Custom Character Question - UTCustomChar.ini

[JasonG]

I'm assembling a character using seperate body parts. I am following a tutorial for this that applies to UT3. So far I have seperate .psk files for each body part and they are all animated to the same skeleton, etc. Everything seems to be working fine. However, the tut i'm reading says I need to make some changes to UTCustomChar.ini, which i'm not seeing in UDK. Is there something else i need to do in order to assemble character parts for a custom char in UDK?

[JasonG]

To be more specific...

I want to be able to assemble body parts in UDK similar to how it was done in UT3. Here is an example of a UTCustomChar.ini snippet that seems to assemble character parts:

Inside your UTCustomChar.ini you will need the following:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

[UTGame.UTCustomChar_Data]

+Parts= (Part=PART_Head,ObjectName="CH_TutChar.Mesh.TutChar_head",PartID="TutChar_head",FamilyID="CHT")

+Parts= (Part=PART_Torso,ObjectName="CH_TutChar.Mesh.TutChar_torso",PartID="TutChar_torso",FamilyID="CHT")

+Parts= (Part=PART_Arms,ObjectName="CH_TutChar.Mesh.TutChar_arms",PartID="TutChar_arms",FamilyID="CHT")

+Parts= (Part=PART_Thighs,ObjectName="CH_CharTest.Mesh.CharTest_legs",PartID="TutChar_legs",FamilyID="CHT")

+Parts= (Part=PART_Boots,ObjectName="CH_TutChar.Mesh.TutChar_boots",PartID="TutChar_boots",FamilyID="CHT")

+Characters=(CharName="TutChar",Description="Custom Character",CharID="TutChar",Faction="IronGuard", 
PreviewImageMarkup="<Images:UI_Portrait.Character. UI_Portrait_Character_TwinSouls_Male_Head03>", 
CharData=(FamilyID="CHT",HeadID="TutChar_head",TorsoID="TutChar_torso",bHasLeftShoPad=false, bHasRightShoPad=false, ArmsID="TutChar_arms", 
ThighsID="TutChar_legs", BootsID="TutChar_boots") , AIData=(Jumpiness=-0.4,StrafingAbility=-0.2,CombatStyle=0.5,FavoriteWeapon="UTGame.UTWeap_ RocketLauncher"))

+ModFamilies=TutChar.UTFamilyInfo_CH_TutChar

Now in the UTCharInfo.uc script I found this:

/**
 * Copyright 1998-2009 Epic Games, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
 * This object is used as a store for all character profile information.
 */
class UTCharInfo extends Object
	native
	config(CharInfo);

/** Aray of all complete character profiles, defined in UTCustomChar.ini file. */
var() config array<CharacterInfo> Characters;

So unless i'm missing something it seems like it should be possible to build a custom character from body parts but I'm not seeing how to tie everything togeather. Again, I have all my custom body parts in UDK with animations but I'm not sure how to wire them all up to get a character in the game.

[Dorthu]

This interests me as well, namely because the only place I've found to define a Pawn's Physics Asset is in a FamilyInfo, and the FamilyInfo seems to be related to the "Faction" field of the UTCharInfo.ini file (at least that's the impression I'm getting from UTFamilyInfo_Liandri.uc). Can anyone shed some light on this elusive UTCharInfo.ini file?

Thanks guys.

[geodav]

ok someone did do it in udk i think, you'll have to dig around the forum.

the ini file does set a few things but it's not as complex as the UT3 version, mainly the Faction and Family these are called in the team games i believe to set the teams to have the same faction, btw this works for the players team but not bot teams which get mixed up

[iniside]

I have done some research on topic, and the only way to composite characters from parts i found is, to change defaultproperties in your Pawn class, add skeletalmesh here, and then Component.Add(YourSkeletalMeshName).
But it's very bad way of doing it. Character composed in such way, do not behave properly in game. Except just moving..

Unofrtunetly character parts code from UT3 is mostly native and can't be easy proted to UD via UnrealScript. We can have only hope, that Epic will hear us and will add character parts support out-of-box to UDK (yeah honestly composing character from single mesh is very unelastic..)

[CPLKenDude]

Here is a link to a site that will guide you into importing a skeletal mesh into UDK. It does not have to be body parts, as you can select all of your meshes and export them at the same time from ActorX. ActorX will make it one single mesh and you just have to follow the script tutorial to make your name changes in the .ini file. Heres the link to the tutorial.

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=...NzAzNThl&hl=en