[TUTORIAL] Creating a new unit from scratch

Having Scale and placement issues in-game, changing scale factor has no effect and the model is centered. Any idea whats up?

It's probably a conversion issue. Try importing the fbx and check if the scale is still correct. You could also try using the blender addon for .papa models https://forums.planetaryannihilatio...-importer-exporter-for-papa-files-v0-5.47964/

It's really been a while since i've encountered that bug so i'm not sure if i ever found the issue.

On the occasions where I played with unit models, I found it made sense to manually build the UV map so that faces that logically connected stayed together better, and minimising the number of split edges. You can also start doing neat stuff like overlapping faces that require identical textures that way. Once I’d built that, I’d use rudimentary per-face colouring in 3DS and export the unwrapped colouring to draw textures over.

With regards to the scale issue, if I remember correctly 3DS scaled meshes don’t have any effect on the exported fbx, and you must reset them with some button I found once in the scale and transform toolbar. I used to have huge problems with this until I just started making sure my models were to scale from the start. I wish I could get a screenshot but I don’t have 3DS installed anymore.

I can manually fix scale, but I still have another issue:
The bones seem distorted in game: when a unit dies, the model flips onto its side. Turrets spin around a undefined point. And rotational axis have to be changed (z>y, etc.) from the default despite the fact that the model uses identical bones.
Models can be downloaded from here:
https://github.com/Anonemous2/New_Faction_1.git

Ignoring the problems I previously had, does anyone know how to create animation files for units, or animate textures (such as tank treads)?

It's been a really long time since I did this, but you need to make the animation in an FBX file using some 3d modelling software. You load the model with its bones into the scene, then use IK chains to create animations on the timeline.

This video is really similar to how i did it:


As for the scrolling texture, look at the tank unit files. You'll see a field for scrolling textures and a number that designates which percentage of the texture file will be used to scroll. Eg., 0.75 means the last 1/4 of the texture is scrolled.

Also I forgot to mention that when you have an animation of moving BONES, (the mesh is only there for reference), you only export the BONES as FBX. Nothing else. Just the bones moving on their timeline.

Anyone still happen to have a 3ds max unit model/animation? It would help me out to see how your model was setup.

https://github.com/Legion-Expansion/Legion-Expansion/tree/balance/art/original_models

<Removed by me>

It's been a few years and this tutorial is now out of date.
Could anyone update me on how adding a new unit works now in 2020?
I could really use a super basic mod that adds just one bogus unit so I can reverse engineer the proces.

NEW TUTORIAL!!! Only Blender required