Proper model swapping tutorial

[ThrowingOutRoX]

For a while, model swapping has been tricky for Dead Rising 3. A lot of files need to be replaced, specifically all the player's models. This works fine for most male survivors, and is the only way to get them to look fine in cutscenes. However, this method makes all female survivors and quite a few male survivors look horrific, specifically their faces.

Not anymore, though! I'm going to show you how to properly model swap in Dead Rising 3 so that the model doesn't look asinine. Unfortunately, this method will not work in cutscenes, so as far as I know, there is no way to get the majority of the models to look good over Nick in cutscenes.

I have a pre-made version of it that you can download HERE. If you want to do it yourself, or have mods installed that overwrite coregameplay_bulk1, then follow the instructions below. If you have any questions, leave it in the comments

STEP 1: Replacing the model

You'll need the Dead Rising 3 Bin Tool to unpack .bin files. Go to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\deadrising3\data\gameplay", and unpack coregameplay_bulk1.bin by dragging and dropping the file onto the .exe. It will then create a file in gameplay called coregameplay_bulk1.txt. Open it with any kind of text editor and type in the search bar 'rick_assets'. For clarity, Rick is one of the early names for Nick. You'll likely first encounter a "cActorComponentState". This just leads to rick_assets, which is a "cActorComponentDef".

Once you find the actual rick_assets (or dick_assets, depending on who you're model swapping), do two things first. Find the skeleton ID, which is "@1234840314", and replace the ID. There's different types of skeletons, I'll list the ones below. Replace the ID with the skeleton of whatever model you're trying to swap with.
1234840314 = Default/Male characters
182087331 = Male characters
1990882415 = Female survivors (and Simon for some reason?)
3989411705 = Hilde/Jherii

Then look at the ActorAssetType right under it. This is a crucial part. Replace "CLOTHED" with "SKINNED".

Under that will be AssetFilename. Don't confuse it with CommonAssetFilename, this one is set to m0 for all modles, don't bother changing it. AssetFilename only has m0 set for Nick.

(NOTE: If you just want to replace Nick with one of the other playable characters (I.E. Dick, Kane, Angel, Hunter, or Brad), disregard all of the above steps and just replace the AssetFilename with their respective AssetFilename. m1 is for Dick, m2 is for Kane, m3 is for Angel, m4 is for Hunter, m5 is for Brad. You likely came here to replace Nick with an NPC, but just in case, I will put notes for playable character swapping.)

Replacing the AssetFilename is a bit more complicated than just putting the model name. You'll have to put in the actual model directory. For normal NPCs put in "data/models/npcs/(model name)". For NPCs that are in the DLC folder, put in "data/models/npcs/dlc/(model name)". Obviously, replace "(model name) with the actual model name of the character you want to swap Nick with. Let's use svr_28 as an example, AKA Matt. Unlike Dead Rising 2, Dead Rising 3's character models are numbered, so I'll put in a full list of who's who below.

SPOILER: Click to show

boss_01 = Hunter (Mohawk is messed up for some reason)

boss_02 = Sgt. Hilde

boss_02_cine = literally just a duplicate of Hilde's model with 0 differences

boss_03 = Diego

boss_03_a = Diego (Unused caveman model)

boss_03_b = Diego (Spaceman model)

boss_03_c = Test model that has retextured Gordon Dawkins clothes

cast_04 = Chuck

cast_04 = Marian/Director (Will not work)

cast_06 = Hemlock

cast_06_a = Hemlock (Final boss model)

cast_07 = Director

cast_08 = Isabela

cast_09 = Red

cast_cine_svr_female/cast_cine_svr_male = Early version of Lena

cine_biker_clyde = Clyde

cine_biker_mel = Mel

cine_corpse_annie = Nicole White

cine_sonya_paddock = President Sonya Paddock

cine_sonya_paddock_sick = President Sonya Paddock (Zombified)

cine_svr_female = Dead survivor in Hilde's intro

cine_svr_male = Survivor killed by Hilde

cine_zombee = King Zombie

cine_zombee_b = King Zombie

cine_zombiemedic = ZDC zombie

cine_zombieprisoner = Zombie prisoner

cindy = Annie

debby = Rhonda

debby_blowtorch = Rhonda (Blowtorch arm)

debby_blowtorch2 = Rhonda (Blowtorch arm) (??)

