Printable View
Wohoo, I must tell somebody about my success, I am so excited about this.
:jumping:
I downloaded 3ds max trial yesterday and today I was abel to but legionnaire helmet to gallic swordman. Of course helmet got hair texture, but that doesn't matter right now. Tomorrow I will try to get right texture for helmet and maybe do more editing. :2thumbsup:
Thank you Hoggy, your tutorials have been more than helpful.
This is almost funner than playing the game. :happy2:
~:cheers:
Congratulations ~:cheers: Looks like we have a new modeller on the scene, want to join my mod ~;) (that's what everyone will be saying soon)
PS I haven't actually played the game in months, that's what modding does to you
Ok ...
thank to you all
I have just modified my first model... but there is a problem
how can i map this model ?
Is possible to make a little tutorial for basics uvmapping ???
Bye ~:)
:help: hi there,
nice tutorial indeed. it's certainly the most detailed concerning skinning but anyway i don't get it properly. i changed some heads/plumes according to some great tutorial :book: . retextured them but i cant get the vertices weighted correctly (at least i think so). trying to save my model as .cas i get some notification saying "mesh body_400 must have the skin modifier at the top of the stack. if it is static it must have a bone as its parent" what did i do wrong? could someone plz publish a tutorial which copes with skinning step by step? i already made some great modifications and it would be quiet sad if i couldn't complete them ~:confused:
heres an image of my problem including my diagram viewhttps://img127.imageshack.us/img127/5401/error2sz.jpg
plz help
All the objects in your scene need to be either skinned to the bones or linked to the bones. So for example in your example body_400 might be skinned and weighted as by the tutorial but body_01 and shoulder pads could be linked to the torso bone. You link objects using the button to the right of the black arrow in the yellow button in your screen shot. Click that then drag the shoulder pads onto the torso bone. To avoid all these problems though make your 3 objects 1 big object and just skin that.
ok I downloaded that link to the xpac folder but there didnt seem to be any script files in there? Was this the wrong file? If so where do i get the other one?
jhw that is a max-script... it only work if u copy it into ur 3d studio max /script folder and perform it from the toolbar on the right.
hoggy, i merged my objekts all to the "scene root" so i got one objekt. skinned all vertices to bone_abs (rigid and 1,0) and tada.... no error message. but, when i tested my new .cas file (it was only 6 Kb) i had just bones and weapon/shield(without any texture). thats odd ...
i skinned doing the following:
added bone_* to envelope
selected bone_abs
selected all vertices
checked rigid and weighted them with 1,0
so whats wrong with that?
I think the scene root is a null? I don't think it should be part of the object. If you collapse the stack then just merge the geometry only (but not the weapon) and then skin it all it should work. You have to link the weapon to the hand bone. Did you mean it comes out ok in game but the texture doesn't show or that all you see in game is the floating weapon?
https://img354.imageshack.us/img354/2224/error28bq.jpg
heres what i got it seems to me all right but it does not export properly anyway..
~:) well i got the problem solved partially. i had to collapse my uvw modifier. files are larger now but in game i only see weapon/shield. (quite funny)
Right... First post! Sorry to bug you with such a basic question:
I tried to change the left arm of a model so that it resembles a sleeve, and not a bare arm. So far, so good. Now- how do you make the right arm exactly the same as the left? I tried to press the "mirror" button and fiddle around with that but it mirrors the whole body. How do I isolate just the arm so I can mirror that?
I know you guys have better things to do than help out complete beginners but any help would be greatly appreciated.
Option 1: you have to separate the arm first. Usually it's easier to just select it using Elements in Editable Mesh modifier, then press "Detach" at the option windows bottom right. You mirror that (use Copy), then click on the main mesh again, and use Attach to attach the two arms back together.
Option 2: just mirror the whole body, then use Elements in Editable Mesh to select everything in the second body but the arm you want to keep. Delete the rest and you get your arm. Just Attach it to the main mesh.
In the beginnig of this tutorial hoggy says that there can only be one texture per vertex. Does this mean that there cant be opacity or bumb maps?
'Cause i tried bumb map but texture went wrong...so is there any ways to put opacity map? ~:confused:
one texture per model. You can have opacity by using the alpha channel but no bump maps.
