Gather around and laugh at me while I screw up with 3dsmax!!!!!

**Dog Fart** · February 08, 2009, 10:49 AM

Hey guys, I just got 3dsmax today and I thought I'd get started by converting the Thracian Thorakitai into a phalangite. Unfortunatly, all of the max tutorials on this site are total half crap typed up by some idiot who's more concerned with trying to be funny than explaining the process.

So I was forced to bumble around blindly for hours trying to figure this damn thing out. What I did was I loaded the Greek Phalangite and deleted everything except the pike and sheild. Then I loaded the Thracian Thorakitai and deleted the sheild and javelin. Then I loaded the textures ( you wouldn't believe how long it took me to figure that out) and I got this.

Yeah, I still don't know how to use the camera either.

I didn't scale anything. This is the original unit size. When I tried to export the cas, I got a message saying something like " the primary weapon must be on the top of the stack or something blah blah blah". So I clicked a few buttons hoping I linked everything. I didn't do any UVW stuff because I didn't know what it does. So I sent the cas file into XGM, entered everything in the text files (I used the Thracian Thorakitai texture and sprite), then when I tried to load a custom battle the game froze. So I used the End Task command and posted this thread.

Can anyone tell me what to do. These modeling tutorials are so half ass done that I have the urge to crack the author's skull with a beer keg. Some guidance would be great. I'm trying to take modding a bit more seriously that way I can contribute some stuff for this mod.

**CaesarVincens** · February 08, 2009, 11:13 AM

Have (or did) you looked at the tutorials here in the modding workshop? I'm sure there is at least one on using 3dsmax.

**DimeBagHo** · February 08, 2009, 01:13 PM

I think there were some good tutorials posted here a while back.

Here's a quick guide to what you should do for a weapon/shield swap:

(1) Load the model with the weapon/shield you want.
(2) Select the object you want then select "save selected" from the file menu. Repeat this for each object you want to use later.
(3) Select "new" from the file menu and clear everything.
(4) Load the model you want to add stuff to.
(5) Delete any weapons or shield you don't want.
(5) Select "merge" from the file menu and load one of the objects you saved in step 2. Repeat for each object.

Hope that helps.

**Dog Fart** · February 08, 2009, 05:59 PM

Hell yeah! Thanks Dime. I got two days off to crash XGM until I finally get this.

**Dog Fart** · February 08, 2009, 09:09 PM

My progress so far.

I have successfully converted the Thracian Thorakitai into a phalangite. Unfortunatly I was never a very good skinner. I tried to take the shield texture from the Greek Militia Phalangite and paste it where the Thorakitai shield was. But I think I accidently copied the entire texture of the Milita Phalangite and crammed it into that tiny space. But my Thracians load in custom battle, so hooray for me! My shields are narly, my Thracians are a bit jittery, and the shadows are square. But like I said, my model works so I'm all geeked about it.

Here are some screen shots.

Here is the shield I was going for. It's a bit flashy and ahistorical, but this is my first unit and I don't mind a bit of excessiveness.

(I converted the file into a jpeg that way you guys can see it. The texture file I edited was saved in DXT5 format.)

Like I said, I think I pasted the entire phalangite texture into that space. But if someone knows what I did wrong please tell. I'll be back latter with future progress or failure.

**CaesarVincens** · February 10, 2009, 12:43 AM

It might be something to do with alpha channels for the shield.

Anyway, looking good! (I may enlist your help after awhile too.

)

**Stilgar CG** · February 10, 2009, 07:18 AM

Still, nice work, Dirty_M, and good thinking. Thracians should get some kind of phalanx units, but those better be more wild-looking and be inferior as compared to civilized phalangists. Or, barabrian phalangists should be all made short-pike units with some inferior stats. With this implemented, Thracians could be deprived of their exclusive "right" to Greek barracks.

**RedFox** · February 10, 2009, 07:27 AM

dirty_M: Read my PM again, there's a detailed section on UWV Unwrap. It's very easy to fix.
By the way, what's with the buggy shadows?

**Dog Fart** · February 10, 2009, 02:34 PM

CV, it would be cool to help.

But I need to learn how to use this confounded program first.

ME, I was thinking of making three phalangite units for the Thracians. Since the Thorakitai are coated in mail, I guess that makes the level 3. I agree with them having some sort of inferiority with the use of their pikes. But the rhomphia should be a different story. But I'm a long way from thinking about unit balancing. I have to make it work first.

RedFox, I've stared at your pm for hours and I used the UWV unwrap as you said. But it moved the entire skin of the unit all over the model. Of course I tried this with the edited map I made. The box like shadows are the result of my crappy skin job. I took the Thorakitai map and cleared the sheild, then opened the Militia Phalangite map and pasted it's sheild in it's place. I'm not sure what I did wrong. But I'll keep going till I get this. I misread your pm and messed up due to my lack of knowlege with this program. But you guys will have a Thorakitaia Phalangite Thracian thing one day.

**Dog Fart** · February 11, 2009, 02:04 AM

Progress/failure report. I read RedFox's instructions again and I figured out how to move the shield vertices to the right place. Then I rendered the map and I got a black screen. I was unaware that I rendered the background material. But I tested it in the game anyway and got invisible pike men with square shadows.

I would screw around with the program some more but I have to get ready for work. So my question is, once I get the shield veritices in the right place, how do I render the entire map for the unit?

**Webba** · February 11, 2009, 10:06 PM

Seriously go and get the tutorials that Dime linked too. They're excellent and thorough and will tell you exactly what you're wanting to know. No 4 and 6 I think are most relevant to what you're trying to do. Especially 4.

**RedFox** · February 16, 2009, 03:32 PM

1) You shouldn't have the texture Alpha as black. That will make the unit invisible.
2) The texture format should be DXT 5.
3) After adding a modifier, right click on the top of the modifier stack and "Collapse All", or right click on the screen when the mesh is selected and "Convert To" -> "Editable Mesh" / "Editable Poly".
4) Don't mess with things. Don't delete stuff you find 'unnecessary', because they are, indeed, necessary.
5) Read some tutorials

**Dog Fart** · February 16, 2009, 04:59 PM

Yeah, next weekend I'll force myself to sit still for once and watch those vids Maraxus posted. If the center didn't go down I'd probably have at least a little work done. But oh well. Thanks for the tips guys.

**Stilgar CG** · February 19, 2009, 09:54 AM

Dirty, vanilla Alexander has a Thracian unit. have a look and see if you like to mess with that unit to create your Thracian phalangists.

**Maraxus** · February 21, 2009, 07:59 AM

sadly most all unit from Alex crash when you try to load them in 3ds max. I wish I could get my hands on some of those models!

**RedFox** · February 21, 2009, 10:29 AM

Maraxus: Acctually, there's an easy way to do it. First of all, you need 3DRipperDX.
Then you need to make a new animation, where the model is in its default pose, like with all the models you import. Replace the standing idle animation with that one.

Launch 3DRipperDX and launch RTW. Play a custom battle with the unit you want. Get up close enough, so the highest lod is displayed and hit the capture key. Now the whole scenes is captured in a .3ds or .obj format.

Just import that with 3ds Max and remove everything unnecessary, leaving you with your oh-so desired model from Alex.