Problem in 3DS Max

[Caledonian Rhyfelwyr]

I selected the polys of a cape from a unit, and saved the cape in the Max/scripts folder. So, I loaded up a Merc Warband, and merged the cape onto it, looked great in Max. So I tried it in-game, and the result was this:



Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?:hmmm:

[Publius]

I selected the polys of a cape from a unit, and saved the cape in the Max/scripts folder. So, I loaded up a Merc Warband, and merged the cape onto it, looked great in Max. So I tried it in-game, and the result was this:



Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?:hmmm:

Is your model weighted? Looks to me like you don't have a skin modifier on the model. Download Professor420's video tutorials to learn more about that, and test your models in max with an animation before hand to test them.

[Halie Satanus]

^^you Can't export without a skin modifier. Probably lose verticles, somewhere, if you move the camera around does the effect splurg all over the screen??.

anyway, dump the skin modifier you have and start again. remember you have to weight each verticle to the correct bones, ie cloak top, middle, bottom, torso (for the shoulders), head (if there is a hood).

The other possibility (though it doesn't look it) is your texture just no longer fits the model, did you edit the uv map and add the cloak to the Merc texture??

Good luck.

[Caledonian Rhyfelwyr]

I am a complete beginner with this, so I don't really know what you mean by weighting the model, and I don't even know what a skin modifier is. I have some skill with max, I can swap shield and weapons fine, but I'm struggling with this.

Sorry for my ignorance but I'm a total beginner with this.

Those videos don't work BTW.

Are there any idiot-friendly guides which could help me here?

Thx for the feedback.

[Shigawire]

heoll thats not a bug thats a FEATURE

why it's the famous peacock-warriors.

[Halie Satanus]

Download the videos from here. they should work, if not try sending a pm to General sun, he will probably update the links, he's nice like that. I won't say they are 'idiot' friendly as 3d max isn't that easy, but with a bit of time and dedication you'll get there in the end.

http://www.generalscollective.com/do...iles.php?cat=3

[Caledonian Rhyfelwyr]

I've finally mastered changing swapping unit weapons and shields in 3ds Max 7, and getting them to work in-game. However, I am still unable to edit parts of the mesh.

I tried to add a cape to a Merc Warband. I used a Roman Centurion, and selected all the polys of the cape, and pressed 'Save Selected', naming the new cape as "Cape" in the 3dsMax/scenes folder. I then loaded up the Merc Warband. I went to File, then Merge, and opened the Cape I had just saved. In the following box of options that came up, I just clicked OK, I didn't really understand it. Another box then popped up, and I clicked on "Use Scene Material". The cape fitted perfectly onto the soldiers shoulders. So, I exported the new cas, and saved it, and tried it in-game. The result was a crash when loading the battle.

I've had a look at all the guides here, but they're just beyond my understanding. I would really appreciate if someone would write me a little idiots guide to adding this cape to a unit, tell me where all the buttons to click are, what everything means etc.

I know this is a lot to ask, but it would allow me to get on with my mod, I'm currently half way through Britannia, but the rest of the units need capes. Any help would be really appreciated.

[Halie Satanus]

Umm, it's not very good form to ignore the advise you've been given and then open another thread.

[Caledonian Rhyfelwyr]

Yeah sorry just saw your other post. But the idea of this thread was just to make it clear I am a complete beginner, I just want a simple, straightforward guide.

And cheers for the help in the other guide, but I have already seen those modding videos.

[Halie Satanus]

Well, i can see your a beginner, about a year ago i was a beginner to, the point is there is no easy, simple, quick guide or way of writing one, your just going to have to go though the same learning curve that many of us have, there are plenty of people around that will help but you will have to do some of the work yourself, try asking specific questions, one at a time. if you have watched the videos prof made then you must know something , eg what a verticle is.

[Proximus]

One thread per subject please.

[Halie Satanus]

Firstly weapons and shields are static elements and only need to be connected to a bone (ie right arm) in order to work, a cape however animates (via multiple bones) so it needs to be connected each of the bones (parents) that make it work, this is done useing a skin modifier, which is how you weight the verticles to the correct bones.

so if you've brought in your cape to the scene you want your going to have to re-weight the model, get rid of the one in the scene and make a new one.

then your going to need to add the cape to the texture and alter the uv map so it shows in game.

All of this is in prof's videos.

[Caledonian Rhyfelwyr]

I've just watched the first four of those videos. They showed me how to remove the skin modifier, so thats a start. I had a look at my UVW Mapping, and it all looks fine, the cape just overlaps the shield. I think my problem is to do with weighting the cape. I'm not sure what that means, but I didn't see anything about it in the videos, and the Prof makes his own equipment for the unit. I think my problem is just needing to weight my new model. How would I do that?

:hmmm:

[Caledonian Rhyfelwyr]

I've got a few screenshots to show exactly what I did.

1. Imported the Merc Warband .cas file:



2. Went to File then Merge to get the cape I got off the Centurion .cas:

[IMG]
http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/3938/max2xj7.th.jpg[/IMG]

3. Selected the options as shown below when merging in the cape:



4. Selected "Use Scene Material":



5. Another box came up, clicked "No to All" (remember reading to do that in a tutorial somewhere):



6. And the guy looked great in max, so I imported him. Everythings sorted out in descr_model_battle etc, so the problem is with the model somehow:



I suppose I'm missing some steps here, so any ideas what I should do next?

[Caledonian Rhyfelwyr]

I think I now understand the idea of weighting the model. I'm getting an error message in Max when I try to weld the vertices in a model. I set the ratio to 0.00001 as recommended in a tutorial, but I get an error message saying "no vertices within weld threshold"

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

[Publius]

Wieghting and Welding are two different things. You're talking about welding right now.

To weight a model, go to your modifier list a select skin (make sure you have highlighted the object you want to add the skin modifier to). Then click verts (unclick the other two options) in the side panel, go to add, and add all of the bones except the one called scene root. Then you have to go through and highlight each bone and the verts associated with it, give them a value of 1.0 (side panel again) and make the bind rigid (theres a box right underneath).

This is much better explained in Prof's tutorials (its the 5th or 6th video) so you really should download those to get a fuller understanding of the process.

And don't triple post next time

[Publius]

First off, Merry XMas The weighting tool you are looking for will be on the side panel on the right. You'll need to scroll down, and there will be a box that says weight properties. Click the box that says rigid, and then move the value for abs. effect up to 1.0, and you have weighted that vertice.

[Caledonian Rhyfelwyr]

Merry Christmas to you too. Thanks for the help, I managed to do some of the model weighting. I could select a bone, and if I rotated it the appropriate bits of mesh rotated with it.

The problem now is that the unit is still as stiff as a board in-game. Also, when I went back to 3ds Max, the Weight Table has reset itself back to having no values when I reloaded the unit. I tried the whole process again, and the unit rotated properly in Max, but not in-game, and all my work was gone when I started up Max the next time. I'm sure I exported the unit as per usual. Is there some seperate way to save the Weight Table?

[Publius]

Exporting does the trick for me :hmmm: The RTW engine can only handle rigid binds, so make sure when you are weighting that binds are rigid. Aside from that, if its exporting and you have the skin modifier set up properly you should be seeing at least some movement in game. I'm not really sure where you're going wrong.

[Caledonian Rhyfelwyr]

I also had "Normalise" checked just beneath the Rigid box, could that be causing the problem?