View Full Version : Saber Staff to Dual Sabers (and vice-versa): Here's how to do it. **DEMO TESTED**

Wes Janson
09-17-2003, 06:50 AM
All right, all right. I know I haven't been here in a long while. I come back, and everything's changed on me. Well, everything except for my love of the JK series.

Now, I know a lot of you have been dying for a seemless way of switching from Saber Staff to Dual Saber mode (similar to what we've all heard about the E3 demo). Well, no, I didn't find the code, but I did conur up something close.

All I did was simply use the in-game assets and script them into a key bind. What assets? Well, the /gloat and /flourish commands for one. Each saber style has different animations for them. Combine them with the saber style switch command, and presto, you've got your potential. Now, before you shake your head and run away because of the misleading title, fear not. I did all of the work for you to accomplish the effect.

You need to go into your JKA\GameData\Demo directory and open up the jaconfig.cfg file. This file holds all of your key binds used in the game. I will give you a list of four scripted binds I've created: two for the staff-to-dual transformation, and two for the dual-to-staff transformation. No, I didn't include the single saber stance in this (where would the other saber go?) All you need to do is cut-and-paste them into your own configs. The only changes you'll need to do is define which key you want binded, and the different saber types and colors. Here we go:

BIND 1: Staff to Dual (***BOTH blades on***)

bind # "gloat; wait 20; saber kyle kyle; sabercolor 1 blue; sabercolor 2 green; wait 55; +movedown; wait 20; -movedown"


You brace back a little while you disconnect your staff. You toss one blade in the air as you spin around with the other blade in your left hand. You catch the other blade in your right hand and set yourself up for combat.

BIND 2: Staff to Dual (***ONE blade on***)

bind # "gloat; wait 50; saber kyle kyle; sabercolor 1 blue; sabercolor 2 green;"


You raise your staff to the air in a pose of greatness. Holding the saber to the sky, it disconnect into two sabers; you prime for combat.

BIND 3: Dual to Staff (***BOTH blades on***)

bind # "flourish; wait 15; saber dual_5; sabercolor 1 blue green; wait 40; flourish"


Using the Force, you quickly throw both sabers together -- they spin into the staff before your eyes, and the staff seeks itself to your right hand. You then set yourself into combat stance by spining the blade around your neck.

BIND 4: Dual to Staff (***BOTH blades on***)

bind # "gloat; wait 40; saber dual_5; sabercolor 1 blue green; wait 20; +movedown; wait 5; -movedown; wait 5; flourish"


You physically smash both sabers together in order to form the staff. You then spin the staff around your neck into the battles stance. Not as quick as bind 3.


Now, if it sounds too good to be true, well, it is a little. You'll need to bind four sepereate keys for each animation. And you'll have to remember which key does a staff-to-dual and dual-to-staff. Also, I noticed while ATTEMPTING to take screenshots that the timer is constant, meaning that some of you might have to manually adjust the "wait" commands if your computer runs a bit slow.

To adjust the timer easily in the game, you can actually copy-and-paste the bind command directly into the console via Ctrl+V. Adjust the wait times accordingly -- if their too fast, increase the number (increase by 10), if it's too slow, decrease the number. Every time you press enter to modify the bind, you can press the up key in the console to re-type the last entered command. This makes modiying long binds very easy to work with. If you pressed enter by mistake, you can press up multiple times to re-type commands in reverse order. I'm amazed at the intuitiveness of it.

Also, I couldn't figure out a way for a seemless transition from dual-to-staff if one of your dual sabers was off, so both need to be on for either transformation. For staff-to-dual, I was able to devise a choice so you could go in either direction.

You might also be wondering why I have "dual_5" and "kyle" as the saber types. Well from a little experimenting, I've come to the conclusion that these saber styles look the most seemless from all the current choices available. Of course, you're free to interchange them with whatever you see fit. I also used blue/green as a guideline to your own color (instead of having "bladecolor" or something equally confusing).

This segues into the final disadvantage. You'll be limited to one staff saber type/color and one dual saber combination/color per bind.

Anyway, you're all a smart group of people. I'm sure you'll make some sense of this. But until we find the official code for changing saber types on the fly (seemlessly), this might be as close as we get for now. If you have any questions or problems, post 'em here and we'll see if we can help you out. Or if this sounds like a complete waste of time all together, let me know anyhow.



