Modding Tutorial: The Dark Pictures Anthology
22Time to pass on my knowledge about modding this series. I actually already posted a tutorial on Nexus under my Nemi-Mod but if text instructions were insufficient/difficult, maybe having video guidance would help.
Follow the instructions carefully without skipping through the chapters if this is your first time modding the game. You will otherwise miss important information that way.
You will need the following tools for this tutorial:
FluffyQuack's UnrealPak: http://modderbase.com/showthread.php?tid=834
Blender: https://www.blender.org/download/
UAssetGUI(recommended): https://github.com/atenfyr/UAssetGUI/releases
PSK-Importer for Blender: https://github.com/Befzz/blender3d_import_psk_psa
CATS Plugin for Blender(recommended): https://github.com/absolute-quantum/cats-blender-plugin
BlankMesh/Tex: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RTnm6ijhF35RcPT4ZvfK-zY87NH8XyBj/view?usp=sharing
Text-based Tutorial: https://www.nexusmods.com/thedarkpicturesanthologyhouseofashes/articles/2
This tutorial will work for every game in the The Dark Pictures Anthology Season One Series.
One tip: If you end up having a monstrosity slender mesh ingame, you might have used a faulty skeleton to merge your custom mesh on. Some skeletons may turn out faulty, when extracted with the base mesh through UModel.
Speaking of which, to read and show meshes from The Devil In Me and Man of Medan Patch 1.19, you need this special UModel-Version with ACL Support: https://www.gildor.org/smf/index.php/topic,8304.msg42970.html#msg42970
Alternatively you can also use the skeleton of a different base mesh. (You can even use skeletons from the older entries, it doesn't matter which one you pick as long as you get the naming right in UE4. All characters in the game rely on the same skeleton for both head and body.)
To make your model mods work with The Devil In Me and Man of Medan 1.19, you need to run your custom mesh UAsset Files through the fix below or else you will get a serialisation error in the loading screen causing a crash.
WARNING: Only run your skeletal meshes through the fix. Static Meshes do not have to be fixed and can be used without it(the same goes for the BlankMesh). If you happen to run them through the fix as well, your game will crash with a serialisation error.
(I realized that myself when porting The Trapper over to Devil In Me, where I accidentally ran his static mesh mask over the fix and had a crash at the "Dinner"-Chapter)
Huge thanks to kboykboy for creating this: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/984705484776947713/984966847046778880/QuarryMeshFix.exe
Once the model is rigged for one game of the series it can be reused for every other installment of The Dark Pictures Anthology, meaning you can skip the Blender-Part and move straight to UE4 for this.
I hope it works out okay for all of you. I'm not the best in explaining methods I learned on my own to others.
Chapters:
0:00 Model Import(Blender)
2:15 Model Reposing(Blender)
11:02 Bone Renaming(Blender)
32:12 Mesh Retargeting(Blender)
34:57 Model Export(Blender)
37:26 Model Conversion (Unreal Engine 4)
45:13 Mod Creation (Unreal Engine 4)
47:04 Mod Installation
50:40 Mod Test
52:27 Troubleshooting
58:26 Final Test
1:02:57 Outro
Game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1281590/The_Dark_Pictures_Anthology_House_of_Ashes/
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Follow my Twitter(posting stuff there and then):
https://twitter.com/Dimenarius
My Mod Sources:
Sims 4 CC: https://sims4studio.com/thread/21230/playstar201
ModTheSims: https://modthesims.info/m/8914801
NexusMods(Unreal Engine/RE Engine/Final Fantasy XV): https://www.nexusmods.com/users/28533610?tab=user+files
GTA V-Mods: https://gta5-mods.com/users/PlayStar201
Steam Workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/id/Dimenarius/myworkshopfiles?appid=637650
If you wish to support me, you can gladly do so over Patreon or Nexus.
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/Dimenarius
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Music used:
Mass Effect 3 - Creation
Mass Effect 3 - The Arrival Score
Mass Effect 2 - Suicide Mission
Mass Effect 2 - Tali
Mass Effect 3 - Mars
Mario Kart 7 - Main Menu Mix
Mass Effect 2 - Tali Combat Theme
Silent Hill 4: The Room - Final Boss
Wii U - System Transfer
Final Fantasy XI - Battle 2
Clock Tower - Don't cry, Jennifer Remastered: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TZieWmwKGM
Mass Effect 3 - Mars Score
Endcard created with Tube Arsenal:
https://tubearsenal.com/
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