v2.0.5: Modernized Skins support, full NPC support, etc.

THIS VERSION REQUIRES THE USE OF THE LATEST VERSION OF THE .GR2 IMPORTER ADD-ON. THE DOWNLOAD SECTION BELOW INCLUDES IT.

Character Assembler tool compatible with modernized SWTOR skin materials

What the change does is replace the paths.json's texturemaps information with that of the .mat files also referenced by it, which is always correct for the asset extraction they belong to, be it modernized or "classic". So, depending on which resources folder is selected in the add-on's Preferences (extracted before or after Game Update 7.6), we ought to get the correct classic or modernized results.

(This should also solve those mistakes TORC's Character Designer sometimes does, like those wrong Cathar PC texture filepaths. The insidious "/.dds" ultimately seems to be a symptom of another issue, discussed in the next point, that we now cater to)

The tool saves a paths_corrected.json file alongside the original, which is what it feeds to the .gr2 add-on's actual character importer.

This is a partial solution. The idea is to end up being able to use both classic and modern textures without having to change the resources folder in Preferences, and saving each set in a separate subfolder.

CAUTION: its use will replace a PC/NPC folder's already existing textures with classic or modernized ones, depending on the selected resources folder in Preferences. If wanting to avoid that, use the tool in a copy or a newly decompressed .zip's PC/NPC folder.

(It will also litter the subfolders with unused textures of the opposite type because BS didn't keep the same filenames in all cases. We are seeing about having separate Materials subfolders to solve that)

Creature-type NPC assembling works now

The .gr2 Importer Add-on's code has been revised to cater to Creature-type NPC exports from TORCommunity.com's database. It ought to solve issues such as second materials that aren't eyes (see Darth Malgus Lvl. 75's case), characters without a second material at all (see Massassi), etc. This version of the ZG SWTOR Tools Add-on has been revised in turn to be compatible with those changes.

We've found out the cause of broken "/.dds" texturepath entries: mismatches between the expected shader (Creature, which doesn't use paletteMaps) and the stated one (Eye, which does). If finding those malformed entries in the paths.json files, don't correct them. We are using their presence to detect those mismatches and handle them correctly.

Also, the skeleton.json information was incorrect for creatures (it included a "new" in their names that didn't exist). The assembling gathers and applies the correct skeletons now, and also creates "corrected" versions of the .json files for reference.

Support for the materialSkinIndex flag has been restored

This flag says which material in an armor/clothing object is meant to be skin instead of garment, if any.

Player Characters-only, though: non-Creature NPCs' paths.json files lack the data, so, for those we are adding to the tool a checkbox, pre-set to choose skin as the less inconvenient default. Correcting wrong results is a matter of applying the first Material Slot's garment material to the second Slot, replacing the skin, just a couple of clicks.

(A typical example of the use of this checkbox is the cantina dancer NPCs and companions in underwear)

Revised image deduplicator

As SWTOR 7.6' skin modernization can lead to misdeduplications of textures with matched root names but different contents (classic and modernized) if one has projects that use both, the deduplicator checks the images' sizes in pixels before acting. We are looking at using content hashing in a future version, for a more rigorous process.

Revised Physics-related Vertex Groups Merger tool

It has better console reporting, and corrects some bugs that made the use of manually entered common VG text not work at all. We've found cases where the best guessing of the common text fails: we'll try to add more smarts to it.

v2.0.5 Beta: Modernized Skins support, Creature Assembling, etc.

THIS PRE-RELEASE VERSION REQUIRES THE USE OF A MATCHING PRE-RELEASE VERSION OF THE .GR2 IMPORTER ADD-ON. THE DOWNLOAD SECTION BELOW INCLUDES BOTH.

Character Assembler tool compatible with modernized SWTOR skin materials

What the change does is replace the paths.json's texturemaps information with that of the .mat files also referenced by it, which is always correct for the asset extraction they belong to, be it modernized or "classic". So, depending on which resources folder is selected in the add-on's Preferences (extracted before or after Game Update 7.6), we ought to get the correct classic or modernized results.

