3ds max 9 Help Me Please!

[Pacer]

Hi,
I am fairly new to modding MTW2 and I want to create new models for it. But I dont know how to do it. I have 3ds max 9 and I am reasonably comfortable with it. However, I see no tutorials or programs anywhere which will allow me to convert the MTW2 mesh file into a compatible file for 3ds max. So how do I get the MESH file to work with 3ds max? :hmmm:

[KnightErrant]

Hi Pacer,

Welcome! For 3ds Max you will need two tools to start with.
The first is GrumpyOldMan's converter available here:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downl...o=file&id=1276

This converts the .mesh format over to Milkshape's .ms3d format
(and vice-versa). The second tool you will need is a Max Script
importer/exporter to get the .ms3d file into 3ds Max. This is
available here:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downl...o=file&id=1745

GrumpyOldMan's converter is very easy to use. It's a Windows executable.
Just double-click on it in explorer to run it, then go to
file -> convert -> .mesh to .ms3d
and then navigate to the .mesh file you want to convert and double click it.

To use the importer/exporter to get the .ms3d file into 3ds Max just
put the script anywhere convenient like your scripts directory or in your
working directory where you plan on working on your models. To run
click on the menu item MAXScript -> Run Script then mouse to whereever
you put the script and double click it. Choose the first button on the
rollout it displays to import the .ms3d file you want. It displays a file
chooser to let you select the file.

Reverse the two steps above to send a model back to the .mesh format.

Edit: Forgot a couple of things. Eventually you will need Python if you don't already
have it installed. Many of the other tools you need are written in it. It's available
here:
http://www.python.org/

Unit models have some requirements. Each mesh that makes up a model must
have "group comments", a terminology taken from Milkshape. To see these
in 3ds Max, select a mesh, then right click to get to a context menu, then choose
properties. From there click on the User Defined tab and you should see two
properties: grouptype and groupflag. If the mesh you selected is "head_02"
then the grouptype will be "Head". Similarly for arms, legs, body, etc. The groupflag
is 0 when the mesh is required for a model.

The other requirement is that a model have a bounding sphere for collision detection.
The Milkshape terminology is that this is a model comment. In 3ds Max this is stored
in bone_pelvis. Select bone_pelvis then right click to access its context menu and
choose properties and the User Defined tab. You will see boundingsphere set to
four numbers separated by % signs. These are x,y,z, and radius of the boundingsphere
for that unit. (There's also importedfilename which tells you where the file came from.)

The group comments and boundingsphere need to be defined in all models to make
them work correctly in-game.