Newbie problem - invisible unit

[FakeTwin]

First a small foreword/explanation:
I am a complete newbie to medieval 2-modding. I also never before worked with a 3D-programm like milkshape. I didn't even do some retexturing. Nevertheless I started to work on a small submod for the "Call of Warhammer"-mod. To get started I read "Alletuns tome of knowledge" and some tutorial-threads on this forum like "How to add a new unit into game".

Now to my problem: My newly created unit is invisible.
I'll write down what I did step by step so you can identify possible mistakes I might have made during the process:

1) I created a new model by merging different existing models using the merge-function of "grumpy old mens mesh converter".

2) After that I opened the model in milkshape and deleted all the groups I didn't want to use and slightly remodelled some others (weapons, for example). I also checked the bone assignment. Everything seemed to be okay.

3) I saved my work as a new ms3d and converted it to mesh (with "grumpy's" again) just to check if worked. It did: The model showed correctly ingame, without textures of course (= brightly shining "silver surfer"-model).

4) Next I loaded the model with "lithunwrap" to create the UV-maps.

5) I saved the finished UV-Maps as a luv-file. Then I opened milkshape, loaded my model and imported the luv-file (in another thread I read this way I won't loose my comments and prevent bone-assignment mess-ups). I saved the model again and converted it to mesh for a test-run. The model was invisible now ingame.

6) Next I used the "WriteUVMaps2DDS" python programm to create the needed texture files.

7) Now I did the texturing in "Photoshop" and saved the files as dds. with the following options: DXT5 – ARGB – 8bpp – interpolated alpha.

8) As you can see in this picture, the textures seemed to be alright:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

9) Next I created normal maps using the "Nvidia normal map filter" in "Photoshop" and converted the 4 dds-files to texture files and copied them to my mod-folder.

My problem is: The unit is still invisible. In "Alletuns tome of knowledge" I read that there are only 2 possible reasons for this:
a) The entry in the modelDB is wrong
b) The alpha-channels of the textures are messed up

I checked the modelDB-entry twice and thrice – its correct. So the alpha-channels should be the reason. "Alletuns tome of knowledge" states they should be black. I checked them and they were all white. So I thought: Easy! Just paint them black! But no – ingame the unit was still invisible.

So, can someone please explain to me, step by step, what I have to do to get this ing unit into the game? It took me much time to get aquainted with the needed tools and programs and even more time to finish this first model. I must say I'm extremely frustrated right now! I am thankful for every advice!


EDIT: Here are my EDU and modeldb-entries:

1.) EDU:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

type Norse_warriors
dictionary Norse_warriors ; Norse warriors
category infantry
class light
voice_type Heavy
accent East_European
banner faction main_infantry
banner holy crusade
soldier Norse_warriors, 50, 0, 1.25
attributes sea_faring, can_withdraw, warcry, hardy, mercenary_unit
formation 1.1, 1.1, 2, 2, 5, square
stat_health 1, 0
stat_pri 8, 6, no, 0, 0, melee, melee_blade, slashing, axe, 0, 1
stat_pri_attr no
stat_sec 0, 0, no, 0, 0, no, melee_simple, blunt, none, 0, 1
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 3, 5, 3, flesh
stat_sec_armour 0, 0, flesh
stat_heat 2
stat_ground 0, -4, -4, 2
stat_mental 10, impetuous, trained
stat_charge_dist 30
stat_fire_delay 0
stat_food 60, 300
stat_cost 1, 600, 120, 100, 100, 600, 6, 200
armour_ug_levels 1
armour_ug_models Norse_warriors
ownership hre, scotland, russia, spain, portugal, sicily, venice, milan, saxons, france
recruit_priority_offset 60

2) modeldb

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

14 Norse_warriors
1 4
79 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Norse_warriors/Norse_warriors_lod0.mesh 121
79 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Norse_warriors/Norse_warriors_lod0.mesh 900
79 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Norse_warriors/Norse_warriors_lod0.mesh 2500
79 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Norse_warriors/Norse_warriors_lod0.mesh 6400
2
4 merc
77 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Norse_warriors/Norse_warriors.texture
84 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Norse_warriors/Norse_warriors_normal.texture
33 unit_sprites/Marauders_sprite.spr
5 slave
77 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Norse_warriors/Norse_warriors.texture
84 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Norse_warriors/Norse_warriors_normal.texture
33 unit_sprites/Marauders_sprite.spr
2
4 merc
81 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Norse_warriors/att_Norse_warriors.texture
88 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Norse_warriors/att_Norse_warriors_normal.texture 0
5 slave
81 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Norse_warriors/att_Norse_warriors.texture
88 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Norse_warriors/att_Norse_warriors_normal.texture 0
1
4 None
9 MTW2_Mace 0
2
17 MTW2_Mace_Primary
14 fs_test_shield 0
16 -0.090000004 0 0 -0.34999999 0.80000001 0.60000002

