Model Movement

[HyperFighting]

Great camera systems never die! Shout out to the one and only John Mac! I've known for the longest time Mario 64 is among the best if not the best camera systems around pair that with incorporating improvements via Zelda and you've got dynamite! Thank you so much for your tutorial series and your camera system!

My story is I got BETA up and running buttery smooth on a unity 2017 build with no console errors!

Apologies in advance I am still new to unity.

1. I created two more prefabs a copy of the camera system and my own model.
2. I meticulously ensured my prefabs settings match BETA's settings on the model and the camera.
3. My model uses a copy of BETA's Animator and my own IDLE animation is plugged into all the blends etc....(I just want to see the model sliding around the scene initially and don't want to complicate the issue with walk,jog,sprint,jump animations etc)

Result my model responds to input EX: I put a custom run animation on initially and I could see the player running in place...now with the IDLE animation I can see the player rotating in place etc)

If I "hack" the player control and do an "if IsLocomotion" then my own shitty translate code then the player translates and the camera follows (It is jerky) but without my terrible hack the character remains still...

I have spent at least 16 hours trying to get this guy to move.
I have played with the animation clips "root animation" turning on and off my Y, XY, rotation baking on clips...rigs GENERIC, HUMANOID

I'm at point where my next steps might be to parent my model to BETA and remove all the scripts except the animator and somehow figure out if I can HIDE the BETA model but leave it active for input purposes...I'm not sure what I'm missing...

I did initially have BETA and my model in the same scene but their was a conflict I think it might have been having both models flagged as "Player" I eventually separated into two scenes...BETA (runs perfect), My Model (everything is connected but the model does not translate...unless I hack in translate code)

Hope this message finds you in 2025 any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks again for your efforts and for schooling us the ultimate camera system!

[andreiagmu]

Hi, I think this project is very, very much deprecated, and there has been no support for it for a long time.
If you want to have a Mario 64-esque camera and gameplay in Unity, there are other (far better and easier) solutions:

Platformer Project (I recommend it! 😸)
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/systems/platformer-project-206584

Hello Mario Framework
https://hellofangaming.github.io/HelloMarioFramework/

By the way, Unity 2017 is also a very old and deprecated engine version.
I suggest you use Unity 6 instead, it's a great Unity version!

[HyperFighting]

Thanks for getting back to me I really appreciate your suggestions!

The Hello Mario Framework looks incredible but it doesn't look like either solution is compatible with Unity 2017 in my case Wii U is my target platform.

I put so much time trying to get to the bottom of this rig I'm hoping I can find a solution.

[andreiagmu]

I understand. I can't help with Unity 2017 and Wii U stuff.
It's a shame you can't use Unity 6 and Platformer Project/Hello Mario Framework in your project, they're great frameworks!

Anyway, good luck with your project! 👍

[andreiagmu]

@HyperFighting You can try converting those frameworks to Unity 2017, by manually fixing the errors that will most likely appear.
But that conversion process probably won't be trivial at all.

[andreiagmu]

@HyperFighting After reading it again, your issue looks like something relatively simple to fix.
Can you send a copy of your project, so I can take a better look?
Or we can do a screen share call, whatever you prefer.

I think GitHub doesn't have private messages, so here's my email:
andreiagmu@gmail.com

[HyperFighting]

Many thanks andreiagmu! I I have sent a link to my project. At the moment I sent it I realize that the "WiiU" code in the 'character controller' may need to be rem'ed but otherwise the WASD are mapped to movement...maybe its just easier to use the CharacterControllerLogic.cs from this archive to get it to build. Thanks again!

[andreiagmu]

I checked @HyperFighting's project. The issue is that, while you correctly replicated the setup from the tutorial's character/camera controller to your original character, the NEW_A_run animation you're using doesn't have any root motion.

As a quick test, I opened your custom AnimatorController and swapped some NEW_A_run animations with the Run animation from the tutorial. After this, the custom character was moving similarly to the tutorial character.

Notice how in the animation preview (at the bottom-right), the character "moves forward" when you play the Run animation, but not the NEW_A_run animation. That's because of root motion.
You'd have to add root motion to your custom animation, using a DCC tool (e.g.: Blender). You can look in Google/YouTube/etc. for tutorials on how to do that.

This tutorial's character controller depends on the root motion from the animations to move the character.
And to be honest, I don't recommend using this tutorial's character/camera controller in an actual game project.

