I wrote that post over on the Orbsydia forums.
The .def files are entirely client side. So any EMU that supports the newer clients will also support .def files.
The .def files are all text files, so they are pretty easy to modify. There are several different .def files, and I haven't figured them all out yet. I know that bodyconv.def tells the client what animation ID's to assign to the animations in anim2.mul (Blackthorne's Revenge) and anim3.mul (Age of Shadows).
But probably the most useful .def file is body.def. Body.def basically does the same thing as those utilities that copy an index in anim.mul so you can use an existing animation with a new gump.
Here's an example. Say I want to add a new type of armor tunic, and I want to use the existing chain tunic for the character animation.
First you need to understand how the client links animations to gumps. Take a look at any animation ID and you will notice that the following formula is used to link animations to gumps:
animation ID + 50,000 = male gump ID
animation ID + 60,000 = female gump ID
(If the female gump ID isn't present, the animation will use the male gump ID for both male and female).
This is how the client knows which animations go with which gumps.
So to add my new armor tunic gump, I need to use a gump ID that has a free (empty) animation ID. In my case, I decided to use the empty animation ID 426, which means I have to put my new gump at gump ID 50426 (hex 0xC4FA) since 426 + 50,000 = 50426. If I want a female gump for the tunic as well, that would go at gump ID 60426 (hex 0xEC0A).
So now I have my new gump, and it is "attached" to an empty animation ID (426). Here is where you modify body.def to assign an existing animation to that ID number.
Open body.def in a text editor. The format for body.def is:
<ORIG BODY> {<NEW BODY>} <NEW HUE>
So for my new tunic, I add this line to body.def:
426 {538} 450
426 is my empty animation ID that attaches to my gump. 538 is the animation ID for a chainmail tunic. 450 is the hue that my new tunic animation will be dyed.
Finally, you need to add an art tile to represent the new tunic, and you set the AnimID Offset flag for that item to 426 (the new animation ID). Don't forget to also set the "wearable" flag and set the layer to the appropriate layer for your item (in this case, layer 13).
As you can see, once you get the hang of it, this is a lot easier than using one of those utilities to duplicate animation numbers for the same purpose.
CAUTION: Body.def assigns new animation ID's but you will not see these as being in use in utilities like InsideUO. So you need to make sure that animation ID's you want to use aren't being used in body.def already.
Hope this info is helpful!
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