Tomb Raider: Underworld - MODDING, XNA Lara

We are happy to introduce you a program written by Dusan to allow you all to play around with character models from TRU in realtime.

» Essential Downloads
» Optional Downloads
» Brief Mechanics
» Revisions history
» Acknowledgements

» XNA Lara 9.2.1 (Download - Freeware)
Download and unZIP to preferable folder.

» Microsoft .NET Framework (Download - Freeware)
The package is necessary to run XNA Lara program!

» Microsoft XNA Framework (Download - Freeware)
The package is necessary to run XNA Lara program!

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» XNA Lara data packages (Index)
Contains all data packages released to the moment for XNA Lara program. Data package can contain objects, characters, poses, etc. Download and unZIP to XNA Lara \data\ folder.

» XNA Lara Custom Mods (Index)
Contains User-made objects, outfits and poses.
Under construction at the moment!

» Useful utilities (Download)
Tools for import/export.

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» Mouse and Keyboard controls (Brief list)

left mouse drag ... rotate the camera
Shift+left mouse drag ... pan the camera
right mouse drag ... zoom the camera
Shift+right mouse drag ... move the camera forward/backward
left mouse click ... select a bone
Ctrl+left mouse click/drag ... position model in the scene
(Shift+) arrow keys ... precise positioning of models on the ground plane (two speeds)
(Shift+) Alt + arrow keys ... vertical positioning of models (two speeds)
Numpad1, 2 or 3 or Q, W, E AND left mouse drag ... rotate the bone around the X, Y or Z axis
F2 ... camera quick save
F3 ... camera quick load
To rotate a character, use the root ground bone.
You can choose the current camera target ("look at") from a drop-down list of predefined points of interest.
It's also possible to import and export characters' poses from/to files using the menu as well as load and save entire scenes.
Use the menu to set display/render options.

» XNA Lara Manual (Download PDF)
English version written by LaraRules81.

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» XNA Lara version 8.7.5
- another batch of Guardian of Light models
- this release was made possible thanks to H4RR7H and sephiroth99

TRex
Skeleton
Poison Minion
Poison Gatekeeper
Shield Demon (new)
Shield Gatekeeper (previously called Shield Demon)

Lara (default outfit)
Lara Biker
Lara Jungle Heavy
Lara Jungle Shorts
Lara Legend
Doppelganger

» XNA Lara version 8.7
- a batch of 10 Guardian of Light models (data extracted from GoL by H4RR7H):
Brute Minion, Fire Shaman, Fire Lizard, Chompy, Poison Shaman, Poison Lizard, Shield Demon, Small Minion, Totec, and Xolotl

» XNA Lara version 8.6.2
- fixed a bug related to the maximum number of bones per mesh part and alpha-channel rendering; bug reported by Sharon_14

» XNA Lara version 8.6.1
- the maximum number of bones per any mesh part has been increased from 52 to 59 (actual hardware limit)
- this might be useful for model creators
- also, XNALara will now display a warning when the bone limit is exceeded (up till now it just crashed...)

» XNA Lara version 8.6
several minor improvements:
- when loading a scene, XNALara no longer crashes if you accidently provide a different file type
- new command: Commands > Flip pose; it swaps the pose of selected pairs of bones from left to right and vice versa
- a problem fixed with the background color leaking into semi-transparent parts of a mesh which occured in rendered images with transparency enabled
- the numbering of quick-saved images is now more intuitive - a new image always uses such an ID so that it goes after all existing saved images (in the earlier versions, it would use any available slots/gaps as well)
- by default, the rotation of eyeballs controlled by the button Look into camera is constrained in order to look natural; if you want to bypass these constraints and be able to apply any rotation at all, press the Shift key while you click on the button

» XNA Lara version 8.5.1
- displays a more detailed error message when the loading of a .mesh model fails

» XNA Lara version 8.5
- an issue (flipped mesh faces when the model is mirrored around one of more axes and the backface culling is enabled) fixed

» XNA Lara version 8.4.2
- fixes two issues reported by Navid (a problem with pixel shaders on older graphic cards) and Matty-Croft (a problem involving meshes with no vertices)

» XNA Lara version 8.4.1
- enables the split-Thor-gear functionality introduced in v8.4 also for generic meshes
- missing sub-meshes should no longer cause the loading of the entire model to fail

» XNA Lara version 8.4
- visibility of Thor's gauntlets and belt as well as of the corresponding glow around them can now be controlled independently for each of them

