Overview
I have seen a number of posts over the years on the proper way to switch over a player’s character model to a different rig. The primary issue is that once the changeover happens, local scripts will not execute, which breaks animations and any other local scripts that have been added.
In this tutorial, I will show you how to properly switch the player’s character model to a different/custom rig mid-game and still have all the animations work.
Procedure Outline
The outline will give you the basic method on what to do. The new character will be referred to as NewChar while the player’s original character will be referred to as OldChar.
Procedure
- Get the player’s current character.
- Unequip any tool(s) the player may have equipped.
- Clone the new rig from either
ReplicatedStorage,ServerStorage, or wherever you have your custom rigs stored. - Clone all scripts from
OldChartoNewChar.- If you get a
LocalScriptnamed “Animate”, make sure to to disable it.
- If you get a
- Set the name of
NewChartoPlayer.Name. - On
NewChar, get theHumanoidreference. - Set
Humanoid.DisplayNametoPlayer.DisplayName. - Wait 1 frame using
task.wait(). - Set
Player.CharactertoNewChar. - Destroy
OldChar. - Get the reference to the
LocalScript“Animate”. - Enable Animate.
- Set the parent of
NewChartogame.Workspace. - Reequip any tools the player might have had equipped.
By following this procedure, you will be able to switch the player to a new rig mid-game and not break local scripts in the new rig.
Code
Here’s some basic code for you to work from.
Code
-- Switches the player's rig to the given new rig.
local function switchPlayerChar(player: Player, newRig: Model)
-- Step 1: Get the player's character.
local oldChar = player.Character
local count = 10
while oldChar == nil and count > 0 do
count -= task.wait()
oldChar = player.Character
end
if oldChar == nil then
warn("Player's character failed to load before the timeout.")
return
end
-- Step 2: Unequip any tools the player has equipped.
local tool = oldChar:FindFirstChildOfClass("Tool")
if tool ~= nil then
tool.Parent = player.Backpack
end
-- Step 3: Clone the new rig.
local newChar = newRig:Clone()
-- Step 4: Clone all scripts to new rig.
local list = oldChar:GetChildren()
for _, item in ipairs(list) do
if item:IsA("Script") or item:IsA("ModuleScript") then
local newItem = item:Clone()
newItem.Parent = newChar
elseif item:IsA("LocalScript") then
local newItem = item:Clone()
newItem.Parent = newChar
if newItem.Name == "Animate" then
newItem.Enabled = false
end
end
end
-- Step 5: Set Rig Name
newChar.Name = player.Name
-- Steps 6 & 7: Set Display Name
local newHuman = newChar:WaitForChild("Humanoid", 10)
newHuman.DisplayName = player.DisplayName
-- Step 8: Wait 1 Frame
task.wait()
-- Step 9: Change Character
player.Character = newChar
-- Step 10: Destroy Old Character
oldChar:Destroy()
oldChar = nil
-- Steps 11 & 12: Enable Animations
local animate = newChar:FindFirstChild("Animate")
animate.Enabled = true
-- Step 13: Make the new character visible.
newChar.Parent = game.Workspace
-- Step 14: Reequip tool if needed.
if tool ~= nil then
tool.Parent = newChar
end
end
Additional Information
- The order things are done must remain the same. If the order changes, then local scripts will break.
- You have to add all scripts to the
NewCharbefore you setPlayer.CharactertoNewChar. - You have to set
Player.Characterbefore you parent the character togame.Workspace. - You can add attributes to
Humanoidfor things like if you are going to remove all tools, or if the previously equipped tool is to be reequipped or not. - What I do is get the player’s UserId and set a
UserIdattribute on both the character model and theHumanoid.
