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Chris

Cramped W3X models in 3ds max 9

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Hello.

Before I get to the actual problem, I want to clarify that I am posting this here instead of the RA3 modding forum, because the TW/KW modding is more active, than that of RA3. Moreover, the issue that I am about to share could be common between RA3 and TW/KW. 

I recently installed 3ds max 9 SP2 on win 7, and I pretty much installed all the plugins and scripts that came with the RA3 mod sdk, to my 3ds max 9 folders. I then downloaded bibber's W3X to 3DS max importer which is working fine. I did this because I plan on carrying out some changes to the original game buildings.

The problem is , when I attempt to import an original W3X, in this case a W3D Mesh, it imports, but the model appears to be cramped in a very strange manner, as shown in the following screenshots.(In this case it is the Soviet Super Reactor)

This happens with pretty much every building I try to import.

Can someone please explain to me what's going on here? Thank you in advance.

 

 

W3X.jpg

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I am facing a series of problems when it comes to exporting the Super reactor. I combined all the meshes,obbox, containers and hierarchy into a single W3X and it imported just fine.(I did not include the animations). However when I export, should I select "simple mesh" , or heirarchial model? Also do I need to take apart the whole thing again after export or what?

Moreover, ingame, the modified model appears fine, however the building lost its animations, I cannot select it anymore, and when I want to build a new one, the building appears right away without unpack animations.

What am I doing wrong? This is very confusing.

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"Hierachical Model" if you have a model without a animation (that what you are going to use in most cases)

"Hierachical Animated Model" if you have a model with an animation (best used if you model has only one animation)

"Pure Animation" exports only the animation data but no model data. Usually you need to check "Export using existing animations" and select an existing model or skeleton

"Skeleton" exports the bone data but not the models.

"Simple mesh" exports only a single mesh. No point in using that, might as well use Hierachical Model in nearly all cases.

 

The lack of animation is caused by the lack of a (WW)Skin modfier. You need to reapply it and rig the model.

Dunno about RA3, but the TW SDK has some basic infomation about WWSkin in the documantation under MOD SDK/Documentation/3DSMAX_Skin_Modifier.htm

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Thanks for the reply. The RA3 mod sdk also has documentation , but its very very confusing I was unable to understand anything from it. I will look into the wwskin modifier. But what about the lack of ability to select the structure in game ?

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You need a OBBOX for that (or more than one depending on the shape). If you imported an existing model, the box should allready exist. Check its w3d settings and make sure its set to "OBBOX" and "Hide"

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Thanks a lot for your help. I will let you know what happens .

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Ok, I can now select the building after I set the "obbox" and "hide" in the W3D settings, but when it comes to retaining the animations, I'm still confused. How can I re-apply the WW(skin) to the building? There are so many options.

Edited by Chris

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On 7/6/2017 at 8:05 PM, Bibber said:

You need to import the whole hierarchical model. That means: Put all parts (container, hierarchy, obbox, mesh) of it into one single file and import that one to 3ds max. It will ask you for 2 files: hierarchy and container. You can choose the same file both times if you have everything in there.

I copy pasted everything in 1 w3x file via notepad++ and it worked for some units (Like RA3U Soviet Grinder). However for most of them i get this kind of error:

9fba3348ee.jpg

This ^ happened with Cryo legionaire model. and i got the error when tried to import GDI Rig as well.

 

What's the solution for this? I can't import animations either (Using an special script created by another fellow)

 

And when i use the importer from your website @Bibber The model is cramped and i get no error. even tho i added all the files and pretty much everything show up in the interface.

Edited by M.P

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On 11.7.2017 at 11:18 PM, Chris said:

Ok, I can now select the building after I set the "obbox" and "hide" in the W3D settings, but when it comes to retaining the animations, I'm still confused. How can I re-apply the WW(skin) to the building? There are so many options.

