Very basic question about model positioning

Neverwinter Nights 1 Custom Content
1

i’m working with a model available in the cep, the flying succubus [wg_succubus2 – see attached wg_succubus2.7z]. all i want to do is raise the level at which she flies. i’ve tried…

  • repositioning the node dummy rootdummy node by adding 2 to the z coordinate on line 17 – no effect
  • repositioning the node dummy wg_succubus2 node by adding the line position 0 0 2 after the comment on line 12 – the model appears on spawn-in but immediately disappears. the console shows me the object is still active, so i’m guessing it’s somehow ‘de-rendered’?
  • repositioning the torso by changing the position on line 310 so that the z-coordinate is 2 instead of -0.000etc. – same as previous, model is de-rendered immediately after spawn-in.

my assumption is that my approach is too naïve. can anyone tell me :

  • why is the model de-rendering?
  • is there a simple way to do what i want, and if so, what?   [note - changing the position in an editor like 3dsmax or blender would not qualify as ‘simple’ for me…]

thanks.

2

You will have to adjust all the z-axis animation nodes to your new height with a few exception like dead/knockdown and probably down attack.

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3

aha! great, thanks, i’ll give it a try tonight. :slight_smile:

4

well, that didn’t turn out as well as i’d hoped. the result would be absolutely perfect – for an anatomy lesson. but it doesn’t work too well as a character model :

succubus1

the only thing i’ve changed in this from the original model is i’ve added 1.5 to the z-axis values in each of the 28 position keys in the model ; i didn’t change the x or y axis values at all (and yet it looks like these are interpreted differently for some reason). what i end up with is an exploded-view rendering. the blob farthest right is the torso, it looks like it’s in the right position. no clue why the rest are offset higher and forward of the torso. i thought their positions might be relative to their parent nodes, but changing even one node back to what it was before causes the whole thing to de-rez.

i just wanted to raise the thing 1.5m higher in the air, but it doesn’t look like there’s a simple solution.

5

Well, it’s a succubus (evil, evil, evil), why care? :smiley:

A quick thought: It is wrong to alter ALL Z’s. There are dependencies in the model hierarchy.

For example “lbicep_g” is a child of “torso_g”. If you move the torso, the child will automatically get a new position.

Actually it should be enough just to move the root node of every animation and the asci model.

node dummy wg_succubus2
  parent NULL
  position 0 0 1.5
endnode

Ah, I never did somethink like this by myself, I might be wrong.

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6

THIS.   :slight_smile:
i thought at the beginning that the positions must be relative to their parent nodes, but i somehow didn’t grok that the remaining definitions were animations that would also need to be positioned, so the model de-rezzed almost immediately after being instanced. adding a position line after the main model geometry as well as 146 of the 150 animations did the trick. the remaining four animations, called on death, needed positioning as well, but back to the origin (position 0 0 0) otherwise the model stays in mid-air when the creature is killed. the four animations to reposition on death are deadbck, deadfnt, kdbckdie, and kdfntdie.

…and now i also understand what shadowm was getting at earlier. :blush:

many thanks to both of you for your help!

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7

So are there flying humanoid models in NWN1?

8

yes. i.e. vampires …

9

Yes. For example check here:
https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/model/female-humanoid-floating-pheno-be-used-skeletonsupermodel
(and here with an example of my tweaked anim: The Witcher 1 Noon- & Midnightwraith for NWN1 | The Neverwinter Vault).
But remember: Flying is only visual. The creature is stopped by obstacles / walkmesh settings on the ground, like any “walking” creature.

10

Okay so it uses a higher vertical hit box like NWN2 then. Still neat though!