A start on the .MESH file format

**taylorj2** · 03-08-2007, 23:18

Hmmm maybe the reason we can't open the MESH files normally is because of the 2 bytes of dummy data? CA could of put them in there so we can't edit them

Probably not the answer but its a idea.

**Casuir** · 03-09-2007, 00:39

Na its a completely different format. Rhino's primarily for modelling in nurbs and isnt really suitable for modelling for games.

**Caliban** · 03-09-2007, 01:55

There are lots of bits of data that I don't understand and I don't want to understand but I don't need to as I can just use them. Just a clarification in case anybody from Radgames is interested.

The .MESH format was written inhouse by our engine programmer (that rhino format is completely different as Casuir pointed out). It's not a radtools format and it doesn't contain any of the granny format. It's simply an optimized binary format for the engine to load. No need to worry on that front :)

What was the main idea behind having attachments sets btw, less resource usage?

We re-use alot of base meshes between units so we didn't want to have to build unique meshes each time. The attachment sets let us add that extra detail without building it into the meshes. This lets us have a greater amount of total unit variations by mixing different body parts and attachments. The attachment sets were to keep the attachments grouped by type (such as gunpowder pouches and belts or jewlery).

**GrumpyOldMan** · 03-09-2007, 02:41

Hi Guys

Not much progress because Milkshape 1.8 has come out and I've been playing with this new toy. Thought I'd try it on a request someone put in for a dismounted Hospitaller, took me about five minutes to delete the lances and rename the groups and update the comments with the details.

https://i150.photobucket.com/albums/...dismounted.jpg

and the vertex weighting looks like this:- https://i150.photobucket.com/albums/...tex_weight.jpg

1.8 has one annoying bug in that if you try to regroup two separate groups it crashes but this is still possible in 1.7.10 (save and reopen in 1.8). Both are still available:-

http://www.chumba.ch/chumbalum-soft/files/ms3d180.zip and http://www.chumba.ch/chumbalum-soft/files/ms3d1710.zip . The SDK has been updated also, http://www.chumba.ch/chumbalum-soft/...ms3dsdk180.zip.

As Caliban says the mesh file being used is not any sort of file that will work with a current plugin, etc. We don't have to follow the CA development path to come up with working mesh files, just something that the engine recognises and will use. We shouldn't try to make this harder than it really is. I've had some feedback from Caliban and this seems to be getting a bit easier.

What I'm planning is:-

1 A .MESH to MS3D converter - this is about 98% complete

2. Load .MESH and export single group as .MS3D - about 65% complete

3. A .MS3D to .MESH converter - A gleam in my eye but shouldn't take too long

Any other thoughts?

Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

**zxiang1983** · 03-09-2007, 03:39

Originally Posted by GrumpyOldMan

Hi Guys

Not much progress because Milkshape 1.8 has come out and I've been playing with this new toy. Thought I'd try it on a request someone put in for a dismounted Hospitaller, took me about five minutes to delete the lances and rename the groups and update the comments with the details.

Wow, impressive job! My dream comes true! I can't wait to see you release that unit and the converter, too, so we can all DIY

**KnightErrant** · 03-09-2007, 04:12

Nice looking unit there. I tried the Casuir
excision method on feudal_knights_lod0.mesh
and it worked in a custom battle so I'm happy
to see this. Registered now so I've got to
upgrade ASAP to play with the new features.

**GrumpyOldMan** · 03-09-2007, 04:42

Hi @KE

Originally Posted by KnightErrant

I tried the Casuir excision method on feudal_knights_lod0.mesh and it worked in a custom battle so I'm happy to see this.

Me too, This also means that the engine is strong enough to withstand this sort of punishment. From Casuir's post he also deleted from the 3 (changed to 0) down to the end of the streams and it still worked, so the blip in progression between header/footers was also acceptable.

Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

**KnightErrant** · 03-09-2007, 05:38

Didn't catch that the first time. I left
in the 3 0 0 0 converted to 0 0 0 0 but
deleted from the number of vertices to
end of data. That is encouraging that you
can be a little loose in the format and the game
still keeps track of how to get to its data.