(This should also solve those mistakes TORC's Character Designer sometimes does, like those wrong Cathar PC texture filepaths. The insidious "/.dds" ultimately seems to be a symptom of another issue, discussed in the next point, that we now cater to)

The tool saves a paths_corrected.json file alongside the original, which is what it feeds to the .gr2 add-on's actual character importer.

This is a partial solution. The idea is to end up being able to use both classic and modern textures without having to change the resources folder in Preferences, and saving each set in a separate subfolder.

CAUTION: its use will replace a PC/NPC folder's already existing textures with classic or modernized ones, depending on the selected resources folder in Preferences. If wanting to avoid that, use the tool in a copy or a newly decompressed .zip's PC/NPC folder.

(It will also litter the subfolders with unused textures of the opposite type because BS didn't keep the same filenames in all cases. We are seeing about having separate Materials subfolders to solve that)

Creature-type NPC assembling (hopefully) works now

The .gr2 Importer Add-on's code has been revised to cater to Creature-type NPC exports from TORCommunity.com's database. It ought to solve issues such as second materials that aren't eyes (see Darth Malgus Lvl. 75's case), characters without a second material at all (see Massassi), etc. This version of the ZG SWTOR Tools Add-on has been revised in turn to be compatible with those changes.

We've found out the cause of broken "/.dds" texturepath entries: mismatches between the expected shader (Creature, which doesn't use paletteMaps) and the stated one (Eye, which does). If finding those malformed entries in the paths.json files, don't correct them. We are using their presence to detect those mismatches and handle them correctly.

Also, the skeleton.json information was incorrect for creatures (it included a "new" in their names that didn't exist). The assembling gathers and applies the correct skeletons now, and also creates "corrected" versions of the .json files for reference.

Support for the materialSkinIndex flag has been restored

This flag says which material in an armor/clothing object is meant to be skin instead of garment, if any.

Player Characters-only, though: non-Creature NPCs' paths.json files lack the data, so, for those we are adding to the tool a checkbox, pre-set to choose skin as the less inconvenient default. Correcting wrong results is a matter of applying the first Material Slot's garment material to the second Slot, replacing the skin, just a couple of clicks.

(A typical example of the use of this checkbox is the cantina dancer NPCs and companions in underwear)

Revised image deduplicator

As SWTOR 7.6' skin modernization can lead to misdeduplications of textures with matched root names but different contents (classic and modernized) if one has projects that use both, the deduplicator checks the images' sizes in pixels before acting. We are looking at using content hashing in a future version, for a more rigorous process.

Revised Physics-related Vertex Groups Merger tool

It has better console reporting, and corrects some bugs that made the use of manually entered common VG text not work at all. We've found cases where the best guessing of the common text fails: we'll try to add more smarts to it.

v2.0.4 Blender 3.6 / 4.2-compatible

• Minor conditional addition to Area Assembler's dyn objects processing (it makes importing Karagga's Palace work).
• Some internal additions to the Custom Shaders Values tool.

v2.0.3 Convert To Custom Shaders bugfix + better Apply tool

• Corrects a bug in the Convert To Custom Shaders tool that kept it disabled despite all requirements being met.
• Adds to the Quickscaler's Apply tools "Position" and "ALL" apply transforms options for convenience and completeness sakes (for SWTOR assets-related tasks these aren't usually needed at all).

v2.0.2 Blender 3.6 / 4.2-compatible

• Now fully Blender 4.1/4.2-compatible (as long as a matching 4.1/4.2-compatible .gr2 Importer Add-on is installed, too.

v2.0.1 Blender 3.6 / 4.0.2-compatible

• Compatible with both Blender 3.6.12 LTS and higher, and with 4.0,2:
  Most tools work with any Blender version, but those implying the importing of objects depend on the.gr2 Importer Add-on's own compatibility with Blender.
• Several bug fixes and new features (check the Readme's changelog and Wiki guides).
• (2.0.1) Corrects bug greying out the Process Named Materials buttons.

v1.5.1 Blender 4.0 compatibility

Minor correction: the Character Assembler tool won't hide its properties in the File Browser any more (which seems a silly thing but most of us remember to tick or untick some of the checkboxes just when we are in the File Browser already, and there is no real reason to hide them anyway).

