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Achilles' Lightsaber walkthrough


Achilles

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Well, one more question, what in the world is the Hex Editing about? You said there would only be like 4 "1s" or something so I searced and found a ton, way more than 8, seemed like a million. Could someone tell me what I am doing wrong, or what the Hex Editor is about? Can I do it with KT or something else now, because it makes no sense.

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You need to look for the 01s on the right side, the one with text and stuff, not the one with tons of number/letter combinations.

 

I'm giving up though. After countless tries and unexplainable errors I've lost all patience. I did it once with a blue lightsaber, everything working fine. I then tried with the orange lightsaber files, and phailed hard lolz. I just tried a blue again, deciding "Whatever I'll just cheat for a Heart of the Guardian crystal and turn it orange." Something went wrong on that blue one, when I went to Hex editor there were almost 8 01's to change even though it was in the text search. Every time I try out my orange one in game it turns out turquoise in the inventory. And lasty I don't wanna play through Taris agin just to equip it and find out the blade is also turquoise. None of it's worth it. Don't bother sayin don't give up JediWarrior, it's not like I was gonna keep modding after I made the saber.

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I'm like, 87% sure I'm doing everything right but my lightsaber image still comes out turquoise, and not upgradeable. I noticed in your tutorial you never mentioned what to do with upcrystals.2da to make it upgradeable...
Hmmm....I offered the model var from memory so I might have given you the wrong one. You can always check the .uti file of the saber that you're trying to emulate to verify.

 

Check the general tutorial sticky for the upgrade tutorial. IIRC, Maverick187 wrote that one.

 

Well, one more question, what in the world is the Hex Editing about? You said there would only be like 4 "1s" or something so I searced and found a ton, way more than 8, seemed like a million. Could someone tell me what I am doing wrong, or what the Hex Editor is about? Can I do it with KT or something else now, because it makes no sense.
Make sure you're searching the text side not the binary side.

 

Seriously folks, I think this is the 3rd or 4th time that I've emphatically stated that you're better off using the Item Editing tutorial. It's like watching someone use duct tape and cotton balls to cover a scratch when band-aids are in the next room.

 

Open KT

Find the item you want to change

Open it

Modify any of the fields that you need to (model var, texture var, properties, etc)

Save to Override

Done

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I guess that would be easier Achilles...but say I wanted to do that, if I change the orange saber would it overwrite the normal one...or...ugh this is hard to explain.

 

If, at the end of the game, I want my character to have the lightsaber I was trying to make, Jolee to have a lightsaber with Mantle of the Force, and Juhani with Heart of the Guardian, would doing what you suggested overwrite the orange saber completely? Or would I still be able to buy a orange crystal for Juhani, and use the orange saber I want? Sheesh...ya know what I'm saying?

 

Edit: Whoa, that was weird. Know how I said my problem was that my lightsaber and saber crystal images were turning turquoise, instead of orange? Well I tried the other two (I was using the files iw_lghtsbr_007 and iw_sbrcrstl_007, and tried iw_lghtsbr_008 and iw_sbrcrstl_008) and instead of being turquoise OR orange, they turned a weird purple-peach reddish color. The saber crystal this time looked like Mantle of the Force instead of Heart of the Guardian, and it was orange instead of turquoise. This is nuts!

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My suggestion: Instead of hex editing the model to change the color you can also do this:

 

1 Extract x saber and x .tga blade texture <being sure to create your.txt for later use>

2 Open the saber texture in Paint Shop, Photoshop, or Gimp.

3 Using some kind of "color replacement tool" recolor the texture <the sky's the limit on this one, gold, chartruce, puce, indigo, whatever!>

4 Save as a 32 bit .tga and continue with Achilles's tut.

 

You just gave your saber a new color! Yay for you!

 

On a side note:

 

@Achilles I understand why you tell people this is out dated... but didnt you also say that its valuble <to any noob modder> if they do it once the old skool way? Seriously, I understand the current tools <and modding in general> much better because of the effort I put into completing this tut.

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Uuuugh I don't have any games to play, I must do this! If only there were a new updated set of instructions for making a lightsaber...I don't really know what to do anymore.

 

If you send it over like I said, I can find out what you did wrong just by looking at it and pass on the info to fix it. Check your old pm's to see if you still have the one with my email address, or simply re-pm me and I'll send it again.

