WWE 2K22 Mesh Modding Tutorial by Banshee

[Banshee]

Hey there, Banshee here. Here's a mesh modding tutorial I cooked up.
This tutorial doesn't mean it is the ONLY way to do it, however it is how I do.
Figured this out by myself and thanks to my knowledge in modding previous games.
Credits also go to Lynch for having thought me modding for WWE 2K20 last year.
Enjoy! Twitter: Banshee

C1 = character we want to mod.
C2 = charcter we need the tops of.
C3 = character we need the bottoms of.

 

Edited June 21, 2022 by Banshee

[RobertKidd0x]

Thank you brother, this is great!

[goncalorasousa1]

Hey, just one question how i can select the mesh from the three skeletons without select the skeletons too? i am new to blender thats way i am asking this. nevermind i select them but i get a error exporting the model.

Edited July 14, 2022 by goncalorasousa1

[Banshee]

7 hours ago, goncalorasousa1 said:

Hey, just one question how i can select the mesh from the three skeletons without select the skeletons too? i am new to blender thats way i am asking this. nevermind i select them but i get a error exporting the model.

It doesn't really matter, the skeleton that was imported last gets exported with the meshes. But just in case, only select the meshes and not the skeleton. I'll make a newer tutorial because there are thing I learned after making this one.

[TheKreator]

This worked really well, though there's not mention of the texture mapping details for the imported parts from the other models.  In my example, I've been working on the Undertaker '02 model.  I was able to get the sunglasses from CAS, export the model and associated files, import to the Default Attire and align in place, resculpt the bandana to look correct over the glasses, then export.

In game, the glasses looked pretty cool and then I realized somehow his gloves and tank top all matched the glasses - solid black and mirror shiny.  My assumption originally was the texture from the CAS glasses are missing in the Textures folder for the new MDL,  but I tried and that didn't work of course.  Then it dawned on me that CAS parts don't use the same texturing method as regular character models/parts and have several different broken out files rather than the usual normals with RGB+Alpha in a single DDS.  This leads me to believe I need to re-texture the imported glasses mdl in Blender to match the format of the non-CAS MDLs and textures?

The other thing I haven't figured out yet -- how does the system determine which parts of the attire MDL are entrance only?  In this case, his shirt is the only thing that is entrance-only by default.  And it's made up of two parts - the fixed shoulders, and the physics enabled hanging parts.  But not sure how it identifies that piece to not appear during the match.  In my custom MDL, the glasses stay on during the match as I expected, but now the shirt does too even though I didn't touch anything related to the shirt.  My assumption here is that certain items are maybe referenced in the HPL file since you mentioned if removing an existing item it needed to be edited?  In my example, I didn't remove, only added the glasses, so I didn't touch that file.

Pretty excited to have gotten this far though, and I really appreciate your tutorial!

 

[Banshee]

3 hours ago, TheKreator said:

This worked really well, though there's not mention of the texture mapping details for the imported parts from the other models.  In my example, I've been working on the Undertaker '02 model.  I was able to get the sunglasses from CAS, export the model and associated files, import to the Default Attire and align in place, resculpt the bandana to look correct over the glasses, then export.

In game, the glasses looked pretty cool and then I realized somehow his gloves and tank top all matched the glasses - solid black and mirror shiny.  My assumption originally was the texture from the CAS glasses are missing in the Textures folder for the new MDL,  but I tried and that didn't work of course.  Then it dawned on me that CAS parts don't use the same texturing method as regular character models/parts and have several different broken out files rather than the usual normals with RGB+Alpha in a single DDS.  This leads me to believe I need to re-texture the imported glasses mdl in Blender to match the format of the non-CAS MDLs and textures?

The other thing I haven't figured out yet -- how does the system determine which parts of the attire MDL are entrance only?  In this case, his shirt is the only thing that is entrance-only by default.  And it's made up of two parts - the fixed shoulders, and the physics enabled hanging parts.  But not sure how it identifies that piece to not appear during the match.  In my custom MDL, the glasses stay on during the match as I expected, but now the shirt does too even though I didn't touch anything related to the shirt.  My assumption here is that certain items are maybe referenced in the HPL file since you mentioned if removing an existing item it needed to be edited?  In my example, I didn't remove, only added the glasses, so I didn't touch that file.

Pretty excited to have gotten this far though, and I really appreciate your tutorial!

