are you trying to make a new body
i usually copy worker archetype
factory and object via create sub archetype
link the object to the factory and modify the settings to accept the new mesh
it needs an animation set and a physics asset so it doesn't freak out

i haven't really been able to make it replace rhe player but if it works with the janitor assets
one can mess with posses pawn in Kismet to body snatch dead body of new character
getting the camera and inventory working is tricky though
yes you can make a new dead body
perhaps cannonfodder can throw some light on the subject:)

as dar as i got
i can play as bob
a skeleton and domestabot legs via the existing Janitor archetypes and animation assets

The fact is that when i copy paste and modify another dead body, let's say, the mantis prisoner, it stay the prisoner's body, or disappear, there's no way i can have my mesh animated or showed ingame.
I can't understand what's wrong.

If i create a new physic assets out of my skeletal mesh, ragdoll freak out and spin around.
If i use any other physyc assets, it won't work, or make my mesh disappear.

Point is i don't understand why if there are the skeletal mesh and the bones attached, why i can't simply use them instead of creating an archtype out of don't know what? From what i've understand there's an archtype of the skeletal mesh, but why should i create it when i'm pointing the same skeletal mesh into itself?

Why boggin' things when could be way easier?

I can import any static mesh and retexture them, why can't be the same for debris or dead bodies?
What's use for those extra options that aren't even used by the game?
Why can't simply have a roll down menù where i can choose the animation/ragdoll?

I tried, again, making an archtype out of mantis prisoner.
I make new sub archtype into my package.
I open and point to my skeletal mesh, and left the physical assets to the prisoner one, it doesn't matter in the end being all bipeds and pretty similar.
Set material to the modified material.
Then i copy one of the dead bodies alredy in the scene, i open it and when i wanna point to my archtype it won't let me set it, as if it isn't really an archtype.

So i can't make a new object from a copied one, nore from scratch.

I don't know where i'm doing wrong, but it's pretty silly now.

need to assign the object archetype to the factory archetype
place the factory archetype in the map
all of the settings are in both new archetypes
it needs a physx asset and an animset or animation set
if the bones in the mesh match a default body it can be used with the body assets
from the old body and just swap the mesh
BlackEagle wrote an import and body setup instructions somewhere
cannonfodder also messed with it more than i have
although i got all of the rooks keep character bodies working in temple of death
via using a dead Janitor archetype as a template
there is loads of settings
scale
hold offeset and stiffness
mesh
rendering
collision
physical asset
animation setup
n a few others to get a new body working

most likely with a new mesh you'll have to make an animation set and animtree
and a physical asset and tinker with unreal phat to get the animation right so it doesn't bug out
nist of that can be made by right clicking the new skeletal mesh in the content browser
just never save the original vanilla stuff and ya won't corrupt the game
only save what you make:)


setting up a new dead body is harder than it looks

yes it will disappear if its factory isn't in the map when you save your map
place the factory archetype in map before saving your map then it won't disappear:)
the object archetype will disappear if that isn't assigned to the factory archetype too

Yeah it's gunna be steep learning curve this one. So after importing the mesh you need to make a new archtype for it, no copying, then you need to make a new physics asset for it.
Once the physics asset is made, you need to open up the asset and set the collision bounds for each bone, most likely deleting your pre made one and making them anew in the udk editor , and the roatational and lateral constraints, not having the physics asset setup correctly is the reason why it starts break dancing or flips out and self deletes.
For the constraints you can open up the physics asset of an official body and copy the settings but depending on your mesh it may not work fully as intended.

Edit. If need be you can drop me your mesh vid googledrive or something and when ive got a spare hour or so I could make the asset for you. But if you learn yourself it'll give you that bit of knowledge so you can do it whenever you want

Yeah, to reiterate what the others have said, here is what you'll need once your mesh is imported.

• A new Physics Asset (You may be able to get away with an existing one if the bone names and positions are the same)
  
• A VCDebrisPlacedSk_Viscera or VCDebrisPlacedSk_Worker object. This is what will actually appear in the game, but isn't usually placed in the editor. It MUST be saved in a package somewhere, ideally not your level package, but a new one.
  We refer to this object as a "Debris/Object Archetype".
  
  
• A VCMessFactoryDebrisSk object. This will be placed in the editor, but not appear in the game. It will point to the actual object as its desired spawn template(DebrisTemplate).
  You can use any one of these already present in a level to point to your actual object archetype, or make your own new one and save it as an archetype itself, which I recommend.
  We refer to this object as a "Factory Archetype".

Like @cannon says, you'll need to faff around in PHAT with the physical bodies for your bones until it's behaving nicely; primitives, scales, constraints, etc.

