TRLE - AOD Animations

2022-11-05 - PROGRESS UPDATE:

Target engine change

• From now on, the TRNG version of this project is terminated.
  I might fix a few things here and there if bugs are reported, but support will end here.

• The project will now be aimed at TombEngine exclusively (as planned initially).
  It will naturally rely exclusively on .WAD2 format. All animations that were not mine (legacy of The Dark Renaissance / The Lost Dominion) will be purged.

I don't know yet if I'll make a new repository for the TombEngine version, or push it into this one and move the TRNG stuff into another repository.
I don't know yet when I'll finish this new version, but progress has started already.

Animations progress

As you may have noticed, no new animations were pushed for a bit more than 1 year. This is because my 3DS Max free license has expired, and I'm not buying one.
I plan to switch to Blender, but I still have to learn how to properly use it, and the Blender <-> WadTool workflow. And for this I need some time.

(note that all the rest of this readme file was written before this note, I haven't updated it yet)

A Tomb Raider: The Angel Of Darkness based animation set for Tomb Raider: Level Editor.

Preview (Jul 28, 2019):

1. The project - general information

1.1. Updates and progression

You can:

• Follow the commits to see the latest updates.
• Read the issues named "Progress tracker ***" to see the lists of animations that have been remade or planned.

1.2. Target engine/editor

The project is currently developped using TRNG + FLEP. When it becomes available and stable, the target engine will switch to TombEngine.

Most assets rely on new Tomb Editor file formats (.PRJ2, .WAD2). Lara.wad is being provided in .WAD format only, but as soon as WadTool can export animations to 3D software it will switch to .WAD2.

2. Installation

2.1. Downloading

There are 2 ways you can choose: clone the repository, or download the ZIP. I advise that you clone the repository on your computer using Github Desktop. It's the easiest way. The reason is: downloading files directly from the website converts text files (changing line endings), which makes them unreadeable by tools like WADMerger or NG Center.

2.1.1 Cloning the repository (recommended)

You need Github Desktop, and a Github account connected to it.

First setup

1. Launch Github Desktop.
2. Open the File menu and choose Clone repository....
3. Switch to the URL tab, and:
   • In the 1st field, paste the URL of the repository: https://github.com/Joey79100/trle-aod_animations
   • In the 2nd field, choose the folder in which you want to download the package.
4. Hit the Clone button to start the download.

Download updates

1. Launch Github Desktop.
2. Click the Fetch origin button at the top.
3. If there are updates, the button now says Pull origin: click it. Otherwise you already have the latest version.

2.1.2 Downloading the ZIP version

You need to unzip the package, and then convert line endings of text files from LF (Linux \n) to CRLF (Windows \r\n).

1. Near the top of this page, find the big green "Code" menu button, and hit Download ZIP.
2. If you don't already have it, download and install Notepad++.
3. For every problematic file (known affected files are .TXT, .SAM, .WAS):
   1. Open the file in Notepad++.
   2. Open the Edit menu, and select Convert line endings > Convert to Windows (CR+LF).

2.2. Importing the animations

The animations can be found in Assets\Objects\Lara.wad.

Assuming you're okay with the outfit, you only need to load this WAD into your project, and update it from time to time. If you're willing to use a different outfit, keep reading.

2.3. Using different outfits

Lara's outfit was made by Mrshina. It is different: Lara's mesh positions are different from a classic outfit, in order to match AOD proportions better. Thus, using the LARA object from this project's with a "classic" outfit will result in an alien-like Lara in-game.

There are 2 solutions:

• easier way: export all animations from this LARA, and import them all in yours (WadTool only)
• longer way: import this LARA, but reposition every mesh into their original TR4 position (WadMerger)

Exporting/Importing the animations (WadTool only)

1. Open Lara.wad.
   1. Double-click LARA to open it in the Animation Editor.
   2. Open the Animations menu, and select Batch > Export all....
   3. Create a dedicated folder for the animations, and select it.
   4. Close the animation editor.
2. Open your WAD.
   1. Double-click LARA to open it in the Animation Editor.
   2. Open the Animations menu, and select Batch > Import....
   3. Select the folder in which your exported the animations.
   4. Hit Yes to the Missing animations slots detected prompt.
3. Save the changes, then save your WAD.

Importing the LARA object and repositionning the meshes (WadMerger)

First make sure you're using the TRNG fixer's version of WADMerger (downloadable here).

1. Open your WAD.
2. Select LARA and open the Animation Editor (and don't select an animation, stay in "No Animation" mode).
3. In the Meshes list (bottom right), select any mesh, for example Mesh 1 (Mesh 0 can't be moved at all).
4. In the toolbar (top left), hit the Move the selected mesh button (the first one).
5. In the Meshes list, select the mesh you want to edit. Note: you need to do this even if you already selected it before step 4, because when clicking on the Move button, the actual selection changes in the 3D view.
6. In the 3D View and Mesh Buttons panel (bottom right), use the 3 Mov. Mesh buttons to move the mesh respectively on the X, Y and Z axis. Refer to the coordinates that appear just below these buttons, not the ones in the little popup window (which are scaled differently).
7. Repeat steps 6. and 7. for every mesh.
8. Close the Move window.
9. In the File menu, hit Save WAD.

