HOWTO: Properly Retarget Animations and Anim_BPs for Dino Resizing!

1 First off make a separate folder for each dinosaur.

1.2 Second you need to add the skeletal mesh, and skeleton of the dinosaur one by one using copy.

1.3 Next you need to rename them to make sure they are not named the same as anything else. Then you want to right-click the skeletal mesh and assign a skeleton to it.
The skeleton you assign to it should be the one you just renamed and added to the folder for the new dinosaur.

1.4 After you assign the skeleton to the skeletal mesh you need to edit it and save both the skeleton and skeletal mesh.

1.5 Next you need to locate the newly copied skeleton and create a rig from it. After you create the rig from the newly copied dinosaur’s skeleton you then want to open the original skeleton and click the retarget manager. After it opens you want to select the rig you just created and hit save pose. When that is done you want to save the skeleton and skeletal mesh of the original. Now you want to go back to your skeleton copy and open it. When you open it you want to find retarget manager and click it. After clicking it you need to go down and select the rig you just created. Finally, you want to make sure all the bones match up and hit save pose at the bottom right. When that is done you need to save both the skeleton and the skeletal mesh for your copy.

1.6 Then after doing that, you need to locate the original animation blueprint for the dinosaur you are copying, and you want to right-click the file and retarget it. When the retarget menu pops up you will no longer need to deselect any checkboxes to the bottom left and now your copied skeleton should show up as a compatible retarget. Make sure the preview images match up and hit ok or done.

1.7 Now that you have retargeted the animation blueprint you will then need to go into the animation folder of the original dinosaur. Here you will select all the files and retarget them the exact same way as the animation blueprint.

1.8 After you retarget the animation blueprint and the animations you will then need to save all. Next you will need to open the copy of the animation blueprint. The copies of the animation blueprint and the animations will be in the same folder as the copied and renamed skeleton that you used or selected. (Please Note: When you open the copy of the animation blueprint after the steps above, the preview will be disfigured, the following steps below will resolve this.)

1.9 By opening the animation blueprint copy you will no longer need to reparent it at all.

2.0 As soon as it loads you will then switch over to to Asset Override Editor, if you do not have this up already, you can access it by clicking “Window” up at the top left and then selecting “Asset Override Editor” from a drop down menu.

2.1 Here you will replace all the old assets with the new ones you copied.

2.2 Then you want to switch tabs to the Anim Blueprint Editor which will generally be on the edit preview section. After switching to the edit preview section you can go ahead and compile and save.

2.3 After doing this step the disfigured preview should now be fixed. (Please Note: The preview may still look slightly off, as in floating above the ground or appearing further away than the original animation blueprint for the dinosaur, but if you just close out of it and open it again this should be resolved. All the animations will work with 0 glitches or bugs.)

This is the third iteration of this after trial and error and I am not sure if this method is considered editing core files, but it seems to be the only legitimate way to make the animations and anim_bp work without doing weird or abnormal steps that have glitches or odd side effects.

AWESOME job !!!

I still get my upload error when i try this method :’( Tried it on dragonfly, but have also tried dodo previously. I’ve still never seen anyone else have the same error so really no idea what causes it but it only happens when im setting animations like this

Sounds more like internet issue than mod issue. Try with another network or another computer.

Ive not got another computer I can test on easily. It absolutely only happens when certain changes are made in animations though because it only fails to upload when I make these changes, once I revert them my mod will upload fine again.

Ive also tried making a another smaller but similar version of my mod for testing but again it only fails to upload when I make these animation changes. Im trying to pin point exactly what stage causes it to fail but its a slow process having to cook after each step :frowning:

Just find it strange that ive not seen anyone else report having this error yet

Would help if you Told us what errror? and do you mean Uploading to the Steam Workshop or Cooking the mod?

Although at the time of posting I hadn’t deduced that it was caused by animations

Well, that sure sounds weird. Have you tried reinstalling the devkit to another drive?

I got 2 suggestions hope they help First try going into arkdeckit/modtools/steamcmd/Run steamCMD as admin then type Login User Pass, If it still fails google ADK Launcher and try using that to upload to the Workshop.

