CustomItemVisual.xml

Defines everything the client needs to render a custom item without a client recompile: body glow, name label color, model folder and .bmd file name, inventory-view rotation / position / scale, ground-drop rotation / scale, trailing arrow effect, an extra tooltip description line with its own colour — and, for capes, a complete per-mesh rendering system that combines physics-simulated cloth with rigid ornament pieces. The server sends the whole table to the client at login; only items listed here receive custom visuals, every other item uses the client's hardcoded defaults.

File Location#

Data/Plugins/Items/CustomItemVisual.xml

Loaded once at GameServer startup. Supports hot reload via plugin admin command.

Schema#

<CustomItemVisuals>
    <Item Type="..." Index="..."
          R="..." G="..." B="..." Color="..."
          Folder="..." BMD="..."
          InvRotX="..." InvRotY="..." InvRotZ="..."
          InvPosX="..." InvPosY="..." InvScale="..."
          GroundRotX="..." GroundRotY="..." GroundRotZ="..." GroundScale="..."
          ArrowEffect="..."
          CapeTexture="..." CapeTextureFolder="..."
          RenderAs="..."
          Ornaments="..." OrnamentOffset="..." OrnamentRot="..." OrnamentScale="..." OrnamentMeshes="..."
          BodyMesh="..." SideMeshes="..." CapeSize="..." CapeOffset="..."
          BlendMesh="..." EffectSpeed="..."
          Description="..." DescColor="..." />
</CustomItemVisuals>

Attributes#

Identity#

Entries with out-of-range Type or Index are skipped at load time.

Body glow + name color#

R="255" G="153" B="26" produces a golden glow similar to Golden Monster chrome.

Model override#

Inventory-view pose#

InvScale and InvPos* affect inventory-cell framing only and are ignored under the auto-fit used by the cash shop and equipment slots; FitScale and FitOff* tune that path instead.

Summoner book attributes#

The value is ignored unless RenderAs="summoner_book". An out-of-range number falls back to sahamutt and logs a warning in the GameServer console.

Ground-drop pose#

Trail effect + tooltip text#

Glow pages#

Name color enum#

The full enum spans 0-45 and mirrors the client's name-color palette.

Worn-render templates#

RenderAs lets a custom item dispatch through a class-specific worn-render path. Empty/absent uses the default render path (BMD swap only — the model draws with its own baked animation).

Server-side validation for the RF skills above only checks character class and strength/dexterity, not the equipped item's class flags, so client-side registration alone is sufficient for the skills to fire.

Custom capes (cape_cloth)#

A cape imported from a later MU season is one BMD containing several mesh pages: the big cape panel, sometimes long side banners, and solid ornament pieces (pauldrons, feathers, crowns, sigils). Rendering that BMD as-is fails — it was animated for a different skeleton. The cape_cloth pipeline instead splits the BMD by mesh role and rebuilds the cape the same way the game builds Cape of Emperor:

1. Body — one mesh page is chosen as the cape panel. Its texture (and exact texture region) is painted onto a physics-simulated cloth sheet that drapes, collides and reacts to movement. The sheet is sized from the panel's real dimensions automatically.
2. Sides (optional) — listed mesh pages become narrow simulated side strips at the shoulders, exactly like Cape of Emperor's hanging side banners, each wearing its own page texture.
3. Ornaments (optional) — listed mesh pages render as a rigid prop pinned to the cape bone, tracking the body through every animation. This is how the vanilla Emperor pauldrons work.
4. Any page not assigned a role is hidden — a free way to drop baked-in glow planes you do not want.

Alternatively, skip the BMD entirely and paint a plain CapeTexture image onto the drape.

Cape attributes#

Finding mesh page roles#

Open the cape's .bmd in the MU Online BMD Viewer — it lists mesh pages in the same order the game uses. Assign roles by shape:

• the big flat sheet carrying the main cape art → BodyMesh
• long thin streamers/banners → SideMeshes
• solid sculpted pieces (pauldrons, feathers, crowns) → OrnamentMeshes
• glow/effect planes → leave unlisted (hidden)

Examples#

<Item Type="12" Index="418" Folder="2" BMD="Wing405" BlendMesh="-1" RenderAs="cape_cloth" Ornaments="1"
      BodyMesh="1" SideMeshes="2" OrnamentMeshes="0,3,4"
      OrnamentOffset="-47,15,0" OrnamentScale="1.0" OrnamentRot="0,90,0" />
<!-- Control Wings: body=blue panel(1), sides=rune banners(2),
     ornaments=shoulder cap/feathers/gold frame(0,3,4), eye glow(5) hidden -->

<Item Type="12" Index="154" Folder="2" BMD="PureWhiteCape" RenderAs="cape_cloth" BlendMesh="-1" />

<Item Type="12" Index="501" Folder="2" CapeTexture="guild_cape.tga" CapeTextureFolder="2" RenderAs="cape_cloth" />

Cape tuning guide#

Tune in this order, re-logging after each XML change (the table syncs at login):

Arrow effect names#

ArrowEffect accepts the following symbolic names. Anything else (including numeric values) is logged client-side and treated as no override.

Cross-File Dependencies#

Important Behavior#

• The cape_cloth pipeline only drapes on Dark Lord and Rage Fighter — the classes with a cloth simulator. Other classes render nothing from it
• Cape cloth is rebuilt when the wing changes and re-synced at login; after editing cape attributes, restart the GameServer (or hot-reload the plugin) and re-login to see the change — including at character select, which shows the same cape as in-world
• A cape BMD that has good baked animations and matches this client's skeleton can also be rendered as a plain model (leave RenderAs empty) — that preserves its own flap animation but gets no physics, no per-mesh roles and no placement knobs
• Custom wings (including small wings) do not draw the item-level upgrade glow that normal wings show at higher +levels. The custom mesh and any BlendMesh glow pages render on their own; the level glow is suppressed
• Custom wings keep rendering at distance and stay visible when the camera would otherwise cull them, so they do not pop out at range
• Glow mesh pages animate by default (AUTO BlendMesh at half speed). Set EffectSpeed="0" to make an effect static, or BlendMesh="-1" to turn additive glow off entirely for plain multi-mesh items and decorated capes

Common Issues#

• Custom glow not visible - R=G=B=0 means no glow
• Name color unchanged - Color value above 45 falls back to default
• Visual appears only for some players - other players need to re-login to get the updated sync
• Client crashes on an item - Folder / BMD point at a file that is not shipped with the client; either install the asset or clear the override
• Inventory icon looks tiny / gigantic - InvScale too low / high; leave at 0 to fall back to the client's default
• Ground drop floats or clips into the ground - adjust GroundRotX / GroundRotY rather than GroundRotZ; yaw rarely fixes pose issues
• Extra tooltip line missing - Description is empty, or the client is an older build that does not render the extra line
• Cape drapes with the wrong art - the auto body pick chose a banner/streamer page; set BodyMesh explicitly (see the cape tuning guide)
• Cape shows but no ornaments - Ornaments="1" missing, or every non-body page ended up in SideMeshes/hidden
• CapeOffset "does nothing" - it moves the cloth only; a gap at the static pieces is OrnamentOffset