Mesh	#	TR4 outfit mesh position			Mrshina's AOD outfit mesh position
		X	Y	Z	X	Y	Z
PELVIS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Left THIGH	1	-42	-20	2	-43	-14	-15
Left KNEE	2	9	-185	3	6	-173	11
Left ANKLE	3	1	-192	-8	6	-205	-10
Right THIGH	4	43	-20	2	44	-14	-15
Right KNEE	5	-10	-185	2	-6	-173	11
Right ANKLE	6	0	-193	-2	-6	-205	-10
TORSO	7	-1	49	11	0	83	7
Right SHOULDER	8	59	142	-12	59	129	-15
Right ELBOW	9	10	-95	-2	2	-114	-4
Right WRIST	10	1	-101	-1	-1	-90	6
Left SHOULDER	11	-57	143	-12	-59	131	-15
Left ELBOW	12	-9	-98	-2	-1	-116	-4
Left WRIST	13	-1	-99	-1	1	-90	6
HEAD	14	2	198	-23	0	174	-23

2.4. Footstep sounds

The animations have been fixed to work with the "1 terrain type = 1 footstep sound" approach (instead of the "stone + footstep sound" TR3-4-5 use).

• All unneeded calls to the LARA_FEET sound in Lara's animations have been removed.
• LARA_FEET has been recycled into a boot scraping sound, that I use on certain occasions (like when Lara stops running) to add more dynamic and variety to the sounds.
• I use the Footstep Sound Customizer FLEP patch to define which sound ID to use for each terrain type.

In order to import the sounds:

1. Copy/Paste Footsteps.xml somewhere into your project folder.
2. Copy/Paste Assets/Sounds/Footsteps somewhere into your project folder.
3. In your project settings, Sound Infos tab, add Footsteps.xml you pasted at step 1. to the list of sound catalogs (top part of the window).
4. In your project settings, Sound Sample Paths tab, add the Footsteps folder you pasted at step 2. to the list.
5. Open FLEP:
   1. Activate these 2 patches:
   • Footstep Sound Customizer
   • Enable all footstep sound effects
   2. In the Footstep Sound Customizer patch, set the First Sound ID to 288, and then every sound to the "Relative ID" below:

Absolute ID	_OriginalSounds.txt name	FLEP name	Relative ID	Footsteps.xml name
288	FOOTSTEPS_MUD	MUD	0	FOOTSTEPS_0_MUD
289	HORSEMAN_HORSE_NEIGH	ICE	1	FOOTSTEPS_1_ICE
290	FOOTSTEPS_GRAVEL	GRAVEL	2	FOOTSTEPS_2_GRAVEL
291	FOOTSTEPS_SAND_&_GRASS	SAND	3	FOOTSTEPS_3_SAND
292	FOOTSTEPS_WOOD	WOOD	4	FOOTSTEPS_4_WOOD
293	FOOTSTEPS_MARBLE	MARBLE	5	FOOTSTEPS_5_MARBLE
294	FOOTSTEPS_METAL	METAL	6	FOOTSTEPS_6_METAL
295	GEN_SPHINX_DOORTHD	SNOW	7	FOOTSTEPS_7_SNOW
296	SETT_PLASMA_1	WATER	8	FOOTSTEPS_8_WATER
297	SETT_BOLT_1	STONE	9	FOOTSTEPS_9_STONE
298	SETT_FEET	GRASS	10	FOOTSTEPS_10_GRASS
299	SETT_NRG_CHARGE	CONCRETE	11	FOOTSTEPS_11_CONCRETE
300	SETT_NRG_CHARGE2	OLD_WOOD	12	FOOTSTEPS_12_OLD_WOOD
301	HORSEMAN_TAKEHIT	OLD_METAL	13	FOOTSTEPS_13_OLD_METAL
302	HORSEMAN_WALK	UNKNOWN14	14	FOOTSTEPS_14_CARPET
303	HORSEMAN_GRUNT	UNKNOWN15	15	FOOTSTEPS_15_LEAVES

The sounds marked in bold are those that are going to be replaced. You can of course remap any sound to the ID that you wish, just make sure to edit the parameters in the FLEP patch as well.

2.5. Using interactible objects

Here's a list of the objects that have been worked on. Some of them have custom animations in order to fit Lara's new animations. Unlisted objects means that Lara's animations have not been touched for them yet.

Note: object sounds have all been removed from LARA's animations - they have been added to the objects themselves instead!