I appologize for the lack of screenshots. It just wouldn't cooperate with me for some reason...


EDIT - - -

Ah yes, I forgot to add this... You can also use this in conjunction with katas and flip maneuvers. For example, switching from staff-to-dual in the middle of a staff kata is just incredibly cool to watch. This also works the other way around when you do the front flip with the dual sabers (going dual-to-staff). So there are lots of different ways to give yourself some style.

If you're REALLY good, you can even switch during a saber lock. If you can pull that off, then you're hardcore...

09-17-2003, 02:04 PM
You should post this in the "Not Enough Customization..." thread.
; )

09-17-2003, 02:10 PM
You could just do Bind # Saber Dual_# and Bind # Saber Single_# Single_# ;)

Replace # with a key.

Wes Janson
09-17-2003, 03:56 PM
Originally posted by Kurgan
; )

Well sure, you could do it that way. But then the sabers just appear in your hands. What's the fun in that?


And yes, Kurgan. I think I will.

09-20-2003, 12:46 AM
Hmm, i dont think it will work in mp though :(

Wes Janson
09-20-2003, 03:05 AM
Never tried it with MP. But if cheats are activated in MP, it just might.

09-21-2003, 03:20 AM
I just wanted to say that this is quite possibly the coolest use of cheats I've seen yet. Bravo, well done!

Wes Janson
09-21-2003, 03:58 AM
Why thank you, good sir.

I just tried this out in the full game, and I noticed right off the bat that the timer in the full game is differnet from the demo. It's faster, so I've had to adjust the wait times accordingly to compensate.

If I could get someone to "cut" the dual_5 saber in half for me (AKA, model it), the effect would be complete.

09-21-2003, 07:41 AM
i hope im not the only one with this problem but when i perform the binds it says cheats are not activated on this server. How do i activate them?

Wes Janson
09-21-2003, 07:48 AM
If you mean in multiplayer, I think the server has to start with cheats activated.

For single player, just type "devmap" in the console. To bring down the console, hit shift - ~. You should only have to activate cheats once per game session. I appologize for neglecting to mention that you need the cheats on to use these binds -- since you're using the cheat instructions to switch saber styles.

MASTER Siggeman
09-21-2003, 01:41 PM
Hey Wes Janson, I got a problem. Everything works and all with those binds, but the binding is the problem. Once I put "bind # <code here>" then it wont work. But if i just type the codes into the counsol then it works correctly. Does anyone know why this might be happening?

09-21-2003, 07:45 PM
Hey Wes, I don't suppose could post the new timings? I have noticed that, depedning on where I am in the game, sometimes the transitional animations work better than in other places.

Also, I added in a bind of my own, which basically combines one of yorus with the saber fighter style cylcing, in order to allow access to single saber fighting styles. It works reasonable well and actually has some pretty cool-looking transitions (especially from saber staff to single saber.)

bind # "saberAttackCycle; wait 5; gloat; wait 50; saber single_4; sabercolor 1 green"

I'm really curious now about whether these console commands can accomodate conditional language. If we can set up a way to detect certain lightsaber "states," maybe we can create one massive script that can handle all situations, instead of having to bind multiple buttons.

Also, is anyone sure that the saber staff to dual sabers was actually in a build of this game?

Damar Stiehl
09-21-2003, 08:28 PM
First off, thanks Wes for kickass macros. Here's my addition to the collection:


bind x "bow; wait 50; saber kyle; sabercolor 1 blue"

Description: You concentrate for a moment as you switch off both blades, then quickly turn on just your main blade and assume the combat stance.

Side effect: if you do this BEFORE you get Lightsabre Offense 3, you gain an extra single-sabre stance where you hold your sabre in the same fashion as you would hold a staff, but only one blade is on. It is largely useless, but looks exotic. If you have Lightsabre Offense 3, you assume normal Heavy stance instead.

Wes Janson
09-21-2003, 10:23 PM
These are some great binds, guys. Keep 'em coming!