» XNA Lara version 8.3.7
- bug fix: the OBJ models can be rotated and moved... again

» XNA Lara version 8.3.6
- a shortcut (F8) for the dynamic reloading of textures added

» XNA Lara version 8.3.5
- new menu command: File > Reload textures of selected model
- this should make life a lot easier for all texture modders (dynamic reload/refresh of textures)

» XNA Lara version 8.3
- external static OBJ models now support vertex colors (including vertex color transparency); vertex colors are used in TR Legend for example for static lighting of environments
- a sample level relesed which makes use of this technology: Data_LegendPeruVillage.zip

» XNA Lara version 8.2
- two new global rendering options: menu Options > Enable light maps and Options > Enable bump maps
- (the bump map part was motivated by amaris' technical problems on his computer, the light map part added for the sake of completeness)
- they are probably not directly useful for rendering as such but together with the existing Options > Display textures these three can serve as helpful "debugging" tools

» XNA Lara version 8.1.5
- three new commands: menu Commands > Mirror model X/Y/Z
- this is just a convenience "shortcut", the same can be achieved by entering the appropriate values into the Scale textbox...

» XNA Lara version 8.1.1
- bug fix: the mirroring of bones' relative movements (translations) was broken (while rotations have been fine)

» XNA Lara version 8.1
- new command: menu Commands > Mirror pose left/right which allows to mirror the pose of the left arm to the right arm, copy the pose of fingers on the right hand to the left hand etc.
- in a dedicated dialog window you select the bones FROM which to copy the pose and the mirroring of their pose to the bones on the opposide side of the body is done automatically
- only the bones for which the left/right mirroring makes sense are listed in the dialog window and the bones are sorted in such a way that it is easy to multi-select all bones belonging to the left arm, right leg, left-hand fingers etc.
- multi-selection is done in a standard way by Shift-clicking or Ctrl-clicking

» XNA Lara version 8.0.1
- there is a new checkbox at the bottom of the Lighting parameters window called "force shaders v3.0"
- anyone experiencing problems when the 2nd light source is ON and the 3rd light source is OFF should check this checkbox
- the program will remember your settings (it is stored in the file XNALara.cfg)

» XNA Lara version 8.0
- XNALara now supports up to 3 independent light sources
- note that for all 3 lights to work, your graphic card must support vertex and pixel shaders v3.0

» XNA Lara version 7.9.1
- the 3D window and the control window now remember their positions (they are stored in the file XNALara.cfg) unless the windows are maximized or minimized

» XNA Lara version 7.9
- a cool new feature: Look into camera button in the control window
- when clicked, both eyes of the currently selected model (works for Lara, Natla, Amanda, ...) will be automatically adjusted to look into the camera; constraints put on the eye rotation angles so that the result looks natural
- make sure that the camera is far enough from the model when you click the button, otherwise you're likely to produce a cross-eyed effect

» XNA Lara version 7.8.6
- reset buttons added to the Pos and Scale text boxes (for convenience)

» XNA Lara version 7.8.5
- editable Position text box - the model's position can now be set precisely
- cloned models didn't have correctly enabled/disabled accessories (guns etc.) - this is now fixed

» XNA Lara version 7.8
- two new DLC outfits/models:
Data_LaraDLCBikiniYellow.zip
Data_KnightThrall.zip

» XNA Lara version 7.7
- four new DLC outfits:
Data_LaraDLCClassic.zip
Data_LaraDLCLegend.zip
Data_LaraDLCWetSuitBlue.zip
Data_LaraDLCDrySuitRed.zip
- the glossiness of LaraDLCDesignerPeoplesChoice outfit increased...

» XNA Lara version 7.6
- seven new DLC outfits:
Data_LaraDLCBikiniBlackWhite.zip
Data_LaraDLCBikiniBlue.zip
Data_LaraDLCBikiniCamo.zip
Data_LaraDLCCasualExplorer.zip
Data_LaraDLCDesignerFashionWinner.zip
Data_LaraDLCDesignerPeoplesChoice.zip
Data_LaraDLCJungleShortsGrey.zip

» XNA Lara version 7.5
- Undo command: the shortcuts are Ctrl+Z and NumPad5 - it only works for bone transforms

» XNA Lara version 7.4.2
- another bug fix: assigning the background image didn't work

» XNA Lara version 7.4.1
- bug fix release

» XNA Lara version 7.4
- four image post-processing filters/parameters implemented: Brightness, Gamma, Contrast, Saturation accessible through the menu Options > Post-processing parameters. They influence the whole image (in realtime) and can be used to tweak the rendered image or to create interesting visual effects.

