The Improved Golfer Utility Available

[Big Sexy JC]

The grind in my personality paid off big this time. I posted about 12 hours ago that I had my butt kicked when it came to getting the ani files packed back together so they would work in the game. Now, there are 4 golfer utilities that will allow you to look at every aspect of the animation file. Let me explain (Adelade, you want technical? Here you go).

Animation files are made up of a bunch of files that are packed together to form the animation we see in the game. The golfer utility simply allows us to view those files, extract and change them and then pack them back together. I figured out the golfer utility in the last 12 hours so now we will all have access to everything that makes up a golfer in the game.

1. The graphic textures: These could be .TGA, .BMP or a combo of both. These are the files that make up the face, skin, hats, shirts, pants, shoes, etc.. The original golfer utility was deliberately setup to only be able to view .TGA files. This is how they kept us normal folks from seeing all of these textures. So, locked would be .BMP and unlocked would be .TGA.

2. Configuration Text Files: In the animations I've opened so far, there are 6 important text files that define some really cool stuff.

Script.txt: This is the file that I posted awhile back. It defines which skeleton (I'll mention below) is used along with how many textures and the type of textures and all the reactions that a golfer makes to any given swing event. It also has all the club variables and whether or not a ani is locked or not. This is the most exciting file that I now know how to use that I was completely stumped with. This file, once extracted, is very easy to understand and change. This should allow this community endless possibilities with animations now.

DRIVERSWING.TXT: This file is loaded with all times and sequences of the driver swing animation. I haven't messed with it at all, but if you want a faster or slower driver swing then this is the file you will modify. Using my revised utility (posted below) you can see all of these parameters very easily and they are easy to edit. This will take some experimenting, but should open up a world of customization of swing types, etc..

IRONSWING.TXT: Same as DRIVERSWING.TXT only for swings using the Irons

PUTTERLONG.TXT, PUTTERMEDIUM.TXT and PUTTERSHORT.TXT: These do the same as the DRIVERSWING and IRONSWING.TXT do, but they define the parameters for putts at different lengths because those swings can by slightly different (backswing length, etc.).

3. .SKL (Skeleton Files): These are the files that define the mesh or body type of the golfer. I really have to figure this out and haven't done anything more than look at these to know they can be modified. These are the files that will need modified in order to make taller, shorter, fatter, etc. golfers. It looks fairly easy to modify, but again, no testing whatsoever so far. What's cool about this is that the game only has a few of these that are then customized and defined in the Script.txt file. If I'm seeing this correctly, you could technically have an infinite amount of these as long as they are defined in the Script.txt file and then packed back with the animation file.


So, here is what I've done. I've modified the original golfer utility program and created 3 additional utilities. I've uploaded them to the below Google Drive shared and made them available for everyone. Should I have done this? That's debatable, but it was the only way to get to my goal so I don't really care at this point. The game is 20+ years old, I'm not selling it and I'm trying to keep the damn thing alive and relevant longer.

GolferUtilityTGA.exe - Allows you to open an .l3 file and see, extract and re-pack all the TGAs
GolferUtilityBMP.exe - Allows you to open an .l3 file and see, extract and re-pack all the BMPs
GolferUtilityTXT.exe - Allows you to open an .l3 file and see, extract and re-pack all the TXTs
GolferUtility.SKL.exe - Allows you to open an .l3 file and see, extract and re-pack all the SKLs

Is there a way to get a single utility to open everything at once? Probably, and if I figure that out I'll post it. It's not that important to me though so not high on my priority list. Enjoy the new toys. I know I will.


https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

[gator]

This is awesome!

Thanks for sharing (write up and .exe files)

Having a peek inside some of my Anis now. I can see SKL and TXT files in addition to the original TGA files, but I haven't found an l3 file yet where I can see any BMP files. Maybe the l3 files I've checked don't have any? I'll keep looking.

Leo

Edit: I can see the BMPs as well, just had to keep picking Anis.

[Adelade]

I havent tested them out but that sounds amazing, and really well laid out I always have so many other things about Links and APCD that I want to focus on, so anis have always taken a backseat for me, but getting rid of those spoiler reactions would be really neat, and of course I will be very interested to keep an eye of what comes from this.

Congratulations and thank you!

P.S. One question - can you change individual parts of the body parts for the skeleton or just the whole? (What? No, I wasnt thinking about Boob Sliders)

[Lez Marwick]

Anyone who gives more access to customising this game should be applauded. I was always against this ridiculous desire to lock things so only a few people had access to stuff. Everyone should share and work together and then everyone in the community benefits. I always left my courses unlocked for this reason and anything I created was freely available.
Keep up the good work!

[Big Sexy JC]

A quick update on all this. The l3 files are actually packed with a few more files and file types than I originally posted above. With the testing I've done the last couple days I've found .exe, .scc, .mak and .clp files within the l3s. In order to find those I had to scour the the l3 binary looking for hints and after I found those hints I had to modify the utility each time to test for the different file types. I've now uploaded utility versions for each file type (there are 8 now).

