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Seawolf Modding Tutorial
This tutorial is for creating a custom mod for Seawolf Dragons, and will be using the Kinzart Dawn/Midnight dragon as an example, while creating a feral Night-Fury.
The Tutorial itself is free so feel free to share it with your friends, we need more Night-Furies on SL.
The only thing missing would be the scripts needed for the Stage3 of the tutorial. But you get the scripts included with the tutorial when bought at a vendor/marketplace for $50L.
NOTICE: Since Im always working on improving my tutorial and make it easier to use, feel free to contact me (MyraMidnight) if you have any trouble with it. Or simply to ask if there is a newer version of the tutorial, the version is in the description of each notecard.
You can ask for a newer version of the tutorial, even if you didn't buy the full set, but you will only get the tutorial, not the scripts.
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FOR THIS NIGHT FURY MOD YOU NEED
A Seawolf Dragon (JUVENILE is the perfect size)
A Midnight/Dawn dragon from Kinzart.
Some modding skills (not included)
And for some finishing touches:
You can maybe find a freebie NF breath at this place:
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TUTORIAL:
Creating a head/jaw that works with seawolf dragon. (universal).
Make a flexy tail for the Night Fury.
Make a prim tail for the Night Fury (might need scripts).
Continue from Stage2b. Make it livery enabled. (need scripts)
A extra stage, how to create a decal layer.
How to use the scripts included with the Tutorial (when bought).
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I hope this tutorial will help you make a custom mod, a night fury, or anything you come up with yourself.
USEFUL NOTES:
Liveries, Backup Save, Camera Controls, Linking, Un-linking.
LIVERIES:
For those who don't know it yet, liveries is the color system you use to color your dragon via the HUD. Liveries actually means uniform. Its fun to know that the liveries you save on your HUD get saved on a server, so even if you get a fresh new HUD, you keep your liveries.
BACKUP SAVE:
If you select all the objects of the head together (using SHIFT key to select multiple objects) before linking, and TAKE COPY, you can make a backup of the setup without linking. The icon in the inventory should be a box with a missing piece in it, unlike a single object being a whole box.So when you rez it, you don't have to position them all again. Good as a backup before linking, if something goes wrong or not like you were planning.
So make a backup before linking, to be on the safe notes, its harder to take it apart afterwards. And ALWAYS STOP SCRIPTS FROM RUNNING as some scripts behave different after linking and will mess up things in ways you might not have expected.
# CAMERA CONTROLS:
For those who don't know how to move the camera in the many ways it can, then this is a good trick to know. You can use this to move your camera into the object to help you select things not visible from the outside. To do this, do not look at the object you want to go into, but someplace else (you cant seem to be able to see into the object you focus on).
ALT key will let you zoom the camera with the mouse and rotate the camera.
If you hold ALT+CTRL, you can angle the camera up and down.
If you hold ALT+CTRL+SHIFT, then you can move the camera without turning or zooming.
# LINKING CORRECTLY (CTRL+L)
It really matters what object you SELECT LAST, when you are linking together objects/prims. Because the ROOT of the item selected last, will become the root of the WHOLE linked object when you finish linking it.
Do NOT have the EDIT LINKED on when linking together. So to say it simply: FIRST select all the items/prims you are going to attach. Then select LAST the item that holds the ROOT or will become the root.
# UN-LINKING CORRECTLY (CTRL+SHIFT+L)
Unlinking is opposite linking, and will take items apart. To avoid a simple error that results in your object falling apart and becoming millions of un-linked prims, you should make sure that you do NOT have the entire object selected.
You should always have EDIT LINKED on when selecting prims you want to remove from your object, since "edit linked" lets you select single prims of a linked object and modify them specially.
You will know that you un-linked it, when the OUTLINE of anything you had selected while un-linking becomes YELLOW. If the outline of EVERYTHING in your object becomes yellow, you just took your item apart.
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Brought to you by MyraMidnight
Part 1
This is a TUTORIAL of how to mod a head to work with the Seawolf Dragons. It should work as a guide for any head mod.
