Another VRChat-related post, but this one has been (mainly) outside of the game. And boy, do I have a lot to say. Ever since I got into VRChat and got to see what it was like being a Best Boi, I also wanted a dragon avatar. And last night into this morning, I’ve been looking high and low in many, many worlds, trying to find it. I remember a world (from a video), that had one.. and I can’t find it! I’ve asked countless people, including the VRChat Discord.. but no one knew where I could find one. They were too busy with their own thing.
A bit later in the day, I got a response from the Discord server. They knew of an avatar, but it wasn’t in any words, but a website called ‘VRCmods.com’, and to try out this model of a strange dragon-like thing I’ve never seen in my life. It looked pretty crappy, but I was able to search for more. There aren’t a lot of dragon avatars here sadly, except for this angry-faced Dragonite.
Seeing how my options are very limited, I thought “screw it, I guess I’ll go as a Dragonite (and I’m not even into Pokemon)”. But when I went to look for the installation instructions, expecting to see ‘download the model and plop it into a folder’, and go (or use some kind of installer to do it).
…Instead, it’s telling me to download and install Unity. ..WHAT the HELL?? But..But!! Unity is for 3D Modelers (and people that make games using the engine)! WHY in the FUCK is this a requirement, to upload someone’s content?!
Where in the hell is the Steam Workshop for this game?!
Hoping I read this wrong, I did a search in Youtube in hopes to find an alternative way to install the thing. Sadly, they’re all saying the same thing of using Unity.
Ugh.. FINE. Since Unity is freeware, I’ll do it. Found this video, claiming it’s ‘the easiest way to upload models’. It says to also get the ‘VRChat SDK’. Wow. This is bullshit. A normal user shouldn’t be having to go through this!!
Whatever, let’s just get this SDK. VRChat.com has the SDK, and tells me I have to make a VRChat Account. Though what I didn’t know (until later), is this same account would be the primary means of logging into VRChat. Also, this is the only way I can use custom avatars (I cannot do it through my Steam account, but I can still log into the game through Steam). But now I have the username ‘Benie’ locked in (without the numbers/letters on the end).
Now it’s time to grab Unity. It too wants an account. Oy. Though when I attempted to make it, I noticed on the bottom of the page that I had the option of alternatively using either my Google or Facebook account to login, and used my Google account. Everything ‘seemed’ to be working. Felt “this is great, now I won’t have to make a separate account!”
Feeling that Unity itself would use my Google account when I log in, I typed in the info and clicked the button… wrong username/password. Spammed the fuck out of that button in rage until my IP got temp blocked. To tell me I could use Google, then to say I couldn’t!? WTF MAN?!
I tried asking for help in Discord. One was all “do what ‘Lord Unity’ says” instead of just helping me. I tried a more ‘advanced’ support area of the Discord server; the Avatar section. Unfortunately, they too weren’t much help (telling me to just go on and make a Unity account).
Fine.. I’ll make my second fucking forced account. That’s now done, and after literally what felt like 10 minutes of installing itself, I now have Unity on my computer.
The video tells me to install the SDK into Unity(and shows how to do it), and do it with no problem. It then says to go to this different website than VRCmods.com, this ‘models-resource.com’, and then pick a desired model (and get it into Unity). This website has a lot more dragon models. Most of them are quadruped (which I was told on Discord, to avoid due to them not being able to animate properly.. or something).
So I skipped this step, planning to stick with the Dragonite model. Now I’m thinking all I need to do is just throw that model into Unity. Makes perfect sense.
…That was until the guy says “now go to Mixamo.com and create an account with them!”
You know those cartoon thermometers, that rise up all the way and explode to yell at you? That was my anger level at this time.
Forced to make an account to get the SDK. Fine. Forced to make an account to get Unity, annoying but fine.. but a 3RD FUCKING ACCOUNT, JUST TO UPLOAD A GOD DAMN MODEL?! What was worse (which nearly made me say “fuck this”), is him suddenly having a model in this program that he was working on (and now we’ll just suddenly go to this).
HOW IN THE FUCK IS THIS HELPFUL TO ME, ASSHOLE?! HUH?!?!
Oh my GOD. I quit the video after that. I couldn’t believe the nerve of that guy. This is NOT ‘the easiest way to upload models’!! Fucking CLICKBAIT!
My only option now, was to pester the modelers in the Avatars channel by begging them for help. I also tried to look for another video, but they all show that this ‘Mixamo’ website was a requirement. Why?!
I eventually got my answer later on. It’s a website for models that aren’t ‘rigged’ (having a humanoid bone structure for realistic movement). Even when all I wanna do is upload someone’s model, I got to make sure it’s fully rigged. Was told most of the models on VRCmods.com (as long as they’re marked somewhere in their description) are already rigged and ready to upload.