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What steps do I have to do, when I just want to replace a lightsaber and not create a new one? Apparently there is only one skin for every type (normal, short, doublebladed) of lightsaber. How can I get a single lightsaber (in my example w_ShortSbr_009) to use a different texture?

 

TIA

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What steps do I have to do, when I just want to replace a lightsaber and not create a new one?

 

Just have it be the same name as the one your trying to replace, IE you extract w_lghtsbr_009 and put it in your override folder, it will override the original. You can use achilles tut, but just keep the #'s the same as the one your trying to replace.

 

Apparently there is only one skin for every type (normal, short, doublebladed) of lightsaber. How can I get a single lightsaber (in my example w_ShortSbr_009) to use a different texture?

 

This is true, unfortunately you'd prolly have to remap it and then re-export it out of max or gmax. The mapping is very umm lets say bad on the original sabers, if you just wanted it to be black or something you can just hex edit the <saber>.mdl file to use your specific modified tga . You can see what is mapped where by importing the saber in to your modeling program and unwrapping the uvw map in the modifiers tab the hit edit it will show you what is mapped where. Look around, I'm sure a step by step is around somewhere if not post here I'll see if I can't walk you through it.

 

Personally, I'd just remap it following T7's lightsaber tut from the mapping point on and you should be good to go. Not only will you get a better map, but if your having any problems with uvw mapping it's good practice while not having to model a brand new hilt to test your mapping skills on.

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Just have it be the same name as the one your trying to replace, IE you extract w_lghtsbr_009 and put it in your override folder, it will override the original. You can use achilles tut, but just keep the #'s the same as the one your trying to replace.

 

The model itself is running smoothly in TSL, but it's plain grey.

 

Personally, I'd just remap it following T7's lightsaber tut from the mapping point on and you should be good to go.

 

I already mapped the hilt and in GMax it looks like it's supposed to. I have three files now: w_ShortSbr_009.mdl, w_ShortSbr_009.mdx and w_ShortSbr_009.tga. How do i get TSL to use the .tga-File?

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The model itself is running smoothly in TSL, but it's plain grey.

 

 

 

I already mapped the hilt and in GMax it looks like it's supposed to. I have three files now: w_ShortSbr_009.mdl, w_ShortSbr_009.mdx and w_ShortSbr_009.tga. How do i get TSL to use the .tga-File?

 

If youre just trying to re skin a standard hilt I'd suggest just downloading the cleaned up maps that ChAiNz created. You can use that to create your hilt texture (.tga) Unless you are making a new model and replacing it the I dont see why you'd need to put a standard hilt into gmax (ChAiNz saved all of us alot of time on that one.)

 

Did you actually re-color the map? If you just used the uvmap for your skin <texture> it might turn grey ( just mapping it isint enough, the map just tells the game how to wrap your texture <.tga> around the model, and acts as a guide for painting the texture.) Did you remeber to save your image as a 32 bit targa?

 

Along with your .mdl .mdx and .tga do you have a .txi file? I noticed you left it off the list.

 

EDIT: I was assuming that you had extracted the default saber009 , if you kept the name on your model the same as its original then all you have to do is rename your.tga to the same as your model.

 

Originally Posted by Buzz1978

Apparently there is only one skin for every type (normal, short, doublebladed) of lightsaber. How can I get a single lightsaber (in my example w_ShortSbr_009) to use a different texture?

The post bleow has this well convered.

 

Hope this is helpfull.

Fuu

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The model itself is running smoothly in TSL, but it's plain grey.

 

 

 

I already mapped the hilt and in GMax it looks like it's supposed to. I have three files now: w_ShortSbr_009.mdl, w_ShortSbr_009.mdx and w_ShortSbr_009.tga. How do i get TSL to use the .tga-File?

 

1st way is before exporting, the material you have in gmax you have to name it in gmax itself so when you right click your hilt and hit properties (in gmax) it says the name of your tga. I have max 5 myself, so it may be a tad different but the default material before you change it should be something like "Material #1" you want it to read "w_ShortSbr_009".

 

2nd way is hex editing the w_ShortSbr_009.mdl, you search for whatever the default material is say, w_ShortSbr_001 and change it to read w_ShortSbr_009.

 

It would prolly be easier to do the 1st way, because hex editing is quite confusing in the beginning, it was for me I had the same problem as you for like a week before i finally figured out the problem.

