Request: Empire Total War Demo animation tables?

[Sirlion]

As I saw back in 2009, the Empire Demo was bugged but still had some things that didnt make the cut into the final game, such as no restrictions for 20 unit in an army, and "wade" animations which were removed entirely from the game except for the txt references, see this video for proof:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBe6dnvtmpE

Now I dont know to which extent this is true, but I'd like to get a look at the animation tables and possibly retrieve the old unused files to try and restore what was inside, or at least have some refernece on how to enable them again. Since the demo is Steam-bound and it wont let me download it because I already bought the game, can anyone retrieve these files and post them here as a resource for the community? It may be a shot in the dark, but it might also turn out to be a good thing.

[wangrin]

Animation system work like this :

Animation tables are composed of several animation fragments.
Animation fragments tables are composed of several animation.

Animation tables : animation_tables.txt from \animations\animation_tables folder

example :

animation_table man_musket
{
    skeleton_type    man

    fragment        man_common_fragment
    fragment        musket_death_fragment            default_equipment_display = primary_weapon, ambient
    fragment        climb_fragment                    default_equipment_display = primary_weapon, ambient
    fragment        musket_fragment                    default_equipment_display = primary_weapon, ambient
}

Animation fragments : ..._fragment.txt from \animations\battleconfiguration folder

example : drummer fragment (a simple one...)

version 1            

WALK_TO_STAND                        filename = "Animations/MEN/MUSICIAN/DRUMMER/Drummer_to_ART.anim",                    blend_in_time = 0.25

PLAY_INSTRUMENT                        filename = "Animations/MEN/MUSICIAN/DRUMMER/Drummer_Cycle.anim",
PLAY_INSTRUMENT_TO_STAND            filename = "Animations/MEN/MUSICIAN/DRUMMER/Drummer_to_ART.anim",
STAND_TO_PLAY_INSTRUMENT            filename = "Animations/MEN/MUSICIAN/DRUMMER/ART_to_Drummer.anim",

Animation : .anim files

You can look at animation using Ultimate Unwrap 3D demo + ETW plugin as explained here : [Tutorial] Modeling & DB. Milkshape & UU3D. How wangrin and I use them.


The animation you are searching for look like "swimming".
You will find them as SEA_FLOATING_FLAIL_1 to 4 in man_common_fragment.txt.
Animation files used are :

• Animations/MEN/SEA/SEA_FLAIL/SEA_Flailing_in_water_1.anim
• Animations/MEN/SEA/SEA_FLAIL/SEA_Flailing_in_water_2.anim
• Animations/MEN/SEA/SEA_FLAIL/SEA_Flailing_in_water_3.anim
• Animations/MEN/SEA/SEA_FLAIL/SEA_Flailing_in_water_4.anim

[Sirlion]

Thank you wangrin I already know about that. Since there is a foldier named "mus_wade" with only .txts in there, which have information about sounds to play during said animations - which are not present - I was wondering if the demo had them. In any case, might be a good thing for beginners.

[wangrin]

A lot of elements are unused in ETW files, CA didn't "clean" game files before release.
But, unused abilities / functionalities are often incomplete.

The mus_wade folder is only composed of .txt files, no .anim files can be found here. These .anim files are the true animations.
As you write above, txt files seems to link animation with sound, but we have no animations here.

Maybe could it be possible to use the "Flailing_in_water" .anim to replace the "wade" .anim, but you will lack of most transition animations (from high guard to wade for example).

Note :

• it is possible to create animation (.anim) for ETW, but it's not easy because we have to rely on MilkShape to do it and this tool is extremely basic.
• due to an UU3D plugin bug, it is not possible to use 3ds max or blender to create animations, theyr are corrupted when converting .fbx or .dae to .ms3d or .variant_weighted_mesh.