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Show HN: ModelMod – modify art in games

28 points by jmquigs 11y ago

PhasmaFelis 11y ago
This is pretty cool! I wonder what specific use cases the author had in mind. I've been through the short video and the first three minutes of the long video, and haven't seen anything mentioned.
- tomyws 11y ago
  Well the demonstration uses Skyrim[1] to live-edit the character model which goes beyond the capabilities of a generic mod. Character customizations are also usually premium feature with free-to-play games. Also, the technical overview describes that the rendering calls are intercepted by matching the "vert/prim count"[2] which is an interesting approach. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDAN63VyJSY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDAN63VyJSY [2] https://github.com/jmquigs/ModelMod/tree/master/Docs/devguide#technical-overview https://github.com/jmquigs/ModelMod/tree/master/Docs/devguid...
  - jmquigs 11y ago
    Vert/prim count was the easiest way to do it. It doesn't require me to checksum vertex buffers or anything like that. I'm hoping to add texture checksums as a secondary key, so that you can get some control over instancing (just modify your character's head, for instance).
- jmquigs 11y ago
  Author here. I use it mostly for character mods, just like I show in the videos. I'm a pretty typical "programmer artist" though, so my mods are primitive. I've also used it for removal. For instance, some games have your character wearing backpacks and the like, which annoy me. So I delete them. I'm curious to see what real artists will be able to do with it. I'm hoping I can get some better demos from them.
  - PhasmaFelis 11y ago
    So it really is just for when you think a character should look different? Interesting. I'm not an artist, so that wouldn't have occurred to me, but I have hacked up scripts and stats when they annoy me (e.g. "Whaddaya mean I can only carry one grenade at a time? That's stupid!"), which I suppose is much the same thing.
    - jmquigs 11y ago
      Yes, its just cosmetic. Hacking the grenade count is what I would consider to be a gameplay mod, and there is a third category, UI mods, featured in WoW. With some overlap between them. I think people who pay for games should be able to do all types of mods, but developers often think otherwise, or, maybe they just don't have time to build mod support into the game.
yodon 11y ago
Does this work with procedural geometry games like Minecraft?
- jmquigs 11y ago
  I never tried it with minecraft. I'd have to guess no. I think minecraft optimizes rendering by batching geometry up into big chunks. These wouldn't be very useful as the basis for mods. Could be wrong, though.

28 points by jmquigs 11y ago

This is pretty cool! I wonder what specific use cases the author had in mind. I've been through the short video and the first three minutes of the long video, and haven't seen anything mentioned.

tomyws 11y ago
Well the demonstration uses Skyrim[1] to live-edit the character model which goes beyond the capabilities of a generic mod. Character customizations are also usually premium feature with free-to-play games. Also, the technical overview describes that the rendering calls are intercepted by matching the "vert/prim count"[2] which is an interesting approach. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDAN63VyJSY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDAN63VyJSY [2] https://github.com/jmquigs/ModelMod/tree/master/Docs/devguide#technical-overview https://github.com/jmquigs/ModelMod/tree/master/Docs/devguid...
- jmquigs 11y ago
  Vert/prim count was the easiest way to do it. It doesn't require me to checksum vertex buffers or anything like that. I'm hoping to add texture checksums as a secondary key, so that you can get some control over instancing (just modify your character's head, for instance).
jmquigs 11y ago
Author here. I use it mostly for character mods, just like I show in the videos. I'm a pretty typical "programmer artist" though, so my mods are primitive. I've also used it for removal. For instance, some games have your character wearing backpacks and the like, which annoy me. So I delete them. I'm curious to see what real artists will be able to do with it. I'm hoping I can get some better demos from them.
- PhasmaFelis 11y ago
  So it really is just for when you think a character should look different? Interesting. I'm not an artist, so that wouldn't have occurred to me, but I have hacked up scripts and stats when they annoy me (e.g. "Whaddaya mean I can only carry one grenade at a time? That's stupid!"), which I suppose is much the same thing.
  - jmquigs 11y ago
    Yes, its just cosmetic. Hacking the grenade count is what I would consider to be a gameplay mod, and there is a third category, UI mods, featured in WoW. With some overlap between them. I think people who pay for games should be able to do all types of mods, but developers often think otherwise, or, maybe they just don't have time to build mod support into the game.

yodon 11y ago

Does this work with procedural geometry games like Minecraft?

jmquigs 11y ago
I never tried it with minecraft. I'd have to guess no. I think minecraft optimizes rendering by batching geometry up into big chunks. These wouldn't be very useful as the basis for mods. Could be wrong, though.