debby_injured = Rhonda (Cut off arm)

debby_tourniquet Rhonda (Bandaged arm)

don = Gary

e3_zom_1 = E3 zombie model

e3_zombie_1b = E3 zombie model

e3_zombie_1c = E3 zombie model

e3_zombie_2 = E3 zombie model

e3_zombie_3 = E3 zombie model

e3_zombie_4 = E3 zombie model

kirk = Dick

lab_techa = Surgeon in Diego death cutscene

lab_techb = Surgeon in Diego death cutscene

lab_techc = Surgeon in Diego death cutscene

pilot_01_sick = Infected airplane pilot

pilot_02 = Hispanic airplane pilot

psy_01 = Kenny (Psycho model)

psy_02 = Darlene (Will not work)

psy_03 = Albert

psy_03_dupe_01-05 = literally just duplicates of Albert's model with 0 differences

psy_04 = Dylan

psy_05 = Jherri

psy_06 = Teddy (Will not work)

psy_07 = Zhi

psy_07_deadbody = Zhi (Beheaded)

svr_01 = Lena (Posse member outfit)

svr_01_b = Lena (Meat dress)

svr_02 = Regina

svr_03 = Carrie

svr_04 = Alejandra

svr_05 = Lucas

svr_06 = Julia

svr_07 = Kent

svr_09 = Jason

svr_10 = Kandy

svr_11 = Simon

svr_12 = Anna

svr_13 = Christine

svr_16 = Elka

svr_17 = Derek

svr_18 = Meryl

svr_19 = Kyla

svr_20 = Eric

svr_21 = Big D

svr_22 = Jose

svr_23 = Kelsey

svr_24 = Peter

svr_26 = Warren

svr_27 = Phil

svr_28 = Matt

svr_30 = Winnie

svr_32 = Jesse

svr_33 = Ravi

svr_36 = Joey

svr_38 = Marcus

svr_39 = Troy

svr_40 = Doug

svr_41 = Lauren

svr_45 = Amanda (Peter's Mother)

svr_48 = Hank

svr_51 = Dwayne

svr_52 = Jorge

svr_53 = Kenny (Time For A Hero model)

svr_54 = Adam

svr_55 = Taylor/Mike/Jack

svr_56 = Kevin/Sheldon

svr_57 = Keith

svr_58 = Zach/Brian

svr_59 = Jason/Brandon

svr_60 = Bob/Kaliyan/Ryan

svr_61 = Ian/Alec

svr_62 = Jeremy

svr_63 = Crystal

svr_64 = Margaret

svr_65 = Devon

svr_66 = Jasmine

svr_67 = Tanya

svr_68 = Jodie

svr_69 = Linda/Allison

svr_70 = Jordan/Steven

svr_71 = Kris/Vernon

svr_72 = Stevie

svr_73 = Dana

svr_74 = Lara

svr_dlc1-15 = Bodyguard (Unused character) (yes they are all duplicates of eachother with 0 differences)

svr_paddock = President Sonya Paddock

zdc_agent = Brad

grapes = Grapes?

randomizer = Randomizer?

