M2TW Modeler's Toolbox - Version 0.6 Beta Released On 06/06/2015

[Pliacy]

"Input string was not in a correct format"



What dose that even mean? :S

I am attempting to convert my .ms3d file, exported from 3DSMax with knighterrant's script (although I have had the same error with files created in MS3D as well).

Utterly stumped, please help.

war_goat_lod0.rar

[Pliacy]

"Input string was not in a correct format."

Utterly stumped, please help.

war_goat_lod0.rar

[G|I|Sandy]

Pliacy,

In my experience 0.6 is bugged. 0.5 works like a charm, no crashes, no errors. I attached the 0.5 version.

Alternatively, export as .obj from 3dsmax. Then import .obj to Milskhape, reassign joints/weights and voila.

Sandy

[Pliacy]

Pliacy,

In my experience 0.6 is bugged. 0.5 works like a charm, no crashes, no errors. I attached the 0.5 version.

Alternatively, export as .obj from 3dsmax. Then import .obj to Milskhape, reassign joints/weights and voila.

Sandy

Cheers, I will try this.

Sorry for the double post. Site screwed up on me :S

[Hellvard]

I have a problem with unpacking EBII skeletons, when I'm trying to do that I'm getting this error: "The unpacking has failed during the reading process of the IDX file "skeletons.idx" because it has wrong version number". What am I supposed to do with that? There is no problem with "pack" file.

[Dolen]

Tried to unpack animation files on Desktop, and it messed it all up. Watch out where you run this tool.

[jurcek1987]

"Input string was not in a correct format."

Utterly stumped, please help.

war_goat_lod0.rar

In the "Model" tab click on "Comment" and delete everything in the window that opens

I have a problem with unpacking EBII skeletons, when I'm trying to do that I'm getting this error: "The unpacking has failed during the reading process of the IDX file "skeletons.idx" because it has wrong version number". What am I supposed to do with that? There is no problem with "pack" file.

Iirc I had the same error once then I restarted the program and tried again and it worked. If not try the IDX extractor

[Mr_Nygren]

In the "Model" tab click on "Comment" and delete everything in the window that opens

I did this and it got me to the same situation as when using the 1.5 version - something about "underweighted vertices"? - "has failed because it contains one or more underweighted vertices"?

[Pliacy]

[QUOTE=jurcek1987;15254286]In the "Model" tab click on "Comment" and delete everything in the window that opens

Thanks for the tip, seems to have gotten rid of the "Input String" error. However:

I did this and it got me to the same situation as when using the 1.5 version - something about "underweighted vertices"? - "has failed because it contains one or more underweighted vertices"?

I am getting this problem too. M2TWMT swears on its life that my ms3d file "contains one or more underweighted vertices" despite the fact that I selected the entire model (I even dragged-selected the entire scene while zoomed out all the way in Milkshape) then assigned it all to one joint and still gives me that error. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

(I have tried using "SelUnAssigned" in the joints menu, but it doesn't select anything :\ )

[Flinn]

It's with great pleasure that the Modding Awards Committee informs you that this tool/resource has been awarded in the recent 2016 Modding Awards, as seen here! Please feel free to stop by and check the list of all the winners.

Also, don't forget to check here for more details about how to promote the victory of your tool/resource.

If any question about please feel free to use the Discussion thread.

Flinn,
On behalf of the Modding Awards Committee

[jurcek1987]

Well deserved, my favourite M2 modding tool

[Melooo182]

So v0.6 is bugged right?

Cause I've been trying to export animations from various pack.dat from different sources and then repack them using the game's engine and it always CTD, neither can convert the exported .CAS to .TXT using GOAT

EDIT:
NVM my mistake in thinking both .CAS files, where the same type, they clearly aren't, those unpacked are like in an encrypted format not usable unless stored in a .pack
v0.6 is working fine unpacking and packing animations, very useful for merging packs from different mods

[UBBERDORC]

Very good tool!

[Arioria of mithlond]

I was told that by using this converters my archers bow models would be fixed but , the bows of my units are always messed up ,what should I do? http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...odding-problem

[Jojo00182]

Did he ever release his source code for this tool?

[Danger Close]

I have a problem converting ms3d model into CAS models for use on the strat map. When trying to convert the message says that conversion has failed during the transformation process and then "Exception message: index was outside the bounds of the array". Does anyone know what that means or how to fix it?