Another thing to keep in mind about skeletal meshes, is that the root bone MUST be simulated and have a primitive associated with it in PHAT. For this purpose, we usually make b_Hips the root bone of any imported humanoid skeleton.
If it doesn't, the object, as far as the game's saving and networking is concerned, never moves.


Have a look at the official content to see how the Physics Assets are set-up.
You can find some under: "Gameplay > GP_Vis_Skinner01", or "Gameplay > GP_Vis_Worker01"

You will find archetype examples under: "Gameplay > GP_Arch_Worker01"

If someone care to explain me why even after doing exactly alle the steps, i can't set my archtype inside my factorydebris? I can't even set a burntdebris into of it.

I import my model as a skeletal.
I made the physical.
I created an archtype from a vcdebrisplacedsk and saved into a new package.
Into of it i point to my skeletal mesh and physical asset.
I place a vcmessfactorydebrissk, i point succesfully to my skeletal and physic, but i can't point to my archtype, no matter what i select.

So, what's the deal?

There isn't really an easier way to import an inanimated dead body, other than all those useless steps?

Why can't just be the bones and physics needed, as are actually the only things that cares?

The problem it's here, i can't point to my just created archetype, and if i set any other the model simply disappear.

https://postimg.cc/R6g8pByJ

So, what's wrong with my arch that it's not considered as one?

the object archetype is the debris template
select the object archetype in content browser
right click
copy full name to clipboard
paste that into the factory archetype in the debris template box should link your 2 archetypes together
place the factory archetype in map(select it in content browser right click add vc....factory actor to place your new body) the factory archetype is the dead body
you have to setup the object archetype to match the settings of the factory archetype
above is how to link the object archetype(debris template) to the factory archetype

when it links it will pop up with a box failed to assign error=same thing when linking paper notes archetypes together
but it works anyway and it will link it



I import my model as a skeletal mesh and saved into a new package under group name skeletal meshes and saved into the new package.
I made the physical asset and put that in group physics assets and saved into the new package.
I created an archetype from a vcfactorydebris.......archetype and saved into the new package.
I created an archetype from a vcdebris.......object archetype and saved into the new package.
i linked the object archetype to the factory archetype
i placed the factory archetype in map
i added the physics asset to both new archetypes and fiddled with the both archetype settings
to setup everything right
i saved my new package
i Press pie button pick up body and burn it in the fire
assuming that everything is ok it won't freak out if setup right
something like that

Ok seems i've figured out the "copy paste full name, but it's trange because if i place both in the map, the object arch works, the factory don't appear at all.

Now i have to set a well made bones system, but it tricky, as i don't understand how are subdivided the ones ingame, everytime i try to make it similar there's something wrong. There's a way to rip the models with bones attacked? The "export to file.." option it's locked in the assets browser.

can't rip it
you have to make it
investigate the bones in your model and fiddle some more with unreal phat
by the sound of it

making new bodies is heaps harder than it looks
youl get it your very close

I managed to extract the model and bones of mantis.prisoner with Umodel, but the bones are dummies and when i export the fbx there's an error with links among them and don't save it. Baking animation won't work neither.
Are about two days that i'm making bones systems, but there's no way to have one like that used in game.

I'm asking you devs, how you made those bones? The extracted ones aren't bones but dummies, and even if i design a new bones system exactly over the dummies, it doesn't work as intended.

Autorig it's of no use either, it makes too many spines and joints useless in this case, like a full spine or fingers and face nodes.

What I did was to make my bones and skin envelope in 3dsmax and import into my map, then go into PHAT, delete all the bones but the root bone, then use PHAT itself to make them all over again manually, one by one, setting each one's collision as I went.
Running a simulation every time to make sure the bone stuck and didn't detach from the mesh. Then once I'd added them all back in, tweaked the constraints, starting with the root>spine>head, then doing the limbs, again running simulations every time make sure they weren't twisting or bending too far.

Hip should be the root, but bones system in 3dS don't let draw Y shaped bones, as have fixed vertex on the last designed bone, there i'm asking how the devs have made their skeletal, as it's nearly impossible to replicate them from scratch, and even after ripping from the game packages, those are simple dummy and not bones, so are unexportable.

I seen how the official ones are made, but i can't replicate them, there are always too many points, no matter how many i draw.

And in Phat the controls are pills shaped, mine are only boxes or sphere, sometimes are pills, but feet, head and hands are always sphere, and are impossible to change or reshape, leading in messy physics, or broken limbs.

Where am i doing wrong?

I'm doing everything you're all saying, but there's no way to make it work.

Well, all of a sudden i can't export anymore, i always get an error about boundings, no matter what i do.
I can officially call this model ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up.
Nice.