Slot	Description	Custom animations	Remarks
FLOOR_TRAPDOOR1	Trapdoor that can be lifted	Yes	-
PUSHABLE_BLOCK	Movable block	-	-
SWITCH_TYPE1	Wall lever switch	Yes	-
SWITCH_TYPE3	Electric switch	Yes	The object's dimensions are also different!
SWITCH_TYPE4	Small button switch	-	-
SWITCH_TYPE5	Valve switch	Yes	The object's dimensions are also different!
UNDERWATER_SWITCH1	Underwater switch	Yes	-
LEVER_SWITCH	Floor lever switch	-	-
JUMP_SWITCH	Elevated wall switch	-	-
PULLEY	Pulley	Yes	Looping is disabled, it was causing issues (1st pull was ok, then it broke)
KICK_DOOR	Kickable door	Yes	-
PUSHPULL_DOOR	Normal door	Yes	-
DOUBLE_DOORS	Double door	-	Uses the Big Double Doors animation from AOD (eg. Archeological Digsite)
SARCOPHAGUS	Sarcophagus	-	-
SEQUENCE_SWITCH	Big button switch	-	-
ANIMATING4	Ladder	-	Can be used from the bottom only for now

2.6. Scripted extra abilities

In Script\Script.txt, you can see many included (#INCLUDE) files starting with "Animations_***". These files contain the extra abilities. Other files can be ignored, they are mostly cosmetical, or old systems that were made specifically for The Lost Dominion or The Dark Renaissance.

There are 2 categories of animation related files:

• Responsivity extensions: You should include these files. They are part of making Lara's responsivity optimal, by removing hardcoded delays (eg. allowing Lara to run after a swandive roll), or adding extra animations that allow Lara to get into more places (eg. the crawlspace flexibility set).
• New capabilities: You can freely choose if you want or not the ability in your level. Not including them won't negatively affect Lara's abilities or responsivity.

Note that every script command is using a constant, which you can find at the top of the file.
That means that if you have some conflicts, you can easily change the IDs at the top of the file (#DEFINE NAME_OF_THE_CONSTANT VALUE) until it works, without having to edit the scripts' content itself.

2.7. FLEP patches

FLEP patches are required.

Here are the required patches:

• Disable ledge climb delay
• Quick crawlspace climb
• Enablel cralwspace jump
  • Crawlspace jump animation #: 421
  • Pit deepness threshold: 28
• Wall climbing mid-point adjuster
  • Low frame for climbing up: 26
  • High frame for climbing up: 28
  • Low frame for climbing down: 27
  • High frame for climbing down: 29
• Fix hysterisis in one click deep water
• Footstep Sound Customizer
  • [see 2.4 Footstep sounds for details]
• Enable all footstep sound effects
• Upward standing jump ledge grab animation
  • Animation: 29
  • Start frame: 0
• Pickup flare frames
  • Animation 204 (standing): 16
• Pickup item frames
  • Animation 135 (standing): 15
  • Animation 291 (crouching): 19
  • Animation 425 (low pedestal): 15
  • Animation 325 (hole): 33
• Dive delay
  • Delay: 0
• Prevent camera position freeze

3. Credits

• Direct contributions
  • Krystian: Ladder system, animation utilities, and help generally speaking
  • Caesum: General interface design, feedback and advice
  • Daledrau: General interface design, Title screen render
  • Mrshina: Lara's outfit
  • The Lost Dominion team (members) & The Lost Dominion Revival team: Medipacks, Batteries, Stength upgrade system, Health bar graphics, Dynamic camera presets, Quick save system, Grip bar system
• Indirect contributions
  • Silent Viper: SAS
  • Timmie_Croft: Knife
  • Mr XY: Bookcase
  • Symsi: Swingpole and tightrope
  • Lwmte: FLEP
  • ChocolateFan: Additional FLEP patches
  • Dermahn: Additional FLEP patches
  • JMN: Classic Inventory plugin
  • Tomb Editor team: Tomb Editor and its tools
  • Paolone: The TRNG engine
  • Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine: shovel digging sounds
  • Core Design & Eidos Interactive: Tomb Raider

As the The Dark Renaissance project (and before that, The Lost Dominion) was originally a private project in which I was only a member, I did not keep a credits list. I am trying to correct this, but I may be missing people here. Feel free to let me know if you know more details.

4. Note about encryption

A simple request:

If you are going to encrypt your levels, then please do not use this project.

I don't agree with encryption for many reasons, and I'll just sum it up this way: when making your game, you're using software, assets, tutorials, advices, etc... which are all community effort. Community effort is what kept Tomb Raider level editing going after 20 years.

My project is following the same spirit. If you want to encrypt your levels, well it's your choice, but then I ask you to not use any of my stuff in it. Thank you.

5. See also

• TRLE - Project Fix Lara