Rigging a TF2 Weapon

Xuku

I'm trying to create a custom model for Team Fortress 2, in this case a very simple cylinder to replace the pyro's axe, just so I can learn the process. I've already made a hat for the workshop, so I have the basic process down. I've looked up endless amounts of tutorials, but none seem to successfully answer my question - in Blender, how do I rig my cylinder-axe so that ingame, when the pyro swings my cylinder follows?

I've decompiled the fireaxe, modeled my own replacement, then rigged my cylinder to the weapon_bone. That didn't work; the weapon floats around the pyro's head and never moves when he attacks. Next I tried importing in the entire pyro model, making my cylinder, and then rigging to the weapon_bone. Same result.

Basically, I'm making an item, and rigging it to the weapon_bone like all tutorials I've looked at say to do, but it doesn't work. Any help would be appreciated!

16bit

Did you export the Weapon bone as well?

Xuku

Is the weapon bone exported separately, or would it (for example) be in my pyro_stick.smd? Because I am exporting the mesh pyro_stick, which is parented to the original weapon's armature and also has an armature modifier for weapon_bone. Do I need to modify my weapon's QC file?

EDIT: After a bit more reading it looks like I'm gonna need to learn how to make my own .qc's and .vmt's. I think my hat worked because in itemtest I can automatically bind to bip_head, but otherwise (correct me if I'm wrong) I simply need to adjust my .qc file a bit to indicate the bone.

Xuku

Sorry for the double post, but I've made progress and have a new question, and I didn't want to make a new thread.

I've managed to put my custom shotgun model into TF2, but I can only see it from first person - on other characters it appears as the stock shotgun. Below is a screenshot, my .qc, and my .vmt.

As you can see, I copied the decompiled shotgun's .vmt and .qc files and modified them to suit my needs, so I suspect I failed to make a certain change which is resulting in the stock shotgun being used for the world model. Any help would be much appreciated!

pyro_shotty.qc

$cd "***directory***\pyro_shotty"
$modelname "player\items\pyro\pyro_shotty\pyro_shotty.mdl"
$model pyro_shotty "pyro_shotty.smd"
$cdmaterials "models\player\items\pyro\pyro_shotty"
$cdmaterials ""
$hboxset "default"
$hbox 0 "weapon_bone" -1.249  -3.844  -45.559  1.254  4.971  34.888
$hbox 0 "weapon_bone_1" -2.003  -2.277  -6.597  2.003  1.919  5.116
$hbox 0 "weapon_bone_2" -0.613  -0.602  -1.662  0.620  0.631  1.491
// Model uses material "models\player\items\pyro\pyro_shotty\pyro_shotty.vmt"
$attachment "muzzle" "weapon_bone" 0.00 3.73 34.92 rotate -90.00 -0.00 0.00
$attachment "eject_brass" "weapon_bone" -0.80 3.25 10.76 rotate -11.66 162.02 -167.64
$surfaceprop "metal"
$illumposition -6.167 0.000 0.564
$sequence idle "pyro_shotty" fps 30.00
$collisionmodel "pyro_shotty.smd" {

    $mass 4.8
    $inertia 1.00
    $damping 0.00
    $rotdamping 0.00
}

pyro_shotty.vmt

"VertexLitGeneric"
{
    "$baseTexture" "models\player\items\pyro\pyro_shotty\pyro_shotty"
    $BASEMAPALPHAPHONGMASK 1

    "$phong" "1"
    "$phongexponent" "25"
    "$phongboost" "12"    
    "$lightwarptexture" "models\lightwarps\weapon_lightwarp"
    "$phongfresnelranges"    "[.25 .5 1]"

    "$rimlight" "1"
    "$rimlightexponent" "10"    
    "$rimlightboost" ".175"

    "$glowcolor" "1"

    // Cloaking
    "$cloakPassEnabled" "1"
    "Proxies"
    {
        "weapon_invis"
        {
        }
        "ModelGlowColor"
        {
            "resultVar" "$glowcolor"
        }
        "Equals"
        {
            "srcVar1"  "$glowcolor"
            "resultVar" "$selfillumtint"
        }
        "Equals"
        {
            "srcVar1"  "$glowcolor"
            "resultVar" "$color2"
        }
    }
}

16bit

No clue at all on why it shows the default shotgun as the world model. Try one of the newer c_model shotguns qc. The Reserve shooter might be one.

Though I can see nothing in your qc file that suggests it would work any differently.

Xuku

I'll try modeling my shotgun after the reserve shooter. It's rigged differently though, which I find strange - and its .qc file leaves out one of the bone binds that the default shotgun has. I guess I'll just experiment with it.

Also, something interesting: in itemtest, when I choose for my cusotm shotgun to "replace" the default shotgun, it turns out like in the picture. But when I choose the reserve shooter, my custom model appears, only the shotgun shell is floating randomly (the rigging difference I mentioned).

So I guess I know how to fix the problem (using the reserve shooter not the stock shotgun), although it bugs me to not know why it fixes it.

EDIT: Can you help me understand the difference between c_models, v_models, and w_models?

16bit

v_model is the model you see in first person, and w_model is the model that appears on other players and yourself in third person. C_models are used in first and third person views.

If you want to know about the code, then I have no idea. I've never tried replacing a weapon that wasn't a c_model.

Xuku

Okay, thanks! I'm trying to replace the shotgun c_model, so I don't know why it uses the default shotgun instead of mine for the world model. Also, I have a question about the issue I mentioned with the reserve shooter: in first person, my model appears normally when I replace the reserve shooter (not the stock shotgun). But the worldmodel has parts floating randomly about, and I found out that the world model for shotguns use less bones than the first person view - how does this work if one c_model is supplied for both view and world models?

To get a general idea of the process, how would you replace a weapon that was a c_model? I rigged to the c_model's armature, copied its .qc and .vmt, and edited ithem to my needs. Am I missing a step?

EDIT: Something interesting, according to http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Team_Fortress_Wiki:3D_Models/Weapons the shotgun uses a w_model. Perhaps since I am supplying a c_model, when I replace the item in itemtest it supplies the default shotgun's w_model for the world model.

16bit

I am not a source expert, someone who is more knowledgeable may be of more help. But if you are going to be replacing a weapon that uses v and w_models, you gun probably needs to be a v and w_model too.

Though that may not be the case either, I replaced the pyro's fire ax and it showed my model as I taunted.

You may need to ask someone of the Steam forums or maybe FPS Banana. I've never made a weapon that wasn't melee yet.

Xuku

Alright, thank you very much for your help!

EDIT: Seems to work fine if I "replace" the reserve shooter in itemtest. For the heavy, I replace the family business, for the engi, the frontier justice. As far as I can tell, there is some hard-coded setting for the stock shotgun to use its w_model, so in itemtest I can't tell it to use mine - it only uses my c_model for the viewmodel. Luckily, each class that uses shotguns has a non-stock shotgun, and these work fine for itemtesting.

I decided to post my results in case anyone else runs into this problem.