Advanced Model Support version 102

by Simon "Psychic_313" McVittie

Mod description

Advanced Model Support provides versatile scripting for new custom models, including:

Easy scripting for almost any model - just subclass generic scripts and fill in the blanks
Support for powerful scripted skins - giving skinners with Unrealscript experience the power to customize model settings and enable/disable team skins for their skin only
The UT Playstation 2 male animations - AMS models are no longer dependent on Bonus Pack 4, unlike earlier skeletally-animated models
The first and probably only public release of the UT Playstation 2 female animations
Partial fixes for a couple of UT skeletal bugs nobody had noticed :-)

This is version 1.02 of AMS, providing all the support files necessary to use AMS-based models. v1.02 is completely backwards-compatible with v1.01.

If you are a modeller and want to link your model to Advanced Model Support, please download the Advanced Models SDK, or read it online - see below. The SDK contains tutorials and template scripts relevant to player model authors and mod teams; some simple demonstration models are also available.

AMSDK

The Advanced Models SDK is available to download or read online here: AMSDK Index.

Installation and requirements

This mod requires Unreal Tournament, upgraded to version 436 or later (download the patch from www.unrealtournament.com or a mirror download like File Planet or Unreality).

UMOD version

Windows users

Unzip with Winzip, Power Archiver or similar, and double-click the UMOD. Unreal Tournament version 436 is required.

If you have problems with UMOD files, try these pages:

Also, make sure you have the required UT patch installed.

Linux and Mac users

Unzip with InfoZip or similar, then install the UMOD with UMODPack (you'll need Perl to run UMODPack) or some other UMOD reader (apparently Westlake Interactive made an official Mac UMOD reader).

Non-UMOD version

There is no non-UMOD version. This is deliberate - the non-UMOD Bonus Pack 4 caused no end of problems. Do not make or distribute one.

Server installation

Install as described above, then check the [Engine.GameEngine] section of System\UnrealTournament.ini. You must have the following line:

ServerPackages=AdvancedModelSupport

FAQ (questions which I hope won't be frequently asked...)

How do I install it?

The UMOD doesn't work!

The UMOD says I need "Unrealtournament 436". What's a 436?

See "Installation" above.

I installed Advanced Model Support and there doesn't seem to be any difference in UT.

AMS doesn't do a lot on its own - it's mostly behind-the-scenes stuff. However, you can now install some cool models which you couldn't before. In version 1.02 you also get a menu item (which doesn't do a whole lot) and some extra key bindings under Preferences/Controls (all except Challenge Taunt are actually basic UT features, but Epic forgot to include them in the basic list).

I bound a key to the new Challenge taunt, but it doesn't do anything.

It only works on models which have a Challenge animation sequence. This means models which use the built-in Epic male skeletal animations, or models where the animator has added a fifth taunt.

I bound a key to Third Person, but in third person view I don't get a crosshair.

In third person view my model is in the way when I try to aim.

I get put back in first person view when I die.

It's meant to be like that. These are features, not bugs :-)

I installed AMS and a couple of models, but they won't work in multiplayer! Why?

To let players use any mod online (this includes models, skins, voices and Advanced Model Support) the server admin must have added them to their server's ServerPackages list. Unfortunately, anyone joining a game will be forced to download any of the ServerPackages they don't have, even if nobody is currently using that mod! This is frustrating for the players, and takes up bandwidth from the server (leaving less for the actual gameplay), so admins are reluctant to do this except for certain very popular models (Bonus Pack 1 is installed on about 50% of servers, in my experience, and BP 4 on about 10%).

UsAaR33 is working on a mod to make model and skin support act a bit more like Quake-engine games (Q3, Half-Life) where any model or skin you don't have appears as some default model, so server admins will only need to install this mod and players will be able to use any skin or model (of course, the less popular your skin, the more likely the other players are to not have it and see you as a default model like Male Soldier anyway). Look out for a mod called "Valhalla Avatar" - at the time of writing (9 July 2001), it's not quite finished but is available as a private beta test.

Known issues:

All issues involving Player Setup also apply to Configure Individual Bots.