3) If you want to compare my modeldb-entry: here's an entry of a unit from "Call of Warhammer":

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

13 Ragnar_wolves
1
1
77 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Ragnar_wolves/Ragnar_wolves_lod0.mesh 6400
2
4 merc
80 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Ragnar_wolves/Ragnar_wolves_diff.texture
80 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Ragnar_wolves/Ragnar_wolves_norm.texture
42 unit_sprites/merc_Ragnar_wolves_sprite.spr
5 slave
80 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Ragnar_wolves/Ragnar_wolves_diff.texture
80 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Ragnar_wolves/Ragnar_wolves_norm.texture
42 unit_sprites/merc_Ragnar_wolves_sprite.spr
2
4 merc
84 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Ragnar_wolves/att_Ragnar_wolves_diff.texture
84 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Ragnar_wolves/att_Ragnar_wolves_norm.texture 0
5 slave
84 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Ragnar_wolves/att_Ragnar_wolves_diff.texture
84 unit_models/_units/warhammer/merc/model/Ragnar_wolves/att_Ragnar_wolves_norm.texture 0
1
5 Horse
12 MTW2_HR_Mace
0
1
17 MTW2_Mace_Primary
0
16 -0.090000004 0 0 -0.34999999 0.80000001 0.60000002

[Swagger]

did you assigned the texture to the model on battle_models.modeldb?

[FakeTwin]

did you assigned the texture to the model on battle_models.modeldb?

Yes, I did. I'll post my modeldb-entry tomorrow (I don't have acces to the files right now because I'm not at home).

[Ishan]

Make sure the serialization count is true in the BMDB. After we add a model entry we increase it by 1 and suppose we have a model with 2 more upgrades then it's 3.
So if it's 768 then it becomes 771.

[Briarius]

I bet Ishan is right ! I had the same problem and I just increased the serialization number in BMDB and my unit appeared on the battlefield...

Nice model!

[SigniferOne]

Always use KnightErrant's syntax checker, which will check to make sure that the serialization value you have is the right one. The serialization value is merely the total number of entries, and the checker is able to do that much easier than you or I.

[FakeTwin]

Make sure the serialization count is true in the BMDB. After we add a model entry we increase it by 1 and suppose we have a model with 2 more upgrades then it's 3.
So if it's 768 then it becomes 771.

I bet Ishan is right ! I had the same problem and I just increased the serialization number in BMDB and my unit appeared on the battlefield...

Nice model!

Always use KnightErrant's syntax checker, which will check to make sure that the serialization value you have is the right one. The serialization value is merely the total number of entries, and the checker is able to do that much easier than you or I.

Wouldn't the game crash if I had a wrong serialization-number?
Nevertheless, thanks for your replies! I just took a look at my backup of the original modeldb, it had 485 entries. My model has no upgrades, so I increased the serialization by 1 to 486.
So, unfortunately that wasn't the problem....

I just added my EDU- and modeldb-entries to the first post of the thread, maybe someone might take a look at them?

PS: I forgot to mention it before: The unit isn't completely invisible: The sprites are shown (i used the sprites of a different unit), and if you zoom in to a certain distance and/or angle you can see something that looks similar to shadows...!? Maybe I should post a few screenshots.

[T&D]

Propably you are having some bugs with uvmapping.Maybe simply download python and GOAT(have tool to create uvmaps).

[Ishan]

The problem is your BMDB entry.
You have to add ownership of textures and attachments in the BMDB(modeldb file) to all the factions that have the ownership of the unit in the EDU otherwise they will appear as silver surfers.
Currently u have only slave and merc so add the rest scotland.....
Eothese is right i oversaw the merc attrib in the EDU and he is right then we don't need other faction textures seprately they will all use the merc textures.

