Custom Character in Unreal: Part 1

If you want to create your own character and select in in Unreal and play with that character, then this next quick tutorial will show you how. I will just use the IronGuard character with some modified textures so everyone can do this tutorial fairly quick and dirty without begin bogged down with small details like modeling, rigging, UVW Mapping. Once you know how to export and import into Unreal and set it up, you can concentrate on the small details thereafter.


First, notice the IronGuard character is built in parts. This is to facilitate swappable body parts within Unreal. Export the individual parts in PSK files. You should have:

YourCharacter_Head
YourCharacter_FaceMask (Optional)
YourCharacter_Torso
YourCharacter_Thighs
YourCharacter_Boots
YourCharacter_Arms
YourCharacter_Helmet (Optional)
YourCharacter_LShoPad01 (Optional)
YourCharacter_RShoPad01 (Optional)




In your Generic Browser, Import all these PSK Files.


Next, Import all the textures for the character as well as the mugshot (512x512 image).


Remember the name of your package and the group these textures are allocated to. Here, my package is named KevinPackage and the group (subdirectory) where the texture files are located are under "Textures". Depending on the texture, under LODGroup, make sure it is the correct "type" of texture eg:


The mugshot is a UI Texturegroup.


A Normal Map for a Character obviously goes to the TextureGroup_CharacterNormalMap.


You can see that the Textures are located in the Textures Group of the KevinPackage package.


In order for Unreal to run your custom package, it has to be saved in the UTGame/Published/CookedPC/CustomChars directory. Make the directory if it does not exist.


Make a directory within the CustomChars directory, in my case, SmileyBoy, and you should have two files in there: UTCustomChar.ini and YourCharName.int file.



Notice the .ini file has a "+" sign. This will "add" custom code to your main UTCustomChar.ini located in the UTGame/Config directory. Do not hack that file directly. Just in case anything screws up, you can then hack the main UTCustomChar.ini and remove the offending code. Remember to save the file after that.


Just to give you a visual explaination what the lines of code mean. If your character uses another character template, obviously it cannot be "IRNM" (IronGuard Male).

To be continued in Part 2