[kostic]

First of all, a big thank you for this M2TW Modeler's Toolbox which made me want to modify this excellent M2TW Kingdoms !

I would like to change the strat models ... when I convert my files. CAS in Ms3d for Milkshape3D, I can read and modify them as I please. The problem is that M2TW Modeler's Toolbox then refuses to convert it back to .CAS ... even though I have not made any changes.



Why does the converter only work in one direction? Is there another way to convert my .Ms3D file to .CAS?

[nadalio]

3) About Bounding Spheres
First of all, if you want to know what a bounding sphere is, read this (a short definition, for what concerns 3d modeling, could be the following: "given a non-empty set of points of finite extension in a 3-dimensional space, the bounding sphere for that set is the smallest 3-dimensional solid sphere containing all its points").
Here is an example of a MESH bounding sphere data (after the conversion to MS3D format, you can read them in Milkshape from Model Tab -> Comment):

Code:
-0.01930268 ; X Offset
0.2401515 ; Y Offset
0.4286239 ; Z Offset
1.331218 ; Radius
/
In M2TW engine, they have many different usages:

• they are used to interrupt charges;
• they make soldiers aware of their position on the battlefield and into the unit formation itself;
• they make soldiers aware of the proximity of enemy soldiers so that they know when one of them is close enough to be reached and hit by their weapons;
• they works as helpers for collision calculations especially for what concerns siege engines' projectiles.

The most common symptoms of wrong bounding spheres are:

• charges are interrupted too close or too far from enemy units;
• CTDs under certain circumstances (especially during siege battles);
• reinforcement units are stuck along the battlefield map's border and can't be moved anymore;
• soldiers perform hitting animations but the edge of their weapons is not touching enemies' body (this is particularly noticeable when they use lances, pikes and spears).
• the spacing of unit formations is incorrect and soldiers move in a silly way while repositioning.

After discovering how bounding spheres are calculated for M2TW meshes (a variant of the Ritter's algorithm), I can now say for sure that 99,9% of the custom models created to this day have wrong enclosures that can potentially lead to one or more of the above listed problems. Since creating custom models for M2TW became possible, modelers started using ready-made values for their new models taken from existing Vanilla M2TW units (from a similar archer's model for a new archer unit, from a similar pikeman's model for a new pikeman unit and so on)... an approach that was probably enough to obtain a working bounding sphere, but that was also producing bounding spheres completely unrelated to the real models themselves.



Every model has a bounding sphere except stratmap ones. Basically, all what can be used in a battlemap, must have a bounding sphere: siege engines, mounts, soldiers, captains, generals... everybody. And yes, 99,9% of the non-Vanilla models around there have an incorrect one... and this is the result of the bad practice of using comments for new models taken from similar existing models. If you change only one extreme X/Y/Z axis extreme vertex, then you invalidate the bounding sphere since:

Given a non-empty set of points of finite extension in a 3-dimensional space, the bounding sphere for that set is the smallest 3-dimensional solid sphere containing all its points.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:





Hence, if you take a soldier and you change his weapon from a sword to a pike, you have invalidated the current bounding sphere and he will start behaving in a silly way.




If you want more information about this, I just wrote it down in the Technical Details spoiler of the first post. My tools can acually recalculate (hence, fix) the bounding sphere of a model during the conversion from MS3D to MESH. So basically, if you convert a MESH to MS3D and then convert the resulting MS3D model into a MESH again without making any change, you will have a fixed bounding sphere. I'm working on a tool that can fix bounding spheres on a large scale (fully recursive directory search) for the upcoming version.

Does it is related to the ents, spiders and wolves crashes?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://Re: Discussion about the ents...olves crashes.

Anyone tried to change the bounding spheres?

[Jojo00182]

Does it is related to the ents, spiders and wolves crashes?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://Re: Discussion about the ents...olves crashes.

Anyone tried to change the bounding spheres?

The bounding sphere actually only is used for camera fadeout and LOD. https://www.twcenter.net/forums/show...=1#post8012298 (One very capable modder tested this in a very good way)

Crashes with Ent (and many others monters) often come from wrong bone names in the skeleton.dat (some of the Ent and balrog crashes are confirmed to be caused by this at least)

[nadalio]

Thanks JoJo ��,
That's interesting.
Bad camera fadeout and LOD don't increase the use of the Ram or CpU? So they will favorite the crashes plus with other things like wrong animation?