin » » » » TERA-Online) as a template. Could anyone possibly help me with this?

 

[infinity496]

I guess this wasn't stated in the guide itself. I'll have to update it.

The armors that don't have their own _Bone_Skel use a generic one (e.g. Highelf_F_R*_Bone_Skel, where * = A, B or C, for high elf female robes).

As for how to tell which generic skeleton is being used:

Looking at the bone skeletons in umodel, I noted the bone placement and names (S to show skeleton, B to show bone names).

There is probably a more determinate way to do this, but I've yet to find it (though I haven't looked much either).

 

[Tricks]

You shouldnt have to mess with any ani files. swapping the la_bone_skel with l18_bone_skel should be enough. I havent experienced
any crashes but im certain ill eventually run into someone wearing a set of armor that uses the la_bone thats not fully animated.
Unless your swapping for another classes armor.

Well... yes and no.

When I just did the _Skel swaps and ignoring _bone_, I got the armor to swap fine. As soon as I moved, the lower half skirt of L18 would continue to point straight down. You can imaging the leg clipping when she started running forward. And any attack animation, anything at all, the half-skirt would continue to point straight down.

Then I had the success I posted above. Now whenever she ran around, the half skirt animated, it flowed and stuff. While /dancing too. When doing the basic combo attack, it was half-animated. It would be stiff as a board, but it would bend and move as the character moved, never clipping the leg.

Then I read your post I quote here.

I restore all the original files, and just copy the Highelf_F_L file (with all the _Skel swaps, including the _bone_ one). All animations act like when she does the combo animation - the lower half of the skirt is stiff as a board, but it goes up and down with the other armor as she moves however. No leg clipping at all, ever.

Ssssooooo.....

Just modifying the Highelf_F_L file by itself may be a good compromise: Not as animated as manipulating the animation files, but no body-clipping, and less changes made to the game = less chances something else in the game is broken.

Good compromise?

 

[Malamasala]

Had to register just to ask... Did you spot any way to undo the hair change on certain armors? I've been putting off buying Tera because it annoys me to death when they change my hairstyle together with an armor. So been keeping an eye on the mod scene to see when someone figures out how to unpack the models and change it and repack. But if there are some simple hex-edit changes to swap some models, perhaps there could be simple hex-edits to change the hair up behavior as well. If anyone finds a way, I would be grateful.

 

[infinity496]

Did you spot any way to undo the hair change on certain armors?

To be honest, I haven't looked. From what I've seen, the hair only raises in the back where it would clip badly with armors possessing a high collar or other such obstruction.

Still, I'm sure it's possible. The trouble would be finding where the "hair mode" is defined for each armor.

 

[trendy_ideology]

Just wanted to pop in to express a quick thought that it'd be amazing if someone eventually got to the point where there was a little GUI that could automate some of the tedium involved in making so many little changes.

That, and, or, someone should go through and randomly spruce up all the plain looking gear and make it cooler looking gear :)

 

[infinity496]

Just wanted to pop in to express a quick thought that it'd be amazing if someone eventually got to the point where there was a little GUI that could automate some of the tedium involved in making so many little changes.

I have given this thought, but until I can be sure that I could make the proper changes (manually) without creating a conflict with the attachments or attachment animations, I won't even bother with it.

That, and, or, someone should go through and randomly spruce up all the plain looking gear and make it cooler looking gear :)

The purpose behind making this guide was so that anyone could swap whatever they want for whatever they want. There's no way I could make a set of files that would please everyone.

By the time you reach level 60, pretty much all the armors can be obtained. If you like a particular style, you can craft something (or buy something crafted) like it, and use that as a template.

 

[Wiesiek]

Awesome guide. It took some time till I learned how to do it (completely noob in the modding subject), but I'm happy from final effect. Thank you for your effort during make it :)

By the time you reach level 60, pretty much all the armors can be obtained. If you like a particular style, you can craft something (or buy something crafted) like it, and use that as a template.

To specify it, not all templates are craftable.
PvP from 58 lvl, number 17 and 18A (anyone have idea what happend with 18 and what has been changed?) are not craftable. Some rumors say it will be in new updtate in QoA2.

All sets from QoA1 probably will stay not available as templates long time - it means 19, 20 and 21 what are in separated files.

And here is the question - how make swap between files?
Especially lack of package identifier (or I just can not found it) make me a bit confused here.

and I've applied the same principle to modding Blade & Soul (my first run-in with the Unreal 3 engine.

That is interesting. Have you plans for make similar guide for B&S, or would you like to share key informations how to swap models in B&S? ;>
edit: My work is far from be satisfying:

lol

Edit2:
It seems I fixed this problem:

;D
But still miss something important - animations for small armor elements and bouncy breasts animation

Edit 3:
It seems I fixed this ;D

Once again thx for this guide. It was not informations in a silver platter. But it opened my eyes on swap by hex editing, not only in Tera.

 

[Malamasala]

I tossed myself into looking at the hairstyle adjustments, but my lack of experience with hex-editing seem to prevent me from really finding the possible flags for up-dos. Instead I got the brilliant idea to dig my face into the HEAD file.

As far as I can tell, in the respective HEAD file, there is text stating things like popori_F_hair07 and popori_F_hair07B. While some others do not have this B version. This implies to me that this should be the alternative hair style for when armors put them in up-dos. Now, what I wonder if this would work as well as for the armor renaming. I.e. cut off the B, and then because the identifier was shortened by 1, it should be lowered from 16 to 15? Do you think doing this could force you to use the same hair regardless of armors? I do not have the game (except leftovers from beta) so I can't change it and start it up to check if I'm right.

Another interesting finding while I was looking into this, was the inclusion of tail_00-04 in the HEAD file. Perhaps changing these could allow you to mix tail and hair, if you happened to want a different combination than what was offered. I suspect that hair + ears are too heavily linked for them to be changed as well, but at least it seems possible to swap out the tail if you want something like the model viewer pictures of a squirrel head + fox tail.

Of course, I've not been able to test this either, it is just my assumption. It would be great if someone else tested it to confirm. I'm thinking of buying the game if these modifications actually work. up-dos and censorship were the main reasons I did not already buy it, and when it can all be modded, it would be fun to try the game.

I wonder why my posts always end up as text blocks. Enabled an extra thing in my browser blocker and it seems to have solved the problem.

 

[DiscoD]

I have had no problems swapping armors within the same .gpk..

However, now I am getting ambitious and wish to swap out a leather armor for a robe armor.

How would one go about this, roughly?

I am so sorry. I could have sworn I saw somebody post that they had success doing this, but I have read this over and over and cant see it. Must have been another forum, long lost post :(

 

[dratiant]

What program would you recommend for editing the mesh? As in I was interested in just stretching the mesh to make bustier armor.

 

[Wiesiek]

What program would you recommend for editing the mesh? As in I was interested in just stretching the mesh to make bustier armor.

I have no idea.

But I heard the reduced breasts size for few l. armors (during K-CBT). So mb not bad solution could be find files from K-CBT1.

 

[turbobenx]

i have no idea how HEX works and stuff like that......but can anyone help me do a female castanic armor swap from Robe to heavy armor and uploaded here using mediafire or something? Thx....

 

[sishra]

Is it possible to swap armors 19-21 to 1-18 yet?