Version 100 of this mod, which was only available for a few hours and wasn't widely publicised, is incompatible. Version 101 was released to fix sound bugs (missing player sounds), while this version (102) fixes further bugs. If you have network problems, please make sure other players do have version 101 or 102 installed.
If you select an Advanced Model Support model, then select a non-AMS skeletal model (this includes Bonus Pack 4 and its fixed versions, as well as earlier versions of Wraithguard and Space Warrior), the animations may get screwed up. Close and reopen Player Setup to fix this. This is Epic's bug, not mine. All of these models will work fine in-game.
The last few AMS bots (or other custom bots) you installed may not show up in the bot class list, due to a hard-coded limit for this list (32 classes). This is Epic's bug, not mine. To work around this, uninstall some models you don't use, or use a mod like XBots or EnhancedUT to set up your bots.
If skinners do very strange things to the model's display settings using scripted skins, these strange settings may "infect" other models which are subsequently selected in Player Setup. This only applies to very strange effects, so you're unlikely to see it in practice, and it won't happen in-game. As before, closing and re-opening Player Setup will fix this.
If you use the Advanced Model Support menu item to disable "Player Setup safe mode", this "infection" will occur with even more effects. Certain display properties do not take effect in Player Setup, to avoid the bug described above, unless "Player Setup safe mode" is disabled using the AMS menu item. These include Fatness, Style (translucency), and the Unlit and No Smoothing effects.
The AMS mod menu item will move to the Options menu if you install EnhancedUT (at the time of writing, this is another unfinished UsAaR33 mod). This is a feature, not a bug.
On some computer configurations, the "Go to AMS web page" button in the menu may crash UT with a General Protection Fault while creating the web browser window.

Changes since version 101

Scripted skins get the chance to clean up after themselves, which should have happened in 1.01 but didn't thanks to a couple of missing lines of code (thanks to UsAaR33 for pointing that out).
AMS now has a mod menu item with which you can set the behaviour of Player Setup or go to the AMS web page.
AMS now alters Space Marine 40K, if you're using it, to fix a minor typo in the sound effects. One of the pain sounds was spelt wrong and didn't play. It does now.
You get some extra key bindings in the Preferences screen. These are mostly basic UT features which Epic didn't include an automatic key binding for.
Certain models have a new taunt called Challenge. This is not available on the Voice menu, only by binding a key to it. This only works for some models (models which use the built-in AMS Male animation set, such as Space Marine v2.01, Wraithguard II, and hopefully future models). This is an Epic feature, not an AMS one - I just made it more accessible.

Contact details

Read this file first. Then read it again. If you still have problems, look at the AMS web page, http://www.pseudorandom.co.uk/paradox/ams. If you still have problems, contact me.

E-mail: simon@pseudorandom.co.uk or psychic_313@bigfoot.com.
Anything else (ICQ etc.): have a look at the contacts page on http://www.pseudorandom.co.uk.

Credits and copyright

Concept: Psychic_313 and James Green

Thanks

Big thanks to James Green for animations and expertise, UsAaR33 for cunning ideas and online testing, Josh at ravensite.net for attempting online testing :-(, tla for suggesting class-based skins, and everyone at EpicKnights for their enthusiasm.

Trademarks and permissions

You may distribute this mod if and only if said distribution is under the following conditions:

All distribution must be on a not-for-profit basis (charging for this content is not allowed)
The entire unmodified ZIP file must be distributed, including this file and the complete UMOD file.
Large-scale distributors (mirror downloads, CDs) must inform simon@pseudorandom.co.uk.

If you wish to distribute this pack under different conditions, ask me nicely at simon@pseudorandom.co.uk.

Parts of Advanced Model Support may be incorporated into other mods according to the terms indicated in the source code and SDK.

Unreal is a trademark of Epic Games, Inc. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other trademarks mentioned are hereby acknowledged to be the property of their respective owners.

THIS MOD IS PROVIDED "AS-IS" WITH ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. THE AUTHORS ACCEPT NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR DAMAGE, INCONVENIENCE OR OTHER PROBLEMS, WITHOUT LIMITATION, CAUSED BY THIS MOD, EVEN IF THEY HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH PROBLEMS.