Note 1: If you're making a classic-styled 3D Platformer game, I don't recommend using root motion to move your character.
Root motion is meant for more realistic types of games (e.g.: GTA, Assassin's Creed). In my opinion, root motion-based character controllers tend to be very slow, clunky, and hard to control.
Mario 64 and Zelda OOT didn't use root motion, and I believe neither did the 3D Platformer frameworks I mentioned before.

Note 2: I'm not available for further support on this issue and this tutorial. I was just curious about @HyperFighting's issue and wanted to point them in a better direction.

[HyperFighting]

Thank you so much for your time and help on is project @andreiagmu I was concerned no one would notice my message in 2025! You really came to my rescue!! I will investigate the Mario Framework further and see if I can get it build in unity 2017.

Another approach to using this rig I am considering is...

1. Parent my model to the BETA model.
2. Remove everything from my model but the Animator.
3. Modify the character controller script so that the variables are copied to my models Animator.
   EX: BETA translates and my model inherits the transform because it is a child.
   EX: Because the variables are copied to the models Animator the animations are triggered as expected.
4. Hide BETA's RenderMesh but leave the scripts active.

From my perspective this is a way of using BETA as the root joint!

Many, Many hours got me to this odd idea but I think it might work...if I am unable to get the Mario Framework to build.

[andreiagmu]

I tried running the Hello Mario Framework in Unity 2017, but it requires the packages Cinemachine and Input System, which were released in later Unity versions (around Unity 2018, 2019).
From what I saw, Unity 2017.1 didn't even have the Package Manager (it was added in 2017.2).

So, I think it's not worth it to try porting the Hello Mario Framework to Unity 2017.

About your alternative approach:
It may work at first, but this will waste performance, as you're essentially handling two characters in one. This is definitely not a standard/recommended approach to moving a character.
This setup will probably also be hard to tweak and maintain in the long run.

In my opinion, your best bet is to find another character/camera controller that's more suited for your type of game, easier to set up/tweak/maintain, and supports Unity 2017.
It's a shame that the Asset Store doesn't store previous/older versions of assets...

[andreiagmu]

@HyperFighting
To wrap this up on a positive note, I did some searching/tests and found some character controllers that may interest you. 😺

---

• Action RPG Starter Kit
  https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/systems/action-rpg-starter-kit-9076

A great framework with nice features. Works perfectly in Unity 2017.1.
It's more RPG-oriented, but I did make a 3D Platformer game using this framework many years ago! 😉

Of all the Asset Store frameworks/character controllers I used in my projects, I think this is the only one that's still available in the Asset Store and is still compatible with older Unity versions (Unity 5, 2017, etc.).

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• SuperCharacterController
  https://github.com/IronWarrior/SuperCharacterController

A good kinematic character controller.
Don't use the .unitypackage file. Instead, copy the Assets and ProjectSettings folders into a new Unity project.

Note: I had to first create a new project in 2017.1.2p3, and then copy those folders into the project.
If I tried to extract the downloaded files from the GitHub repo first, and then Add project from disk -> open project, Unity 2017.1.2p3 wouldn't open for some reason.
This also applies to the other GitHub projects I mention below.

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• Unity3D Classic Lerpz Tutorial

Unity 4.2.1 version. The code is in JavaScript instead of C#, so it won't work out of the box in Unity 2017.1.
The included .pdf with the official tutorial is a nice read, though!
https://github.com/maceman1984/Lerpz

Here's a version updated to Unity 2019.3 and converted to C#.
https://github.com/prefrontalcortex/Lerpz

You may be able to use the C# converted fork in 2017.1, by undoing the changes from this commit:
prefrontalcortex/Lerpz@a188f8c (UI / script upgrades for 2019.3)

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Rediscovering the Lerpz tutorial gave me a lot of nostalgia!
I started learning Unity with the Lerpz tutorial, many years ago. xD
@HyperFighting Your issue report ended up helping me find Lerpz again, thanks a lot!

[HyperFighting]

Well I can't thank you enough for the help! Great advice and leads!

The only thing I can add is maybe with a little elbow grease I can get cinemachine to work. I noticed there are alot of tutorials for rigging a camera with it. There are reports of people getting it to work with Unity 2017 but they also needed to find a version of Post Processing V2.

I've got alot to work with now thanks again for all your help!