Ragdolls are cool. They open many opportunities for content creators, as you can pose them in any way to make your scene much more interesting. There are several ragdoll frameworks, but, in my opinion, Kooshings Framework is the best for making screenshots, as the ragdolls are easy to move, hard to kill and look nice and clean. That's why today I will tell you how YOU can make ragdolls based on that particular framework.

To start with, you'll need to get Magicavoxel[ephtracy.github.io] where you will be able to paint your ragdoll's body and model any other parts you may need. You'll then need to download Teardown palette[www.teardowngame.com] to be able to assign the materials you need. I won't be going into Magicavoxel's basics as there are already many guides on how to create some basic models, and that's the only skill you will need - nothing difficult.

You will also need to get acquainted with the Teardown editor, as you will spend most of your time there. Again, there is nothing scary in it, but if you are stuck, feel free to watch this series of guides as it can be really helpful:
And finally I suggest you download an example of my Ragdoll pack[drive.google.com] where you can find the basic ragdoll which you will later use as a template. To be able to play, just put this folder into Documents/Teardown/Mods and then you'll be able to see it on your right when local browsing mods in game

Before you start creating, I suggest entering editor and looking at the template ragdolls.
Every ragdoll is a separate group which contains following elements in that order:

• Stand script
  
• Legs/Arms group, Head Body and Body Body
  
• .vox models of the main body parts
  
• Extra elements such as patches, pockets or vests

Hierarchy determines which element is attached to which. On you left you can see the order of the hierarchy. The main thing about it is to understand how to put objects into the right order and not to mess things up.



The Stand [Script] is used by the framework to make ragdolls "alive" instead of them being normal props. You will not need to edit anything within that script, but it is always good to know that your ragdoll must be under this script in order for it to be a ragdoll.

You want your ragdoll textures to be in a separate .vox file, so that people can't tell that you used that guide.
To do it, I suggest copying the existing .vox file from Teardown\mods\Ragdoll Mod Example\Ragdolls\UK\UK MTP.vox and then pasting it anywhere within this mod's folder. Like that you will be able to keep all the models you need, but give it a different name.



This step is really easy and arty. Once you made a copy of UK MTP.vox and have a brief idea of what you want your ragdolls to look like, go ahead and start painting. Focus on the main parts of the body (Legs, arms, torso and head) and do whatever you want. To start with, I suggest adding one bright colour which stands out of the original ragdoll's colours, so that you can make sure that you complete the next step correctly without wasting much time.

Here I changed two colours of the camo to bright pink and green. This took me 2 seconds, but now my ragdoll model is different and you can tell that easily:

For each imported file there's a path which can be accessed in editor. This path determines what is going to be in this .vox element in the editor. We will use it to replace current models with our new skins we made in step 2.



As you might have guessed, all we need to do is to swap the current .vox files with ours by just changing the directory
from: MOD/Ragdolls/UK/UK MTP.vox
to: MOD/Ragdolls/Example_copy/Example.vox

The tricky part is not to miss anything. Remember about vital_body and vital_head which have the same texture, but they still need to be changed. They are hidden in the torso and the head, so they are quite easy to forget about. Neck also needs to be changed, but many people forget about it for some reason.



To do that, there is one really simple thing you can do: rename the original UK MTP.vox file to anything else and reload the editor. If you see any big red cubes on your ragdoll, then you missed a part and it is time to fix it now!

Before renaming UK MTP.vox:

After renaming UK MTP.vox (Nvm the rest of ragdolls being totally red):


Now go back to the final part of step two and create! Paint those ragdolls however you want and enjoy, as the models will be updated automatically once you save the magicavoxel file and reload the editor. Take your time here as you want your skin to look nice and cool!

In teardown, all voxels have the same size (10x10x10cm), but in editor there is a property caled "scale". This property opens a ton of opportunities as now you are able to make those voxels however big or small you like. It sounds great, but there is one disadvantage which many people hate: once you change voxels' scale, they loose their collision. This details makes scaled voxels really disliked by some people, but I think that they are great if you know what you are doing and you are not using them everywhere.



Now as you know about scaled voxels, lets talk about adding some extra gear onto your ragdolls.
I will be using my vest as an example.
First you need to make a model of your future gear piece. That can be done in the same .vox file as the rest of your ragdoll. My vest has a scale factor of 0.5, which means that I need to make the model itself 2 times bigger, so that it matches the expected size in game.




To put the model you made into the editor, use the content explorer on your right to find that model and then just drag it anywhere you want on the map.



Then you need to put it under body part's hierarchy. This part is determined by the piece of gear you made. For me it will be the torso, as I want my vest to be attached to it. Then I move my vest however I want and now it should look like this:



Now the only thing you've got to do is to put some tags. Each main body part has got some tags and your extra gear needs to have the same tags as its parent parts do. You will be able to see all the tags on the ragdolls in my example mod.



Density is another property which determines object's weight. It is relative, so you'll need to set it based on one part. I suggest making all your extra gear lighter, so it doesn't affect your ragdolls behavior too much.

Instances allow you to put a group of objects into an .xml file which stores each element's location. We use instances to spawn objects even if they are made out of several pieces (like our ragdolls). To create an instance, you need to right click on a group you want to convert and press "Convert to new prefab. . .". Then you choose a path for your new instance. I suggest using a separate xml folder within your mod to keep things tidy. Once you chose your folder, you need to write the following text: /yourinstancename.xml Please don't forget about the forward slash or the .xml part, because otherwise it's not gonna work.



Now as you have got an instance, it is time to learn how to add objects to the spawn menu! In your Mod's root folder there is a file called spawn.txt This file is used to assign an instance to the spawn menu. To do that you need to follow a certain pattern:

Blue: Instance's path (can be found in instance's properties in the editor)
Red: Group you want to put this instance in (creates a new group if it doesn't exist)
Yellow: Name of that particular object in the spawn menu

Now, if you did everything right, you will be able to see that instance in the spawn menu if you scroll down to your local mods. Well done!

Info.txt can be found in the Mod's folder. There you can change your mod's displayed name, the author of this mod and the description. All of those will be visible both in Teardown's spawn menu and the Steam workshop.



Your mod needs to have a preview picture in order to be uploaded. It will be visible on Steam. To set one, you just need to put a 900x900px JPG image into your mod's folder. After that you will be able to see it when you press "publish" in Teardown.

To publish, just simply click "publish" button in Teardown and your mod will be visible on the Steam workshop. You will be able to edit your description, add images or do anything else on Steam once you have published your mod.

Congrats! You have read that whole guide and now you know how to create your own ragdoll pack! I hope that this guide was useful and you learned something new today.
I would be really pleased if you mention my name in your work if you used this tutorial to make your ragdoll pack.
Thank you very much for your attention, please consider suppporting me if you liked this guide