Another thing about the difference in timers.... It's mind boggling. At first when I imported the binds from my demo to the full game, the timers were off -- too fast. So I re-typed the binds and compensated for the speed. When I rebooted the game, the new times were too slow -- so I re-typed them back to their original wait ammounts.

I'm not sure if the game needs to be rebooted after the initial import, or if you should do it manually, but I pretty much typed them all out again to be sure. The original wait times I have should work... Hopefully.

On the switch-to-single, I modded the dual_5 saber and copied it as a single saber. So when I do the switch-to-single, it's using the dual_5 (saber staff) model as a single saber. Quite cool, and the effect is seamless.

For anyone who doesn't feel like going into the saber files and fiddling with 'em, I'll release the files and put them up for download. The only catch is that you'll have to manually swithc to the hilts in-game -- I can't get them to be selectable in the initial menu. But once you switch, they're officially you're saber (so if you wanted to use a staff hilt for nothing but a single saber use, so be it).

Now . . . If only we can find a modeller who will split the staff hilts in half for us. That would rock it solid...

09-22-2003, 01:14 AM
Woah, you gotta tell me how you modified the saber like that. I really have no idea, although it sounds simple.

Wes Janson
09-22-2003, 03:01 AM
Okie dokie.

Ladies and gentlemen, here you go. I played around with the saber configs, and you can now use saber staff hilts as single saber hilts.

How does this work?

Well for one, don't worry. This doesn't replace or modify existing hilts. The lightsabers work on config files, similar to npc files. There's quite a few nifty things you can do with 'em -- designating blade length, width, a whole buncha neat things.

But for our current purpose, I copied the hilts over into new files. They work exactly like single saber hilts, except they just look like staff hilts (same blade length and everything).

The file names are: dsingle_1, dsingle_2, dsingle_3, dsingle_4, and dsingle_5. Each saber corresponds to their dual counterparts, so the dual_3 saber staff hilt is the same as the dsingle_3 saber staff hilt.

So when you're switching from saber staff to single (and vice-versa) just besure to put in the appropriate saber name in order to give you the desired effect. Example:

saber dsingle_2

Should give you a single saber using the dual_2 staff hilt. If you want to get really ambitious, try calling on two hilts for some wicked dual action. I haven't tried activating the second blades on these sabers in the config files; just wanted to prove to you guys that the hilts are indeed available for single-saber usage. Check the screenshot.


CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE MOD (http://smrti.xwlegacy.net/singlestaff.pk3)

To install, just put this pk3 file in your JKA\GameData\base directory. Doesn't overwrite anything, just adds the hilts. Unfortunately, they dont' show up in the saber selection menu (at least not for me), so if you want to use these, you'll have to switch to them in-game. But once you've switched, the game acknowledges it as your perminent saber (until you switch again).

Enjoy. Should make switching between all 3 stances almost complete. Still waiting for the staffs to be cut in half for two-hander mode.


09-22-2003, 03:36 AM
Thanks Wes! This whole thing of yours is really great...now to wait for that saber hilt modeler!

Wes Janson
09-22-2003, 03:55 AM
Thanks. '-)

Oooh, just a note. You'll have to re-download the hilts. I made a mistake -- the blades are longer than they should be, so I scaled them back to the original size.

My bad. Just re-download and replace. Should work fine.

09-23-2003, 06:53 PM
Hey Wes, I just tried out your rainbow double saberstaff mod and it works great. What I tried experimenting with was to deactivate the top blades, so essentially you have to ninja-style blades being wielded. I was wondering if it was possible to create the following scenario:

1) Create two sabers that employ the dual-wielding style, like your rainbow saber, but without the ability to open the top blades at all.

2) Create the same effect with regular single saber hilts.

3) Have those hilts face in the opposite direction.

This game more and more fun with additional fighting "styles." This one, of all the unofficial styles, seems to be the most effective, and it looks cool!

Actually, Wes, if it isn't to difficult, maybe you could explain how you edit the properties of sabers, or maybe there are online documents on the matter?

Wes Janson
09-23-2003, 07:20 PM
It's actually real easy to do. I cant remember which asset file it's in (I think the first one), there's an entire directory called "ext_data." This contains most of the text-based editable data in the game (namely NPCs and Sabers). You should find all the files in the directory and un-zip them for editing.

