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VFx Modding Info and Tips

#1
[Image: de44l6c-60140906-25e7-4456-8515-1e2b4b5eb974.jpg]



Programs You'll Be using a lot:  UModel, A Color Editing Tool like Photoshop or GIMP, Unreal Engine 4.7.6,  HxD Hex Editor






[Image: 50339482833_6b6c3a8dd1_b.jpg]
[Image: 50340201536_e3f10ea12f_b.jpg]
Street Fighter V VFx Modding.  You'll need to be familiar with their Materials and Textures names...and also the character's moveset names.
A Character's VFx Directory looks like this:  \StreetFighterV\Content\Chara\xxx\VFx .  I usually pay attention to the Textures and Materials.  ...but if I really have to, I'll also look into the ParticleSystems, DataAsset, and the Models.




Textures

VFx modding is more or less similar to Character modding, but it is different in some regards.  If you want to change the color of a character's visual effects, it may seem like a simple task by exporting all the (or specific) Texture assets into TGA files via Umodel (including the VT2 ones) and color edit the Textures in Photoshop or GIMP (or giving them a totally different texture image), and turning them back into Texture assets in UE4.  Also you can just edit the Textures colors in UE4 by adjusting the Brightness, Hues, and Saturation.

[Image: 50339456883_f4377993ff_b.jpg]
[Image: 50340302387_77ee983489_b.jpg]
For Textures, just set them up as:
Mip Gen Settings:  FromTextureGroup
TextureGroup:  Cinematic
sRGB:  Uncheck
Never Stream:  Check
Compression Settings:  TC Default


But then in some cases when you play the game with your new VFx mod, you realize that not all of it has changed and some of the effect colors stayed the same.  That is because some of those VFx Materials are referencing the BaseMaterials and Textures within the VFx-->CMN folder (these are outside of the character's folder, so they are shared by multiple characters).  Secondly, they could also be referencing materials and textures from \Chara\CMN\VFx , which is ALSO shared by multiple characters.  If you don't want to read every VFx Material for that character, you could just edit all of the VFx Textures in both CMN folders, even the ones that don't seem to be related to the character VFx you're modding...and you'll have to edit at least 230 textures.  It's a long process and it will make the mod heavy in size, but at least it'll save time and your mental state if doing this.  This is perhaps the best way to do it if you don't want to read hundreds of Materials or tamper with ParticleSystems.

Remember, these are the directories you will have in your VFx mod when it comes to Materials (BaseMaterials for VFx/CMN/ ) and Textures:

\StreetFighterV\Content\Chara\xxx\VFx\
\StreetFighterV\Content\VFx\CMN\ 
\StreetFighterV\Content\Chara\CMN\VFx\

After cooking all the textures in UE4, creating appropriate directories for the VFx mod with all of it's Materials (BaseMaterials for VFx/CMN/ ) and Textures, and turning it into a pak file, Hex edit the pak and Replace all /CMN/ with a three letter word that would only be used for that particular fighter (Ctrl + R is Replace).  For example, if I use Sakura, I will change all the /CMN/ with /SAK/, or something like that.

By then, you should be done with your VFx mod.  It may not be perfect because not all the colors will be like how you wanted, but at least a lot of it has some kind of differences from the original VFx.  


Material reading is not necessary if you edited all the VFx Textures from the directories above and if you've changed the CMN reference folders to something else--it's just something if you want to have a deeper understanding on how VFx works in SFV.  If you don't care about the Materials, just scroll down until you see ParticleSystems in big bold font. 




Materials (not necessary if you decide to edit every VFx Texture)

If you don't mind being thorough, you'll just have to read the character's VFx Material assets in Hex Editor in order to see which other Materials and Textures they reference to.   ...And there's going to be A LOT of it just for one character.  

[Image: 50339745093_d572fb16c0_b.jpg]
102 Material assets, not including what's inside the AuraTrail and VT2 folders.  Yikes.


They'll most likely reference the materials and textures within the Character's VFx folder, but many times they will also reference BaseMaterials and Textures within the VFx-->CMN folder (these are outside of the character's folder, so they are shared by multiple characters).  You should also read the referenced BaseMaterial’s assets in order to see which Textures they’re also referring to.  


[Image: 50339745078_7af2ae8d34_b.jpg]
Reading one of Ken's VFx Material's on Hex Editor.  It references to Ken's other Material assets but also to the VFx folder outside of the general Chara folder.


