Automatic FaceFX Lip-Sync for Mass Effect Games

THESE FILES ARE SIMPLY RESOURCE TOOLS FOR MOD CREATORS, THEY ARE NOT FOR END USERS (PLAYERS) !

These are for automatically animating new dialogue lines using the same methods BioWare used.

WHAT IS THIS?

The Mass Effect games used a version of FaceFX that came packaged as standard with the UDK of the time. Included here are the files and data necessary to generate lip-sync animations specifically for Mass Effect characters. By using these tools as directed, mod authors can easily create facial animations for new dialogue lines. Animations can be used in both the original trilogy (OT) versions and the Legendary Edition (LE) versions.

Before, authors had to either copy-and-paste snippets of animations in an often tricky and confusing process... or, they had to animate each new line by hand, sound-by-sound, shape-by-shape, with the kind of time-consuming tedium that renders a person into little more than a jibbering pyjak. Now, it's all automatic - just as it was for our old friends at BioWare.

HOW DO I USE THIS?

In broad terms, you need the correct version of UDK installed, your audio files, and LEX (Legendary Explorer.) Inside the resources folder is a torrent file that allows you to download an ISO of 2011 UDK installs. (I recommend Deluge for using torrent files.) You must have the correct version installed, as newer versions of UDK contain different versions of FaceFX and will not produce the right results.

UDK 2011 v7977 is the correct version.

You need a basic working familiarity with LEX's Dialogue Editor, FFXE, and/or Package Editor.

FaceFX will generate XML files that LEX can import.

I made an extremely to-the-point 5 minute video tutorial on exactly how to set everything up:

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FAQ:

Q: What kinds of characters can this be used with currently?

ME2/LE2: Turian, Krogan

ME3/LE3: Human, Asari, EDI, Turian, Krogan

Q: I want more races!

I know. If you don't want to wait for me to do it, you need Autodesk Maya 2009, the FaceFX plugins from the UDK 2011 deployment, uModel for extracting PSK models from PCCs, and ActorX plugins so Maya can import/export them. This will allow you to create a . FXA preset. You will then need to extract the information from the vanilla FXA files' binary in FaceFXAssets.pcc so you can collate the spreadsheet and manually reconstruct it in FaceFX, then export that as a . FXT template.

Or just, like, wait for me to do it.

Q: What about M