DLC MODELS

dlc_cine_gang_1-5 = Gang members

dlc_npc_nick = Nick

dlc_sonya_paddock = President Sonya Paddock... again

dlc_spec_ops_beaten = Kane (Injured model)

dlc_zcop = Zombie cop

dlc_zspecops = Zombie Spec Ops

ep1_cine_specops_1-3 = Spec Ops soldiers

ep1_svr_1 = Sunshine

ep1_svr_2 = The Dutch

ep1_svr_3 = President Sonya Paddock. AGAIN.

ep2_svr_1 = Winnie

ep2_svr_2 = Nikki

ep3_svr_1 = Razorface

ep3_svr_2 = Cannons

ep3_svr_3 = Torque

ep3_svr_3_beaten = Torque (Injured)

ep3_svr_4 = Snake

ep3_svr_5 = Spider

ep4_svr_1 = Cora

ep4_svr_2 = Nelson

Now you'll have to remove the clothing component from Nick/Dick. Nick's GameObject ID is 899963812, while Dick's is 2856644914. In ComponentTypes, find 'cClothingComponent'. Completely remove the line so that there's nothing in between the cHUDComponent and cSoulmateComponent lines. Then go into ComponentsState and find "@1656756004", which will be listed as a ClothingComponentState to the left. Like before, completely remove this line. If you're model swapping Dick, find "@2379698866" and remove it.

(NOTE: If you're replacing with Nick with one of the other playable characters, then instead of deleting 1656756004, replace it with one of the other characters ClothingComponentState. Dick's is 2379698866, Kane's is 2390981748, Angel's is 468877948, Hunter's is 2132934341, and Brad's is 731396664.)

Nick's model in game will now be replaced with Matt, but hold off on the congratulations. Whenever Matt makes a facial animation, it's heavily contorted. Let's fix this.

STEP 2: Fixing the face

Search for a cStateComponentGraphDef named "1438395685". You'll see a section called "SGraph" (it stands for State Graph), which has a whole bunch of IDs. Specifically, you'll see an ID labeled "@282765755". Replace this with "@3340074093". What this does is it replaces Nick's hurt and attacking facial animations with survivors. Unlike Nick's facial animations, the ones for survivors work for every model.

Now search for a cFacialAnimTask called "3787533712". At the bottom is "DefaultState", set at "@2159050357". Replace this with "@2460073905".

The bad news is that this last step disables facial animations for idle animations since they just won't work on other models. Blinking still works fine. The good news? You're done!

Boot up Dead Rising 3 and your character will look fine.

...but uh oh!!! If you did someone like Rhonda, their toes will be spinning like fan blades??? Luckily, this has a quick fix.

STEP 3: Removing weird glitchy toes from female characters

You know how you removed the clothing components? Yeah, do the same thing with "cFootIKComponent". Then do the same with the cFootIKComponentState. It's named 1353084495 for Nick, and 1388967901 for Dick.

STEP 4: Additional model values

Remember cActorComponentDef? AKA rick_assets/dick_assets? There's some values you can mess around with if you don't particularly like how the model stands. For example, model swapping Nick with Chuck will cause him to have bent knees. I haven't personally experimented with these values too much, but I'll list the ones I do have an understanding of.

Scale allows to change Nick's size on the X, Y, and Z axis. You can do this with any other character, too.

InVehicleScale is a watered down version of scale which, like the name implies, only effects Nick while in vehicles.

Height doesn't seem to do anything? In fact Chuck's height is slightly smaller than Nick's despite being taller in game.

Radius increases the size of the player's collision. It's set to 0 for Nick, but larger characters such as Chuck have it set to slightly higher values like 0.3.

ModelForwardOffset will change the position of Nick's model forwards or backwards while keeping his actual position the same. This rarely has any use.

ModelHeightOffset will change the the position of Nick's model up or down while keeping his actual position the same. This is useful for if the model seems to be clipping into the ground under collision, or if they're above ground.

LowerRingHeightOverride doesn't seem to do anything either. I may be wrong, though.

STEP 5: Replacing audio

This one is also optional. When model swapping in this method, you may notice that Nick has no foot step sounds. There are 2 solutions to this. The first is replacing Nick's audio with another characters. Find Nick's  cGameObjectAudioComponentDef named "1673440993". Replace both "cast_01" with the audio file of another character. Most of them will be the same as their model, but I'll list the ones that are different below.

