A start on the .MESH file format

[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.