In DBC, you can't simply play a boned-mesh animation model, because the DBS's knowledge in the subject was still limited back then when DBC was made. And also due to the fact that DBC is based on DirectX 7. But slowly, DBS made it possible for us to access the mesh data; i.e via the "Memblocks" and "Change Mesh" commands. So there are some alternate ways to improvise skeletal animation.
Since the "Memblocks" way would be more complicated, I'll just briefly list the steps on how about to perform the "change mesh" method:
1) Finish your model, bone them & animate them.
2) Export every frame as(.3ds or .X) with a number sequence in the end of every file. E.G "3D1.3ds, 3D2.3ds .. 3D20.3ds". So if you 20 frames, you would have 20 files.
3) In your DBC code, load up all objects and use the "Change-Mesh" command to update the mesh accordingly.
Sync On
Rem Make "Base" Object
Make Object Cube 1, 100
Rem Load The Rest Of Frames
TotalFrames = 20
For X=1 To TotalFrames
Load Mesh "Base"+Str$(X)+".3ds", X
Next X
Frame = 1
Rem Main Loop
While Mouseclick()=0
Rem Make sure the frame is in range
If Frame>TotalFrames Then Frame=1
Rem Change From Cube To Animated Model And Update Frame
Change Mesh 1, 0, Frame
Inc Frame
Sync
Endwhile
I made that on top of my head, so I don't know if the code works. But the theory is there. Just incase you're interested, I've made a game that contains the above theory. The code might look complicated because there are more than 2000 lines, as I made it for the retro game competition years back. The game features memblock compression, multiple model vertex animations, voice acted cutscenes, main menu and many more! So I guess it's worth the download. The code might not work because I did not include one file in it to make it work. Link is
http://files.thegamecreators.com/showcase/retro/59_Ninja_Kura_by_Asri_Computer_Entertainment.zip
Questions are welcome. Hope that helps.
AsriCE Crew,
- Adi
There's only one hope.