 

Thanks for the details, man. See, when it comes to the textures coming out blank, it's a mesh name issue, make sure, for example, your shirt mesh is called "tops:skinned" in Blender upon export, and that the textures follow this format: "tops_color", "tops_nrm". As you can see the CAS parts all have a separate texture for metal, roughness and normal maps, whereas character parts use only one, called "sampletext_nrm". Create a new canvas in Photoshop, open the metal, roughness and normal maps from the default CAS textures, edit them as you need, and copy and paste them into your new canvas' red, green, blue and alpha channels. The normal map goes into both the red and green channels, the roughness goes in blue and metal goes in alpha (you need to make one by pressing "New alpha channel").

Also make an MTLS with the MDL you exported to have all the right names in the MTLS as well. If you want a piece of clothing to only display during the entrances, when you're in Blender, if your mesh is called "tops:skinned", rename it to "tops:skinned.M_Tops!" upon export, to only display it during entrances. Same with all other pieces of clothing: "sampletext:skinned.M_Sampletext!".

Edited July 16, 2022 by Banshee

[TheKreator]

Thanks, that helps a lot!  I have a pretty good handle on the existing color and normals and began doing exactly as you mentioned for the CAS parts.  I just wasn't sure how from within Blender to identify the files and I figured it was probably some specific naming convention that I was missing.  (Basically, I wasn't touching any names, just keeping it exactly as they imported.)

I was able to get the entrance-only part to work, though I just added the ! to the existing name.  For example, "lambert1:skinned" became "lambert1:skinned!" and it worked, though with your example above, it should actually be "lambert1:skinned.M_Lambert1!" ?  (I noticed these "Lambert" named meshes seem to always be associated with parts that also have some sort of physics applied.  But in the Undertaker '02 models, the each glove and the tops are a variation of "lambert1:skinned.001" or other number, and those are the ones that lose their texture in the game.  I'm now assuming that's because the texture file names are not "Lambert" names, but the actual part names like "r_a_acce_color.dds" for the right glove.  So I will try naming it "r_a_acce:skinned" and see if that fixes it, or should it actually be "lambert1:skinned.M_r_a_acce" ?

Once I get this part nailed, I've got some really fun things in the works!  I have a degree in 3D Animation, but it was from the year 2000 when our focus was on PS1 and N64 low-poly modeling and developing game assets.  I ended up going into web development and then into television production the last 10 years, so the last time I did much true 3D modeling was in 3DStudioMAX 22 years ago.  The nice thing is most of the core skills and concepts are the same, it's just learning Blender from scratch and where all the tools and functions are, and all the awesome advancements in 3D modeling over the last two decades.  I'm picking it back up relatively quick though as there are so many excellent tutorials online for the basics.

[TheKreator]

GREAT SUCCESS!  Renamed those "lambert" items based on their correct names, "lambert1:skinned.003" became "tops:skinned" and did the same for the gloves and perfection!

Makes perfect sense too.  Not sure where the different names came from during the import, but easy fix now that I understand what the script is doing upon export.

 

New question -- the exclamation point (!) works to identify items that only appear in entrances... but is there a way to indicate items that should only be during matches?  In my example, I'm adding glasses to the Undertaker '02 entrance, which also required me to custom sculpt the bandana to look correct folding over the sunglasses, but in the match, if you look closely you can see the areas where the bandana folds away from his face to account for glasses which are no longer being worn for the match.  Would be awesome to have the original unmodified bandana in the match itself, and the modified one only in the entrance.

 

Thanks again for the guidance on this!  I really appreciate it!

[Banshee]

10 hours ago, TheKreator said:

GREAT SUCCESS!  Renamed those "lambert" items based on their correct names, "lambert1:skinned.003" became "tops:skinned" and did the same for the gloves and perfection!

Makes perfect sense too.  Not sure where the different names came from during the import, but easy fix now that I understand what the script is doing upon export.

 

New question -- the exclamation point (!) works to identify items that only appear in entrances... but is there a way to indicate items that should only be during matches?  In my example, I'm adding glasses to the Undertaker '02 entrance, which also required me to custom sculpt the bandana to look correct folding over the sunglasses, but in the match, if you look closely you can see the areas where the bandana folds away from his face to account for glasses which are no longer being worn for the match.  Would be awesome to have the original unmodified bandana in the match itself, and the modified one only in the entrance.

 

Thanks again for the guidance on this!  I really appreciate it!

We've been trying to figure it out since WWE 2K20, not sure if it's possible.

[TheKreator]

Great news on the In-Ring-Only toggle option for the Blender script!  I brought it up on PWM Discord today and Hanleys quickly was able to put together a script update for me to test.  It worked perfectly!  So now in addition to the exclamation point (!) to indicate "Entrance Only" attire items, you will now be able to append a dollar sign ($) the same way to designate "In-Ring-Only" so that item will be invisible during the entrance.