FYI: When you animate a model, you dont animate the meshs, you usually animate the bones. A skin/WWskin is then used to tell a verticle which bone they should use as a base for their own movement. For example, a tbasic ank could use only 3 bones for Chassis, Turret and Barrel while a human model would need tons of bones to create a good looking animation.

 

There are 3 basic ways to apply a WWksin:

1. Autolink: Create a WWkins somewhere in you model (can be found under Create => Space Wraps) and use the "Bind to space weaps" button in the menu to link it to your model. Then select the wwskin modier, choose "add bones" to... well, add bones and choose which you need. If you click on your mesh afterwards, you should have a "WWSkin Binding" setting. This allows you to select the verticles you want. Simply select all and hit "Auto-Link". Keep in mind that it basicly links the verticles to the nearest bone, so make sure your WWSkin isnt cluttered with some pointless FXbones or something.

2. Manually: Same as before, but link verticles by hand to specific bones. If you used autolink, chances are some verticles need to be linked manually anyway.

3. Turn Skin into WWskin: If you importet your model from RA3, there should be a normal skin modfier on it allready. Go to MAXScripts and choose "RTS" in the utillity box. A list of buttons should be addvaible. One of them reads "Skin to W3d" button - it turns the skin modifier back into a wwskin modier.

If you wonder whats the point of having 2 skin modiers: The default 3ds skin modifier seem to be a lot more stable (that is, not crashing 3ds or screwing up the settings if I edit the model later), However, since the game doesnt support that type of modifier, it needs to be turned into a WWskin in order for the export to work.

 

Edited by Stygs

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Thanks a lot, I managed to restore the animations, but now I am faced with a new problem. After editing the Allied War Factory model, it has a buildup animation and production animations and all that, however it would appear that there are 2 models that are exactly the same , which are merged together. The following screenshot will explain it:

RA3_1 2017-07-17 16-18-45-76.jpg

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Are you sure thats this is not so an xml error?

Now that I think about it, it kinda looks like you merged the door into the main building model.

 

The door is usually a own model with a own drawmodule in the xml so it can be animated (open/close) without interfering with other building animations.

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I think the whole building is merged with another model of the same look. Because I noticed that as I rotate the camera or move it, the yellow crane thingy actually flickers in a way, that shows there is something within it. This doesn't exist on the original model. This keeps getting confusing...

Also I noticed that the war factory stops displaying explosions and debris as it takes damage. It only displays its debris when its completely destroyed...

Edited by Chris

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Well, I think you only way we can help you is if you upload the model and the xml file as I got no idea what the problem could be.

Edited by Stygs

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Actually, I managed to fix the "merging" issue. Apparently, the yellow crane and door, did have their own model, so deleting them from the model that I modified fixed the issue.

However, there is still the problem of explosions not displaying as the building takes damage. Also, what is the difference between NEWSKIN and NEWSKIN_FILL ?

Here are the models and textures, as well the Allied WF XML: http://www12.zippyshare.com/v/0OvesBsu/file.html

If you need anything else let me know.

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You shouldnt really use your new model for the AnimationStates, since it doenst contain any sort of animation.

 

Not sure about the FILL skin (istn used in CnC3), but the BuildingDestructionBehavior refers to it (FillerMesh="NEWSKIN_FILL") so I assume its connected to your problem.

I suggest opening the orginal WF model and check whatever shader/w3d settings the FILL model has and try to replicate that in 3ds - or simply copy the whole object from the orignal file and paste it into your w3x.

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The original animations are working perfectly fine actually, even with my new W3X.

The good news is, I managed to get the explosions to appear again, simply by exporting my new W3X using the existing Skeleton that contains the Bone Contact Points. However, even with the explosions, the building is not losing its parts. There is just that 1 thing left to solve.

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Ok! I solved it ! Basically, I opened up the new W3X model which I exported from 3DS max, using notepad++, and in there, I went to the W3D Container section, and I assigned the model the original NEWSKIN and NEWSKIN_FILL . This will not affect the stuff that I added, and the building will now display explosions and lose parts and everything .

Thanks a lot to everyone who helped :)

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