Character (RoRbot) is now a mod type (select in Settings UI).

The usage is equivalent to other mods: a ZIP/directory under 'ROR_HOMEDIR/mods' containing a '*.character' file.
To select character, open Settings UI, go to Gameplay tab, scroll to "Player character:" at the bottom and press "Select" button - the standard Selector UI will appear.
Character is always loaded with terrain. If the character fails to load, a "Cannot load terrain" messagebox appears and user remains in main menu.

The classic character resources were deleted from /resources and will be added to /content (a Git submodule).

Author: ohlidalp

resources/materials/character.material

@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ CVar* sim_no_self_collisions;
 CVar* sim_gearbox_mode;
 CVar* sim_soft_reset_mode;
 CVar* sim_quickload_dialog;
+CVar* sim_player_character;
 
 // Multiplayer
 CVar* mp_state;

resources/meshes/character.material

@@ -243,6 +243,7 @@ enum VisibilityMasks
 enum LoaderType //!< Operation mode for GUI::MainSelector
 {
     LT_None,
+    LT_Character, // No script alias, invoked from Settings UI.
     LT_Terrain,   // Invocable from GUI; No script alias, used in main menu
     LT_Vehicle,   // Script "vehicle",   ext: truck car
     LT_Truck,     // Script "truck",     ext: truck car
@@ -294,6 +295,7 @@ extern CVar* sim_no_self_collisions;
 extern CVar* sim_gearbox_mode;
 extern CVar* sim_soft_reset_mode;
 extern CVar* sim_quickload_dialog;
+extern CVar* sim_player_character;
 
 // Multiplayer
 extern CVar* mp_state;

resources/meshes/character.mesh

@@ -693,10 +693,17 @@ void GameContext::OnLoaderGuiApply(LoaderType type, CacheEntry* entry, std::stri
 // --------------------------------
 // Characters
 
-void GameContext::CreatePlayerCharacter()
+bool GameContext::CreatePlayerCharacter()
 {
     m_character_factory.CreateLocalCharacter();
 
+    if (!this->GetPlayerCharacter())
+    {
+        App::GetGuiManager()->ShowMessageBox(_L("Terrain loading error"),
+            "Failed to create player character, see console or 'RoR.log' for more info.");
+        return false;
+    }
+
     // Adjust character position
     Ogre::Vector3 spawn_pos = App::GetSimTerrain()->getSpawnPos();
     float spawn_rot = 0.0f;
@@ -744,6 +751,8 @@ void GameContext::CreatePlayerCharacter()
     {
         App::GetCameraManager()->UpdateInputEvents(0.02f);
     }
+
+    return true;
 }
 
 Character* GameContext::GetPlayerCharacter() // Convenience ~ counterpart of `GetPlayerActor()`

resources/meshes/character.skeleton

@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ class GameContext
     /// @name Characters
     /// @{ 
 
-    void                CreatePlayerCharacter(); //!< Terrain must be loaded
+    bool                CreatePlayerCharacter(); //!< Terrain must be loaded
     Character*          GetPlayerCharacter();
     CharacterFactory*   GetCharacterFactory() { return &m_character_factory; }
 

source/main/Application.cpp

@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@
 #include "CharacterFactory.h"
 
 #include "Application.h"
+#include "CacheSystem.h"
 #include "Character.h"
+#include "Console.h"
 #include "GfxScene.h"
 #include "Utils.h"
 
@@ -32,6 +34,26 @@ CharacterFactory::CharacterFactory()
 {
 }
 
+CharacterDocumentPtr CharacterFactory::FetchCharacterDef(CacheEntry* cache_entry)
+{
+    if (!cache_entry->character_def)
+    {
+        try
+        {
+            Ogre::DataStreamPtr datastream = Ogre::ResourceGroupManager::getSingleton().openResource(cache_entry->fname, cache_entry->resource_group);
+            CharacterParser character_parser;
+            cache_entry->character_def = character_parser.ProcessOgreStream(datastream);
+        }
+        catch (Ogre::Exception& eeh)
+        {
+            App::GetConsole()->putMessage(Console::CONSOLE_MSGTYPE_INFO, Console::CONSOLE_SYSTEM_ERROR,
+                fmt::format("Could not load character, message: {}", eeh.getFullDescription()));
+        }
+    }
+
+    return cache_entry->character_def;
+}
+
 Character* CharacterFactory::CreateLocalCharacter()
 {
     int colourNum = -1;
@@ -46,7 +68,21 @@ Character* CharacterFactory::CreateLocalCharacter()
     }
 #endif // USE_SOCKETW
 
