How to duplicate a complete addon?

[gimmick]

Hello,

With some complete addons (free or registered) with many props, I'd like to have two versions in MS: the original addon AND a second version with custom textures for all the costumes & props.

So, is it possible to duplicate a complete addon in MS by an easy way? When I try to do that, MS see only one version of the two addons

[squirrelygirl]

You can. It's going to be different for props than it is for clothes. You will need a Modders License because you'll have to do this through the Modders Workshop. Is there a particular addon you want to modify or is it just a bunch of different ones?

[gimmick]

Hello,

I have the Modders Workshop and a modder licence. I am interested to duplicate props & clothes addon.

For exemple, duplicate "Old London Town" to get a "New Town" with painted walls, or duplicate your "Victoria01" to get 11 new textures for clothes.. I would like also to duplicate Romeo from Wardrobe-01

When I try to "publish" the copy, the original disappears in MS.

[Ben_S]

Duplicating an addon is not the right way to achieve what you want.
You need to make a copy of the templates, parts or bodyparts that you want to have as duplicates, and put them in a similar directory structure as they were in the original addon. You will find those templates, parts or bodyparts in the modders workshop addon (which has to be installed manually).

eg if you like the 'Hoodie' costume in the base pack, find Hoodie.bodypart, in the modders workshop addon, in Data/Puppets/Male01, and copy it (with a new name) into Data/Puppets/Male01 in a new addon (which you are creating).

Hoodie.bodypart (an xml text file) contains texture references to textures such as "Costumes/Hoodie/Textures/Hoodie_Top_Tint_Diff.dds" which is found in the Base01 pack, as subdirectories of Male01.

To have a modded texture, copy the original into your new addon, with a similar folder structure, and change it's name. Then edit it in your graphics package, and save it.
You would then need to change your modded version of the hoodie bodypart to refer to the new texture name. You can do this either in a text editor, or in the modders workshop.

Once your new modded addon contains the new bodypart, and the new texture, then you would need to publish the new addon, and it could then be tested in Moviestorm.


So, in conclusion:
- You only need to copy the things you are going to change
- You need to change the names of things you are changing, or they will either be ignored in favor of the original, or will be loaded instead of the originals.
- When you have new files in an addon, you need to publish it before you can use it.

[gimmick]

Thank you Ben, I am going to use your explanations for 'Hoodie'

About bodypart files edit :
when puppets have 5 costumes, there are 5 <material>..........</material> blocs. But if I add a 6th bloc <material>..........</material> (with modified textures names) , MS doesn't see the 6th costume

[Ben_S]

Going back to the base pack for another example, the male Suit Closed.bodypart
This has 5 material blocks (numbered 0, 1, 2, 3, 4). Each of those blocks contains several variations.
Block 0 has 5 different suit jackets
Block 1 has 5 different trousers
Block 2 has the skin
Block 3 has the shirt
Block 4 has 3 different ties.

Suppose you wanted to make a new copy of that suit, with extra ties:
You would copy the bodypart into your new addon, and rename it
You would add extra tie materials (into block 4), with paths to the modified textures you are making.
- either by going into the modders workshop, finding your new bodypart, selecting one of the existing tie materials, and copying it, and editing the texture paths
- or by editing the xml to add a extra section.
You would republish in the modders workshop (or it won't work).

Then you would be able to go into Moviestorm and in the dressing room, find your modded costume, and click on the tie and cycle through the options. Your new texture option should appear at the end of the list.

[gimmick]

Now, my addon is ok in MS, the props are OK , my Juliet has a specific thumb and 15 new costumes, but the costumes are transparent

[Ben_S]

May I see your addon that you are working on? It should make it easier to see where you are going wrong.
You can either zip up the folder for your addon, or in the modders workshop, use 'Pack' on the publish screen.
The you can send it to me at ben.sanders (at) moviestorm.co.uk

[gimmick]

Thank you very much. Unfortunately, I have deleted the bodypart file with the command "new bodypart" in the Modder Workshop. So the addon is out and I try to make a new addon from the beginning

A Puppet Wizard like the very good SketchUp Import wizard would be great

[Ben_S]

While we do have a re-texture wizard for props (that are template based), we dont have a version for bodyparts (costumes) or parts based props.

I'm not sure why creating a new bodypart would delete previous versions, however.

[gimmick]

Hello, Finally, everything is OK except a bug (?) :
when I right-clic on a BodyPart to get "Move from ModderWorkShop to AddOn...", the menu displays a choice among only the 48 last AddOns (by alphabetic order) of my PC