[Eothese]

I have units working with the same setup, mercenary_unit attribute in EDU and just merc and slave in the .db If you can see shadows, it might be that your normal is too bright/dark or that using lithunwrap has messed up your alpha. I only use GOAT and Gimp for my model's and have never used lithunwrap, so I can't say if your settings are correct. With the tools I use, if you've made a model from existing parts, you dont need to re-map the textures, the info is retained.

If you still have the model that showed up as a silver surfer, I'd suggest working from there. Unless you want to upload the model and textures etc.

[FakeTwin]

I swear if I'll ever be able to solve this riddle, I'll write a tutorial even more basic than the one Alletun wrote!

I have units working with the same setup, mercenary_unit attribute in EDU and just merc and slave in the .db If you can see shadows, it might be that your normal is too bright/dark or that using lithunwrap has messed up your alpha. I only use GOAT and Gimp for my model's and have never used lithunwrap, so I can't say if your settings are correct.

Just a quick question here: what do you mean with the normal map being "too bright/dark". After reading "Alletuns tome of knowledge" and checking the textures of some existing units I thought the alpha channel of the normal map should always be 100% black?

With the tools I use, if you've made a model from existing parts, you dont need to re-map the textures, the info is retained.

That's strange, because after loading my model in lithunwrap it looked like this. As you can see it's a complete mess-up.:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I first rearranged it to this:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

And then to this:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

If you still have the model that showed up as a silver surfer, I'd suggest working from there. Unless you want to upload the model and textures etc.

If everything else fails I'll do it. But before I do that, I'll try everything on my own first. It's personal now, you know!

Maybe I should point you to something which seemed odd to me from the beginning. I quote myself, the most important part is in bold:

5)I saved the finished UV-Maps as a luv-file. Then I opened milkshape, loaded my model and imported the luv-file (in another thread I read this way I won't loose my comments and prevent bone-assignment mess-ups). I saved the model again and converted it to mesh for a test-run. The model was invisible now ingame.

Is this normal?

[Eothese]

I dont mean the apha channel of the normal map, I mean the normal map itself. You can increase or reduce brightness to suit.

I stated in my post that I have never used lithunwrap, I've heared too many bad things about it and about mixing tools. I just use the texture coordinator in milkshape, its really easy to use.

[Ataegina]

some things wich make units invisible can be not assignment of some part of the model (not assigned to any bone) and also the missing comment on some group also causes invisible units.

[T&D]

some things wich make units invisible can be not assignment of some part of the model (not assigned to any bone) and also the missing comment on some group also causes invisible units.

He posted that ,,silver model'' without textures works...

[FakeTwin]

After some more testing I'm nearly 100% sure now what the problem ist. In fact, it's 2 problems (Eothese assuptions are correct):
1) After using Lithunwrap the model is definitely messed up. As suggested I'll do the mapping with milkshape's "texture coordinate editor" in the future.
2) The textures are also messed up: for testing purposes, I assigned them to an already existing (and definitely working) model: It became invisible.

I'll upload my textures anytime soon. Maybe someone can take a look at them and tell me what I have to change in order to make them working?

Best regards

[T&D]

After some more testing I'm nearly 100% sure now what the problem ist. In fact, it's 2 problems (Eothese assuptions are correct):
1) After using Lithunwrap the model is definitely messed up. As suggested I'll do the mapping with milkshape's "texture coordinate editor" in the future.
2) The textures are also messed up: for testing purposes, I assigned them to an already existing (and definitely working) model: It became invisible.

I'll upload my textures anytime soon. Maybe someone can take a look at them and tell me what I have to change in order to make them working?

Best regards

You guys are right-lithunwrap mess up models...

[SigniferOne]

I find Milkshape's UVW editor to be quite good myself, so Lithunwrap isn't even that necessary.

[FakeTwin]

I added one of my textures as well as the corresponding normal map to the first post. It would be awesome if someone could take a look at them and tell me what I did wrong. He or she will of course be credited in my mod once it's finished...

Best regards

[Ishan]

@FakeTwin
Try this one i did some changes and let me know if the unit texture works now or not.

[FakeTwin]

@FakeTwin
Try this one i did some changes and let me know if the unit texture works now or not.

Wow, that was fast! Thanks!
I'll test the textures asap and report right back!