SPOILER: Click to show

boss_04 = Marian/Director
boss_05 = Red
boss_06 = Hemlock (Final boss)
cast_01 = Nick
cast_02 = Annie
cast_03 = Gary
cast_05 = Dick
cast_10 = Rhonda
cast_11 = Diego
svr_34 = Nikki
dlc_cast_12 = Adam Kane
dlc_cast_13 = Sunshine
dlc_cast_14 = The Dutch
dlc_cast_16 = Angel
dlc_cast_17 = Winnie
dlc_cast_18 = Doug
dlc_cast_19 = Hunter
dlc_cast_20 = Torque
dlc_cast_21 = Razorface
dlc_cast_23 = Cannons
dlc_cast_22 = Snake
dlc_boss_07 = Spider
dlc_cast_24 = Brad
dlc_cast_25 = Cora
dlc_cast_26 = Nelson

Changing the footsteps only is a bit more complicated, I'll go into detail about that if I ever make an audio tutorial.

STEP 6: Packing the file

Oh right, one more thing. You have to actually pack the file. Simply drag coregameplay_bulk1.txt onto the aforementioned .exe file and it will convert it into a .bin. 

[mtlfffff]

Why does the game crash when I open it after changing it myself.
And using the file you gave me to enter the game the character is invisible.
Then I change the AssetFilename = "m3" to enter the game character but no change.
I found that if I delete cFootIKComponentState to start the game will crash, other changes no problem

[mtlfffff]

And where do I look if I want to search for replacement codes for different characters? Some character model numbers are not retrieved in the bin file.

[ThrowingOutRoX]

You have to actually go into the code of the file I gave and change the model. By default it uses Nick's default model code. There's a demonstration on what it should look like directly under the code. Also, when deleting FootIK you have to delete FootIK in ComponentTypes, too. As for model swapping other characters, you'll have to find the model yourself. A good way is to look up their name by typing //(character name) and finding the cHUDComponentDef. The model should usually be nearby, but if not, you can use the name of the HUDComponentDef to find HudComponentState, then in use that to find the game object state.

[mtlfffff]

Thanks for the reply, I have solved the role replacement and FootIK issue. But I followed step2 and set @282765755". Replace with "@3340074093" and then set "DefaultState", set at "@2159050357". Replace this with "@2460073905" and the female character's face will still be distorted in the cutscenes.
Also I found that if I use the clothing system then the game will crash, is this normal?

[ThrowingOutRoX]

Nov 10, 2022 3:32:19 GMT -5 mtlfffff said:

Thanks for the reply, I have solved the role replacement and FootIK issue. But I followed step2 and set @282765755". Replace with "@3340074093" and then set "DefaultState", set at "@2159050357". Replace this with "@2460073905" and the female character's face will still be distorted in the cutscenes.
Also I found that if I use the clothing system then the game will crash, is this normal?

Both of these are normal and unavoidable.

[belle2505]

Man, thanks for this tutorial! I was able to finally have a successful Chuck Green model swap:) However, one thing I notice about this swap is whenever I regain control of my character (usually after a cutscene), it still makes that distorted idle face but reverts back to normal if I do a ragdoll or press the attack button. Once I do either of those actions, everything seems to be working well again. However, the distorted idle face comes back again for every cutscene that occurs... Is there a permanent fix for that? 

[fridgeraider]

Nicely done tutorial, however I can't seem to get it to work for Hilde. When I follow the provided steps, it causes her to have a permanent distorted / sad face. It happens when I alter default state, not sure what to do to fix it. When I do this without a mod replacing Nick with Hilde, it just ends up a floating torso

[lungbusted420]

Mar 14, 2023 19:16:17 GMT -5 belle2505 said:

Man, thanks for this tutorial! I was able to finally have a successful Chuck Green model swap:) However, one thing I notice about this swap is whenever I regain control of my character (usually after a cutscene), it still makes that distorted idle face but reverts back to normal if I do a ragdoll or press the attack button. Once I do either of those actions, everything seems to be working well again. However, the distorted idle face comes back again for every cutscene that occurs... Is there a permanent fix for that? 

Can you send me your mod so I could play as him too???