The utility allows me to modify and update every single file contained within the .l3 archive (there are roughly 335 total files) EXCEPT the script.txt file. I can update the other .TXT files, but not the script.txt. I think I know the reason why after finding the other files. It's a bit of the chicken or the egg kind of problem. If you modify the script.txt file to the config of your choice then it won't match the pre-existing config file structure and you will get a crash. If you modify the file structure then it won't match the configuration in the script.txt and you will get a crash.

So, I suspect that an ani has to be created using a combination of the nmake.exe and makefile.mak files. The makefile.mak file contains the script to create an l3 archive and the nmake.exe uses a command line syntax to launch that script. Part of the makefile.mak script includes reading the script.txt file to setup the textures, event reactions, etc.. The current problem I'm having is that I can't figure out the proper syntax to get the script to run and generate a new l3 file. I might not ever figure that out, but I'm about 99% sure that's how the animasters were able to create customized anis.

It's still frustrating, but I at least feel like I've got all the puzzle pieces now and know what has to happen. The community can still use all the anis that have been made to this point to create their own combinations, which isn't a total loss. It's what I'm gonna have to do until I can figure it out. If anyone knows how to use the nmake.exe file please shoot me a PM.


First priorities for me from an ani standpoint:

1. Tiger Woods using 2 faces so you can have his 1997 and 2018 faces in the same ani with more apparel options. (Completed and Uploaded)
2. Jon Rahm in a little more plump body type (I'm thinking Phil Mickelson). (Completed and Uploaded)
3. Bryson DeChambeau with the flat hat instead of the traditional hat. I'm thinking about using one of the old school anis for that and Ben Hogan seems to be the most buff of the available options. (Completed and Uploaded)
4. Shane Lowry has to get the John Daly body. (Completed and Uploaded)
5. I love the work the animasters did, but Rory McIlroy's face looks like it was straight from his HS senior pictures. I have to get the man a better face. (Completed and Uploaded)
6. Ted Ray's hat would make a great bucket hat for Greg Norman. Obviously I would put Greg Norman apparel on it as well instead of the 1920s garb that Ted Ray has. (Completed and Uploaded)
7. I have to use the anipro1 to create a PGA players of the decade animation for each decade. 10 faces and a bunch of apparel choices all in one ani.
8. I'm going to incorporate some cold weather long sleeves into more of the animations with multiple skin choices. Might create some more sunglasses options as well to take advantage of that.

[Big Sexy JC]

I went through tonight and put a spreadsheet together with all the different combos with the S01 (anis with a hat) and D01 (anis with a visor) anis just to see what flexibility we have now. As frustrated as I am that I can't create brand new ones, this is a pretty impressive combination to work with now.

Code: Select all

S01 Animations	Faces	Hats	Pants	Shirts	Shoes	Skins
Angel Cabrera	1	6	7	7	2	1
AniPro1	10	12	20	20	12	10
Ben Hogan	1	6	9	7	5	1
Ernie Els	1	5	12	12	5	1
Furyk	1	4	6	6	4	1
Price	1	4	6	6	4	1
Gmac	1	2	8	8	3	1
Harry Vardon	2	5	2	2	2	2
Henrik Stenson	2	6	7	7	2	1
James Braid	2	3	3	3	3	3
JD2010	2	7	9	9	3	1
JDHat	1	5	4	20	3	1
Lee Trevino	2	5	8	8	5	2
Paul Casey	1	6	11	11	4	1
Phil 2011	1	4	6	6	4	1
Rickie Fowler	1	30	30	30	30	30
Sergio Garcia2008	3	12	12	12	7	3
Sean Connery	1	5	10	10	5	1
Tank	5	3	8	8	4	5
Ted Ray	1	4	4	4	4	1
TWLocked	2	4	6	13	4	2
TWNewLocked	2	4	6	13	4	2
RoryMc	1	3	7	7	3	1
Adam Scott	1	4	7	7	2	1
Big Stewart	2	5	4	8	4	2
David Feherty	1	6	7	9	4	1
AdamK	1	3	5	9	1	1
FrankC	2	7	8	9	4	2
JH Taylor	2	4	3	3	3	1
Rick Weathers	1	4	6	6	4	1
Wayne Hewitt	2	8	6	10	2	2
Willie Park Snr	2	5	5	5	3	1

Code: Select all

D01 Animations	Faces	Hats	Pants	Shirts	Shoes	Skins
Bubba Watson	1	8	12	12	4	1
Darren Clarke	1	1	4	3	1	1
KJ Choi	1	2	8	9	3	1
Luke Donald	1	3	7	10	3	1
Monty 2007	1	5	8	16	3	1
Robert Allenby	3	6	12	12	4	3
Lee Westwood	1	7	13	13	4	1
Robert	1	4	7	9	4	1

[EJ55]

You are knocking it out of the park JC!

Wonderful work & great job!