HOWTO: Advanced NIS

[toiletguy]

In menu bar select new nis.

[Latias418]

Thanks! I feel dumb for not noticing it.

[bcz]

Can someone tell me how to get all the cinematic files? I seem to have some missing especially those of the Panzer Lehr campaign.

[toiletguy]

Custom animation or NIS in campaign? Look in data/scenarios/sp/.../nis.
Example
data/sp/n02_paradrop/nis.

OF mission seem to be cxp1 and cxp2.

To get all cinematic file just click extract cinematic file to your mod directory (example: mine name's data_extractor) and put in company of heroes/WW2.

Easy to remember!!

[bcz]

Thanks, just managed to get all the files.

[darkfox101]

When I do rotations, the tank rotates about 5 times then goes into place. It was hilarious at first now I am pulling my hair out. Any idea why it is doing this?

[toiletguy]

Did you rotate tank 5 round to it place?

[darkfox101]

Well I got it to rotate once, but now I am not sure on how to get the tank moving forward. Stop. Then turn. It begins turning when it is almost there as if it was a car.

[Alaric]

Hi Guys,
I know that this is CoH forum but I think only here are people that know something about NIS in World Builder. I'm trying to make NIS for Dawn of War 2 but I think Relic has changed something. Where in CoH editor are ABP files with models I have only MOTIONTREE file and only abp's are pieces of soldiers like only armor or only helmet or just a weapon. And those elements don't have state like Locomotion or other animations.

Do you know maybe how to "glue" several abp's together and add some animation to it? Maybe I have to attach motiontree to it somehow?

[z3n1th]

hey all. Thanks for the help with the NiS tutorials. Here is my final completed NiS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NztsnF9K6m8

[AverageJoe]

Very nice Zenith, I really enjoyed that. I don't have any criticisms that weren't already said in the comments but they're very minor anyway. Excellent job!

[FlashStepFlame]

Do you guys have anymaps that would be good to use for NIS mode and I have a problem when I give the commandos Stens. Part of the sten is missing, how do I fix this?

[cohNIS123]

to have your machine gun pan across an area, you have to complet a few simple steps. on the same clip section that you have told your hmg to begin firing, go back to insert. at the insert menu, go to variable, and add "heavymachinegun_angle". this will allow you to choose which angle your gun is tilted horizontally. Once you have added this, go to the screen on your right and click it. in the bottom left of this box you should see a an adjustable bar labeled "up". adjust this to the left (in negatives) and update. go to the frame where your machine gun will stop panning and add the same variable. this time, put the "up" bar in the positives. now play the clip. your hmg should pan from the left to right. fool around with these numbers to get your desired pan. happy gaming! (oh and btw i just figured this out lik 3 minutes ago and had to post it instantly)

[Dapz]

Hi, i have one question, i want exporting custom animation to my 1st CoH WW2 folder with a Corsix Mod Studios, but when i extract with right click, my new file he doesn't in my CoH folder i do not find it ! So please help me !

[Steinmann]

--Custom Animations--

I'm very confused! I've extracted Cinematics to ww2/data - but when i want to put them into NIS Custom Animations the Motion tab comes up when i insert a keyframe and there is a drop down menu what do i select i cant find the rga files. I'm absolutely lost! Hope someone can help.

Thanks in advance!
Steinmann.

[M4n!x]

Hi, can anyone tell me how i can get dirt on the camera lense? (I hope it hasn't been mentioned before i have looked )

[AverageJoe]

Hey guys, sorry for not replying -- I've been taking a more than needed break from CoH. Right now I'm in the process of reinstalling CoH. Once I get everything up and running again I'll be sure to post replies to any questions you guys may have.

[Celution]

It's good to have you back AJ.

[SgtBrown5]

how do you atach an actor to another actor?

I want on guy to carry the other like the medics do in game play. Dose any one know how or if it is even possible.

Oh and check out my NIS movie I have already posted on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9Xkpq1k01k

[Playmobill]

Hi Joe!
I cannot begin without a big
Thank you so much for your tuts!

a (very) short NIS video (my first, so its only 10 secs) I made with your tuts!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqNKMbXlV7c

captures from the clip

captures from the clip

Well that tool is so powerfull
hoping one day 'ill know how to make this work as intro of a MP map (Henry666 used Scar in D-Day, not NIS )

[Sturmhaubitze]

How would I add a commander to a tank in NIS?

Our mod has a commander state for the Panzer IV H, but setting that to the 'on' state doesn't make him visible. I'm guessing I need to make a squad with the tank in it, and did so, but the squad has 0 entities and I don't know how to add entities to a squad.

[Bengs00]

how do you atach an actor to another actor?

I want on guy to carry the other like the medics do in game play. Dose any one know how or if it is even possible.

I have se same problem. Is this possible ?

[Darkbladecr]

wouldn't modifying the .abp to add the mesh and then loading the .abp work?

[Hartkeks]

To let a unit be carried by a medic you will need to apply the "carrying_unit" state to the medic in a keyframe.

adding state for medic

The second step is to create a keyframe for the unit that is going to be carried by the medic and apply the "Target Visual" to it.
The Name to enter should be "medic_sync" and the carrying unit can be picked from the drop down menu.

adding the Target Visual

The last step would be, to apply the "attach_to_medic" Start Action to the carried unit.

attaching unit to medic

[Dapz]

Thanxs

[Bengs00]

Is it possible to give the soldiers in NIS new custom weapons ?

Weapons like the MG34 or the M1919.