 

After you do #1, the best way to find out if you succeeded or not it to right click your hilt and hit properties and look for material name if it reads w_ShortSbr_009 you have succeeded export it and everything should be all to the good.

 

And remember always save a backup copy just in case..;) You can always delete it once you have everything working.

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1st way is before exporting, the material you have in gmax you have to name it in gmax itself so when you right click your hilt and hit properties (in gmax) it says the name of your tga. I have max 5 myself, so it may be a tad different but the default material before you change it should be something like "Material #1" you want it to read "w_ShortSbr_009".

 

Full score to Mr. J3d1W4rr10r! The material was still that of my "testing texture"...

 

It would prolly be easier to do the 1st way, because hex editing is quite confusing in the beginning, it was for me I had the same problem as you for like a week before i finally figured out the problem.

 

I began hex editing back in ... with Mega Traveller 2 - if somebody knows that. Really confusing was that everywhere in the .mdl-file it read w_ShortSbr_009 already...

 

After you do #1, the best way to find out if you succeeded or not it to right click your hilt and hit properties and look for material name if it reads w_ShortSbr_009 you have succeeded export it and everything should be all to the good.

 

It still reads "Mtl #1" but that seems to be alright.

 

Ok, in TSL there are still a few polys grey, although it looks ok in GMax. I hope mapping once again will solve the problem. If not I will come back soon... ;)

 

What is the .txi-file for? I downloaded a few lightsabers to get a hint but there the only entry is "envmaptexture CM_Baremetal".

 

Thanks to you and Fuu for your help!

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  • 2 months later...

hi there. i've just used your tutorial to c reate a custom saber. took me a while to figure out how to do it in tsl mind you, but i got there in the end.

 

just one problem. i've used the viridian model to build up the saber, but i noticed in your tutorial

 

• Use the Text Find function to locate the references to your w_lsabre<color>01 file. I usually look for “01” or the color (“blue, red, turq, etc) to ensure that I find it right away.

• Very carefully change the 01 to 02

 

• There are 4 of these references. Find the other three and change them as well.

 

##Note: Double Bladed lightsabers will have 8 of these references.

###Note: changing only some of these references will result in a multi colored saber blade

 

that there's potential to hav a multi coloured blade, so i also copied across the w_lsbrered01.tga to my override folder, along with the necessary txi file.

 

since the w_lghtsbr_050.mdl file i'm using for my saber was originally set up to use lsbreDgrn01, i changed the name of the red file to w_lsabrereed02.tga to keep the number of letters identical, as you stated was needed in your tutorial.

 

unfortunately the blade still just comes out all green. fyi, i changed the first saber colour entry to lsbreDgrn02, the 2nd to lsbrereed02, 3rd to lsbreDgrn, 4th and final to lsabrereed02.

 

there's bound to be something simple i'm just overlooking, any help from anyone would be appreciated. cheers.

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  • 3 weeks later...
If you have trouble with Achillies walkthrough there is also a great Adobe Acrobat reader file with screens and everything, but it is not my own doing so I can't exactly post it up, I believe it is a translation from Jules Windu's saber guide which was in Spanish... so I can't post a link for it or upload it so if anyone is having real trouble with Achillies walkthrough PM me and I guess I could send you the walkthrough I used to use

 

Hey maverick can you send me that? me email is ~snip~

 

Sorry howl, but for now, posting e-mail addies are against our Forum Rules:

http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=127725

 

However, they will likely PM you when/if they can help :) ~ ChAiNz.2da

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Hey Achilles, great tutorial, but I got some problems. Some of them I've seen in many threads, but this one is unique. I've got upside down icons of the light saber and the crystal, and they aren't nicely boxed in like others. Me email is ~snip~, can you send me your response? I'll try to send you all the files that I did.

 

Sorry howl, but for now, posting e-mail addies are against our Forum Rules:

http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=127725

 

However, they will likely PM you when/if they can help :) ~ ChAiNz.2da

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Hey Achilles, would you know anything about saber colors? See, I actually managed to get a saber working a while ago, an orange one, and I changed the HotG color since it was too similiar. Now every time I pull out a HotG saber and the saber with my orange crystal, they're both orange. I think it has something to do with the color files (Hotg is w_lsabrgold01 and orange is lsabregold02) but I have no idea. Would you know anything?

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