So simple! Thanks, wlesmana.
Ok. Here is my situation:
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...ar_1/outoa.jpg
I dont have a clue what went wrong :help:
I know that those men and flags outside of "mumakil" can be fixed in descr_mount, but what is wrong with the model???
This is rendered image of model:
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v..._1/Mumakil.jpg
it looks fine to me.
Could it be because of some values in descr_mount? Like value of tusks_z or others?
Does it matter that i didnt uvmap the whole model cause it had already right uvmap, i just changed it little bit.
Help wanted, if someone can help me.
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v..._1/Mumakil.jpg
There is zoomed pic of problem part... Those circled men are riders :/
Im veery sorry about posting this many times but i cant edit :I
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v.../outoazoom.jpg
This is the right pic for last post.
it looks like a problem with your scale settings, are you using a normal elephant skeleton but with a scale setting in descr_mount? Scale of the skeleton should be the same in the animation and descr_model_battle I believe.
hmm... Does it matter if i scaled the whole model(modle and bones and all) in 3ds max?Quote:
Originally Posted by hoggy
Where i can check the scale of animation? I changed that scale at descr_mount or in there descr_model_battle, but how do i know scale of animation?Quote:
Originally Posted by hoggy
you shouldn't scale anything in max. You need to use Vercingetorix's animation tool to scale animations.
OOHH!!! :furious3: ~DQuote:
Originally Posted by hoggy
That is probably the problem then. I must do the skinnig phase again :(
Well... i send next problem/finished pic to here :)
Thanks very much hoggy!
Ok!! Now it works!!! Weeh!
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...r_1/toimii.jpg
Only one thing bothers me still: Texture of box/tower/thing which is above mumakil changes, there should be only that brown texture, not those whiter parts. But its not big problem cause it fine now too.
hoggy: where can i scale that thing if not max? I tried in descr_mount---> radius, i added more that but its not changing. Where is that scaling part then?
i made it.
it had all to do with my 3dsm version i had 5.0 needed 6.0 what a ******.
i tried for month to get it and it was that bad bad bad wrong version.
anyway thanks to all ur effords espacially to u hoggy
https://img360.imageshack.us/img360/...benannt4ei.jpg
You need to use Vercingetorix's animation editor tool (i think it's available in the downloads section). It's very simple to use. If you run it a nd hit h for help it lists it's functions. Create a new skeleton using the existing elephant anims. Then scale that skeleton. Then asign that skeleton to the unit in descr_model_battle and apply the same factor of scale (see notes at top of descr_model_battle. This should scale your model and the rider offsets but you may have to tweak rider offsets in descr_mount. good luck.Quote:
Originally Posted by zedar
I´ve got myself gmax just recently and started some fooling around with that, and boy, my respect for all of you who know this has really shot up.
Is it because of gmax that I can´t see the textures of the model in the program? I set the correct texture path, even converted them from tga.dds to a couple of other formats, but they won´t show :embarassed:
I'm not sure what that is. try doing a render (greeny blue teapot at top right to see if it shows up.
Spirit_of_Rob - I can't reply to your PM because your inbox is full. It looks like you've only weighted one bone on your model, that's why they appear stiff as a board. You need to skin all the bones to get the correct result.
All right, I found out what I was doing wrong, it had to do with material.
Okay... so heres the lowdown, I've just got 3ds max 7 and I know completely nothing about it... could you make a dummies guide for it? Im trying anyway but ill probably fail, MISERABLY. Im hoping to becomse a little more advanced eventually... eventually.
erm... i just tried but it cant seem to open .cas files... only .max and .chrQuote:
Originally Posted by dctanker
If you look around the forum a bit there are a number of postings providing links for Max tutorials. It is a huge package so don't expect to be up and building m,odels for a while. You need Vercingetorix's Cas exporter tool to import cas files (see tools list in the root of the scriptorium)
Try doing tutorials in max. Go throught them from the beginning and as long as you want and skip boring things (means unnecessary). ~:handball:
It takes awhile to learn model...
You can narrow down the search a little bit by getting a bit more specific with your 'googling'.
