Hi there, since I saw nobody yet post this I guess it's my duty to do so.
Norbyte (Who else?) created an absolutely fantastic utility
The Export Tool (It does in fact, convert
GR2 to DAE and
DAE to GR2.
This allows you to convert GR2 files.. to COLLADA DAE which you can load in Blender or 3DSMAX (both tested by Norbyte and me) and export from these apps back to DAE. Then you convert the modified DAE back to GR2, add it back in the game. And you have a modified GR2 mesh, complete with bones, skeleton, weighting and everything.
Download (This is Norbyte's Dropbox) File there is always up-to-date
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32263228/dos/gr2/ExportTool.zipFor example, if you take a look at one of the body meshes in D:OS after unpacking the pak files. You can find for example here
Data\Public\Main\Assets\Characters\Players\
PL_M_Body_A.GR2Which is default male underwear mesh (as seen in 3dsmax 2013)
Turns out Roderick drank too much bear after winning....
A bit Export Tool vodoo, overwriting the relevant GR2 and...
Ingame magic
Since I am not a character modeler this is the extend of my abilities.. but someone who has the skills can with this likely edit the HAIR and BODY of ALL things in the game. You can also likely create new items and weapons, change existing ones. Or make better underwear... or naked meshes. Whatever. I am not judging you
The only thing I do not know is whether you can edit animations.
The bat files in the download allow you to quickly access all the tools functions. GR2 to DAE when you want to convert a D:OS mesh to DAE and load it in 3dsmax and Blender, and DAE to GR2 when you EXPORTED a DAE mesh from 3dsmax or Blender and want it in-game.
I don't need to tell you all what an incredible thing this is. Yes, you can now modify character meshes and mesh related things in the game world.
Caveats related to character mesh modifications. The skin texture is a
greyscale (yes, really!) the skin color is applied by a shader. This means you are stuck in your colorization to what the skin shader in the game allows. It also means no "easy" conversion of Skyrim body meshes.... (Well.. which is not at all EASY since you have to rig the entire body again) this is something I honestly never want to do again...
So, cometh forth and mod this game. Now with 50% more
modding possibilities. Thanks and I will repeat it, entirely to Norbyte. I tested, he made! Without him, we'd still be stuck at zero.
As bonus easter egg...
Rodericks body in Unity 5 riding one of my silly spaceship models rodeo
So things are possible now
I hope someone else experiments with this further, as I am going to be very inactive very soon.