This notecard is a part of a pack that teaches you how to combine Seawolf Dragon, and Kinzart Night Fury (Midnight/Dawn dragon), to create a feral Night Fury, so some extra NIGHT FURY NOTES refer to that specific mod.
YOU WILL NEED:
A head and jaw to mod (NEW head/jaw)
A Seawolf head and jaw (OLD head/jaw)
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Useful Notes:
# LIVERIES:
For those who don't know it yet, liveries is the color system you use to color your dragon via the HUD. Liveries actually means uniform. Its fun to know that the liveries you save on your HUD get saved on a server, so even if you get a fresh new HUD, you keep your liveries.
# BACKUP SAVE:
If you select all the objects of the head together (using SHIFT key to select multiple objects) before linking, and TAKE COPY, you can make a backup of the setup without linking. The icon in the inventory should be a box with a missing piece in it, unlike a single object being a whole box.So when you rez it, you don't have to position them all again. Good as a backup before linking, if something goes wrong or not like you were planning.
So make a backup before linking, to be on the safe notes, its harder to take it apart afterwards. And ALWAYS STOP SCRIPTS FROM RUNNING as some scripts behave different after linking and will mess up things in ways you might not have expected.
# CAMERA CONTROLS:
For those who don't know how to move the camera in the many ways it can, then this is a good trick to know. You can use this to move your camera into the object to help you select things not visible from the outside. To do this, do not look at the object you want to go into, but someplace else (you cant seem to be able to see into the object you focus on).
ALT key will let you zoom the camera with the mouse and rotate the camera.
If you hold ALT+CTRL, you can angle the camera up and down.
If you hold ALT+CTRL+SHIFT, then you can move the camera without turning or zooming.
# INVISIBLE THINGS:
Some things are invisible or transparent and may be hard to select or even avoid when you cant see them correctly. To enable you to see transparent, simply press CTRL+ALT+T (and again to turn it off).
# LINKING CORRECTLY (CTRL+L)
It really matters what object you SELECT LAST, when you are linking together objects/prims. Because the ROOT of the item selected last, will become the root of the WHOLE linked object when you finish linking it.
Do NOT have the EDIT LINKED on when linking together. So to say it simply: FIRST select all the items/prims you are going to attach. Then select LAST the item that holds the ROOT or will become the root.
# UN-LINKING CORRECTLY (CTRL+SHIFT+L)
Unlinking is opposite linking, and will take items apart. To avoid a simple error that results in your object falling apart and becoming millions of un-linked prims, you should make sure that you do NOT have the entire object selected.
You should always have EDIT LINKED on when selecting prims you want to remove from your object, since "edit linked" lets you select single prims of a linked object and modify them specially.
You will know that you un-linked it, when the OUTLINE of anything you had selected while un-linking becomes YELLOW. If the outline of EVERYTHING in your object becomes yellow, you just took your item apart.
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============STEP 1 (resizing)============
1. Wear your Seawolf avatar, and your NEW head and jaw, position it and resize until you are happy with it. The position of it is irrelevant at this stage since scripts will determine the position of both head and jaw once we are finished with this mod. This step is only resize.
Be careful of not having the head too big, or too small, so take a look at the neck from behind also, and any angle, before you're sure.
============STEP 2 (determine ROOT PRIM)============
1. Rez your NEW resized head and jaw on the ground and STOP SCRIPTS FROM RUNNING in them (location of this option depends on viewer, but is often at the top menu under TOOLS, next to WORLD, at least in Phoenix), this prevents annoying things happening due to scripts that change prim shape, such as blinking or moving eyes which might even make you have to start over.
2. As you have the head selected in EDIT mode, the ROOT prim will be outlined yellow and everything attached to that root will be outlined blue (there is only one root in any linked object, if the outline color is different). If this root prim is visible (not hidden inside the head), you will want to rez a new prim to link with the head to act as a root prim.
# HOW TO LINK CORRECTLY:
3. Do NOT have EDIT LINKED on when linking together objects. Select FIRST the prims you are going to attach/link (the head), and select LAST the prim you are going to attach/link it to (the new root). The root prim for the entire linked set will become the root of the item selected last.
