OSP 3D Art [Kit] Dismemberment and Decapitation Mod Kit... WIP Version Released

[Flanged]

Modders (and players) should now be able to add full decapitation (thanks to Davee of the Vikingr mod) and some dismemberable bandit troops to their game without too much trouble.  A Readme with installation and hotkey instructions is included, as well as directions in the module system files themselves on where to place the mission_template scripts, items, troop types, etc. necessary for bringing dismemberment to Warband. 

Players can simply transfer the included files to a copy of their Native module and play without any bother.  Have fun!

SEE VIDEO HERE:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35rE3d3Wc4E

DOWNLOAD MOD KIT HERE: http://www.gamefront.com/files/20859811/DMK_Preview.zip

DOWNLOAD A FULLY PLAYABLE DISMEMBERMENT MOD HERE:  http://www.moddb.com/mods/decapitate-and-dismember

OR HERE:  http://mountandblade.nexusmods.com/mods/3942/

Sadly, I could not record the sound live, and had a low framerate, but full sounds are included in the kit, and the game does not lag at all with the kit in action.

Obviously, modders are free to replace the sounds and re-texture the troops as they see fit.


=----------------------------------------------------------------

Some people will already be aware that a quite basic form of dismemberment was achieved for Mount and Blade 1.011 by me, Somebody, Rosha, cdvader, and I can't remember who else.  It was alright... not great.  More of a novelty than a fully developed feature, though it did have some tactical use in slowing down/disabling the opponent.  Video here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3dp_cEYWYQ

What I want to do is start work on this again and put it out as a mini-mod and a modders' resource for both Warband and M&B.  So far as I know it will only ever work in singleplayer, and with specially equipped troop types, but that's why I'm starting a thread... so people will post ideas and scripts that I can steal!  People who know more about multiplayer might be able to help out as well with getting it implemented there... though it'd only work for bots with the current method.

I saw that somebody has also developed a form of decapitation, with a huge blood fountain from the neck but (so far) no physics-enabled head object being spawned to simulate the bit that's just been cut off.  Hopefully whoever made that video/mod will post here too and we can work together on integrating the two things into a single mod (if they want to).  Video of decapitation:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyxxJa9jJrQ

That's pretty nice.  Just saw that it's part of the VikingR 0.70 mod, so I'll have a look for that.

Now... here are some starter questions that need answering before I can make much more progress myself on how to decap/dismember folk:

1/  Is there a way to set a single AI troop type to keep it's shield in the raised defensive position from the
    very start of battle till the very end, never lowering it at all for any reason?  Can this be done in mission_templates or wherever? 

2/  In troops.py what is the name or troop type of the first guy who attacks you in the game, just before
    the merchant asks you to rescue his brother?  Is he an individual NPC like the Belligerent Drunk, or just a mountain/forest bandit?

That's all the questions i have for now actually.  Thanks in advance for any answers.

 

[Mikey]

That's all the questions i have for now actually.  Thanks in advance for any answers.

As I don't have the game or the module system in front of me, it may be rather meaningless to reply, but for what it's worth I'm pretty sure he's simply labelled "Bandit". Though that may also be different depending on your choice of starting city, as far as I remember, each city has a separate script to handle it's opening sequence, spawning of merchant etc.

 

[Leifr Eiríksson]

Latest version of Vikingr has the head being spawned after decap, albeit with a generic face. Send a PM to Davee, since he was the chap whom whipped it up, if you want more details.

 

[Flanged]

As I don't have the game or the module system in front of me, it may be rather meaningless to reply, but for what it's worth I'm pretty sure he's simply labelled "Bandit". Though that may also be different depending on your choice of starting city, as far as I remember, each city has a separate script to handle it's opening sequence, spawning of merchant etc.

Cheers Mekelan, that does seem to be him, he has the spiked mace and Nordic shield that the first attacker usually spawns with.  There's also a guy just under him called "Brigand" who might be used in some of the other starting cities.  I will test it out.  Need to have a look over that first merchant quest as well.

Latest version of Vikingr has the head being spawned after decap, albeit with a generic face. Send a PM to Davee, since he was the chap whom whipped it up, if you want more details.

