Jab

What program did you use to export your models? I'd like to take a look at it for research purposes.

So weapons are moddable now. proof? here you go. Soooo yeah. The export script will be in the repository, and I'll modify the OP when i can.

So Right now I'm looking at building a export script for the most basic things like weapons, shirts, etc, until I can get this animation thing nailed down properly. What a headache. Oh well.

This is great news! (And more of a reason to complete my Blender import / export.) One thing I might mention though: It isn't a bad thing to make your own format. The best thing is to have a format that has all the data you need, and is optimized for size and distribution. I've seen multiple custom formats that fare quite well in the designed engines they run in. The problem that Project Zomboid has (that you specified dealing with sprites and custom animation setup) is just growing pains for unexpected needs that the current format does not really help with. If the Quake MD5 format, or other formats do not suit your current needs, It wouldn't be bad to consider writing your own format. (documentation or example code or explanation would help.)

Pushing code that allows objects worn "Auto-attach" to the rig if the rig is loaded (with male or kate) before the object is loaded. (Weapons don't auto-attach (maybe later)). Animations right now are still a headache, and I'll look into getting this up and ready when i find out what I need to do to properly load them in. Here's a picture.

Worked more on the rig generation today. I had to hard-code certain situations for the rig (like removing junk bones in the file, an exception for linking certain bones to specific children, etc.) this is my generated solution:

I think I have rigs working at this point. I had to revise the bone generation for now because the previous one didn't work, so no IK on import for now Next: Animation import.

It's interesting to see the clothes pointing to an armature that is not defined in the file. Kind of odd, and will complicate the way imports will work (This is not an issue. I want to have Blender detect the armature before making one, as well as making one if one does not exist. I might have to do some hard-coded stuff, and no-one likes that. ). Anyways, I went ahead and pushed the code that loads the armature to the repository (the links update), however, the mesh is not bound to the rig yet. That will be the next step forward.

Progress on loading the rig.

Been having so much trouble loading the rig for the male / female models. The model data uses 4x4 matrices with a bind_pose, a inverse_bind_pose, and a bone_offset matrix, and the only thing I can get out of this data is an akward rig that barely resembles a bind pose. I've been scratching my head at this for the past few days. I'm not sure what to do really.

Glad to know this kind of utility is welcomed. I would strongly suggest the Quake MD5 model format, due to its use of vertex weights, quaternions, and everything your format uses, however, separating the animations into separate files. This would be a plus for modding & adding animation support, plus it's a well known format.

Right now this is just a import script. The next finishing step would be to also import the animation data (rig, keyframes, etc.). The next step after that would be to export to the same format used to import, which is where things like modding would be a thing.

If you want to go ahead and just load models right now, this script will work for all models in the game. https://github.com/JabJabJab/BlenderZomboidIO/blob/master/ZomboidImport.py raw file: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/JabJabJab/BlenderZomboidIO/master/ZomboidImport.py just paste this into your script editor, and load a model from one of the txt files located in your zomboid install directory/media/models. The textures are not loaded because they are hard-code-loaded in the actual game. the textures are located in media/textures. The Texture UV map is loaded. Happy Blending!

Blender 3D Model Import / Export Scripts are a WIP (Work in Progress). Right now the scripts can do the following: Import:Import all modelsImport rigsExport:Export non-weighted models (Weapons)Export weighted models (Clothes, hair, etc)Export Animations These features are planned on being added: Export Skeletons To use these scripts, you will need to open the 'Text Editor' in Blender, and paste the scripts in the editor and hit the 'Run Script' button on the window bar. Scripts: ImportExportExportAnimation [Tutorial by WolfeArt]

What would be even cooler is using a volume system that applies to the visual ray-tracing of the game, where people can only hear you if they are in vicinity, or hear you clearest when next to you AND looking at you.

I definitely agree. There could be an option for length and detail. It would be really amazing to be able to post essay-sized stories on a forum for the game, and be able to read a "summary" when you actually die.

I'm considering attempting doing this as a mod when i get my current project done, however, the suggestion is this: Whenever a player dies, a story is generated for the player, scrolling as text when you die, after your statistics show and how long you survived. The concept is that you'd have a library of grammatical constructs and fragments that can be used for certain situations that are recorded throughout the time the player plays the game until death, such as moodles and intense battles. Upon death, this component would analyze data recorded during the player's timeline and find interesting things or moments of prolonged peacefulness, learning abilities and crafting, and hunting & gathering. It would then take that data, and look up suitable grammar fragments to best represent the data. It would then glue together those pieces to produce a decent story of your player, that you can read, and share with your friends. example: "one after another, <name> hacked the horde to bits, whilst defending the group as the others sneaked behind the plaza strip in search of supplies." This concept would compliment the atmosphere the game presents with "This is how you died.".

I wrote this fix in a way that prevents taking away both the benefits and dangers of fire in the game, but simply dealing with the issue of fire spreading.

Any way you could do a 'onCommand(String token)' as a lua method at the end of the command handler for the GameServer? This would be useful for admins to write their own commands to manage either their own needs or needs that arise that others need as well but need it quicker than coded into the game. or 'onCommand(String player, String token, int permissions)' or something useful and efficient based on zomboid's code.

Mod installment for games are something to be heavily thought about before implementing. Based on the scope of exposure to commands to lua, or any medium sent to other people's clients, this could be abused, although I know that the lua interpretor used by Zomboid is configured to block specific commands that could put people's computers at potential risk of malicious mod code. I think this is a good idea, however, I think that zomboid needs more time to mature as a multiplayer complex before anything like this is to be implemented into the game.

Oh god.. but you know you could do some crazy things with spectator-like perspectives, such as the location of players, and how they travel. I can see some really useful data coming from such spectator-like functionality that could be automated on the server-end for analysis of how people play the game.

I could do that, however, it would require a more complex structure of code, as I am still investigating the architecture myself. This would also go beyond the bounds of controlling issues with the fire element of the game, and exceed the bounds I was permitted to do for the mod, although, I don't think the guys upstairs would mind an addition to control the server just a little bit more. It's a good idea. I'll keep that in mind when looking further into this game.

Title says it all. I noticed the boxes of screws, and I don't think nails are good for hinges for door crafting, especially if you can retrieve them back. Also weapon upgrades. Where do you get the screws for the upgrades to be placed onto the firearm? Screws would be logical for these things.

[Related to topic] Interesting that the map would corrupt, though. Heard similar issues dealing with character data. Have you guys considered doing Safety measures like threads to manage writes to the files? Hope the corruption issue gets fixed.