[Guide] Parachuting Animations for More Models

This guide requires knowledge of abp file editing. It also uses some unused infantry models.

It's possible to add the parachuting animations to more models than just the Fallschirmjager and Paratroopers. These are, however, limited to certain special models from the campaign. Here is a short (but not exhaustive) list of some of the models that can be used. If you find other blueprints that can use this system feel free to post it in the replies.

• armies\aef\soldiers\paratrooper\paratrooper
  
• armies\west_german\soldiers\fallschirmjager\fallschirmjager
  
• armies\common\soldiers\giblets\giblets
  
• armies\common\soldiers\giblets\giblets_female\giblets_female
  
• armies\soviet\soldiers\ania\ania
  
• armies\soviet\soldiers\conscript_sergeant\conscript_sergeant
  
• armies\soviet\soldiers\isakovich_captain\isakovich_captain
  
• armies\soviet\soldiers\isakovich_writer\isakovich_writer
  
• armies\common\base\cinematichead\cinematichead (use with some blueprints i.e. isakovich_writer)
  

Animation & Rigging

The reason why fallschirms and paratroopers only have the parachuting animation is because these are the only models to have rigging for it. If you've tried to get other types of parachuting troops before you know that simply adding a parachute to the abp wont actually result in the infantry having the animation.

The way animations work in general is that there are bone riggings that tell the model what part of the body goes where i.e. left foot here, right foot there. The rigging will apply to the entire blueprint and anything within the abp. For the purpose of parachuting this is dictated by the paradrop state.

Now its actually possible to have other infantry use the parachuting animation by adding them into a paratrooper's abp file but this will result in ugly clipping as both models will be visible at once. The next part will bypass that.



The Gibs State
armies\common\soldiers\giblets\giblets
armies\common\base\basemotion\basemotion

Normally the gibs state hides an infantry's model and replaces it with giblets. Normally this is reserved for deaths such as being blown up by artillery or burned. The file that actually causes the model to be hidden is basemotion. The giblets model is handled by the giblets blueprint. Both of these are normally within motion trees so they are shared by every infantry. You can see how gibs replaces infantry in the world builder, or better yet, have a paratrooper with a paradrop state on as well as a gibs state on.

However, if you don't want the giblets model we will need to use models that aren't affected by it. A good example of this is the isakovich_writer blueprint. If you place him in world builder and set gibs state to on notice how nothing is affected. Presumably Relic didn't bother to hide the model for the gibs state as these types of models were either for cinematics or other special single player things which is good for us.

Walkthrough

1. Make a copy of armies\common\newmotiontree.abp and rename it to something, I renamed mine gibhead.abp. In the new abp delete the basehead and giblets lines. Place this new abp in the appropriate path within the burn folder.

2. Make a copy of armies\aef\soldiers\paratrooper\paratrooper.abp and rename it. Replace the newmotiontree.abp line with that of your custom motion tree abp. Add a line for whatever blueprint you want to use and add cinematichead when applicable. In this example I will use conscript_sergeant.

para6.abp

model =
{
	
	"..\\..\\..\\Common\\gibhead.abp",
	--"..\\..\\aefcommongear.abp",

	"paratrooper",
	"..\\..\\..\\soviet\\soldiers\\conscript_sergeant\\conscript_sergeant",
	"..\\..\\..\\common\\base\\cinematichead\\cinematichead",

	"..\\..\\..\\Common\\weapons\\mine\\mine",
	"..\\..\\props\\parachute\\parachute",
	"..\\..\\weapons\\rifle_m1_carbine\\rifle_m1_carbine",
	"..\\..\\weapons\\smg_m1_thompson\\smg_m1_thompson",
	"..\\..\\weapons\\grenade_mk2_pineapple\\grenade_mk2_pineapple",
	"..\\..\\..\\soviet\\props\\demolitions\\demolitions",
}

The order within the abp is somewhat important. It's best to replace the newmotiontree.abp line and add the infantry model next to the paratrooper.

3. In ebps create a clone of the paratrooper_mp unit and rename it. In entity_blueprint_ext change the animator so it links to your newly created abp.



4. In sbps create a clone of paratrooper_squad_mp and rename it. In squad_loadout_ext change the type to your new ebps.



5. In action_apply_ext create an animator_set_state. This will hide the paratrooper model so only your new model is visible.

6. You can figure out how to make a paradrop dispatch on your own, you're a smart person.



Isakovich_writer requires special attention as its blueprint is somewhat different than the others. If you look at the files in archive viewer it uses several different textures. Presumably this somehow conflicts with basematerial so we will need to create a separate motion tree file to remove it.

Some of the blueprints have the head/hands built into the model but others do not. If you find they are missing heads add the cinematichead blueprint in the abp, this blueprint is not affected by the gibs state.



Some models have seen the horrors of war. This is probably because they are using rigging not meant for the model. Just don't zoom in. You may also be able to just cover up the heads with cinematichead as I believe these heads aren't affected by the rigging.

You can see how these units look in-game by playing this test mod as Soviets. Each of the parachuting units has two toggles which change the states of paradrop and gibs.

is the officer model from British can be set up with this, i made british paratrooper squad with those model but they just come from building instead of actually parachuting.

You may check to see if a blueprint can use this system by placing it in world builder and setting the gibs state to on. If the base model's mesh disappears complete then it is incompatible. As mentioned before the most likely candidates for this method would be single player and unused blueprints as these would have been overlooked by Relic when setting up the gibs state.