Thanks Eirikr, I can only get my less-successful version of decapitation to work with a generic head too, it seems to be an unavoidable engine limitation but there might be a way around it.

I'll send a PM, maybe a combination of our methods could lead to fully dismemberable troop types - legs, arms, cleaving bodies in half, the whole lot.   

 

[Davee]

Mark me intrigued. A full dismemberment "modders recourse pack" is an awesome idea and would no doubt benefit many modders and mods in the community.

I've seen videos of your work before and I was quite impressed with what you managed to do with M&B 1.011! It was partly this that made me think about how decapitations could work for Vikingr - and with the added operations that was introduced in a few Warband patches - I managed to pull it off in a nice manner eventually. The reason there isn't any head popping off and falling/rolling down on the ground is because the physics operations are not (yet) supported in MP. It would likely work in SP! But it's also because of these previously mentioned new operations that I'm not sure if it will work in vanilla M&B or not - it may or may not be reliant on them to run. I'll have to investigate. I've already "translated" it to work in SP for the Custom Battles we have in Vikingr though, so it shouldn't be very hard to get working in other up-to-date modules.

I haven't been actively modding lately, so I'm a bit out of the loop so to say. :p

I'll keep you updated!

 

[Flanged]

It would likely work in SP!

Excellent news, I would mainly like to concentrate on making it all work together in SP, at least to start with.  I'm thinking I could build an interesting little dungeon (always wanted to make a dungeon in Native) that showcased these features, probably attached to the first merchant quest, ie. you get to go into the bandit cave and chop some people up after storming their hideout for some extra loot.
 

it's also because of these previously mentioned new operations that I'm not sure if it will work in vanilla M&B or not - it may or may not be reliant on them to run. I'll have to investigate.

Don't worry too much about that, I already have dismemberment working in Warband SP, so even if decapitation ends up being Warband-only there will still be a full decap'n'dismember mod (and resource) for that.  So far I have a few new troop types attached to Looter and Peasant parties (lightly armoured types) who can have their arms and hands chopped off.  The drawbacks of the method are that the limbs can also be shot or knocked off with projectiles (fine for large throwing axes, but a bit silly with arrows) and the reaction animations aren't exactly perfected yet.  The anims work and look better in M&B than Warband so far, but I'm sure that's easily fixable.

Also, severed hands and arms can be looted and sold after battle at present.  Not sure if that's a bug or a feature.

I've already "translated" it to work in SP for the Custom Battles we have in Vikingr though

Downloading! 

Forgot to ask, do you know any way of making a single troop type keep it's shield raised constantly throughout a battle, not even lowering it to attack?  Would that require making a whole new race with a different skeleton and/or anim set, ie. it's standard walking-running-attack anims would be replaced by the shield-raised one? 

Would be best if it could be achieved via a script, but I guess those kind of human combat behaviours are hardcoded.

 

[Somebody]

Try using agent_set_defend_action to force defend. Not sure what you need it for though - also try using agent_set_scripted_destination_no_attack or something.

As for the generic head, have you thought about going the other way around? Spawn a generic agent with the same loadout as the decapitated agent (sans head), and make the original agent equip invisible items and play an animation instead. This would probably work for singleplayer, but as for multiplayer, I can see issues with scoring and mismatched equipment. You'd also lose the blood and attached projectiles.

 

[Flanged]

Try using agent_set_defend_action to force defend...also try using agent_set_scripted_destination_no_attack or something.

Those both worked, insofar as he didn't attack me, and he kept raising his block, whether I was near him or not.  He also kept lowering it though, so it was a standard up and down repeated movement of the "shield" - which, in this case, is his fake arm.  What I need is a way to make him keep that "shield" raised continuously...  I see there is a way to set the duration of a block for an agent in a mission template, but I'm not sure how it is done.