Its handy, for later STEP 8, to have the root prim outside of the head for easy grab.
# REASON FOR NEW ROOT PRIM:
The position of the head is determined by the position of the root, so you want to be able to move that prim without worry of disfiguring your head, as well as the fact that the root prim of the jaw WILL loose it's shape to the script, so better make a root prim that is not a part of the outer shape of the avatar. Remember, the new root should have the yellow outline if you did it correctly.
# NIGHT FURY NOTES:
The NEW JAW already has a ROOT prim that is not a part of the outer shape, so you do NOT need to create a new root for it. But for the NEW HEAD you need to create a new root prim, since the face-prim itself is the root of the head.
# NOTICE:
When you create a new object, it will automatically attach to your right hand as a default attachment point, UNLESS you use "ATTACH TO" the body part you want it to attach to. It will remember the point next time you WEAR or ADD.
So when you create a NEW ROOT, its a new prim that has no set attachment point.
HEAD: Attaches to SKULL
JAW: attaches to MOUTH.
============STEP 3 (linking the eyes)============
Since the Night-Fury eyes are not linked to the head itself, we'll have to link it.
1. REZ both eyes, and select them TOGETHER so you can resize them equally. Try fitting them into the head. Focus on only one eye (since both will be same size while you have both selected together), and then position the other when the size is right.
To avoid being CROSS EYED, you can set the eye Dialation as big as it gets (big puppy-dog eyes, using the Night-Fury HUD), and then look at the face from the front (from the nose) and make it seem as the eyes are looking forward at you, without having them staring at the nose too much, which seems cross-eyed. To avoid that, don't let the black of the eye go all the way into the corner of the eye when you look at it from the sides.
Of course you need the eyes to have their scripts running to change them with the HUD.
2. MAKE A BACKUP! by selecting both eyes, and the head (see notes at top of notecard).
3. Now select the EYES, and THEN select the HEAD last. Link them using CTRL+L
As always, the order of which you select items for linking matters for the root prim. Since the root of the entire linked object WILL be the root of the item selected LAST.
============STEP 4 (getting the scripts)============
1. Rez the OLD head and jaw (Seawolf, any type), and copy these scripts from it into your inventory.
#NOTE: the H1, H2, H3 refers to the different head variants that you get with the Seawolf Dragons, so each head type has their own script for the facial expressions and outer detail. Since your modified head will not react to these, it does not matter which head type the script is from. In this case I used the Head type 1.
2a. COPY these scripts from the HEAD:
MD-J H1 Head up/down
livery-head (if you want to livery enable it)
2b. COPY these scripts for the JAW:
MD-J-H1 jaw up/down
MD-J H1 jaw talk
livery-jaw (if you want to livery enable it)
Jaw Talker
============ Step 5 (placing the scripts)============
1. Select the NEW head and edit. Under the CONTENT tab you can see the scripts and any item that is already within the object. Sometimes there are scripts in there specific for that head, for blinking eyes, facial expressions and so on. You will most likely want to keep the right scripts, so as always MAKE A BACKUP of the NEW head, and it's scripts.
HEAD:
2a. Place the Scripts you copied from the OLD head, into the CONTENT of the NEW head. If you select the whole item, it will only display the content of the root, not the other linked parts. To see those scripts placed in those linked parts, you will need to use edit linked. You'll know if you have edit linked active, if you can only select single prims of the object.
JAW:
2b. If the NEW jaw is simple with no fancy affects (like the head uses blinking and expressions) then you can just REMOVE ALL scripts from the jaw. But just in case, MAKE COPY of the scripts. Then place the scripts you copied from the OLD jaw, into the CONTENT of the NEW jaw.
#NIGHT FURY NOTES:
3a. For the Night-Fury HEAD, the scripts controlling the facial expressions, blinking and hiding teeth, should have stayed in the face-prim, and therefor not be in the new root, so the root should be empty. If you want to lessen the scripts, feel free to remove the GLOW and COLOR script in the face, since you will use the Livery system to color the mouth.