I’ve tried both of them with no luck

I tried a re install but not to a different drive, ill try it on a new drive sometime soon

Well at this point i honestly have no idea. Have you tried disableing all startup services/processes reboot and upload first thing before opening anything else? Might be software or something tarting on Start Up and conflicting with steamCMD.

For the bug, does it appear only after retargeting the animations ? If yes did you try to export / import manually each animations maybe its the retargeting that cause it try using export import in place of retargeting for each step (since it look like it bug only after retarget) not sure if it will help you.
Otherwise one time I did 3 size for a single Dino I didnt need to retarget all the files I will try to redo it and come back with how I did it.
In the mean time if you could find where the bug start appearing (wich step) it would limit the search to do :slight_smile:

Good tuto Otherwise :smiley:

Edit :

ok found how i did it last time but it will not help you since i didnt duplicate the skeleton and that’s the file causing the need of the retarget x)

i suppose you need to duplicate it because your rider is a little off(can be big xD try a rex with 5 scale :D) the dino after the resize no? if dev could add a way to adjust the position of the socket from the bp or the skeletal mesh it would stop the need of retargeting x)

hum i can’t import anim in too so it don’t look like a good idea (well they import well but crash the pie when trying them x) no problem with my own mesh and anim ^^ )

There was actually a post in another topic about using blueprinting (graphs) to move the riders x,y,z position based on the dino. It was actually a very creative work-a-round. Granted, I’m a big fan of doing the skeleton, because if you are resizing the animal, you will need to adjust everything on it usually to make it all work appropriately (saddle skins, saddle position, rider position, melee sockets, etc)

could you also make a guide for animations on custom maded armor and weapons? i had been strugling on getting animations to works for my LMG for weeks now

1.5 Next you need to locate the newly copied version of the original dinosaur’s skeleton and create a rig from it. After you create the rig from the newly copied dinosaur’s skeleton you then want to open the original skeleton and click the retarget manager. After it opens you want to select the rig you just created and hit save pose. When that is done you want to save the skeleton and skeletal mesh of the original. Now you want to go back to your skeleton copy and open it. When you open it you want to find retarget manager and click it. After clicking it you need to go down and select the rig you just created. Finally, you want to make sure all the bones match up and hit save pose at the bottom right. When that is done you need to save both the skeleton and the skeletal mesh for your copy.

1.6 Then after doing that, you need to locate the original anim_bp for the dinosaur you are copying, and you want to right-click the file and retarget it. When the retarget menu pops up you will no longer need to deselect any checkboxes to the bottom left and now your copied skeleton should show up as a compatible retarget. Make sure the preview images match up and hit ok or done.

I did 1.5 as best I could follow. Statements don’t seem to line up correctly. When I move on to 1.6 nothing will show up at all without me removing the tic to show only compatible assets. Even when I remove that it doesn’t show any of my stuff. Only the original base version.

The first line of 1.5 says, “Next you need to locate the newly copied version of the original dinosaur’s skeleton and create a rig from it.” Is this referring to a 2nd copy of the skeleton or is this referring to the first copy that you made and renamed?

I’m attempting to go through your guide and I have a few suggestions/questions.

Firstly, I don’t think you should be modifying original game files in the dev kit? Other mod guides I’ve followed all suggest copying the files you’re going to modify into your mod directory. By modifying the original game files you run the risk of making the mod not stack with other mods.

Secondly in your order of instructions, you should have a list of all files that you’re going to modify first, how to find them, how to copy them into your mod folder and whether they should be child copies (when it comes to blueprints) or just copies.

Thirdly, when referencing finding anim_bp for the dinosaur you want to modify, please use different wording. Not all animation blueprints are anim_bp. Some are just DinoNameAnimBP. It makes it hard to follow :frowning:

Fourth, it’d be great if you had screenshots.

Yeah, it could be great if we had some screenshot or even video,
I am trying to create a custom dragon smaller than the original and i have trouble, when i link dragon_animbp (or whatever the name, i do not have UE launched) and duplicate it on the new dragon, it look like completely disformed, after duplicating and linking the animations, the dragon look a little better but still very derp. I will provide screenshots of my problem.
The worst (or best) in it, it is that the dragon can move and everything.
What dino did you used for your tutorial?