Going to update my 2002 Taker with the custom bandana and glasses tomorrow, and have set up Undertaker '95 working near perfectly (just removed the mask and elbow pad, and will be updating the textures slightly.)  With the 95 Taker, he actually has two sets of hair and two different shirts.  One for Entrance, one for the match.  The extra hair model is basically to account for the hat during the entrance, and the shirt of course is the version with the tie, and then one with out.

Opens up a lot of possibilities for unique mods where attire can appear to change slightly like the bandana example, or drastically in some creative uses, especially if hair or other items are involved and have to be "squished" to fit inside a mask or some sort of head wear.

[alfie]

Hi sir @Banshee. Can you share the video tutorial for this Mesh modding? I'm new on this and I want to learn it. If you dont mind sir

Edited July 30, 2022 by alfie

[bigbadwolfie]

Thanks @Banshee

The major problem I'm facing is.. the hair gets really weird ..making weird movements..like it has got a mind of its own..almost feels like Medusa..after adding new attire parts

[JkoLoneWolf]

I’ve had the Medusa hair as well. And how do I figure out how to name the lambert stuff correctly? Is there somewhere with correct names that I can reference?

[Banshee]

8 hours ago, bigbadwolfie said:

Thanks @Banshee

The major problem I'm facing is.. the hair gets really weird ..making weird movements..like it has got a mind of its own..almost feels like Medusa..after adding new attire parts

Reimport the hair's mdl last 

7 hours ago, JkoLoneWolf said:

I’ve had the Medusa hair as well. And how do I figure out how to name the lambert stuff correctly? Is there somewhere with correct names that I can reference?

Leave the lambert1 named as it, export everything once. Export again without the lambert and make your mtls with this one.

[bigbadwolfie]

Interesting.. so when making the mtls.. you don't have to include the lambert?

[Pepsiguy2]

1 hour ago, bigbadwolfie said:

Interesting.. so when making the mtls.. you don't have to include the lambert?

You shouldn't at all. Look in 2K's mtls and youll notice they never have a lambert.

 

If you assign the lambert a material, there are instances where it will appear in the game. It's the most common cause for the "hair in the middle of the ring" bug. 

 

If the lambert is non existent from the mtls, the game doesn't know it exists on a texture level and therefore will not render it, however it will still exist on an mdl level after you export again and continue to drive the animation

[Vmars]

I tried to add Triple H beard to the rock, the tutorial went very easy, but when loading a match the game crash to desktop. so i'm not sure really what i did wrong, The only part i wasn't sure is when doing the mtl. :S

[Banshee]

6 hours ago, Vmars said:

I tried to add Triple H beard to the rock, the tutorial went very easy, but when loading a match the game crash to desktop. so i'm not sure really what i did wrong, The only part i wasn't sure is when doing the mtl. :S

Rename the beard from "combinations:_ALPHA:skinned" to "beard:skinned" or something else.

[Vmars]

8 hours ago, Banshee said:

Rename the beard from "combinations:_ALPHA:skinned" to "beard:skinned" or something else.

Cool it worked thanks. But know i have a nother problem the beard and the Rock's Underwear turned shiny (metalic) :S

picutre :https://drive.google.com/file/d/16aw5LLUJL_AAQd0XAbNJ4rK5yKvVpGrV/view?usp=sharing

[Enigma2021]

Hi buddy, I created a new hairstyle but in the game for some female wrestler and looks in white color, I tried to painted it in painting vectores in blender but nothing, I tried to make some others textures like hair, hair2, hair_alpha, hair2_alpha I put all of they in the mtls and saved it, and make the textures in bc3 and bc5 format for color and for normals and nothing my model continue with the white color and some rare lines in colors so idk what happens here, what a headache really

[treble]

I'm a sicko who hacks games for fun and just came across hctp. So far, I managed to make all brap and svr diva models to work in season. By adding xxx1 pac files and injecting them. For brap, inject x0 file then inject brap sub files to available slots. When using blender, always uncheck validate meshes. This should get modders started if there's any left.

[treble]

Just made full in season brap via people's elbow. Hex edit rock's pac. Change sub file names located every 8 characters to brap's excluding 16 & 17. Save and inject brap sub files. (you can reverse sequence by swapping 14 & 15). Inject rock's pac to xxx1 never in x0 or else it will hang. (use stripped version instead)

[treble]

correction: located after every 8 characters.

[treble]

Stacy, Trish & Victoria failed.

[treble]

There seems to be a limit so I chose their tops. Playing them in season and performing people's elbow, feels like Hulk Hogan ripping his shirt off. It's so cool, that I missed the big guy.