Need Some Help - Creating and Rigging a Custom Team Fortress 2 Character Model

Evicted

With the recent Polycount Pack contest, I thought that maybe someone here would have the knowledge to help me out. I've searched the web, and am still doing so, but I have yet to find a tutorial regarding the proper rigging of a character for use in TF2. I've also added pictures to better illustrate some issues that I am having.

First of all, I plan to do a complete remodel for the Medic. My first instinct is to build the model itself around the Medic rig, and attach the bones to the model when I finish. Here is a picture of the Medic model that I am using from "sourcesdk_content > tf > modelsrc > player > medic > parts > maya > medic_reference.ma"
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3625704/tf2_question_1.JPG

The skeleton in the model looks like this:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3625704/tf2_question_2.JPG

First, if I use the medic model, am I able to remove certain bones without affecting its usability in the game? My model will not have the long jacket, so I don't want the bones that control its movement.

Second, am I going about this process correctly? I'd hate to model everything only to find out that I was using the wrong rig.

These are the only questions I have to start off, so i will leave it at this for now and ask the other questions as I get to them. Any help would be greatly appreciated, because I would really like to get a start on this as soon as possible.

cryrid

I'm not sure if deleting the bones would work out if the existing animations are looking for them to do something. You could just weight the model in a way so that those bones have 0% influence over the verts. That way they're free to do what they're already doing, it just won't deform your model.

Evicted

Ah, I didn't think about that. Thank you very much, that should solve that problem. Does anyone have any idea if the model that I am using is correct? I'll feel much better about starting this if I know that I'm using the right base.