So I grabbed the Dragonite model and threw it on Unity (using the very limited knowledge I got from the video). The model was pink and hard to see the actual model, and according to its description, it requires ‘cubed shaders’ (whatever the hell they are). Someone was able to find a link for me, and painstakingly helped me to apply said shaders (and to apply them to these pink texture ‘dots’).
The model itself is no longer pink, and I was able to see its infamous ‘T-Pose’. I also was able to find its rigging, indicating it was ready. But the help for my extremely newbish questions, stopped coming when I suddenly wasn’t able to texture the other ‘dots’ (managed to do the first one by dragging it to this ‘Normal Map’ option). Thankfully I was able to figure it out myself. Found there’s a little notch next to the Normal Map that you click on, to texture it. And I got the other dots done.
There was also something else the guy wanted me to look into; seeing if the animations are working. But as I said, he stopped talking to me (doing his own thing). I waited a good 45 minutes until someone else responded. This person assumed I was trying to do custom animations.. uhh, no. Another person told this person “no, he(myself) doesn’t want custom animations. The model would use the default animations of the SDK” (which is what I was told by the first person).
So now, I can finally upload the damn thing! Hala-fucking-looya!! Able to FINALLY do the thing I’ve wanted to do before I started this bullshit! Unity allowed me to name ‘my’ model (and give it a description). I named it what was on the website, and gave credit to the modeler in the description. Now, all there’s left to do, is load up VRChat and… there it was! My first custom model! WOO! 😀
Yet from all of that hell I went through (plus that 3rd forced account.. of something I didn’t even have to use), I felt this model wasn’t really paying for itself. I talked to the modelers about it, and one said “U get used to it”. Ehh.. maybe. But definitely not right now. Not when years, I’ve been used to downloading a file and dropping it into a folder, and that’s it.
I also asked in the public chat channels of Discord, of why isn’t Steam Workshop support a thing. This turned into a pretty unfortunate thing of a lot of people saying “oh boo hoo, you have to go through so much!” Another one said that Workshop support “will never come”, and to “get used to it”.
And..I’ve been ..-trying-, to do that. I did find another model on VRCmods.com the next day (I’m talking in the future here, after editing this blog post 11 times now). The reason I wanted another model, is people were assuming I was into Pokemon (with some saying “you were the worst in Pokemon Go”). As funny as it was, I can’t use an avatar belonging to a game I have only a small knowledge of.
Instead, I tried to get that weird dragon that was originally mentioned to me. This one doesn’t require me to use any shaders or anything of that. Just upload and go. Easy.
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Unfortunately, it wasn’t so. I didn’t like how when I looked in a mirror, it was looking at the model’s lower neck. And after a lot of time troubleshooting (and learning what ‘vispos’ and ‘Avatar Descriptor’ is), I eventually found the issue on my own. The top of the head bone in the rigging, was in the lower neck of the model (aka, where I’m seeing the view). This happens with non-humanoid models, what I was told. I was also told to -not- grab a model if has less than four fingers (for full body tracking with VR). But since I have no headset, that’s not really an issue.
The only other thing that was an issue with the model, is the arm bones of the rigging were below the actual arms of the model. And ingame, they look ‘broken’ as hell.
Was told the only way to fix this, is to use Blender. NOPE! Nope nope nope nope NOPE! I’m not going that advanced to fix someone’s model.
I did manage to find (and upload) two more models (and they work great). The first one is called the ‘Dorugoramon'(that’s definitely a mouthful) from Digimon Masters(it looks like a human and a dragon, and fits well with the rigging). And the second, is a Murloc from WoW (that I saw someone else use). You also have the option with the second model, to change the texture to any of the other Murloc types in WoW. Yet I don’t know how to go about doing that.
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In closing of this post, seeing other people using cool custom animations makes me feel quite jealous. No matter how much I wish I was this good with 3D modeling, I know I’m not. But there’s like this feeling, of “Hmm, look at you, how you know things you didn’t before. Why don’t you take it up 10 notches by making your own model?”
And I wish I could give some choice words to my brain, by telling it to fuck off, and how I never wanted any part of this. If the game had the option to ‘save’ an avatar in the game (or have Steam Workshop support), I would had never touched Unity.
But I did, and it’s really starting to eat at me of “missing potential”. Plus I can hear (in my head) the sounds of people laughing, looking at me, and pointing fingers and laughing at me for being the only one in the entire game that never made their own custom avatar. And that feeling came from heading to the VRChat Times Square world in hopes I could just clear my head.
Seeing billboards with “Have YOU created your personal avatar today?”, and an ad about Unity (with Blender on the side). ..GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HEAD!!
In all seriousness, I had to do what I had to do. I burned the billboard down. 😛