Easiest way to replace player model?

[elvisish]

I'm still not sure after looking through tutorials how to replace the player model in quake, I have a .qme file, what's the way of getting this to replace the default quakeman?

[Henry]

It basically depends on 2 things:
A. Which engine are you targeting?
B. Do you want to make it mod dependent or independent?

to A: See what replacement formats your engine of choice is supporting. Use pure .mdl format if it should run in all engines.
to B: If you want your model to be mod independent. That means no custom progs.dat necessary. The frames of the new model must match exactly the original ones. And does not need any other qc modifications.


Best point to start is to download already existing and working replacement player models.
There are several available. I am aware of these people who made player replacements: capnbubs, Ruohis, Moo, Boon. Use the search function to find their download links. They may be other player models as well.

In most cases you will find a readme how to use these models in Quake. If they are .mdl or .md3 format almost all recent advanced engines support them. The model normally must be put into the progs folder. That is where the original player model is located as well. Open your pak0.pak and you will see Quakes original subfolder and model structure.
If the model has external textures, they go into the same folder as the model if it is a .mdl format. They usually go into the textures folder if it is a .md3 format. The naming of your model extension and .mdl external texture file depends on the engine you are using. The readme should speak about it if it is a good readme.
Darkplaces always needs the model extension exactly like the original ones: .mdl. While FTE for example also allows .md3 for md3 formats. Darkplaces needs the .mdl external textures to have .mdl_0.[tga] while FTE also accepts _0.[tga]. And so on and so on.

That is one reason why you have to ask yourself which engine are you targeting. See point A. above

[elvisish]

I'm using DirectQuake which is a vanilla port, I believe, of vanilla quake. Thanks for the info, can I use even .mdl with DirectQuake?

[Henry]

Yes, I also like vanilla ice

DirectQ is without a doubt one of the fastest advanced engines available. It is rock stable and keeps the original flair of Quake. Even Spirit recommends it on his website. And that means a lot!

But it was not developed for replacement content. MH stated this many times. See this post for example: http://quakeone.com/forums/quake-hel...html#post90269 You can also read a lot about it at insideqc.com.

I do not know what you want to do with your Quake, but if you want to bring bells and whistles in, you should use another engine. But if you really like vanilla ice you can stay with it for sure.

Anyhow, it DOES support replacement files to a certain level. The community demanded it and MH made it happen. He recently talked about it at insideqc and that he, if he will work on a game engine again, will not let that happen again.
So yes, you can add replacements (also .mdl models). But it has its limits.

Mindf!3ldzX is one of the biggest DirectQ fans. He sure can help you much more than I can.

[elvisish]

Thanks for the info, I didn't realize replacing player models wasn't part of the original Quake spec! I've been playing it since it first demo-ed and I used to play with various mods off cover discs and even bought one or two off the shelves, but I've never really dug deep, just played it fairly vanilla over the years

I just wanted to take a new player model and replace the Quakeguy so that competitors in LAN games could see me as a different model rather than just the stock Quakeguy model and skin

[Mindf!3ldzX]

Rip out player.mdl of pak0.pak with pakscape , replace with the modern player.mdl

should be all that you need to do

[frag.machine]

Rip out player.mdl of pak0.pak with pakscape , replace with the modern player.mdl

should be all that you need to do

If what he wants is show to other players with a different model, no.

BTW, you don't need to ever touch the .pak files; just create a new folder under the Quake folder (let's say, "mymod"), at the same level the id1 folder. Inside this new folder, create a "progs" folder and drop your replacement on it. Next, you will need to enable it in darkplaces. There are 2 ways to achieve this:

a) by command line: start Darkplaces with "darkplaces -game mymod"; or

b) start Darkplaces normally, navigate in the mods menu and enable the "mymod" option (use the left/right arrows to toggle).

In both cases, your computer must run as the server so other players can connect to it, download your replacement model and thus everyone will see your fancy player.mdl.

[Mindf!3ldzX]

If what he wants is show to other players with a different model, no.

BTW, you don't need to ever touch the .pak files; just create a new folder under the Quake folder (let's say, "mymod"), at the same level the id1 folder. Inside this new folder, create a "progs" folder and drop your replacement on it. Next, you will need to enable it in darkplaces. There are 2 ways to achieve this:

a) by command line: start Darkplaces with "darkplaces -game mymod"; or

b) start Darkplaces normally, navigate in the mods menu and enable the "mymod" option (use the left/right arrows to toggle).

In both cases, your computer must run as the server so other players can connect to it, download your replacement model and thus everyone will see your fancy player.mdl.

I was just providing feedback on how I did it heh!

[frag.machine]

I was just providing feedback on how I did it heh!

I know. Sorry if I sounded agressive, wasn't absolutely my intention.

I just thought would be important to point out that: a) you don't need to change the original .pak files to replace a model; and b) if you want other people playing to see your model, it needs to be installed in the server.

[elvisish]

Cool, so if I create the progs folder and put the player.mdl in, it should replace the default one? Does this have to be done in a port like DarkPlaces or can I just make a progs folder replacement with DirectQ? If not, can Pakscape be used with DirectQ?

[frag.machine]

Cool, so if I create the progs folder and put the player.mdl in, it should replace the default one?

Yes. You can just create a "progs" folder into id1, drop the model into and you're done.

Does this have to be done in a port like DarkPlaces or can I just make a progs folder replacement with DirectQ?

This is a standard feature since original Quake, AFAIK all ports respect this behavior (and sometimes even extend - IIRC FitzQuake, Darkplaces and others allow to have multiple gamedirs loaded at once)

If not, can Pakscape be used with DirectQ?

Pakscape and similar tools works over the .pak (data) files, so regardless the engine used it should also work. But usually is desirable do not change those files directly, specially if you can replace any content using a simpler method.

[elvisish]

Awesome, thanks to everyone's help, I did just what frag said and it works with DirectQ, thanks again!