Ryo's bicycle animations (What's Shenmue mod)

[Switch]

Do you think there's any chance of making it functional in game?

The animations here are just one small piece of what is needed, but I'm optimistic that this goal can be reached eventually.

The results of the bicycle hacking/modding carried out by James (shengoro86) have shown some very promising results. (Link to thread). I think it would be worth continuing to experiment with these approaches, in particular: (1) looking into how to place Ryo under full control of the game's AI so he will follow the daily schedule and actions of a bicycle-riding NPC, and (2) taking a situation where Ryo rides a vehicle already (e.g. the motorbike) and modifying it to swap in the appropriate objects / animations / behavior for Ryo on a bicycle.

The animations when the bike is standing and Ryo is just chilling with his hands on his hips or bending over handlebars are among the coolest things I've ever seen him do.

Come to think of it, maybe that's why Yu decided to take the bicycle away... can't have Ryo looking too cool

You can really feel the effort that some poor developers put into all this, even though it was removed in the end.

[shengoro86]

Do you think there's any chance of making it functional in game?

The animations here are just one small piece of what is needed, but I'm optimistic that this goal can be reached eventually.

The results of the bicycle hacking/modding carried out by James (shengoro86) have shown some very promising results. (Link to thread). I think it would be worth continuing to experiment with these approaches, in particular: (1) looking into how to place Ryo under full control of the game's AI so he will follow the daily schedule and actions of a bicycle-riding NPC, and (2) taking a situation where Ryo rides a vehicle already (e.g. the motorbike) and modifying it to swap in the appropriate objects / animations / behavior for Ryo on a bicycle.

Already on it.
Your findings have re-peaked my interest. I will report back if I make more progress.

[Switch]

Do you think there's any chance of making it functional in game?

The animations here are just one small piece of what is needed, but I'm optimistic that this goal can be reached eventually.

The results of the bicycle hacking/modding carried out by James (shengoro86) have shown some very promising results. (Link to thread). I think it would be worth continuing to experiment with these approaches, in particular: (1) looking into how to place Ryo under full control of the game's AI so he will follow the daily schedule and actions of a bicycle-riding NPC, and (2) taking a situation where Ryo rides a vehicle already (e.g. the motorbike) and modifying it to swap in the appropriate objects / animations / behavior for Ryo on a bicycle.

Already on it.
Your findings have re-peaked my interest. I will report back if I make more progress.

Great to hear this!

[shengoro86]

So now that we know the variables for the bike animations, I wonder if Wang uses the same ones? Maybe we could do some switcherooing and get it to work. I'll work on this next week. It may be possible to port these animations into shenmue beta if necessary. However, I feel that maybe WS has code snippets that the beta does not, hence why the animations are present there but not anywhere else.

[Switch]

So now that we know the variables for the bike animations, I wonder if Wang uses the same ones?

Good point, that's definitely worth looking into. Some of the motion names suggest that the NPC animations may be separate from those for Ryo (although the actual animation data may be identical) such as these ones inside MISC\M_OBJ.BIN of Shenmue I:

Code: Select all

    OTH_JITENSYA_NORU_EN_F
    OTH_JITENSYA_NORU_ST_F
    OTH_JITENSYA_STAND_DOWN_F
    OTH_JITENSYA_STAND_LP_F
    OTH_JITENSYA_STAND_UP_F
    OTH_RIDE_BIKE_EN_F
    OTH_RIDE_BIKE_ST_F

One thing I have noticed from digging into the motion files so far is that in general the motions appear to be handled in the code using their motion index number, rather than the motion name (e.g. a hex value in the data of 00000278 rather than "AKI_JITENSYA_NORU_ST"). I'll put together a list of motion names and their corresponding index numbers which should help make it easier to spot where are being referenced or set elsewhere in the files.

[BlueMue]

Here's my cheap mod approach to put Ryo on the bicycle. It does work but it doesn't quite "move" right.
Amazingly, while Ryo is sitting too low on it, Nozomi's position matches sitting on the pannier rack really well.

[Kiske]

That's fantastic

Love the "firefly" trail behind the bicycle

[BlueMue]

I figured out how to get rid of the motorcycle lights after more messing around, so it looks even more "legit" now.
It's already evident in the screenshot but it's fascinating that the game even turns on the bicycles own headlight.

[ShenGCH]

Here's my cheap mod approach to put Ryo on the bicycle. It does work but it doesn't quite "move" right.
Amazingly, while Ryo is sitting too low on it, Nozomi's position matches sitting on the pannier rack really well.

Christ. No wonder Ryo walks so stiffly

[Switch]

I've added a couple of pages to the Shenmue Mods site:

1. File structure of the MOTION.BIN file for What's Shenmue. This basic file structure for animations is used throughout the Shenmue games.
https://sites.google.com/site/shenmuemo ... -structure

2. List of animation names & index numbers contained in the MOTION.BIN file of What's Shenmue.
https://sites.google.com/site/shenmuemo ... motion-bin

[BlueMue]

I made a video of the bicycle driving down Wish Road with correct lights and some added ideas that turned it into a full blown mod.

viewtopic.php?f=37&t=46812&p=1137820#p1137820

[shengoro86]

Here's my cheap mod approach to put Ryo on the bicycle. It does work but it doesn't quite "move" right.
Amazingly, while Ryo is sitting too low on it, Nozomi's position matches sitting on the pannier rack really well.

hahah nice.

[johnvivant]

Yeah there's several pieces of data regarding the bike on the discs. There's even some help information in the 1st_read.bin of What's Shenmue. Like when you press start while riding the bike, it tells what works the horn and whatnot. It's very possible that everything we need is there, but activating it is no easy task.

can you tell us what the full controls for riding the bike were?

[Radar]

Just wondering, In What's Shenmue, if you replace Ryo's walking\running animation with some other, will he still be able to move(change his coordinates, like if he was really walking\running) or he'll just stay in one place?
Do you think it'll be possible to import bicycle animation from What's Shenmue to Shenmue I?

[Switch]

Just wondering, In What's Shenmue, if you replace Ryo's walking\running animation with some other, will he still be able to move(change his coordinates, like if he was really walking\running) or he'll just stay in one place

In some cases, he moves. If you replace his animation with a jump type of animation, for example, then he moves forward with the jump each time. But for the animation of pedaling on his bicycle, Ryo pedals on the same spot and doesn't move forward. So I think his movement when he is on a bicycle is separate logic that is not embedded in the animation.

Do you think it'll be possible to import bicycle animation from What's Shenmue to Shenmue I?

Actually, Shenmue I already has its own set of unused bicycle animations for Ryo, sitting in the file SCENE\01\FREE\M_BIKE.BIN, so compatibility of the animation data shouldn't be a problem. But how and when to trigger these animations is a big unknown right now.