[AverageJoe]

I don't know; I don't deal with mods anymore, sorry.

In other news, I might actually finish a movie I've been working on and release it. It's only been so many years since I made these tutorials...it's about time I made a video, no?

PS: Thanks for that info Hartkeks, I didn't know how to do that myself...and boy did I try lol.

[SgtBrown5]

How do you get the dirt or blood to spatter onto the cammera? Or is that just somthing to do in post effects?

[Baine]

Any idea how to get ragdolls working yet? And how do you gib soldiers in NIS? I played around with all kinds of gib commands but nothing worked yet :/

[Baine]

Also, what's the folder where they few cinematics from ToV are kept? I'd like to use the tank exit animation.

[Baine]

Here is my first work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYqnY_vkOaw

[AverageJoe]

Hey, nice work Baine. I really like how you incorporated scenes and ideas from Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers; it all went together really nicely with the animations you used. It's very good for your first NIS - I'm far too impatient to do something like that on my first try; I'm too much of a perfectionist since I'm into film. Hell, thats probably evident now since I've never even made something I can show for that isn't just tests.

I give you an internet cookie for making a clip longer than a minute...thats my record anyway.

[Baine]

Ty for the feedback, I will work on something smaller next time :P

[Jagdpanther]

Very good work, sometimes really like a film with those camera perspectives and especially some stills. How do you get the tankers leaving the StuG? Is that a NIS animation only?

[Chrismo1233]

Hey guys, here's something I've began working on; youtube. com/ watch?v=6JYsqjK6_h0

(Please copy and paste, then remove the spaces, this forum won't allow me to paste links yet)

I'm planning on working that into a full movie.

AverageJoe, I was wondering if you could possibly give me some advice?

My problem is with Custom Animations. I followed your instructions, and I extracted the cinematics folder from 'Company of Heroes\WW2\Archives\WW2Art'.

I then placed them in 'Company of Heroes\WW2\Data\Art\models\Cinematics', so now I have a lot of folders containing .sua files.

Despite this, I can't find any custom animations in the drop down box under Custom Animation in the Timeline.

Any ideas as to where I've gone wrong?

Thanks in advance.

[AverageJoe]

Everything seems alright - There should be a small button [>>] on that window that lets you browse to the animation files. They don't all automatically appear on that list since some files contain more than one animation. When you select a file, all the animations in that file will show up on that drop down list. You can add multiple files to that list too by opening another but it can get confusing.

And great work on that sample; You really impressed me with it - I didn't see any of the small problems I'm used to seeing with most. If anything, using custom animations will only help you do better.

Random tip of the day concerning Custom Animations): If you're having trouble getting a custom animation to work with both the soldier and weapon (IE: The animation works but the gun floats around) - You're using the wrong weapon the animation was designed for. Most soldiers are able to carry more than one rile. Generally speaking the Garand might work for one animation but the Carbine won't and vise versa. Don't give up on an animation just because the gun isn't right! If you cut your shot right, most people shouldn't even notice the difference.

[AverageJoe]

-snip-

[Chrismo1233]

Thanks a lot, I got the lists to load. Time for some experimenting!

----------

One more thing, do the Blend In and Blend Out options have any relevance to the animation? I can't seem to get anything going at the moment.

[Baine]

With blend in you can determine whether the actor will directly jump from one keyframe to the custom animation or if it's a slower blend in. What i experienced was, that if you use something like 1.0 then he will slowly move into the custom animation position from his original. You can try around with it. The shorter the number the shorter the blend phase.


Same goes for blend out!

[Chrismo1233]

Hello chaps, another question.

Is there any way to make someone run to a position, crouch, stay there for ~5 seconds, and THEN start running again WITHOUT him sliding about?

I just can't get him to stay still between two keyframes roughly 5 seconds apart.

I can post a video if you need to know what I mean

[Baine]

After he arrived at the desired location, you need to switch to the frame before the one where he runs again, and use autokey and move him like 1milimeter from his position. It's all covered in the basics or even in this thread.

[Chrismo1233]

That's what I was actually doing, but it didn't worked.

I figured out that I had to go in the curve editor and 'flatten' the movement between the two keys. Thanks for the reply anyway dude

[Baine]

You can make it so small that you don't see him slide.

[AverageJoe]

The curve editor is the best way though. If you copy and paste the keyframes (Ctr+c / Ctrl+v respectively with the keyframes highlighted) from when the actor stops moving to when you want him to start moving again, you can then flatten those keyframes in the curve editor (as he did) making him perfectly still. The curve editor is very useful for defining these types of behaviors in movement since you can also edit the tanget types between two poitns so he's smoothing going in and stops instantly at the end, for example.

[Chrismo1233]

Thanks, I figured it all out anyways. Basically all i do is, drag the frame counter at the bottom to where i want him to start moving again, and just move him up and down vertically on the y axis using the auto key. Then I just flatten the 2 sets of keyframes it creates. Simples!

[Chrismo1233]

Hey, was just wondering if you could explain how to get a building to become damaged during the NIS? Having trouble with it. Thanks.

[Baine]

There are several tutorials on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-EV3XJl-6I

Just check through them for more infos

[Chrismo1233]

Ah, excellent, I was looking around and I couldn't find any tutorials!

Thank you

[AverageJoe]

I thought about writing a tutorial for it a while back but it would have required a lot of typing and pictures to get the idea across clearly. The wonder of videos, eh?

[Baine]

Do any of you know how i can get custom units to work in NIS?