Advanced Model Support version 110
by Simon "Psychic_313" McVittie
Mod description
Advanced Model Support is a free modification for Unreal Tournament enabling the use of
new custom models. Modellers who use AMS in their models benefit from easy scripting with full support
for custom skins, greater team-colour versatility than Epic's TournamentPlayer and SkeletalPlayer
classes, and support for scripted skins allowing experienced skinners to alter the model's display
settings. AMS also includes Epic skeletal animations from the Playstation 2 version of UT, both Male and
Female versions, meaning AMS models shouldn't need Bonus Pack 4. Everyone should download the basic AMS
package, and modellers should download the SDK as well.
If you are a modeller and want to link your model to Advanced Model Support, please
download the Advanced Models SDK, or read it online - see below. The SDK contains tutorials and
template scripts relevant to player model authors and mod teams; some simple demonstration models
are also available.
AMSDK
The Advanced Models SDK is available to download or read online here: AMSDK Index.
Installation and requirements
This mod requires Unreal Tournament, upgraded to version 436 or later
(download the patch from
www.unrealtournament.com or a
mirror download like File Planet,
UnrealCenter or
Unreality).
UMOD version
Windows users
Unzip with Winzip,
Power Archiver or similar, and
double-click the UMOD. Unreal Tournament version 436 is required.
If you have problems with UMOD files, try these pages:
Also, make sure you have the required UT patch installed.
Mac users
Unzip with InfoZip, Stuffit Expander or another suitable program, then
install the UMOD with the UMOD reader distributed with Mac UT.
Linux users
UMODPack can read zipped UMOD files
directly. However, unless UMODPack has been updated since I wrote this, it
assumes your copy of UT is version 400. Verify that you have UT v436 (e.g.
by running it and looking at the right end of the menu bar) and edit the
System/Manifest.ini file (usually /usr/local/games/ut/System/Manifest.ini) to
reflect the version of "UnrealTournament" you have installed. I assume that
anyone who can get OpenGL and games working on Linux will be intelligent enough
to realise that faking your version number if you don't have v436 is
A Bad Thing™.
Non-UMOD version
There is no non-UMOD version. This is deliberate - the non-UMOD Bonus Pack 4
caused no end of problems. Do not make or distribute one (actually, under the
license I've used, it is illegal to do so).
Server installation
Install as described above, then check the [Engine.GameEngine] section of
System\UnrealTournament.ini. You must have the following line:
ServerPackages=AdvancedModelSupport
hnFAQ (hopefully not frequently asked questions)
- How do I install it?
- The UMOD doesn't work!
- The UMOD says I need "Unrealtournament 436". What's a 436?
- See "Installation" above.
- I installed Advanced Model Support and there doesn't seem to be any
difference in UT.
- AMS doesn't do a lot on its own - it's mostly behind-the-scenes stuff.
However, you can now install some cool models which you couldn't before. In
version 102+ you also get a menu item (which doesn't do a whole lot) and some
extra key bindings under Preferences/Controls (all except Challenge Taunt are
actually basic UT features, but Epic forgot to include them in the basic
list).
- I bound a key to the new Challenge taunt, but it doesn't do anything.
- It only works on models which have a Challenge animation sequence. This means
models which use the built-in Epic male skeletal animations, or models where
the animator has added a fifth taunt.
- I bound a key to Third Person, but in third person view I don't get a crosshair.
- In third person view my model is in the way when I try to aim.
- I get put back in first person view when I die.
- It's meant to be like that. These are features, not bugs :-)
- I installed AMS and a couple of models, but they won't work in multiplayer!
Why not?
To let players use any mod online (this includes models, skins, voices
and Advanced Model Support) the server admin must have added them to their
server's ServerPackages list. Unfortunately, anyone joining a game will be
forced to download any of the ServerPackages they don't have, even if nobody is
currently using that mod! This is frustrating for the players, and takes up
bandwidth from the server (leaving less for the actual gameplay), so admins are
reluctant to do this except for certain very popular models (Bonus Pack 1 is
installed on about 50% of servers, in my experience, and BP 4 on about 10%).
UsAaR33 is working on a mod to make model and skin support act a bit more
like Quake-engine games (Q3, Half-Life) where any model or skin you don't have
appears as some default model, so server admins will only need to install this
mod and players will be able to use any skin or model (of course, the less
popular your skin, the more likely the other players are to not have it and see
you as a default model like Male Soldier anyway). Look out for a mod called
"Valhalla Avatar" - at the time of writing (23 September 2001), it's not quite
finished but is available as a private beta test.
Known issues:
All issues involving Player Setup also apply to Configure Individual
Bots, as the two windows are basically the same from an Unrealscript point of
view.
- Version 100 of this mod, which was only available for a few hours and
wasn't widely publicised, is incompatible. Version 101 was released to fix
sound bugs (missing player sounds), while this version (102) fixes further bugs.
If you have network problems, please make sure other players do have version 101
or 102 installed.