3b. For the Night-Fury JAW, there are TWO SCRIPTS you might want to keep, that enable you to move the tongue, and hide the teeth (be toothless), then do not delete these:
Alpha System
Alpha System (tongue)
============STEP 6 (livery enable, OPTIONAL)============
#This step is for Livery Enable (color with Seawolf HUD), skip if you are not going to Livery Enable.
1. Use EDIT LINKED to be able to select single prims of the whole head, and change the PRIM NAME in the GENERAL tab (the description does nothing) according to the list below, depending on how you want each part to color:
s - skin/scales
y - tongue
h - horns
e - ears or fins
c - teeth
m - mouth
SEE THE SEAWOLF CUSTOM PRIM GUIDE for more information about the liveries: http://www.seawolf-monsters.com/wiki/Dragon/CustomPrimwork
# NIGHT FURY NOTES:
To be able to move the tongue and hide the teeth, then DO NOT RENAME the TEETH or TONGUE. But the mouth/gums can be renamed 'm' so you can color those with the Livery system. Mouth is one of the few liveries that do not change the texture, only color.
If you are like me, and want to replace the teeth with something sharper, and still hide the teeth, simply rename each tooth [showteeth[ (just like that).
============STEP 7 (Refresh and Turn on scripts)============
1. REFRESH SCRIPTS and then SET TO RUN
2. Now wear the head and lower your neck (neck-toggle, with either HUD or gesture), to see if the head moves with neck correctly.
============STEP 8 (positioning the head/jaw)============
There are two ways you can do this step, the easy and the hard way.
WHILE WEARING THE HEAD/JAW. Do the HEAD first and then the JAW.
# EASY WAY:
1a. Select the head, then use EDIT LINKED to un-select the root prim (use the SHIFT key), then move the head like you want it. Do not let go of the head until you are sure its positioned perfect, unless you want to fish out the root prim again, which will be hidden inside the head.
You can angle the camera (see notes at top of Notecard), without letting go of the selected prims, which is quite a nice feature.ot prim (use the SHIFT key), then move the head like you want it. Do not let go of the head until you are sure its positioned perfect, unless you want to fish out the root prim again, which will be hidden inside the head.
# HARD WAY:
1b. Before doing this step, you might want to have the NECK TOGGLE gesture active, so you will be able to see results of your adjustments without letting go of the prims you have selected.
If you do not have it activated, try searching your inventory for "F3 - MD Neck Toggle" which is a gesture that comes with Seawolf avatars, as well as other gestures for sitting and change breath type (its fun to know). As the gesture name suggest, the F3 key triggers it.
2b. Use EDIT LINKED to only select the ROOT prim. Every time you move it, use the NECK TOGGLE gesture to move the head, which will show you the new position of the head, according to how you moved the root prim. Because moving the whole head (with root and all) will be pointless since the script will put the head in its place when you wear it again, or move the neck.
3b. Using the Neck Toggle gesture does not make you loose your grip on the root prim you have selected, so its a nice feature being able to move neck (without the HUD, since you cant touch it while in edit mode), and still have the root prim selected.
REPEAT FOR THE JAW.
============EXTRA STEP (rotating textures: optimal)============
#This is for those who LIVERY ENABLED (Step 6) their mod.
1. Recolor your avatar using the Preset Liveries on the first page of the HUD. Select something that has obvious patterns and sides (like the TAXI/CHECKERS skin texture), so you will notice how the texture turns however you move it.
2. Detach and REZ your NEW head (and jaw if needed), and it should have the obvious textures on it.
3. Select the head in EDIT mode and use EDIT LINKED. Select the prim you want to rotate the texture on.
4. Go into the TEXTURE tab of the edit window, and you will find your texture properties. Usually you only have to adjust the OFFSET and maybe the ROTATION. Do not mess with the other unless you are sure and at least have a BACKUP of the head before doing so.
If you want to be more advanced, feel free to mess with the other properties as well,
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Tutorial written by MyraMidnight
Part 2 (prim)
This notecard is a part of a pack that teaches you how to combine Seawolf Dragon, and Kinzart Night Fury (Midnight/Dawn dragon), to create a feral Night Fury.
