Experimenting. I need some advice

[Sirlion]

Great, I made it! I had to remap the texture for each lod though... rather a pain in the a** but oh well... here's the result!



Very cool looking, but I think it has a bit of a problem with the normals, as you can see the central part of the drum is not perfect normal-wise. But its more than enough for a first try I guess.

Okay I'll try the multiple texture theory you explained wangrin.

[wangrin]

You could resize the model, the drum is really small here.

[Sirlion]

Small you say? Well it has the exact same size as the original model... I suppose I could yes. Now trying to make the infamous second flag (static flag of course) for regimental bearer.

[Steph]

Yes, it work only for equipements.
You have to select group meshes and apply material to it.

it work fine for ETW equipments, and it look like being the same for NTW.
I will test it this evening.

Could it be used to add sabretache to the cavalry units? With faction specific textures?

[wangrin]

CA's drum is extremely small compare to real drum used during Napoleonic period.
If I remember, M&B model is bigger, particularly if you compare it to the size of M&B units.

EDIT : M&B drum

The problem, when resizing unit is that you have to move the model to match with animatoions and unit model.
You have to check drum position while playing animation.
It is easy to do it using UU3D, more difficult with MilkShape because you have to import animation.
In this case, you can use the drum I create for I.S as a reference to place your own.


I don't think that using equipment to add sabretache is a good idea, mostly because each equipment can be tied to only one joint.
Sabretache would look rigid and animation could look weird I think.

[wangrin]

I've tested to use 2 different materials in the same equipment file. It doesn't work.
I fear that problem come from variant_part_mesh file format.
Looking at variant_part_mesh file using a hexadecimal editor, I can't find anything refering to a material filename, contrary to ETW variant_weighted_mesh file format.
It look like equipment mesh.variant_part_mesh is "automatically" tied to texture and mesh2.variant_part_mesh to texture2.
It could be interesting to test if a mesh3.variant_part_mesh would be tied to a texture3.

If true, it could be possible to create "equipment sets".

[Sirlion]

I already tried as I told you before, to create a mesh3 and a texture3, the game doesnt recognize it even if I put into the original drum 3D model. It must be hardcoded, if not, maybe it is defined in another place but db tables dont reference it anywhere.

[wangrin]

I've seen no evidence of equipment meshes defined in db tables.
I think it is hardcoded and would have hoped that adding a mesh3 and texture3 would have solved the issue.
Maybe is it more tricky or maybe is it impossible...

[Malcolm]

Is it not possible to import models from Empire TW into Napoleon TW?

[wangrin]

It is possible, but it need some work, especially for vertex weights.

[Sirlion]

I have encountered a strange problem. I was trying to make a more decent musket model, therefore I have imported a piece of mesh from the flintlock mechanism of another mod and I have attached said mesh to the standard musket 1-6 lod1s, by regrouping each of them with the new mesh. Textured the new piece added, everything seemed to work fine, exported ok, and entered the game. However, the result is this:



As you can see, the animation is screwed up. The musket appears in the exact same position as in the messy blob of items of the variant.mesh file, and wont move from there. Whats wrong? Did the original musket model have anything else to be added? Did I have to make a completely new musket model? Was the regroup a bad idea?

[Sirlion]

Well I couldnt find any solutions so from my frustration I decided to add some realism here and there. And surprisingly enough it worked! I present to you sabre attachment and a decent ammo pack (modified from PdGuru's excellent base mod, credit for the texture on the ammo pack goes to him).

[Steph]

In your opinion, how difficult would it be (if even feasable) to add more backpacks?

[wangrin]

I have encountered a strange problem. I was trying to make a more decent musket model, therefore I have imported a piece of mesh from the flintlock mechanism of another mod and I have attached said mesh to the standard musket 1-6 lod1s, by regrouping each of them with the new mesh. Textured the new piece added, everything seemed to work fine, exported ok, and entered the game.

[...]

As you can see, the animation is screwed up. The musket appears in the exact same position as in the messy blob of items of the variant.mesh file, and wont move from there. Whats wrong? Did the original musket model have anything else to be added? Did I have to make a completely new musket model? Was the regroup a bad idea?

When you create a new equipment, for exemple a new musket, it must be a mesh group.
So, grouping meshes into one mesh group should be OK.
Then, you have to take care about the nema of the vertex group. But, as the musket appears in your game, it should be ok too.

Your problem look like a vertex weight issue.
The equipment must be tied to only one bone and, for weapons, it must be tied to weapons1, 2 or 3.
It look lile muskets are generally tied to weapon1.

In your opinion, how difficult would it be (if even feasable) to add more backpacks?

It should not be difficult.
You have to create a new set of models (lod1, lod2, lod3 and lod4), tied to only one bone (generally spine2).
To add variant, you have to name them, for instance, rigid_equip_bp_austrian01_lod1, rigid_equip_bp_austrian02_lod1, etc. for lod1. The same for other lods.

[Sirlion]

In your opinion, how difficult would it be (if even feasable) to add more backpacks?

Exactly as wangrin said, it is simple. You just copy-paste the standard backpack lods, you rename them and then apply a different texture in texture2_diffuse.dds, then you have to add the custom mesh in the db just like the standard backpack. It is one of the simpliest tasks to do. Thankfully the equipment does not require rigging.

[Sirlion]

Hello again mates. Today i present you a problem that is really giving me headaches and I honestly dont know how to solve. It may be extremely stupid...

I wanted to improve some shakos by editing them, adding some geometry, and then importing them back. I took the marin_shako mesh and:

1 - Imported in Milkshape3D, deleted LOD0
2 - Saved LOD0 as OBJ to use with an external program
3 - Used XSI Mod Tool to add the geometry and do the texturing (it is free and easy to use to I stick with it)
4 - I imported back LOD0 into Milkshape3D in OBJ format. Then, the position and texturing were fine. Geometry all displays correctly.
5 - I proceeded to rig the model. It was simple since only Head and Jaw bones are assigned to it, so I clicked "Assign" to the whole shako and then "Assign" again to Jaw, selecting the lower part of the chinstrap.
6 - With LOD0 in perfect conditions I saved as mesh format for NTW.

BUT THEN THIS HAPPENED



And when I tried to import back the model into Ms3D, and then to my shock THIS HAPPENED


So what is wrong with Mr Hat? Can anybody help here before I stab myself in the head? I've been repeating the process over and over since yesterday evening...