- If you select an Advanced Model Support model, then select a non-AMS
skeletal model (this includes Bonus Pack 4 and its fixed versions, as well as
earlier versions of Wraithguard and Space Warrior), the animations may get
screwed up. Close and reopen Player Setup to fix this. This is Epic's bug, not
mine. All of these models will work fine in-game.
- The last few AMS bots (or other custom bots) you installed may not show up
in the bot class list, due to a hard-coded limit for this list (32 classes).
This is Epic's bug, not mine. To work around this, uninstall some models you
don't use, or use a mod like XBots or EnhancedUT to set up your bots.
- If skinners do very strange things to the model's display settings using
scripted skins, these strange settings may "infect" other models which are
subsequently selected in Player Setup. This only applies to very strange
effects, so you're unlikely to see it in practice, and it won't happen in-game.
As before, closing and re-opening Player Setup will fix this.
- If you use the Advanced Model Support menu item to disable "Player Setup
safe mode", this "infection" will occur with even more effects. Certain display
properties do not take effect in Player Setup, to avoid the bug described
above, unless "Player Setup safe mode" is disabled using the AMS menu item.
These include Fatness, Style (translucency), and the Unlit and No Smoothing
effects.
- The AMS mod menu item will move to the Options menu if you install
EnhancedUT (at the time of writing, this is another unfinished UsAaR33 mod).
This is a feature, not a bug.
- The button with the URL of my website doesn't automatically go there when
you click it. Launching a URL from within UT seems to cause occasional GPFs.
Changes since version 102
- The non-functional "go to website" button has been labelled better.
- AMS is not available as a direct download from this site. This is because
I was transferring a stupid amount of data, two thirds of which was AMS. Please
use mirrors; they are designed to cope with large numbers of downloads.
- The replacement INT file for 102 has been included, so the extra key binds
do show up correctly in a normal v110 install. Do not use the 102 INT file -
other stuff has also been added to the v110 INT.
- This will almost certainly be the final version of AMS for UT.
Changes since version 101
- Scripted skins get the chance to clean up after themselves, which should
have happened in 1.01 but didn't thanks to a couple of missing lines of code
(thanks to UsAaR33 for pointing that out).
- AMS now has a mod menu item with which you can set the behaviour of Player
Setup or go to the AMS web page.
- AMS now alters Space Marine 40K, if you're using it, to fix a minor typo in
the sound effects. One of the pain sounds was spelt wrong and didn't play. It
does now.
- You get some extra key bindings in the Preferences screen. These are mostly
basic UT features which Epic didn't include an automatic key binding for.
- Certain models have a new taunt called Challenge. This is not available on
the Voice menu, only by binding a key to it. This only works for some models
(models which use the built-in AMS Male animation set, such as Space Marine
v2.01, Wraithguard II, and hopefully future models). This is an Epic feature,
not an AMS one - I just made it more accessible.
Contact details
Tech support
I am very unlikely to respond to requests for help in future. Read this file first.
Then read it again. If you still have problems, look at the AMS web page,
http://www.pseudorandom.co.uk/paradox/ams,
and my UT Mods FAQ,
http://www.pseudorandom.co.uk/paradox/unreal/utmodsfaq.shtml.
I wouldn't be able to tell you any more than these pages, so there's probably
no point in e-mailing me.
Anything else
For contact details, have a look at this page: http://www.pseudorandom.co.uk/ps/contact.shtml.
Credits and copyright
- UnrealScript
- Coded by Simon "Psychic_313" McVittie.
- Original code copyright © Simon McVittie, 2001.
- Elements copyright © Epic Games, Inc., 1999-2000.
- Concept
- Psychic_313 and James Green
- Animations
- Unreal Tournament for Playstation 2 animations by James Green and
James Edwards, copyright © Epic Games, Inc., 2000.
Thanks
Big thanks to James Green for animations and expertise, UsAaR33 for cunning ideas and
online testing, Josh of ravensite.net for attempting online testing :-(, Richard "tla" Smith for
suggesting class-based skins, and everyone at EpicKnights for their
enthusiasm.
Trademarks and permissions
You may distribute this mod if and only if said distribution is under the following
conditions:
- All distribution must be on a not-for-profit basis (charging for this
content is not allowed)
- The entire unmodified ZIP file must be distributed, including this
file and the complete UMOD file. Note that this specifically prevents you from
distributing a modified UMOD, a non-UMOD version, or any modified version of
the U file.
- Large-scale distributors (mirror downloads, CDs) must inform
simon (at) pseudorandom.co.uk, including (if applicable).
Parts of Advanced Model Support may be incorporated into other mods
according to the terms indicated in the source code and SDK.
Unreal is a trademark of Epic Games, Inc. Windows is a registered trademark
of Microsoft Corporation. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other
trademarks mentioned are hereby acknowledged to be the property of their
respective owners.
THIS MOD IS PROVIDED "AS-IS" WITH ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED. THE AUTHORS ACCEPT NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR DAMAGE, INCONVENIENCE OR
OTHER PROBLEMS, WITHOUT LIMITATION, CAUSED BY THIS MOD, EVEN IF THEY HAVE BEEN
ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH PROBLEMS.