Obviously you need to use Spine - but the graphics never actually load, always some red crossed out squares appear saying "missing."

As the title says, I intend on making a fully custom class mod, including animations.

Why?
I want to have a go at modding (never tried it before) and I enjoy Darkest Dungeon enough to be willing to sink a LOT of time into making a mod.

I am intending of buy Spine Pro, obviously for the animations.


Why am I making this thread?
I'm looking for some guidance/advice on how to go about this process,

I've seen this https://www.reddit.com/r/darkestdungeon/comments/4c4zwz/how_to_make_a_class_mod_in_20_easy_steps/

thread on reddit, but it isn't made with custom animations in mind, and isn't overly detailed, which is why I'm looking for some extra help.


So what are my actual questions?

1) Is there any way to view existing .skel files in Spine? Currently it doesn't seem like I can do that, but it would be very helpful in learning how to operate Spine.

2) What order should I do things in? Artwork first? Coding first? Animation first?

3) A slightly more specific question, how does one actually go from art + a skeleton to a character?

4) I've noticed all the .idle files are broken down into chunks - I'm assuming that this is because each segment of art corresponds to a bone of the skeleton, but, again, I'm struggling to benefit from this information due to being unable to open .skel files.

5) I have found very little information about the implementation of visual effects of abilities (lighting, "healing" particle effects, etc), so if anyone has any information on that topic, it would be appreciated.

If anyone has any other advice on the topic, it is much appreciated!