Mapping heads and bodies

Enimaroah took a look through the plst files that are loaded in mo00_00_00_00.lst (the Char def file) and found that they basically specify which xx file is the body, the frame that holds the neck bones, and which xx file is the head. Editing the file itself has also been shown to be fairly straightforward provided that you have a hex editor, though he has released a script that will do it for you.

Basically, we know there are two body xx files. I will use Viara for example. The torn/nude body is located in km_01_00.xx while the clothed body is in km_01_01.xx. The head is in km_10_00.xx

If you look at the Char def file, you'll see that there are two plst files being loaded: km_01_01.plst and km_01_00.plst. If you attempted to swap bodies by simply renaming xx files, you will find that the head is disconnected from the body.

The issue here is that the client doesn't know about your new xx file. The key to this lies in the plst file.
All you have to do is to specify the correct names in the plst file. To do so:

1: open the km_01_01.plst in a hex editor (ie: 010 editor)
2: Select all values and binary XOR with unsigned FF mask
3: you should see the names "km_01_01" and "km_10_00" appear on the side
4: change the names to point to the filenames that you want, then XOR them with FF mask again
5: save the file and pack your PP

Assuming the xx files exist and have the correct filenames and your plst files are pointing to them, you should now have loaded a different set of xx files without having to re-pack the massive 00.pp

Is it worth it?


That's a good question. All of the modifications we make should consider whether it's worth the effort.
The benefits of lst mapping? As mentioned, you don't have to re-pack 00.pp. That saves you some time, but really you're only saving 10-20 seconds depending on how fast your processor is.

You can quickly swap outfits, especially if you have many sets of outfits. But you can do this with the wizard AND all of the mods are conveniently compressed, so the only thing you gained was time.

Now the drawbacks? This is the character definition list. It defines every character that is loaded, including the monsters. If you want to switch an outfit, you will need a new lst file for that. If you want to have a different character, you will need a new lst. Essentially every little change you make affects all the characters, so you may end up with an unnecessarily large amount of lst files.

This does seem quite undesirable, and trying to maintain them would probably be a pain. Not to mention you have a huge mod list.

So is saving 10-20 seconds of your life worth having all this maintenance work? Not really.