A start on the .MESH file format

[Bwian]

And..of course... no Tomb Kings army is complete without some skeleton archers....



Warriors are in progress too, with quite a few variations on the shield to allow for different bits of decay and decoration. The basic shape is the same, but the alpha texture is being used to show the decay.

[GrumpyOldMan]

@Bwian

It was a difficult birth but worth it

Well done

Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

[Bwian]

Definitely worth it!

I am also glad right now that you added the MS3D merge feature into the tool. I have stripped the weapons off the basic model, and am then merging in attachment sets to create the variations. The archers only took me half an hour to build ( all 4 lods ).

I noticed the problems MS3D has with importing mesh parts ontop of other mesh parts ... the 3D window showed a clear issue with the order of rendering, and I can see that this would have the potrential to really mess stuff up!

The next set of units will be the true warriors. I aim to have a simple spearman unit, with a shield as well as a similar swordsman unit. Then some axe/mace units. I want some of these guys with helmets, and lots of shield variations. The Tomb King deisgns have quite large shields, and variations here will be quite prominent. I plan to have 6 or 7 ( at least ) options here.

There is a BIG question looming now though....

Can we change the position of the bones and have that work in MTW2?

I know in RTW the animations just stored the rotational changes to the bones, and that the actual bone positions were stored in the CAs file. This part of the CAS file, though, was not touched by the editor. There was a link, I recall, between the skeleton.dat file which defined how each skeleton was put together, and this was all a bit of a mess. We could scale...but we could not translate a bone pivot and have the change implement in game. If your tool does/can make this possible, then many doors open. Has anyone tried to move or re-size the bones?

[Ciaran]

The dead look great. The RTW version already was very neat, but the variety M2TW allows makes them all the better. I´m so looking forward to what you´re up with the Orcs...

[Bwian]

To answer my own question..... I took one standard soldier, re-positioned the bones, and gave it a try. The mesh was squashed to match, and the bones were re-sited.

The mesh was displaying correctly, but I don't think the bones follow suit. As soon as the model actually moves, the mesh was stretched and the bones were pivoting in their original locations. Whatever the game was doing with the mesh, it was doing itbased on the original pivot positions and was ignoring the changes I had made. When we get around to re-designing animations for the game, we might be able to do more, but it looks rather as though the MTW2 game engine stores the base positions of the skeleton in the DAT file as before, and applies that to the mesh. A way to make a new skeleton would be required to make things possible that RTW never managed to crack.

[Herkus]

Great work, Bwian with those skeletons, I am really happy that you were able to get that mesh in game. I will soon try something similar once I finish one unit which will have five different parts for each mesh group.

Speaking about your skeletons - with the bloom effect the texture seems to be too white and "shinny", maybe desaturate a bit, otherwise the bones look like tooths from toothpaste commercials. :D
Looks like your mod is going to be a cracker.

[Bwian]

I know what you mean! I lightened them from my original effort, since I wanted them to look 'sunbleached' ... but the difference between the archers in full sunlight, and the troops in the shade ( the swordsmen ) is huge. It's the same texture...but the effect is extreme.

The background weather and atmospheris really make a lot of a difference, and I need to adjust my textures to cope with this. I'm just glad they are working!

[GrumpyOldMan]

Hi Bwian

There is a BIG question looming now though....

Can we change the position of the bones and have that work in MTW2?

Short answer is not yet. I'll look at skeletons and animations next.

Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

[Bwian]

Cheers GOM!

No pressure, since what you have achieved so far has really got things moving. God alone knows how much of your time has already gone into getting a working converter, and I really appreciate it

What bugged me greatly about RTW was the fact that we never actually got to grips with being able to re-site a bone. We could move them in Max, but the game ignored them. Your converter seems to actually transfer the bones as they were in Milkshape... but the animation routines overwrite this.

I don't know exactly how the game does it, but I recall it all boiled down to the ocntents of the DAT file. It defined for each skeleton where the start points were, and the animation was applied as rotations to those positions. Being able to re-write the start positions ( using stock animations or custom ones ) would allow us to make orcs and dwarves with correct proportions.

Hopefully...if I am wrong ... Calban could give us a few clues as to how the whole skeleton / animation thing fits together.

Damn...I wish I could read Hex

[GrumpyOldMan]

Hi All

Bored so I tried importing a Valve type smd and exporting it as a m2tw mesh but I don't think anybody will take me seriously:-





Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

[Andromachus Theodoulos]

Grumpy,

You are scaring me....

What is coming of this??? Who's next cookie monster?

[The Celt]

Hi All

Bored so I tried importing a Valve type smd and exporting it as a m2tw mesh but I don't think anybody will take me seriously:-





Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

I'm lovin it.