As always, work with a copy so you have a BACKUP before you link/unlink, in case something does not go quite like you planned or should have.
YOU WILL NEED:
A Seawolf Dragon HIP
A night fury FLEXY tail (from the kinzart's Midnight/Dawn dragon)
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# LIVERIES:
For those who don't know it yet, liveries is the color system you use to color your dragon via the HUD. Liveries actually means uniform. Its fun to know that the liveries you save on your HUD get saved on a server, so even if you get a fresh new HUD, you keep your liveries.
# BACKUP SAVE:
If you select all the objects of the head together (using SHIFT key to select multiple objects) before linking, and TAKE COPY, you can make a backup of the setup without linking. The icon in the inventory should be a box with a missing piece in it, unlike a single object being a whole box.So when you rez it, you don't have to position them all again. Good as a backup before linking, if something goes wrong or not like you were planning.
So make a backup before linking, to be on the safe notes, its harder to take it apart afterwards. And ALWAYS STOP SCRIPTS FROM RUNNING as some scripts behave different after linking and will mess up things in ways you might not have expected.
# CAMERA CONTROLS:
For those who don't know how to move the camera in the many ways it can, then this is a good trick to know. You can use this to move your camera into the object to help you select things not visible from the outside. To do this, do not look at the object you want to go into, but someplace else (you cant seem to be able to see into the object you focus on).
ALT key will let you zoom the camera with the mouse and rotate the camera.
If you hold ALT+CTRL, you can angle the camera up and down.
If you hold ALT+CTRL+SHIFT, then you can move the camera without turning or zooming.
# INVISIBLE THINGS:
Some things are invisible or transparent and may be hard to select or even avoid when you cant see them correctly. To enable you to see transparent, simply press CTRL+ALT+T (and again to turn it off).
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============STEP 1 (removing seawolf tail prims)============
# SEE TRANSPARENT:
It is good to enable seeing transparent, since the Seawolf Tail is made up of several prims that are transparent or invisible (the decal layer and the armor scales, which are only visible from below, so people tend to forget that). To enable transparent view, use CTRL+ALT+T (and again to disable it).
1. Rez your Seawolf HIP, and STOP SCRIPTS FROM RUNNING (location of this option depends on viewer, but is often at the top menu under TOOLS, next to WORLD, at least in Phoenix).
2. Now use EDIT LINKED to select only specific prims of the tail to unlink. To unlink, use CTRL+SHIFT+L (there is also a LINK/UNLINK button in the edit menu under OBJECT)
What should be left, is the hips, armor scales and spikes (those you can hide with the HUD).
============STEP 2 (linking new tail)============
1. Rez your Night-Fury flexy tail, and resize it so it will be good size.
2. When you have positioned the tail to fit with the hips, and maybe adjusted the armor scales and spikes to look right with the new tail. Link it.
LINKING CORRECTLY:
3. Select the tail first, and THEN the hips. Use CTRL+L to link them together. The hips should keep being the root prim if you did it right, as the root of the item selected last, becomes the root for the entire object.
4. Use EDIT LINKED and select the flexy tail, and go into the FEATURES tab, where you'll find the flexy path preference. Lower the SOFTNESS of the tail to 2, rather than 3. This will make your tail look more normal. Do the same for the tail-fins, but you need to have the SAME setting for all three flexy prims, else they wont move as one whole.
REFRESH SCRIPTS and SET SCRIPTS TO RUN.
============STEP 3 (livery enable, OPTIONAL)============
#You CAN livery enable your flexy tail, but its rather limited, since you will have to MANUALLY color the tail-fins.
1. Select the tail prim (the center of the tail) and name it 's' for skin livery. This will change it's color according to the Liveries. DO NOT name the tail-fin prims. You will need to manually color the tail-fans, which you can do under TEXTURES tab. There you find COLOR, but do not touch the texture.
#REASON for tail-fins not being livery:
Most of the livery options also change the texture, meaning you will not have a fin anymore, but a solid texture. If you rename the prim to work with liveries, you will most likely loose your texture. So don't do it.
REFRESH SCRIPTS
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Tutorial written by myramidnight resident