PSX swapping models and animations

[SmashFan127]

Previously, I had the idea of swapping enemy models and animations in Wild Arms 2 to fit in the main party, like Liz and Ard, Lord Blazer, Vinsfeld, the Cocytus members, etc. Problem is, I don't what tool would be most useful, and I like to use ePSXe for emulation.

[FAST6191]

I guess you mentioned your emulator of choice because you have seen what goes with the high res texture replacements on the N64 and other Nintendo consoles (going by your username I figure you have some familiarity with the consoles in question).

PS1 stuff did not seem to head down that path.

Anyway models and animations then....

The basic method, which is worth starting at, is to repoint or insert the enemy models as your character models. As the PS1 uses standard iso filesystems you can do it with tools that can manipulate those (poweriso, ultraiso, magic iso... I have not really seen a free one that I would rate here though).

Much like doing the same with 2d sprites the trouble comes in that your new sprites might not be modelled and have as much animations as the original character (bosses/enemies are there for a few battles and some cutscenes normally where you main characters are there for the entire game and treated accordingly).

This lack of animation can then turn a simple 20 minute project (plus however long it takes you to figure out what file does what) into a monster project that will see you learning loads before you even start getting something resembling results. You might get lucky and if the player characters and the enemies are both broadly the same thing (both human) then as far as early 3d goes it might be similar enough that it kind of works.
If not you either get to learn the animation format of the game and remake everything (annoying as anything on sprites, nightmarish when it comes to 3d), changing the game so it changes the calls it makes to the animations (better but will probably look odd at times or if the characters fail to emote....) or some combination of the two.

If you just want to swap a couple of player characters this is usually easier as they will tend to have the same sorts of animations (or even the same animations) but using enemy models instead makes it a hard hack.

3d tools on the PS1 are not really advanced at all and everything can and would use a custom format if it felt like it. To that end you will probably end up building your own.