» XNA Lara version 7.3.1
- a bug fix: movement transformations of bones were imported incorrectly when loading a scene. It's fixed now. Thanks to Phenyx who pointed out this bug to me.

» XNA Lara version 7.3
- new menu command Clone selected model: it will create a clone of the currently selected/active model; the clone will be created on the exactly same position as the original model (use Ctrl+click on the ground to place it somewhere else), with the same scale and pose applied to it

» XNA Lara version 7.2.5
Using the Scale textbox, scale of models can now be defined for axes X, Y and Z independently:
If only one scale value is provided, it is applied to all 3 axes:
Scale: 1.5
If three values are provided (separated by a space or a semicolon), they are applied to the corresponding axes:
Scale: -1 1 1
Scale: -1.0; 1.0; 1.0
This can be particularly useful for flipping a model along a particular axis using a negative scale (as in the example above).

» XNA Lara version 7.2
- added new options to the Load Scene command, it is now possible to load various components of the scene separately (models, lights, camera etc.) - some internal changes were made to speed up the process of creating mods (requested by XNAaraL)

» XNA Lara v7.15
- the camera no longer gets unlocked automatically when a model is added to or removed from the scene.

» XNA Lara v7.1
- new image quick-save command: dramatically speeds up the process of saving series of screenshots. Saving an image is now only a matter of pressing a single key: F5.
- all images are saved into the folder "XNALara\images". When the first image is being saved, a dialog window will pop up, allowing the user to set image parameters. These settings will then be used for any subsequently saved images.

» XNA Lara v7.0
- new 3D control: Shift + right mouse drag moves the camera forward/backward, i.e. moves the pivot point around which the camera rotates.

» XNA Lara v6.9
- new textbox has been added to the control window which displays the current XYZ coordinates of the selected model.

» XNA Lara v6.86
- bug fix release: .mesh.ascii export threw an exception when exporting OBJ models
- "place model in front of camera" option is turned off by default.

» XNA Lara v6.85
- models exported in .mesh.ascii format are now exported in the currently set scale
- XNALara now "remembers" the setting of the option "place new models in front of the camera" between different runs of the program.

» XNA Lara v6.8
- new menu command: File > Export selected mesh (to the mesh.ascii format)
- the mesh.ascii format can either be converted to binary .mesh format with the MeshAsciiToBin utility or imported to Blender (ignoring the bones) using the ImportMesh.py script. Both the converter and the script can be downloaded through the links above (see Utilities).

» XNA Lara v6.7
- newly added models are placed in front of the camera (on the ground plane), but you can still use the old behavior (i.e. place models at [0,0,0]) by unticking the checkbox at the bottom of the "Add model" dialog box.

» XNA Lara v6.6
- OBJ export uses the same coordinate system as OBJ import
- texture filenames exported to MTL files don't include full paths
- item combo box in the Control window displays only the type of the currectly selected model instead of the full path (much shorter).

» XNA Lara v6.5
- you can group data folders into subdirectories (e.g. animals, characters, weapons, ...), items being added are no longer displayed as a list but as a tree with the same hierarchical structure as the folders. Note that if you do this, you won't be able to load old scene files any more (they won't be compatible with the new folder structure)
- added a new command Append scene (same as Load scene but doesn't remove all existing models), it can be used to merge multiple scenes together.

» XNA Lara v6.4
- new functionality: it's now possible not only to rotate but also to move any bone
- there's no longer the separate Extended Bone Control window, instead there's a new grey button called Mode in the main Control Window which toggles the meaning of the three X/Y/Z sliders: either rotation (X/Y/Z angles) or translation (X/Y/Z distances).

» XNA Lara v6.3
- new models: the back of the Croft Manor from TRA (Data_CroftManorBack.zip)
Natla's wings (Data_Wings.zip)
Alister's hair (Data_HairAlister.zip)
Amanda's hair (Data_HairAmanda.zip)
Natla's hair (Data_HairNatla.zip).

» XNA Lara v6.0
- new model: Amanda's Ship (data pack Data_Ship.zip)
Note: The ship is huge (200 meters long) so please scale it download to something like 0.2 together with all other models otherwise you won't be able to place the models on the deck correctly (the required height values would be out of supported range).

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