Made in collaboration with Elizeon
This guide is only for the Unreal Engine Marketplace version which has been converted to a plugin to meet asset store requirements.
View other versions of this guide:
Artstation release v.1.5
Easily Create Game - Ready Characters
It’s now possible to combine and customize Xandra F2 and M1 modular characters using a new easy and intuitive UI,
within the Unreal Engine editor!
The Uncensored version is Available Here
To get the most out of this system, you’ll need an intermediate understanding of Unreal Engine blueprints
Getting Started Guide:
1. Creating Custom Character Appearances
Difficulty: Easy
To use your Custom Character Appearance in a blueprint follow these steps:
Create an Actor blueprint that inherits from BP_XANDRAGenChar
Select the custom appearance you made in the Appearance drop down in the Details tab of your BP_XANDRAGenChar.
Use the Actor as desired in your scene
In the Example_CustomEditorCharacters folder, you can find some example blueprints which have had their Appearance set.
3. Editing Wardrobe Items
Difficulty: Intermediate
The character creator comes with a number of included wardrobe items, but you can change the available items.
The only items guaranteed to work with no clipping are the ones included in the character creator in their original configuration.
Options such as hairstyles, torsos and legs can be edited by changing the Data Tables in the Plugins/XANDRA Character Creator Content/XANDRA/CharacterCreator/WardrobeItems/Wardrobe_Default directory.
On opening a data table, you can change the names of each item, which mesh or texture it points to, its icon, and which body types it is available for.
Keep in mind that meshes may have clipping if you use them on body types they were not designed for.
Ensure that display names are unique, Row Names are not changed once set (as it will invalidate existing characters), and be aware that editing any wardrobe items will change those items on existing characters.
4. Adding assets from other XANDRA packs
Difficulty: Intermediate
Please note only F2 and M1 characters are compatible with the creator. As this is a new product and there are many existing characters on my store, please be aware there may be some clipping between some available clothing items.
I’m currently identifying areas of clipping between different outfits and fixing existing character packs, so if you experience any issues please send me a message and I’ll aim to update as soon as possible.
6. In-Game Player Character Creator
Difficulty: Advanced
While this plugin is mainly for creating blueprint characters in the Editor, the In-Game demo instead re-purposes the system for creating a player character directly within a game such as a RPG. It provides some basic blueprints that can be used as a starting point for doing this, but the rest is up to you.
The demo contains two scenes:
1. Lvl_CharacterCreator_InGame is the scene where the player creates their character.
2. Lvl_DemoGame is a level which loads the newly created character from the save file.
To run the demo from the start, run Lvl_CharacterCreator_InGame. When you've created a character, click Play. The blueprints will save your character, load the next scene, and then load your character from the save file.
You’ll need to do additional blueprint work to adapt this to your game’s save file format if you already have one.
7. Adding the Character Creator to your Existing Project:
Follow these steps to copy the Character Creator system to your existing Unreal Engine project.
Its VERY STRONGLY recommended you make a backup copy of the target project before starting. Otherwise there is no way to recover lost files during migration.
Ensure the target project has enabled the settings requred to use XANDRA characters following the instructions at https://www.xandra3d.com/documents/characters - otherwise there will be issues such as incorrect looking textures on the characters.
Copy the XANDRACharCreator directory into the target project’s Plugins directory. Check you have backed up any files it prompts you to override.
NOTE: Be aware that the XANDRACharCreator directory contains all the wardrobe items you may have customised, so be careful not to override them.
It may ask you to compile the XANDRA Plugin on launch - click Yes. It should succeed and launch.
In UE 5.0 and above, Click Settings in the content browser and select Show Plugin Content to access the Character creator content including Maps etc.
8. Migrating Characters to Other Projects
Difficulty: Intermediate
Characters are saved to file in the CustomCharacterFiles directory. This guide will show you how to move them by migrating the character creator system and character files from one project to another.
Before you start, you must understand how the save files work. The .xchar file alone does not contain all the information of the character. The .xchar only references meshes and textures via their name, like so:
Hair: FBob01
FaceMesh: F2_Skye
The outfits and meshes themselves are stored in the Unreal Engine project, and you’ll need to copy them wherever you copy the .xchar characters.
In specific, you’ll need to migrate
The xchar files
The wardrobe data tables found in Plugins/XANDRA Character Creator Content/XANDRA/CharacterCreator/WardrobeItems and
any meshes that those tables reference.
To do this, follow these steps:
Its VERY STRONGLY recommended you make a backup copy of the target project (Project B) before starting, in case the migrating process overwrites files you wanted to keep. Without a backup there is no way to recover lost files during migration.
If you’ve changed any meshes/wardrobe items in the source project (Project A), follow the steps in Getting started: Adding or Updating the Character Creator to update them in the target project (Project B) so that the character looks the same in both projects.
Copy the files on disk from Project A/CustomCharacterFiles to Project B/CustomCharacterFiles. Ensure you backup any files before overriding them.
Open Project B and confirm the copied characters are available.
If the characters do not look the same, ensure you have migrated any missing or updated wardrobe items from the source project (see Step 2).
If any issues occur during migration, undo by restoring the original backup you made of Project B.
FAQ/Fixes for Common Issues
Why can’t I select the character I just created in my blueprint?
Ensure character file names do not contain any spaces or special characters.
Go to CustomCharacterFiles directory, rename your custom character file to something else, then try again.
Ensure you are creating your character in the In-Editor character creator scene.
I can't create and use custom characters, or I'm seeing crashes
Ensure that the E_CharsDynamic enum is not moved from its original directory. It must be in that location for the code to work.
Ensure that the migration steps have been followed correctly, particularly the Plugins and Source code.
If you’ve made any changes to the Character Creator blueprints or code - check the original version to see if your changes result in the issue.
How do I change the character appearance manually in-game – for example if my player equips a new armor that's not selectable in the character creator?
To set the meshes directly, you can get the mesh e.g. Torso and call SetSkeletalMesh. As an example of this, in the char creator in game demo when you press O the character equips an outfit. These changes will not persist to save file.
What about changing the player appearance so that it persists in the save file – like changing hair color or face shape?
To set the appearance directly, call the SetXXFieldAndReloadCharacter methods in the BP_XANDRACustomChar blueprint. As an example of this, in the char creator in game demo when you press P the character changes hair colour.
Why is my custom character no longer showing correctly?
The character save file only contains a map of field names (e.g. ‘Hair’) to data table row names - the meshes etc. are stored within your unreal engine data tables and assets.
As such, ensure that Row Names are not changed once set (as it will invalidate existing characters), and be aware that editing or removing any wardrobe items in the data tables will affect existing characters.
Why is my new wardrobe item not showing in the UI?
Ensure that display names are unique.
I get a crash or ‘corrupt data found’ error when opening a scene or blueprints
Follow the migration steps again - make sure you have copied the Plugins folder in particular, as this error happens when a C++ class is missing or renamed.
How do I get the “In-Game” Player Character Creator example to do X/Y/Z?
Unlike the main system, the “In-Game” Character Creator example is just a proof of concept demo - it provides some basic blueprints that can be used as a starting point, but the rest is up to you.
The FAQ didn’t answer my question.
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