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History of Oni modding: Difference between revisions
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As has been documented on the page about [[Oni]]'s overall development, time ran out for Bungie West to do everything they wanted with this very ambitious game. Just as some features had to be omitted, the promise of modding support<ref> | As has been documented on the page about [[Oni]]'s overall development, time ran out for Bungie West to do everything they wanted with this very ambitious game. Just as some features had to be omitted, the promise of modding support<ref> | ||
In [[Harry]]'s [http://oni.bungie.org/special/part1/brent.html interview], Brent Pease, the Project Lead, said: "What we will do is, I'm about 90 percent sure of this, is give away the file format." He also promises with equal certainty that the tools for converting 3D Studio Max models into Oni models will be given away. Pease eventually left the project before its completion. Hardy LeBel, his replacement, would later say | In [[Harry]]'s [http://oni.bungie.org/special/part1/brent.html interview], Brent Pease, the Project Lead, said: "What we will do is, I'm about 90 percent sure of this, is give away the file format." He also promises with equal certainty that the tools for converting 3D Studio Max models into Oni models will be given away. Pease eventually left the project before its completion. Hardy LeBel, his replacement, would later say, "[Due to the time crunch] our primary focus had to be on completing the content and features of the game rather than building in support for the mod community." Additionally, Bungie no longer owned the game by the time it shipped, so it would have been legally questionable to release header files from the source code, which would be the simplest and quickest way to "give away the file format". | ||
</ref> | </ref> | ||
also failed to come true. However, even before Oni fans really knew that there would never be official modding tools from Bungie, they were already eagerly diving into the game data to see how they could mod it.<ref> | also failed to come true. However, even before Oni fans really knew that there would never be official modding tools from Bungie, they were already eagerly diving into the game data to see how they could mod it.<ref> | ||
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Fans wasted no time in dumping the readable text from the executable and trying to figure out how to enable Developer Mode, starting before Oni's official release date by analyzing the demo<!--Dead link: http://carnage.bungie.org/oniresforum/onires.archive.pl?read=35 -->. Little did they know it would take another five years before this particular goal would be reached. | Fans wasted no time in dumping the readable text from the executable and trying to figure out how to enable Developer Mode, starting before Oni's official release date by analyzing the demo<!--Dead link: http://carnage.bungie.org/oniresforum/onires.archive.pl?read=35 -->. Little did they know it would take another five years before this particular goal would be reached. | ||
</ref> | </ref> | ||
Nevertheless, the lack of any documentation or tools for modding undeniably slowed the development of mods within the community. Only | Nevertheless, the lack of any documentation or tools for modding undeniably slowed the development of mods within the community. Only since 2010<!--Nov. 6, 2010 is the date that geyser posted about OniSplit supporting pathfinding grids for new levels in the article "New levels".--> has the community's modding capabilities covered nearly all aspects of the game. | ||
There are three basic areas in which the game can be modded: scripting, binary resources, and the engine itself. Along the way, we'll look at some key discoveries the community made in more detail. | There are three basic areas in which the game can be modded: scripting, binary resources, and the engine itself. Along the way, we'll look at some key discoveries the community made in more detail. | ||
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This "[[AE|Seventh Anniversary Edition]]" had major releases in January and July 2008. The tradition continued of using a central modding project to organize a general revision of Oni's content, as seen on pages like [[AE:Ninja]]. The project then changed hands to [[User:Gumby|Gumby]], who designed a framework and a GUI-based installer that allowed players to selectively install only the modifications that they wanted. Since Oni's seventh anniversary had come and gone, the mod collection was renamed simply the "Anniversary Edition", also known as the "Edition", or the "AE". Released in July 2009, the new AE's framework allowed modders to create their own "[[Making a mod package|packages]]". These could be stored on the {{OMD}}, then downloaded by the player and placed in a certain folder in order to see them in the Installer. Another release was made in May 2010 with more bundled mods and an improved framework. | This "[[AE|Seventh Anniversary Edition]]" had major releases in January and July 2008. The tradition continued of using a central modding project to organize a general revision of Oni's content, as seen on pages like [[AE:Ninja]]. The project then changed hands to [[User:Gumby|Gumby]], who designed a framework and a GUI-based installer that allowed players to selectively install only the modifications that they wanted. Since Oni's seventh anniversary had come and gone, the mod collection was renamed simply the "Anniversary Edition", also known as the "Edition", or the "AE". Released in July 2009, the new AE's framework allowed modders to create their own "[[Making a mod package|packages]]". These could be stored on the {{OMD}}, then downloaded by the player and placed in a certain folder in order to see them in the Installer. Another release was made in May 2010 with more bundled mods and an improved framework. | ||