Look for tutorials on:
Mesh Modelling
Low Poly Modelling
UV Mapping
Mapping Textures
Keyframe Animation
Skin Modifier
That sort of thing. MAx is designed to do really high end modelling, and very compley animation tasks. To model for RTW, you will be barely touching the very tiniest tip of what it can do...trouble is, if you let the real Genie out ofthe Max bottle, you will end up with models WAY too complex for the game engine, and will probably blow a fuse or two trying to get to grips with all teh words and terms in the tutorials. In short..3DS Max is like a Formula 1 car....and you are just working out which pedal makes it go ~D
Track down a good book ( assuming you...er...cough..don't have the manual ) My 3ds Max 6 Bible is invaluable. It's a lot less 'dry' than the manula, and came with a handy disc of samples and example vids. The Max manual tended to make more sense AFTER I had worked it out, and knew what the hell they were trying to say anyway.... Even then...the book is 1200 pages long!!! ( and...thank the gods..came with an electronic version on the disc! )
can I model with GMax? and If I can't where can I get 3DS Max 5?
You can model in it but you can't export with it. You can buy 3ds max5 from the discreet website.
Need help!
Here is what I do:
-import mount_horse_light_XXX.CAS
-select Mesh -> Skin -> Envelope
-open Weight Table
-give all Vertices from 'bone_H_Saddle' to 'bone_H_Lower back'
-export CAS
Every time I try to load this saved CAS it comes up with an error.
The same when I give only one Vertex to the other bone.
Any suggestion?
Thanks in advance!
With 'load' I mean: to import the saved CAS File in 3DSMax.
(Why can't I edit my posts?)
Strange. I'm not sure what's causing your problem. You get no error when you export? Have you had any problems exporting/importing before or is this the first time? Does the new CAS work in game?
ps. for some reason this forum only gives post edit rights to members and above. still not entirely sure how you become a member.
what does that error say?Quote:
Originally Posted by SirRethcir
That's right, no export error.Quote:
Originally Posted by hoggy
Hm, I think I had the same error message when doing things such as add bones...Quote:
Originally Posted by hoggy
Yes, no problem. But I would really love to export it again.Quote:
Originally Posted by hoggy
error mesage:
MAXScript Rollout Handler Exception
--No "+" function for undefined
highlighted line in progressStart ("Setting up Mesh...")
.
geomSet.geomChunks[k].newObj.pos +=bChunk.pbones ...
.
Have you tried it yourself?
Give one vertex to another bone, export and then import?
No I must admit I haven't. I tend to save the scene as a standard max file on my own directories while I work on the model. Then you can open the max file, edit and re-export any time.
So when you make a guy like a hoplite if you make the spear longer will the range be longer?
Thanks for your replies, hoogy and zedar!
New questions awaiting you. (in 'General')
I don't think so. ;)Quote:
So when you make a guy like a hoplite if you make the spear longer will the range be longer?
But wait for an expert answering!
Thanks Hogg. I can't wait to get started!
When trying to export to .CAS format I get the message:
"Problem occured while reading the weights for vertex 336 in mesh body. Make sure each each vertex has exactly 1 bone weight"
In the skin weight table that vertex is linked to only one bone, as it can be seen it the screenshot:
[img=https://img251.imageshack.us/img251/4519/3ds7ei.gif]
Any ideas?
Thank you very much!
https://img251.imageshack.us/img251/4519/3ds7ei.gifQuote:
Originally Posted by Dromikaites
hmm, not sure. try weighting that vertex again with 'rigid' checked.
Naah, it doesn't seem to work. The vertex is weighted with 'rigid' option on but still no change.Quote:
Originally Posted by hoggy
Would you take a look at the .max file?
The warning message is often wrong. Check the entire vertex weight list for weights that are not 1 or empty/0.
When i got that error, i weighted all vertices again, but made sure that example bone_abs had all vertices selected. It worked after that.
Unfortunately there's something I'm probably missing...Inspite the fact every vertex is weighted to one and only one bone with the "rigid" option and the value 1.0 that error is still preventing me to export the model to .cas
I checked the bones and vertexes one by one in the "Skin weight table". Is any other place I can check the status of the vertexes and bones?