You posted this as an example on another thread:

(agent_set_defend_action, <agent_id>, <value>, <duration-in-1/1000-seconds>), #value_1: 0 = defend_down, 1 = defend_right, 2 = defend_left, 3 = defend_up

In my mission_template I currently have this as the way to make him defend:

(1, 0, 0, [],
      [     
        (get_player_agent_no, ":player_agent"),     
        (ge, "$g_main_attacker_agent", 0),
        (ge, ":player_agent", 0),
        (agent_is_active, "$g_main_attacker_agent"),
        (agent_is_active, ":player_agent"),
        (agent_get_position, pos0, ":player_agent"),
        (agent_get_position, pos1, "$g_main_attacker_agent"),
        (get_distance_between_positions, ":dist", pos0, pos1),
        (ge, ":dist", 5),
        (agent_set_scripted_destination_no_attack, "$g_main_attacker_agent", pos0),
        (agent_set_defend_action, "$g_main_attacker_agent"),       
      ]),

The lines in red are the relevant ones I added in an attempt to make him keep his guard up.  He is the first Bandit attacker when you start the game.  Funnily enough, the merchant in the same scene keeps raising and lowering his guard too as he approaches, but stops once he starts speaking to you.  That might become a bigger problem further down the line.

Sadly, I can't stress enough that I am terrible with scripts, which is why my method of dismemberment is so cumbersome and "mechanical" in the first place - in fact, it only works at all because of the excellent script you wrote for me.

Not sure what you need it for though -

The idea is this:  I currently have a severed arm object which is really a shield, and it functions as a shield in terms of items.py.  but it is placed in such a way that it appears to connect at the elbow to an armor with the forearm specially removed in advance.  Like so:

Obviously, these images are only to illustrate the method - I have since improved it so that the arm is not upside down. 

When you strike this "shield" in-game, it breaks and falls to the ground as normal, except it looks like it is the opponents arm that has been broken/severed:

If I'm sticking with this method, there is no real reason that I can't have my "arm/shield" be a bandit's head, or a larger part of their body, albeit a fake part, and one that will remain static, though attached, as he runs around.  I could technically have the whole highlighted red part here be fake and destructible, if i made an armor which was lacking that part and made sure the "shield" was there in it's place:

The problem is that the AI raise and lower their shields a lot (which is usually a good thing) but in this scenario it would make my bandit wave a detachable half of his own body around.  The only way it could be made to look convincing would be if I can force him to keep the destructible part of his body in the correct, raised position.  I hope that makes sense.  I'm not sure if it does myself. 

 

[MaHuD]

He can't attack when he has to defend 100 percent of his lifetime.

So I don't see how it would help you.

 

[cmpxchg8b]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_olYtka4sc

 

[Somebody]

indeed.
Too bad you also dismembered his hair... Does it work for every extremity?

 

[Specialist]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_olYtka4sc

I suspect that is WSE right?
Can I *please* get codes for that? So that on death your entire body can be ripped apart? It would be a minimod.

 

[Ikaguia]

I want it too I'd like to see how you made those.

 

[SonKidd]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_olYtka4sc

oh ****...

 

[cmpxchg8b]

I was just messing around (i.e. taking each mesh attached to a bone, assigning it to a new scene prop and then applying impulse to it).

I suspect that is WSE right?

It uses WSE, but I did it by writing some c++ code on the fly. It can't be done via module system.

 

[Specialist]

Dang... do you still have it?

And could it be possible with the module system at all?

 

[Krogh]

I'll support this! =q Looks really good from the video...wauw.

I'm totally in on this! Please keep us informed wih any mod-release
Could be really nice to have a mod with dismembering as the only thing, which later can be used in bigger mods.

 

[Specialist]

True that! If someone can figure out a module system code for this... then we can have mods that have realistic limb loss and realistic decapitation.


And if that C++ Code can be translated to module system, or even just used as a part of the WSE framework, then every mod could have it.

Cough cough If only Cmp could resurrect that code cough cough

 

[Krogh]

Seriously... this mod could make this game so much better, really!! =q

 

[Lumos]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_olYtka4sc

Ooooh, I want! I want!
Come on, cmp! Pretty please with sugar on top![1][2]


References:
[1] http://www.word-detective.com/2008/04/11/pretty-please-with-sugar-on-top/
[2] "Tzar", Haemimont games