Nothing new took place on this front until 2013, by which time the project had fallen into [[User:Iritscen|Iritscen's]] hands due to the retirement of geyser and Gumby. At this time, the release of the new AE included a brand-new Installer written by Alloc which could connect to the Mod Depot, offer all mod packages for download, and update the mods and patches already installed. The AE's bundled content was stripped down to only | Nothing new took place on this front until 2013, by which time the project had fallen into [[User:Iritscen|Iritscen's]] hands due to the retirement of geyser and Gumby. At this time, the release of the new AE included a brand-new Installer written by Alloc which could connect to the Mod Depot, offer all mod packages for download, and update the mods and patches already installed. The AE's bundled content was stripped down to only minimal fixes for the first time, making all notable game modifications into optional third-party mods, and ceasing any attempt at centralized game data improvement. | ||
===New content=== | ===New content=== | ||
Certain game resources were easy enough to reverse-engineer that the community was able to mod them almost from the time of Oni's release, such as textual resources and textures. Some game resources, however, were complex and involved multiple data types, such as character models, and, most obviously, levels themselves. These took a number of years to decipher. | Certain game resources were easy enough to reverse-engineer that the community was able to mod them almost from the time of Oni's release, such as textual resources and textures. Some game resources, however, were complex and involved multiple data types, such as character models, and, most obviously, levels themselves. These took a number of years to decipher. | ||
OniSplit first gained the ability to import new character models in April 2008<ref>See [[User_talk:Neo/Archive2]].</ref>. At first, since the focus was on the technical side of things, pre-existing models were used, either by modifying Oni's models, or by finding royalty-free models on web sites and converting them to Oni's 19-bone system. A more dramatic use of the character-importing ability came with the creation of a high-detail Konoko model from scratch in October 2010<ref>[http://oni.bungie.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1727 OCF thread, "Konoko HD"].</ref>. | OniSplit first gained the ability to import new character models in April 2008<ref>See [[User_talk:Neo/Archive2|User talk:Neo (Archive 2)]].</ref>. At first, since the focus was on the technical side of things, pre-existing models were used, either by modifying Oni's models, or by finding royalty-free models on web sites and converting them to Oni's 19-bone system. A more dramatic use of the character-importing ability came with the creation of a high-detail Konoko model from scratch in October 2010<ref>[http://oni.bungie.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1727 OCF thread, "Konoko HD"].</ref>. | ||
A major obstacle with levels was the question of how to generate pathfinding (PF) grids for the AI. Level geometry could be imported fairly easily as of November 2008<ref>See [[User_talk:Neo/Archive5]].</ref>, but AIs could not navigate the level. Manual PF grid creation was first demonstrated with the creation of the Arena level in November 2010<ref>[http://oni.bungie.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1736 OCF thread, "Arena Level"].</ref>. Automatic PF grid generation was introduced to OniSplit around June 2011. More comprehensive demonstrations of the community's level creation abilities came with [[User:EdT|EdT]]'s level "Muro's Lair" in August 2011<ref>[http://oni.bungie.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2024 OCF thread, "Muro's Lair - Preview"].</ref> and [[User:Samer|Samer]]'s level "Wilderness Preserve" in January 2014<ref>[http://oni.bungie.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2698 OCF thread, "NEW LEVEL : Chapter 17: Wilderness Preserve - Hasegawa Adventure"].</ref>. | A major obstacle with levels was the question of how to generate pathfinding (PF) grids for the AI. Level geometry could be imported fairly easily as of November 2008<ref>See [[User_talk:Neo/Archive5|User talk:Neo (Archive 5)]].</ref>, but AIs could not navigate the level. Manual PF grid creation was first demonstrated with the creation of the Arena level in November 2010<ref>[http://oni.bungie.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1736 OCF thread, "Arena Level"].</ref>. Automatic PF grid generation was introduced to OniSplit around June 2011. More comprehensive demonstrations of the community's level creation abilities came with [[User:EdT|EdT]]'s level "Muro's Lair" in August 2011<ref>[http://oni.bungie.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2024 OCF thread, "Muro's Lair - Preview"].</ref> and [[User:Samer|Samer]]'s level "Wilderness Preserve" in January 2014<ref>[http://oni.bungie.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2698 OCF thread, "NEW LEVEL : Chapter 17: Wilderness Preserve - Hasegawa Adventure"].</ref>. | ||
Work continues in all areas of modding Oni, as well as documenting the modding process. | |||
{{clearall}} | {{clearall}} | ||
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===Multiplayer=== | ===Multiplayer=== | ||
The most ambitious use of engine patching has been to fill in for Oni's missing [[multiplayer]] mode. This is done in Windows through the Daodan DLL in the form of the [[Flatline]] project, and in macOS | The most ambitious use of engine patching has been to fill in for Oni's missing [[multiplayer]] mode. This is done in Windows through the Daodan DLL in the form of the [[Flatline]] project, and in macOS the [[Zukai]] project operates on a Mac equivalent of the Daodan DLL. | ||
===New engine builds=== | |||
A new era in Oni's life began with the introduction of [[OniX]], a rebuild of the game engine. It remains to be seen how far this development work will take Oni, but in theory the possibilities are almost endless. | |||
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