Hi Dromikaites, I'll PM you my email and take a look at it
Thank you very much Hoggy!
Well, it turned out that not every vertex was weighted to one and only bone. Actually there were 2 vertexes not linked to any bone. But they were not those reported by the .CAS exporter. Since I was looking in the weight table for vertexes connected to two or more bones, I missed those.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dromikaites
The key learning points are:
1) Don't take ad-literam the .CAS exporter error messages (This doesn't mean in any way I'm not grateful to Vercingetorix for his wonderful tool - no modding of the models would be possible without it)
2) Take a very good look at the weight table.
Thank you all who tried to help me and I'm sorry I've wasted your time with my stupid lack of attention to detail.
I have a question. When making models, what dimensions should be used? or do the models automatically resize temselves?
best bet is to import an RTW unit model and adopt the file's scale. Use this as your guide for all other scaling.
BASIC TUTORIAL FOR UV MAPPING?
...sorry for boring you so much with such kind of questions...
I need a very simple and basic instructions to make the new UV maps related to modified models... by now I'm able to change weapons, shields and add little features like plumes, feathers, etc., following the very useful tutorials that I found in this discussion ...my problem is that I don't know how to make the new uv maps with enlarged room for the larger shield and for the new items that I added to the model...
...can you help me, please?
EDIT: NM, I'll just get it somewhere else...
I figured out what I was doing wrong...
Oki One question about Weapons if I may.
When Loading a Pikeman and when loading a Hoplite, they both have a spear of Same legth...
Yet in Game the Pikes are longer than the spears Hoplites use...
What makes the difference? I verifyed descr_models, (I assumed that there would be a distinction between Pikeman and spearman and some scaling of the same spear model is hapening somewhere)..but they both have same Skelleton animations...
Any clues anyone can give in that regard?
Units that has "phalanx" formation in EDU.txt get assigned special pikes. These pikes are taken from a different model entirely (in data/models i think) and they follow their own set of animations.
Ahhh! Thank you very much!
So Units without the Phalanx would perform as regular spearmen...with the weapon as per the unit's .CAS model.
Units with Phalanx and Pike, will use the "weapon_hoplite_pike.cas" in models folder...which also has its own animation...(opening that model and comparing, we see clearly that it is a Pike, longer spear)...is his correct?
But, what hapens if a Unit does not use a Pike, but has Phalanx capability...will it use its default Spear as per the Unit's .CAS model?
And if that is the case, then, what accounts for the special animation?
Or, is there yet a third Weapon model somewhere for regular phalanx spears?
Because, there is still one factor unnacounted here, what makes the Phalanx Spear Shorter than the Phalanx Pike (now that we know the Pikes are their own Models with own animation)?
Well,
Upon Further testing, I am now realising that Both Phalanx Pike and Phalanx Spear use the same weapon_hoplite_pike.cas.
It still does not answer why Phalanx Pikes are longer than Phalanx Spears...
Except, if we take under consideration the atribute "long_pike" in EDU...so this must be hardcoded somewhere and that attribute makes the same Model Longer in the case of a Pike.
Thank you for the help wlesmana ~:cheers:
Yes, you should be able to see that from the pike being longer in game than it was on the actual model.
Is it possible to do this in gmax.
Possible to do but not to get into the game unfortunately because g-max lacks the exporting features of 3ds max.
i keep getting a "-- runtime error: feature not available: "fopen write mode"" when ever i export CAS files but nothing wrong when i import can u please tell me what the hell this is ~:confused: ~:confused: ~:confused: ~:handball: ~:mecry:
It looks like you're getting an error message from a standard C runtime library which is unusual, and perhaps indicates less-than-sterling coding in the application you're using. The fopen function is a very low-level routine that C programs use to open files. The message is telling you that for some reason it can't write to (or perhaps create) a file. That's why you can import but not export.
This usually indicates one of the following: the file is read-only, your disk isn't writeable, or you're out of disk space.
Whenever I try to give a unit a thrown weapon like a javelin or a plumbatum, they have it in their hand in the game, but they never let go of it, even when they do the throwing animation. As such, it looks a bit silly. Has anyone else had this sort of problem before? Sorry if this is a dumb noob question, but I couldn't find any existing posts on it.