-    m_local_character = std::unique_ptr<Character>(new Character(m_character_defs[0], -1, 0, playerName, colourNum, false));
+    CacheEntry* cache_entry = App::GetCacheSystem()->FindEntryByFilename(LT_Character, /*partial:*/false, App::sim_player_character->getStr());
+    if (!cache_entry)
+    {
+        App::GetConsole()->putMessage(Console::CONSOLE_MSGTYPE_INFO, Console::CONSOLE_SYSTEM_ERROR,
+            fmt::format("Could not find character '{}' in mod cache.", App::sim_player_character->getStr()));
+        return nullptr;
+    }
+
+    CharacterDocumentPtr document = this->FetchCharacterDef(cache_entry);
+    if (!document)
+    {
+        return nullptr; // Error already reported
+    }
+
+    m_local_character = std::unique_ptr<Character>(new Character(document, -1, 0, playerName, colourNum, false));
     App::GetGfxScene()->RegisterGfxCharacter(m_local_character.get());
     return m_local_character.get();
 }
@@ -59,9 +95,29 @@ void CharacterFactory::createRemoteInstance(int sourceid, int streamid)
     int colour = info.colournum;
     Ogre::UTFString name = tryConvertUTF(info.username);
 
-    LOG(" new character for " + TOSTRING(sourceid) + ":" + TOSTRING(streamid) + ", colour: " + TOSTRING(colour));
+    std::string info_str = fmt::format("player '{}' ({}:{}), colour: {}", info.clientname, sourceid, streamid, colour);
+
+    LOG(" new character for " + info_str);
+
+    std::string filename = App::sim_player_character->getStr(); // TBD: transmit and use the actual character used by the player
+
+    CacheEntry* cache_entry = App::GetCacheSystem()->FindEntryByFilename(LT_Character, /*partial:*/false, filename);
+    if (!cache_entry)
+    {
+        App::GetConsole()->putMessage(Console::CONSOLE_MSGTYPE_INFO, Console::CONSOLE_SYSTEM_ERROR,
+            fmt::format("Could not create character for {} - character '{}' not found in mod cache.", info_str, filename));
+        return;
+    }
+
+    CharacterDocumentPtr document = this->FetchCharacterDef(cache_entry);
+    if (!document)
+    {
+        App::GetConsole()->putMessage(Console::CONSOLE_MSGTYPE_INFO, Console::CONSOLE_SYSTEM_ERROR,
+            fmt::format("Could not create character for {} - cannot load file '{}'.", info_str, cache_entry->fname));
+        return;
+    }
 
-    Character* ch = new Character(m_character_defs[0], sourceid, streamid, name, colour, true);
+    Character* ch = new Character(document, sourceid, streamid, name, colour, true);
     App::GetGfxScene()->RegisterGfxCharacter(ch);
     m_remote_characters.push_back(std::unique_ptr<Character>(ch));
 #endif // USE_SOCKETW

source/main/Application.h

@@ -46,15 +46,13 @@ class CharacterFactory
     void DeleteAllCharacters();
     void UndoRemoteActorCoupling(Actor* actor);
     void Update(float dt);
-    void DefineCharacter(CharacterDocumentPtr doc) { m_character_defs.push_back(doc); }
+    CharacterDocumentPtr FetchCharacterDef(CacheEntry* cache_entry);
 #ifdef USE_SOCKETW
     void handleStreamData(std::vector<RoR::NetRecvPacket> packet);
 #endif // USE_SOCKETW
 
 private:
 
-    std::vector<CharacterDocumentPtr>            m_character_defs;
-
     std::unique_ptr<Character>              m_local_character;
     std::vector<std::unique_ptr<Character>> m_remote_characters;