A start on the .MESH file format

[Arbaces]

Oh! This is what I wanted to see...! Magnificent work GrumpyOldMan, wheter it will be in Milkshape or Max, we'll handle it.

My regards,

Arbaces.

[KnightErrant]

@GOM
Started on this a little late day. I've converted and opened in
Milkshape the following:

Mounts:

\unit_models\mounts\barded_horse\barded_horse_lod0
\unit_models\mounts\barded_horse\barded_horse_lod1
\unit_models\mounts\barded_horse\barded_horse_lod2

\unit_models\mounts\barded_horse\mount_barded_horse_lod0
\unit_models\mounts\barded_horse\mount_barded_horse_lod1
\unit_models\mounts\barded_horse\mount_barded_horse_lod2

\unit_models\mounts\camel\camel_lod0
\unit_models\mounts\camel\camel_lod1
\unit_models\mounts\camel\camel_lod2
\unit_models\mounts\camel\camel_lod3

\unit_models\mounts\camel\mount_camel_lod0
\unit_models\mounts\camel\mount_camel_lod1
\unit_models\mounts\camel\mount_camel_lod2
\unit_models\mounts\camel\mount_camel_lod3

\unit_models\mounts\elephant\elephant_cannon_lod0
\unit_models\mounts\elephant\elephant_lod0
\unit_models\mounts\elephant\elephant_rocket_lod0
\unit_models\mounts\elephant\mount_elephant_lod0
\unit_models\mounts\elephant\mount_elephant_rocket_lod0

\unit_models\mounts\european_armoured_horse\european_armored_horse_lod0
\unit_models\mounts\european_armoured_horse\mount_armored_horse_lod0

\unit_models\mounts\heavy_horse\heavy_horse_lod0
\unit_models\mounts\heavy_horse\mount_heavy_horse_lod0

\unit_models\mounts\mailed_horse\mailed_horse_lod0
\unit_models\mounts\mailed_horse\mount_mailed_horse_lod0

\unit_models\mounts\me_armoured_horse\me_armoured_horse_lod0
\unit_models\mounts\me_armoured_horse\mount_eastern_armoured_horse_lod0

\unit_models\mounts\medium_horse\medium_horse_lod0
\unit_models\mounts\medium_horse\mount_fast_pony_lod0
\unit_models\mounts\medium_horse\mount_pony_lod0
\unit_models\mounts\medium_horse\mount_pony_lod1
\unit_models\mounts\medium_horse\mount_pony_lod2

_units\as_lamellar_heavy :

\unit_models\_units\as_lamellar_heavy\as_lamellar_heavy_archer_lod0
\unit_models\_units\as_lamellar_heavy\as_lamellar_heavy_basic_lod0
\unit_models\_units\as_lamellar_heavy\as_lamellar_heavy_guard_lod0
\unit_models\_units\as_lamellar_heavy\as_lamellar_iron_lod0
\unit_models\_units\as_lamellar_heavy\as_lamellar_ironarcher_lod0
\unit_models\_units\as_lamellar_heavy\as_lamellar_leather_lod0
\unit_models\_units\as_lamellar_heavy\as_lamellar_leatherarcher_lod0
\unit_models\_units\as_lamellar_heavy\dismounted_heavy_archers_ug1_lod0
\unit_models\_units\as_lamellar_heavy\dismounted_heavy_archers_ug1_lod1
\unit_models\_units\as_lamellar_heavy\dismounted_heavy_archers_ug1_lod2

However on the last few units the converter started refusing to
do more than one unit, i.e. the load mesh button would depress
but the file chooser wouldn't come up. I can close it and restart
and get one more unit but same behavior.

Taking the wife out for dinner so will do more when I get back.
I'll try rebooting before I start again to see if that clears it.

PS: Just noticed this today, when I hit the exit button I get one
of those Microsoft error messages saying this application is not
responding do you want to send a report. I always closed it before
with the X button on the upper right corner and never saw this before.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Hi @KE

Thanks for this work you're putting in. I must admit I haven't tried it with mounts yet but it's good to see that the conversion works with them too. I see I'll have to extract the skeletons for camels and elephants to go with the horse skeleton I have and add some radio buttons to the converter so that the right skeleton is added to the file.

Forgive the .exe, it knows not that I play with a new GUI library .

Try the new exe I've emailed you with the texture splitting and amended UV values and see if that behaves the same. I may have to go in and see if I'm flushing the GUI_events properly.

NOTE for RTW Modders

I've had a look and there is a Max to MS3D plugin at http://www.mds.mdh.se/~elt01mcg/files/max2ms3d_v112.zip which exports an imported .CAS as mesh but not the bones. You could use this mesh to tie your vertices to a M2TW skeleton or chop off pieces as groups. I'm planning a facility to import single groups as MS3D.

Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

[KnightErrant]

Hi GOM,

Tried rebooting a few times but didn't fix it.
Got the new .exe and its working fine now.
I've looked at the weightings following your
help and I'm seeing it on the arm to torso and
leg to torso. I'm looking at the groups but I'm
not sure whether I know what you mean by

Thanks for looking at the converted meshes, as well as any that don't convert, I'd really appreciate you looking at patterns of groups, ie does it matter if groups are mixed up - Attachments within body group clusters, group sequences out of order, etc.

Is this the order the groups are listed in Milkshape
vs their mesh file order? Haven't noticed any problems.

I'm going to start skipping more to do a wider but less
detailed survey of the eastern units.

I''m off to Chattanooga tomorrow for my stepmom's 90th
birthday so won't be doing much more until tomorrow night.

Have a good rest of the weekend.

KE

[KnightErrant]

Hi GrumpyOldMan,

Meh, spoke too soon. The behavior came back after doing
5 or so meshes. My environment is I had Eudora up for your
e-mail, Mozilla for the forums, Visual Slickedit where I keep a
record of each unit I work on, Explorer, and Milkshape (plus
your executable). See if converting multiple meshes on your
computer does the same.

Anyway I finished off these additional.

Directory \unit_models\_units\as_lamellar\heavy :

\unit_models\_units\as_lamellar_heavy\dismounted_heavy_lancers_lod0
\unit_models\_units\as_lamellar_heavy\dismounted_light_lancers_lod0
\unit_models\_units\as_lamellar_heavy\khan's_guard_lod0
\unit_models\_units\as_lamellar_heavy\mongol_bodyguard_lod0
\unit_models\_units\as_lamellar_heavy\mongol_heavy_archers_lod0
\unit_models\_units\as_lamellar_heavy\mongol_heavy_lancers_lod0
\unit_models\_units\as_lamellar_heavy\mongol_infantry_lod0
\unit_models\_units\as_lamellar_heavy\mongol_light_lancers_lod0
\unit_models\_units\as_lamellar_heavy\sabadar_militia_lod0

Directory \unit_models\_units\as_light :

\unit_models\_units\as_light\as_light_archer_lod0
\unit_models\_units\as_light\as_light_basic_lod0            % Invalid triangles/groups, killed Milkshape.
\unit_models\_units\as_light\as_light_cuman_archer_lod0     % Invalid triangles/groups, killed Milkshape.
\unit_models\_units\as_light\cuman_horse_archers_lod0   
\unit_models\_units\as_light\dismounted_archers_lod0        % Invalid triangles/groups, killed Milkshape.
\unit_models\_units\as_light\kazaks_lod0                    % Invalid triangles/groups, killed Milkshape.
\unit_models\_units\as_light\mongol_ballista_crew_lod0      % Invalid triangles/groups, killed Milkshape.

Check out the ones I've marked with an error message. They converted
with no error message but when I tried to open them I got a Milkshape
message of Invalid triangles/groups, do you want to convert them?
No I think meant nothing appeared and Yes killed Milkshape. Don't know
if its a conversion problem or these are just bad meshes to start with.
Thought I would get further than this but I'm out of steam right now.
I'll check back tomorrow night.

KE

[GrumpyOldMan]

Hi @KE

My pudgy fingers came up with a typo which meant a variable wasn't getting refreshed. I've emailed the new version, I've tested it just now by converting the whole as_light folder in one sitting, seems to be working ok now.

I've had a look at the mounts and the UV values are different, it seems to me that the mount texture is a third file in the composite texture, and the mount attachments uses the figure attachments texture but uses a different UV value (negative values ). I'll look into it further after I've finished with figures.

Edit:- Just to keep people interested here's a picture of what we're getting in Milkshape.

https://i150.photobucket.com/albums/...007/Mongol.jpg

Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

[Bwian]

Been trying to follow this as time allows, and it certainly is looking promising!

Are we looking at switching to Milkshape 3D to model... or will Milkshape be more of a 'conversion tool' for getting models into a .mesh format? Personally, I would prefer Max as the tool ... but I don't know the first thing about scripting and am just glad someone can move this along!

Realistically, how far are we from being able to export something from MS3D to .mesh? I can see you have made huge strides in getting models out of the mesh format and into a modeller, and I have got renewed enthusiasm for modding MTW2 as a result! As least I know the composition of the models and the poly counts etc. that the stock models have.

Is there any way you could post a slightly more detailed breakdown of what the models are made up of? We have one from Caliban that I am using as a template... but I don't know if the parts it uses are the common makeup, or if they are widely different. I am also interested in knowing how many weapons/heads etc. is the maximum. For my Warhammer project, I want a reasonable degree of variation in units for Chaos .....

If you guys are stuck for time... I am happy to help out with testing this thing. Have access to MS 1.7.8 if that will run it. Will gladly pull models out and start listing components and polycounts etc.