Oh wait, it looks like units have always done that and I just never noticed. It's some issue with the stupid 1.2 patch. Turns out I am a dumb noob!
I downloaded a 30-day trial version of 3DS and all seems to be working well. Thanks to the tutorial, I've managed to create a test unit by swapping an Eastern Infantryman's spear for a Barbarian Swordsman's sword. So far so good.
Unfortunately, though the game plays without a problem, the sword model seems to be wearing the skin of the original model's spear. At least, the thing looks wrong, and that's the best explanation I can think of.
In order to start playing with the textures (as per instruction #4 posted by Hoggy back on page one), I downloaded a trial version of Corel Paint Shop Pro X (that mean anything to any-one?)
Unfortunately, I can't find, let alone open any DDS files with it.
Can someone explain to me (in layman's terms perferably) what I need to do in order to find, open and then edit the weapon skins, so that I can sort out this unsightly problem.
You need to convert the dds files to something that corel draw can read, like jpg or tga or whatever else. Take a look in the twcenter download section, there should be a dds converter tool. Alternatively, you can use this link: http://www.mnwright.btinternet.co.uk...ad/dxtbmpx.EXE
That´s what I use.
Thanks for that.
I'm now looking at a bizzairely fragmented collection of images, resembling a Picasso painting. It's not quite what I was expecting.
Now can someone explain to me how this instruction:
Quote:
Originally Posted by hoggy
relates to what I can see.
The texture page has all the textures associated with the model on it. To conserve space each sections is rotated/moved about etc to fit within the texture page (there is only one per model). Hence Picasso. Because each model can only use one texture your Eastern spear is using the texture of the Barbarian you gave it to.
You need to open the eastern spear texture, select the area of texture used by the spear and paste that into the barbarian swordsman texture over the sword.. It won't neccesarily fit so you may have to jiggle about a bit.
To find which part of the texture page your spear model uses select all it's polygons in poly mode. then in the drop down modifiers select 'unwrap uvs'. Press the edit button to show the UV window. You can print screen this to use as reference.
When you've pasted the spear texture in. you need to move the uvs of the spear so they line up with the texture in your updated texture page.
hope this helps
Hoggy I opened a unit, and clicked on the rainbow icon. However, no option saying collapse all comes up. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? This is my first attempt at modelling BTW.
Thanks for the advice, but I'm afraid I'll have to intrude on your patience again because I'm still having problems with the textures.
I decided to start small with another simple test; only fiddling with the textures file. I used Vercingetorix' extractor to find the textures for the Britanic Warband, and then with the .DDS converter, shipped the file from the Data\Packs folder into a temporary file on the desktop, converting it to .TGA format in the process.
In Corel Paint Shop Pro, I used the filler tool to change the colour of the model's trousers. No fiddling with weapons, no major changes. Simply a replacement of pixels from blue to red.
I then used the .DDS converter to change the file back into .DDS and replace it into it's original folder.
When I ran the game, I could see no changes to the model's skin.
I wondered if I'd made a mistake and not over-written the original file, so I used Vercingetorix' extractor again to look at the .DDS file in it's Data\Packs\Models\etc folder.
When the picture showed up in the right-hand window, I could see the changes I had made, so I was definately using the right file. However, the whole image was tinted blue.
I've no idea why the image was blue, nor do I understand why nether this nor the changes I made have showed up in-game.
Chances are I'm making some elementary mistake somewhere along the line, but I can't see any clues in the various tutorials knocking around on this site and others.
Can anyone spot what I'm doing wrong?
Maybe it still uses the compressed texture in the .pak file. Change the name of your texture to something else, and change the texture path in models_battle.txt to that name.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheAlcotroll
Sounds plausible, I'll have a go.
But what about that blue colour?
TheAlcotroll - Blue? hmm...don't know sorry. I can only assume something has happened in your texture conversion process. sorry. Have you got the texture appearing in game yet?
RTW King - to 'collapse all' right click on the stack item you want to collapse and a menu drops down. So for example if you want to get rid of skinning. right click on the +skin level in the stack in the white window.
How do you select vertices?