Introductions may be in order

[V] Knobby

[V] Knobby

Volition Staff
Volition and Deep Silver are serious about supporting modding in the future. As a result, developers like myself have finally been allowed to start talking about the engine and helping with the modding effort. I'm going to look around and respond to posts that I see with questions that I know the answers to, but before I did that I thought it would be a good idea to introduce myself.

My name is Mike and I worked on RFG, SR3 and now SR4. I have done everything from tools to streaming, but most of my work has been in the file system and streaming. I am one of the people that deals with packfiles (vpp_pc), stream2 data files (str2_pc), and asset assembler files (asm_pc). I also know about a good deal of the other formats we use such as pegs, vbms, etc. I'm not on the art side of things, so I don't know much about the exporters and can't immediately answer questions like how to take your fancy tga and dump it into a cvbm/gvbm other than to tell you to run peg_assemble.exe, which you don't have access to...yet.

I can help with questions like what bits in a header might mean and how to create asm files. I can also tell you that I'm working to try and make SR3 as mod friendly as I possibly can. Like you, I'm working on this stuff in my spare time, which admittedly is a little scarce right now for obvious reasons.

Hopefully we will have more information for you soon. If you have a question, please don't direct message me or reply to this post because most questions will be useful for everyone and posting them in their own thread is the easiest way for them to be found in the future.
 
I can't adequately express just how excited we all are to have you here working with us. :)

Have you seen the community modding wishlist thread yet?
http://www.saintsrowmods.com/forum/index.php?threads/community-modding-wishlist.2514/

It has a lot of requests on specific things like the cvtf format, but we could certainly create new threads with specific individual questions if you think that would be easier. I'm wondering if perhaps it would be beneficial to create a new subforum named "Ask Volition" or something like that to keep everything in one place so all of the Volition guys don't have to go hunting things down?
 
We can do what makes the most sense here. I'm not here to run the show, just help. :)

I didn't want to pollute the wishlist with random answers to questions. I've read over the wishlist and your wishes are in line with what we want to do and provide. We really hope to make modding on our engine a possible, useful, and easy process. It will just take time of course. We are working internally on documentation on file formats and things, I wasn't really looking to write docs on this site as I don't really think it is the proper place. Any questions are welcome though, even about file formats. I'm not trying to rule anything out, just want to make sure we get things done in the proper place.
 
I think a specific subforum would probably be best. I applaud your enthusiasm and desire to read threads and answer questions in multiple subforums, but I wonder if other Volition employees might want something a bit more central and easier to focus their efforts on without having to sift through a lot of non-related posts. I'll wait to hear Minimaul's opinion before moving forward with it, and please feel free to continue answering questions anywhere on the forum that your whim takes you. :)
 
I have to say on behalf of modding communities everywhere it's refreshing to see a developer take such an active interest in it's modding community. Welcome! I hope you have a long and enjoyable stay with us! ^.^
 
I'll follow Mike and introduce myself as well.

My name is Randall and I've been working on Saints Row from the beginning as an animator. I transitioned to technical animation after SR1 and focused on streamlining workflows, animation systems and character construction. While doing so I have had to deal with handling construction and exporting most asset types in the pipeline as they may have some relevance to animation and cutscenes/cinematics. Additionally, I've worked on RFG, SR3 and SR4. My specialties are specifically animation, character assets, and weapons. I have a moderate understanding of SR2 specific assets but I handled streamlining most of the construction changes for SR3, you're welcome :) I'll keep an eye on the Ask Volition! forum and assist where I can on our side.
 
My name is Phil.

I'm another programmer who has worked with SR for several years, starting with SR2 where I was primarily focused on mission scripting. On SR3, I worked on community site features, dlc, the save system, and spent just a few weeks on Whored Mode at the very end. I'll help out where I can.
 
Hilanthis said:
I have to say on behalf of modding communities everywhere it's refreshing to see a developer take such an active interest in it's modding community. Welcome! I hope you have a long and enjoyable stay with us! ^.^
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I'm sure they will *thinks about the amount of stroyent they can be made of*. I'm REALLY sure they will.

[V] Meatplowz said:
I'll follow Mike and introduce myself as well.

My name is Randall and I've been working on Saints Row from the beginning as an animator. I transitioned to technical animation after SR1 and focused on streamlining workflows, animation systems and character construction. While doing so I have had to deal with handling construction and exporting most asset types in the pipeline as they may have some relevance to animation and cutscenes/cinematics. Additionally, I've worked on RFG, SR3 and SR4. My specialties are specifically animation, character assets, and weapons. I have a moderate understanding of SR2 specific assets but I handled streamlining most of the construction changes for SR3, you're welcome :) I'll keep an eye on the Ask Volition! forum and assist where I can on our side.
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Gotta say, I love the animations you did on SR2, like the funny way the protagonist runs when he has that giant slapper or the explosive satchel charge.

...It is you who did those animations, right?
 
Gotta say, I love the animations you did on SR2, like the funny way the protagonist runs when he has that giant slapper or the explosive satchel charge.

...It is you who did those animations, right?
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Sadly, I cannot take credit for those animations in particular. Most of the animation work I did was for SR1 and any animations that may have been carried forward, which is likely very little.
 
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