[Image: 50339501658_03d7203e92_b.jpg]
A VFx directory outside of a character's folder.  \StreetFighterV\Content\VFx\CMN .  I usually focus on the Textures and BaseMaterials here.



From what I've seen from F.A.N.G, Chun-Li, and Ken (I'm focusing on Ken for this part), the most common BaseMaterials they use are:

GP_T1_SubUV_ia
M_AT_Base
M_T1_1side_ic_unlit
M_T1_UVs_ic_ia
P_T1_VF_01
PM_T1_fbk_ia
PM_T2_fbk_bo_ia
PM_T2_fbk_bo_ia_depth
PM_T2_fbk_bo_ia2
PM_T2_UVs_bo_ia
PM_T2_UVs_bo_ia2
P_T2_VF_normal_masked
M_AuraTrail    
M_AuraTrail_ref   
M_Trail_Base    
M_Trail_Ref 

This might be the same for every other character that uses VFx.



And the most common Textures they (mostly Ken and probably shotos) use are:

AT_Trail_02
AT_Trail_Mask_01
AT_Trail_Mask_03
AT_Trail_Normal_01
AT_Trail_Normal_02
BumpOffset   
BumpOffset_03
BumpOffset_04
BumpOffset_06
BumpOffset_08
BumpOffset_09
CMN_cubemap
Fbk_Aura     
Fbk_Aura_01
Fbk_Aura_02
Fbk_Aura_05
Fbk_Aura_06
Fbk_Wind_01
Fbk_Wind_03
filter_mask_03
FHdk_Hand
Hdk_Hand
LongSpark_02
PT_01
PT_05
PT_06
Spark_01
Spark_02
SPatk_Line01
SPatk_Line03
SPatk_Pt04
SPatk_Pt07
UVs_Aura    
UVs_Aura_01
UVs_Aura_02
UVs_Aura_04_Clamp
UVs_Aura_05_Clamp
UVs_Aura_06
UVs_Aura_07
UVs_Aura_19_mirror
UVs_Wind    
UVs_Wind_01
UVs_Wind_05
UVs_Wind_08
UVs_Wind_11_Clamp
UVs_Wind_32_Clamp




If you’re going to use/edit the materials and textures from the VFx-->CMN folder, it’s best to make a copy of CMN and rename it to something else so that would not disrupt the visuals or colors for the other characters in the game.  Let’s say rename it to CXN.  

[Image: 50340216641_91cc205826_z.jpg]

But keep in mind, once the CXN is created, materials from both the BaseMaterials AND some of the Materials inside the Charater's VFx folder must be edited in order to reference the CXN folder instead of the CMN folder.  Likewise for the Textures that's originally within the CMN folder; they should also reference the CXN folder.  CXN should only be used for that particular character.  If you're going to make another VFx mod for another character, name it something else like FXN so it will be specific to that other character so that it will not disrupt the character having the CXN folder.  Texture files are edited the same way like the Character specific VFx Texture files, but they have to under the CXN folder in UE4.

[Image: 50340228051_0bbd19475f_z.jpg]
[Image: 50339541203_e9cdc8a927_b.jpg]
Ctrl + R, Replace CMN with CXN . Search Direction = All .  Replace All .

[Image: 50340385407_d92a20ae86_z.jpg]
Replaced!

[Image: 50340228011_6a3303c5f1_z.jpg]
But sometimes you'll have to switch it back to CMN if the reference source goes to Chara/CMN/BaseMaterial/Function/Some-FileName.  Don't edit those type of references.



ParticleSystems

But just to let you know, even with all that hard work, some of the original VFx colors will still be there Sad Sad Sad .  In that case, you'll just have to edit the appropriate ParticleSystems assets which heavily rely on the Character's VFx Material assets...and you have to be familiar with that character's moveset names and its "anatomy" too.  Albeit, all I did was disable certain aspects of it, so such visuals would not be shown, but at least the edited texture colors would be more strongly visible and not obscured.

[Image: 50340201536_e3f10ea12f_b.jpg]
ParticleSystems inside a Character's VFx folder.


In one of Ken's cases, I edited the ParticleSystems asset FHdk_Core, which controls the "Core" of the Hadouken fireball.  What I did here is replace Hdk_Flr to HdkXFlr.  Essentially, it's just referencing to nothing, but this is how I disable certain parts of the fireball just to make it "Greener."

