DISCLAIMER
This is just some notes from my trial and error experiments. You may find problems I have not. This tutorial has also not been thoroughly proof-read.
Also, I have never edited the Shaq body type. My apologies if his file is missing parts I claim are there.
BODYTYPE TUTORIAL
Open xpblend.viv in EAGE and extract blend_loda_body_XYZ.o
XYZ could any of body types (skinny, mediumcut, thick, etc.) There are also custom body types for Baron Davis, Ben Wallace (for his fro), Karl Malone, Rodney Rodgers, Shawn Bradley, Shaq, and Yao. These custom bodies are named in the yaming_ format. Custom bodies are called up in the game by editing the player.dbf. The BODYTYPE field most players are set at runs from 1(skinny) through 7(thickcut). Setting this field to 9 in a player enables a custom body with a name matching the The PLAYERPKG field.
example: PUTTING SHAQ ON A DIET
Open xpblend.viv in EAGE and extract blend_loda_body_shoneal.o
Open MorphMesh. Set [Morph -> Mesh].
In the morph field, find the extract .o file you just extracted.
In the mesh field, set the name of mesh file you MorphMesh will create. We might call it shaq.o or any memorable name. THE NAME OF THIS NEW FILE DOES NOT MATTER.
click on convert.
Open OEdit. Find your the new mesh file MorphMesh created. In this case Shaq.o
Open this file. Clicking on the upper left hand box allows you to work with the object from a frontal view. Ctrl + W zooms in Ctrl + Q zooms out. Holding the Ctrl button and dragging with the left mouse depressed pans over the items. When you zoom in, you will need to pan to bring the item into the field of view. The lower right window (perspective) works in the same way, except you use Ctrl and Drag with the right mouse button to zoom in and out.
On the far upper right is the parts box. This has a list of numbers with check boxes next to them.
Here are what some key numbers refer to in body files
000 = back of jersey
001 = front of jersey
002 = head
003 = arms and legs
004 = shoes and ???
007 = straight nameplate for jersey back?
008 = rainbow nameplate?
010 = old school short shorts (used if ShortShorts value in player.dbf is set to T)
019 = straight nameplate for jersey back?
020 = rainbow nameplate?
029 = baggy shorts
Click on part 001. when it is highlighted the shape of the front of the jersey will appear.
Click on upper right window (Side). When this window is active the word side will turn red.
Hit Ctrl + W several times to zoom in.
Hold down Ctrl and drag with left mouse button to move the part back to the center of the window. When zoomed in close enough, you should see lines and blue dots.
Go to the Action section on the right and click the select button select.
Go to the Direction Option section and make sure on the Horiz. button is depressed.
Click on the Side window again and this time drag with the left mouse button (don't use Ctrl this time) This should create a box or rectangle shape. Any dot inside this area will turn red when the depressed.
Make a selection of some of the dots near the front of the belly area.
Move the mouse over any of the red dots and it turns pink. Make sure to press Move in the Action section on the right. Now hover over any red dot. When it turns pink, left click and drag to the left. All the selected (red, pink) dots will move to the left. Since we did not depress the Vertical button in the Direction Options section we can only move the dots horizontally (left and right). If both were on we could move the dots in any direction.
When you have moved the belly in a bit, save the file.
reopen the MorphMesh program. This time the settings will all be the same but we select [Mesh -> Morph]. The Mesh and Morph fields do not switch position. If the program asks about overwriting a file you have them mixed up. shaq.o goes in the bottom field.
Click convert. It will let you know when this is complete.
Open EAGE and reopen xpblend.viv file.
Select blend_loda_body_shoneal.o from list of items on the left. Click on the import button and select the blend_loda_body_shoneal.o file MorphMesh was directed at. If you wanted to use this for a custom Moses Malone body, rename the file to blend_loda_body_momalon.o
EAGE can import new custom bodies. If the end of the file matches what is in the PLAYERPKG field of the players.dbf file, the corresponding player have that body type in the game if the BODYTYPE field is set to 9.
NOTES
If you change a players height in the game, it also resets the BODYTYPE field to 2. Thus, you will have to re-edit the players.dbf to reset the value from 2 to 9 to get the custom body back at the new height.
HAIR
You can also edit the basic hair types in the xpblend.viv. MorphMesh will convert the morph file (hair08_loda.o) into an editable Mesh file (Mohawk.o) and back. It complains about the header information in the file not matching, but completes the conversions and I have not seen any problems in the game.
DETAIL LEVEL
My understanding is that a loda file is the highest detail level. lodc would be a lesser detail. I only play with the high detail level. If you don't, you would need to edit the appropriate .o files.