WARNING: this Add-on is Blender 4.0-compatible, but some of its tools depend on having installed a 4.0-compatible .gr2 Importer Add-on in turn (there is a beta of such available here, functional save for not showing its SWTOR shaders in the Shader Editor's Add menu).

Latest changes:

• Compatibility with Blender 4.0.
• New Apply values to multiple Custom Shaders tool.
• Better status reporting.
• Sundry User Interface changes (subpanel organization, tooltips…).
• Bugfixes.

v1.5.0 Blender 4.0-compatible

WARNING: this Add-on is Blender 4.0-compatible, but some of its tools depend on having installed a 4.0-compatible .gr2 Importer Add-on in turn (there is a beta of such available here, functional save for not showing its SWTOR shaders in the Shader Editor's Add menu).

Latest changes:

• Compatibility with Blender 4.0.
• New Apply values to multiple Custom Shaders tool.
• Better status reporting.
• Sundry User Interface changes (subpanel organization, tooltips…).
• Bugfixes.

v.1.4.0 Phat Edition

WARNING: this Add-on isn't yet Blender 4.0-compatible.

Download: zg_swtor_tools.zip

Latest additions and changes:

New All-in-one approach:

• Integrated Area Assembler and related utilities.
• Integrated Character Assembler and related utilities.
• Converter to Legacy Materials to facilitate baking tasks without the need to use the Legacy .gr2 Importer Add-on.
• The Custom SWTOR Shaders converter no longer requires to download and set a template .blend file. Now, a default one is included and pre-selected inside the Add-on.
• Scene's Armatures pose/rest position switcher.
• Status subpanel. Tools show red color warnings if their requisites aren't met (.gr2 Add-on, 'resources' folder).
• UI reorganization.

(As a consequence, the download size of the add-on has grown rather considerably)

v.1.3.0

Downloads:

• zg_swtor_tools.zip
• custom_swtor_shaders.blend.zip

Latest Additions and changes:

• An status panel indicating which complementary elements are present or absent (selected Resources folder and custom shaders template, version of the .gr2 addon) and red color warnings in the tools that require those to be set.

• The Process Static Objects' Materials tool becomes now the Process Named Materials one: it covers now all six basic SWTOR shaders provided by the modern version of the .gr2 Importer Addon (Uber, Creature, SkinB, HairC, Eye and Garment) plus a few ones typical in environmental objects that will be growing in number.

  Please take into account that it retrieves the texturing information from the .mat files in resources\art\shaders\materials, which lack both 'palette' data (recoloring and dyeing data) and Player Character customization data (complexions, makeups…). Typically, for the types of materials that require it (skin, hair, eyes, armor) one would rely on SWTOR Slicers' diverse Character Assembler tools' features (including the ones in this very Add-on). Still, this could do in some situations.

  It supports C-3PO and CaptnKoda's implementation of the AnimatedUV shader, plus limited support for some Uber-like shaders (in the sense of not covering some characteristics such as re-hueing). NOTICE: this version correctly syncs the shader with the timeline's frame count. Previous betas failed at that.

  Checking the Overwrite Materials checkbox ought to make the materials processor replace older versions of pseudo-AnimatedAV materials with this one in existing scenes.

• The provisional EmissiveOnly shader setup wasn't gamma-correcting the texturemap, which gave the results a milky look. Now the colors ought to be better.

• A reworking of the Merge Double Vertices tool by Crunch after her research for a better sharp edge-preserving method. This should give better results when merging doubles in stuff like armor, weapons and hard surface-style objects.

• A new Files Tools sub-panel where some tools like the Character Assembler and the Area Assembler will reside, too (that doesn't mean that their standalone versions will disappear). There's the Character one at this moment.

• The Pose/Rest Position buttons in the Misc. Tools now cover all armatures present in the scene, no need to pre-select them.