[Image: 50340421617_a2a5d7685c_z.jpg]
Editing ParticleSystems asset FHdk_Core by replacing Hdk_Flr to HdkXFlr.





DataAsset

( 09/19/2020 ) CORRECTION by @"Killbox" : If you want to disable VFX completely i would highly just recommend to use https://github.com/DoctorBearPhD/SFVList...es/tag/2.0
On "Chara/Ken/DataAsset/DA_KEN_PSListContainer" to just remove the entire Path to the

"/Game/Chara/Ken/VFX/DataAsset/DA_KEN_Hdk"
"/Game/Chara/Ken/VFX/DataAsset/DA_KEN_Hdk_EX"
"/Game/Chara/Ken/VFX/DataAsset/DA_KEN_FHdk"
"/Game/Chara/Ken/VFX/DataAsset/DA_KEN_FHdk_EX"



(Original post) If you want to totally disable certain moves' VFx, like Ken shooting fireballs but no fireballs are coming out (invisible fireballs), you can just edit the DataAsset files via Hex Editor and replace the appropriate reference with X's, similar to how I edited the ParticleSystems asset from the example above.





Models / Mesh

VFx also have mesh files inside the Models folder.  Original mesh assets DON'T have any materials attach to it, because the game will just overlay it with the visual effects provided by the ParticleSystem that uses the assets from the Material folder.  You don’t need to worry about the mesh...unless you want to replace it and change it’s shape, which you could actually do.  

I suggest using Umodel to see which mesh you would want to export into as a psk file (they have visual previews so you'll know which to pick), import the psk file to Blender3D (with psk plugin) and size it down to 0.010039554 (so you don't have to resize it down in UE4).  Modding the mesh is similar to modding a character's mesh, except it's more simplistic (they have no armature, so no weights are involved).  With a modded mesh, you can attach a Material with it too and give it a texture...but the texture will not show up anyway, unless you disable some of the appropriate references Materials in the appropriate ParticleSystem asset.  In my case where I used the mesh for FANG’s Nishikyu poison ball (the “core”), the mesh’s texture did actually show up in a simplistic way.  But the way the game engine works, it can only appear as an emitting object, obscuring the fine details.  I don’t know how it works for other characters, but I’d assume it’s something similar.  

[Image: 50340649097_27c19f3680.jpg]
F.A.N.G's poison balls turn into hearts via Blender3D, UE4, Material referencing, and Texture editing.


If you're curious, the Material I used to attach the mesh for FANG's poison ball is with MIP_Nsk_Ptcl (found in FANG's character-specific VFx Materials).  When reading MIP_Nsk_Ptcl, one of the VFx-CMN BaseMaterials is P_T1_VF_01 which references LongSpark_02 for the Texture.  From what I've seen so far, that particular BaseMaterial is ideal in making a modded VFx mesh because the material is opaque and not see-through-ish.  If you want to make a modded VFx mesh, I suggest reading your character's VFx Materials via Hex Editor and see which Material references the BaseMaterial P_T1_VF_01 and then create and assign that particular Material for you mesh via Blender3D and UE4.  With the LongSpark_02 Texture, you can make it however it fits with the modded mesh.

Well, now you know you can actually change the shape of a fireball and turn it into hearts, stars, or whatever.






Reminder, this is how your VFx directories should look like:
[Image: 50339529998_e7b7e18a74_z.jpg]

Inside the Chara/XXX/VFx :
[Image: 50340587782_02c10f0157_z.jpg]

Inside VFx/CXN :
[Image: 50340216641_91cc205826_z.jpg]
VFx Folder outside of Chara is optional if you really want to go in-depth with the Texture editing of the VFx.




I hope this helps!
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#2
@"Remy2FANG"
Such a detailed guide, hope this will make more people into trying to mod the VFx stuff. Thanks for doing and sharing this Smile
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#3
Correction on Disabling VFX completely if you want to disable VFX completely i would highly just recommend to use https://github.com/DoctorBearPhD/SFVList...es/tag/2.0
On "Chara/Ken/DataAsset/DA_KEN_PSListContainer" to just remove the entire Path to the

"/Game/Chara/Ken/VFX/DataAsset/DA_KEN_Hdk"
"/Game/Chara/Ken/VFX/DataAsset/DA_KEN_Hdk_EX"
"/Game/Chara/Ken/VFX/DataAsset/DA_KEN_FHdk"
"/Game/Chara/Ken/VFX/DataAsset/DA_KEN_FHdk_EX"
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