.CAS exporting error

**Boom S** · May 05, 2010, 12:27 AM

Hi all, I was trying to change the weapon of an unit, for that I created a custom sword.

sword is made of 3 parts, blade, hilt and handle. I converted blade to editable poly and attached it to hilt and then handle. saved the file as .max

imported a .CAS model (one of Calligula Caesar's Mauryan units), deleted its sword, imported the custom sword using the 'merge' option, linked the sword to the right hand bone, checked if its connected by rotating etc etc.

however, when I try to save the file by exporting it as .CAS, an error shows up saying "mesh object XX must have skin modifier at the top of the stack. If it is static it must have a bone as a parent"

I get the same error when adding any damn thing !

any help is much appreciated.

**pacco** · May 05, 2010, 02:25 PM

You didn´t create UV maps for your sword.
Check this tutorial

http://rtw.heavengames.com/rtw/mods/...al/index.shtml

**Jarlaxe** · May 07, 2010, 09:31 AM

Originally Posted by Boom S

Hi all, I was trying to change the weapon of an unit, for that I created a custom sword.

sword is made of 3 parts, blade, hilt and handle. I converted blade to editable poly and attached it to hilt and then handle. saved the file as .max

imported a .CAS model (one of Calligula Caesar's Mauryan units), deleted its sword, imported the custom sword using the 'merge' option, linked the sword to the right hand bone, checked if its connected by rotating etc etc.

however, when I try to save the file by exporting it as .CAS, an error shows up saying "mesh object XX must have skin modifier at the top of the stack. If it is static it must have a bone as a parent"

I get the same error when adding any damn thing !

any help is much appreciated.

did you ungrouped the sword when you imported it??
try and import it via the import item button of vercinzentorix script.

**Halie Satanus** · May 07, 2010, 03:07 PM

"mesh object XX must have skin modifier at the top of the stack. If it is static it must have a bone as a parent"

What is XX ?

Have you checked the schematic(10) in the graph editors?

Elements connected to a bone don't need weighting. All weighted sections will be on the left, click on each one to see if it has a skin modifier.

You've probably made a copy of the unit which is sitting underneath the original. If so you'll need to delete it, but make sure you delete the unweighted copy. The easiest way is to select the ghost model in the schematic view.

**Boom S** · May 10, 2010, 08:48 AM

thanks for the replies guys, I couldn't do anything for the last few days, will start now. will be back with my experiences in a few hours time.

once again, thanks for the help, much appreciated.

p.s. XX is placeholder for some item, like "box 01" , "cylinder 03" etc.

**Boom S** · May 10, 2010, 02:13 PM

to answer some questions,

to pacco, that was the tut I was using and I did save the UVW maps. I didn't understand the "move the parts away from the centre" (where ? in the UVW map or in the original frame ? if it's the UVW map I have no idea how) bit and didn't do it. the UVW map itself can't be saved as a max file. I created the individual sword pieces, clicked UVW map for all of them, checked that they had an UVW map by clicking "unwrap UVW map" and saved the original file as .max
I have uploaded it here. http://ifile.it/sp9gyek could you check if it is alright ? problems with UVW map will show up during texturing, am I right ?

Jarlaxe, I'm not sure what you mean, the sword pieces were ungrouped in the original file (i.e I had not connected them by going to the "convert to editable poly" option). the ITEM import option is for importing .ITEM files ? this file is a custom file I made and saved as .max

Halie Satanus, thanks for that link. I believe "connect" does the same function as the "select and link" option at the top left of the page ?

<snip> progress at last !

imported the .CAS, deleted its sword. merged my custom sword, attached the parts (by the "convert to editable poly" route ) and linked it to right hand bone using schematic view.
it can finally be exported as a .CAS file without errors !

thanks HS !

another question.
now, I can swear that this is the very first approach I tried some days back. the only difference between then and now,
when I merged my sword, I chose only the items that I know were the parts of the sword (first time I chose all items on list).
for example,

only the highlighted parts are actual parts of the sword, when I tried to import the other parts, nothing showed up. how can I check and get rid of spurious parts like these ? it will be a royal pain if this happens in an even more complex model !

p.s. is there anything I should know beforehand so that some mistake on my part does notdoes not screw up texturing at a later time ? any list of obvious pitfalls ?

what I mean is, if I have a working .CAS model I should at least theoretically be able to texture it right ?

**Halie Satanus** · May 12, 2010, 07:51 AM

only the highlighted parts are actual parts of the sword, when I tried to import the other parts, nothing showed up. how can I check and get rid of spurious parts like these ? it will be a royal pain if this happens in an even more complex model !

Only the highlighted parts will be imported (merged) into the scene you're working on.

p.s. is there anything I should know beforehand so that some mistake on my part does notdoes not screw up texturing at a later time ? any list of obvious pitfalls ?

Never ever ever weld verticals!!

what I mean is, if I have a working .CAS model I should at least theoretically be able to texture it right ?

You can texture a model and it'll look fine in 3ds but in game the texture will be

**. See comment above.

Also a good idea to export a model and then import it back in before loading it up in game, some issues can be spotted at this stage without going through the hassle..

**Boom S** · May 12, 2010, 10:57 AM

thanks ! now a newbie question, what exactly is a vertical ? do you mean a vertical edge ?

**Halie Satanus** · May 12, 2010, 03:00 PM

The little (red) dots in the corners of the plains. Maybe they're called Vertices ..

**Boom S** · May 13, 2010, 02:42 PM

okay I know what that is ! you are saying any welding is bad ?

**Halie Satanus** · May 14, 2010, 07:13 AM

If you weld two sections of the model together the texture will no longer wrap itself to the model. As far as the UV map knows there are still two verticals.

It's as if you stapled your sleeves together.

**Boom S** · May 14, 2010, 09:26 AM

Originally Posted by Halie Satanus

If you weld two sections of the model together the texture will no longer wrap itself to the model. As far as the UV map knows there are still two verticals.

It's as if you stapled your sleeves together.

thank you ! I'll never weld anything from now on.

**Boom S** · June 15, 2010, 01:54 AM

hello guys, sorry to bother you once again.
if I move even a single vertex on the model(after importing and going to edit poly) trying to export gives the error

mesh object body_400 must have skin modifier at the top of the stack. If it is static it must have a bone as a parent

I tried converting to UVW map before exporting but same problem persists.

p.s. would any kind soul point out an explanation of weightage to me ? I haven't found a clear explanation so far.

**Hannibal Smith** · June 15, 2010, 11:56 AM

The skin modifier is the bone weighting (nothing to do with skinning textures) It basically links a vert with a bone. Telling the model which verts will follow which bones.

Tutorials

An excellent one from Halie here and one by KarloSt here which seems good too.

If its just changing part of the model you might want to look at this by me

**Boom S** · June 15, 2010, 02:06 PM

Hannibal Smith, thanks for your answer. so weightage is just the hierarchy of the parts ?
I have read all three tutes in the past and I will need them for further work. but my current need is much simpler than that. I just need to move 2-3 vertices in the head and then save that model as .CAS.

do you have any idea where I'm going wrong ? what do YOU do when you want to do a small edit on a .CAS model ?

this is the schematic FWIW. nothing extraordinary about it as far as I can see. really can't understand where I'm going wrong.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

added later: hmm, I'm starting to see some light re-reading your tutorial. let's see.

**Hannibal Smith** · June 15, 2010, 02:19 PM

It looks like object 1, object 2, body 400 and flaps all use the skin modifier. In order to move any of the verts you will need to abandon the weighting data. As long as the move is not major then you should be able to save the skin weight data as per my tutorial. Move the verts and then re-weight the model as per my tutorial.