In the ext_data\sabers directory, each saber is listed as a .sab file. You can open these with any text editor and fiddle with the insides. For a complete description of what you can modify, add, or subtract, open the sabers.sab file and have a look. This file also has other sabers (like Kyles) as a reference.

To tell you the truth, I never tried deactivating the primary blades in the saber files. Concievably, it should work. I'll play around with it and see what happens, and you should too.

Just be sure to re-pack the ext_data directory into a pk3 file (give it its own pk3 file, don't put it back into the assets file) and put it in the base directory.

Wes Janson
09-23-2003, 08:40 PM
On the varrying wait times...

I just figured it out. The wait time is constant. The actual precieved effect is based on your game performance. Example, the wait time will be much much faster if you're running at 30 fps instead of 20.

And there's no way around it. Damn you, Quake 3 engine!!!

09-23-2003, 10:09 PM
Well you could do a 30 fps standard, and just tell everyone to cap it at 30 or something.

09-24-2003, 04:01 PM
Actually, after reading through the sab files (and the one that explains all the paremeters), it doesn't seem that you can deactivate the primary blades. You can set the primary blades to be extremely short, but the minumum setting is 4, not 0, so you will always have something.

It seems to me that the only option available is to edit the models themselves. According to sabers.sab (or whatever the file was called,) tag points, indicated on the model of the saber, determine where the blades come out and in what direction.

I have played with the editing a bit and simply turned a regular saber upside-down, but for some reason my model isn't working correctly.

One interesting thing that I discovered is that you can have as much as 8 "blades" on your saber. Aside from just overkill, I was thinking that this possibly allows for the creation of a curved saber. Since you can specify the length and direction of each blade, you can theoretically have them consecutively joined together at different angles to form a curve.

Once I get the basics of editing the models down, I'll definitely be giving this a try. And I'll try to cut that damn saberstaff in half while I'm at it.

09-26-2003, 06:04 AM
Just thought I'd mention, I altered the sequence a bit and added some of the acrobatic attacks in with the "thereisnospoon" camera trick...the change is ALMOST seamless and it looks sweet as hell...

For Staff to Dual

bind N "+back; +moveup; +attack; wait 10; -moveup; -attack; -back; wait 25; thereisnospoon; saber kyle kyle; sabercolor 1 blue; sabercolor 2 blue"

Desc: You backflip and spin your staff, while disconnecting it into two seperate blades...all in slow motion

For Dual to Staff

bind M "+forward; +moveup; +attack; wait 10; -moveup; -attack; -forward; wait 80; thereisnospoon; saber dual_5; sabercolor 1 blue blue"

Desc: You go into a series of flips and slashes, and near the end, connect the two blades behind your back into a solid staff...again, in slow motion

09-26-2003, 06:41 AM
Wes, what a great job. I been looking for ways to switch between the different blades for a while and hooray! here they are.

I 'll be looking into some nice bindings, possibly something like doing a backflip and bow wihle changing blades.

Reminds me to set some key bindings for force-jump aswell or some of the other combos.

:D :)

*bows and draws his saber, twirls it over his head in appreciation of Wes's task*

Wes Janson
09-26-2003, 09:18 PM
Well hey, I appreciate the appreciations. ;-)

I just wish there was a way to link the timing to specific frames in the character animation instead of a static timer.

Hopefully, the GDK will give us the tools to put something even neater and more complete together.

02-25-2010, 09:34 AM
Bump! This is tight stuff and everybody should be taking advantage of this in your SP experiences. To quote Darth Vader, "The circle is now complete", I've found a way to go from single to staff fairly seamlessly...even though the staff does cut through your hand...<_< xD

bind # "saberblade 1 1 0; wait 10; saber dual_5; sabercolor 1 blue blue"
description: Confident in your abilities as a Jedi (or Sith), you cooly twirl your saber around in your hand and activate its second blade, ready to do battle.

02-25-2010, 01:01 PM
You seriously bumped a 7 year old thread? Wow.

I'm going to make an animation for the Tales of the Sith Lords mod that will have the character connect or seperate duals into staff and vice versa.
This will be for Darth Maul and the custom sith the player makes. Yeah I know Maul's saber doesn't seperate but it is just a neat extra for people to use.