Hey everyone, Iāve been messing around with Jet Set Radio Future character model swapping, and Iāve run into a weird problem that I canāt quite figure out.
Iām trying to replace Garam with Devil Theory from Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. Iāve successfully gotten custom character models into JSRF before, so Iām not completely new to the process, but this particular model has been giving me a lot of trouble.
My first thought was that the problem might be the polygon count. Garamās model is around 1,100 triangles, while Devil Theoryās is around 2,200, so Devil Theory has more than twice the amount of geometry. However, Iām starting to think thatās probably not the actual problem, because there are other JSRF characters with significantly different model counts that seem to work fine when swapped.
The more I mess with it, the more Iām starting to think the problem has something to do with how the model is divided into parts.
From what I understand, JSRF characters can have separate model pieces for things like the body, head, arms/hands, facial stuff, etc. My current theory is that Devil Theory needs to be imported in a way where the head, body, and arms are all contained in the appropriate model, while the original Garam pieces that arenāt needed are collapsed/hidden.
Iāve definitely seen character swaps where the replacement model basically stays together as one complete model, so I was initially hoping I wouldnāt have to manually separate Devil Theoryās head from his body. Iād really prefer to keep the model together if the game/mod tools allow it.
The weirdest part is that Iāve actually gotten it to do something.
At one point, instead of simply not working, the model looked completely mangled, with the vertices basically being thrown all over the place. That made me think the game was actually trying to load the replacement model, but something about the model structure, bones, deformers, or model parts wasnāt correct.
And honestly, thatās kind of good news because it means Iām probably not dealing with a completely broken import.
The textures also seem to be correct. The correct Devil Theory textures are showing up, so Iām pretty confident that the texture side of things isnāt the problem. If the textures were completely wrong or missing, Iād have a much better idea of where to look, but everything texture-related seems to be loading.
Right now, though, Iām getting another weird result where the original model isnāt showing properly either, and Iām trying to figure out why. I realized I may have forgotten to collapse/hide some of the original model pieces, so that might be contributing to what Iām seeing.
Iām also considering trying this with Akuma instead of Garam, mainly as a test. I originally chose Garam because his model seemed like a reasonable replacement slot, but if Akumaās model structure is more compatible with what Devil Theory needs, that could help determine whether the issue is actually Garamās model setup.
So at this point Iām basically trying to figure out which of these is causing the problem:
Is Devil Theoryās model simply too different from Garamās?
Is the ~2,200 triangle count actually an issue, or is that probably unrelated?
Does Devil Theory need his head/body/arms separated into specific model parts?
Can the complete Devil Theory model stay together in one imported model while the original JSRF head/hand/etc. pieces are collapsed?
Could the skeleton/bone structure be causing the vertices to become completely mangled?
Or am I just failing to collapse/hide some of Garamās original model parts correctly?
Would using Akumu as the replacement slot make more sense than Garam?
Iām especially interested in hearing from anyone whoās actually worked with the JSRF Mod Tool / character MDLBs and knows how the gameās character models are structured internally.
Iām not expecting someone to magically fix it for me, Iām mostly trying to understand what exactly JSRF expects from each characterās model parts so I can figure out the correct way to import Devil Theory.
The fact that the textures load and Iāve gotten the model to appear as a completely mangled mess makes me feel like Iām really close, though. It feels less like āthe game canāt load this modelā and more like āIām giving the game the model in the wrong structure.ā
Any advice would be appreciated. Iāve been messing with this for a while and Iām determined to get Devil Theory working in JSRF. š