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Hilts... Datapads etc...


sketch42

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ok ive been reading and reading and reading and been getting places with some things but im THE biggest Noob here when it comes to these things... i cant seem to find the thread on how to make a custom hilt.. do i need Gmax and MDLops??? if so can someone help me in making a hilt im very new to these programs and the tuts i find here while maybe helpful to some .. i just cant seem to grasp...

 

i keep bouncing from topic to topc hoping that one will answer my question.. but there are so many that im not sure anymore what to do...

 

i also want to make a datapad to go with the saber

 

one more thing... when i made a saber(no custom hilt) i gave it properties like STR +3 and On Hit Stun 50% for 2 rounds and they work fine .. but when i try to do the same to the crystal it doesnt seem to work (i made the crystal and tried to put it in a diff saber and the game crashed)

 

 

i know im probably the most annoying member here but i wanna learn

 

Thanks in Advance

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Welcome to the forums :)

 

If you want to make a new hilt model (change the shape), then you'll need MDLops & al.

 

If you want to make a reskin of an existing model, then you don't need them but you will need a graphic editor (Check the Guide for the Newbie Stiky for basic info).

 

For the datapad, I am not sure what you mean. Do you simply want a description of your item?

In that case, all you need to do is to edit the .uti file - check this tutorial.

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Originally posted by sketch42

so i need Gmax as well than right?

 

Yes thats right.

 

ive never reskinned or made anything 3d etc.. is there any beginner Tuts???

 

Svosh's tutorial while a bit tough to follow the first read through is probably the best around for noob's and veterans. But don't feel bad not all of us veterans can even model or texture if our lives depended on it.

 

and the crystal quest... any idea???

 

Okay now to modifying the crystal question are we talking about modifying something like a red crystal or another color crystal. Or are we talking about modifying something like an upari or nextor crystal. Or even adding a new crystal to the game.

 

for all of your crystals in game doesn't matter wether it is a upgrade crystal or a color crystal you actually need to modify the uti files for each saber for it's respective color. So say you want that upari crystal to now add a +10 computer use skill check in addition to all of it's other benefits. Then you would need to add a new property and when adding the property it will give you option of a upgrade type where you would choose upari crystal.

 

Now if adding a new crystal you will need to add it to upgrades.2da as well as edit all of the lightsabers with a gff editor outside of kotor tool as kotor tool does not recognize fields outside of those in the original 2da files.

 

For more information in respects to modifying crystals check out the tutorial threads out.

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Originally posted by sketch42

thank you for the responses

 

 

one last thing.... lol where is the default saber hilts stored...svosh's tut says to take a default model and work ontop of it.. any idea????

 

Okay there is a models.bif file that you can expand in kotor tool all of the item models are just like the naming convention of the uti files. So for gw_ltsbryellow(spelling I know is off but something like this for the yellow lightsaber.) you will find a uti file in item templates.bif a mdl in mdl.bif and the mdx in mdx.bif you need both the mdl & mdx for mdlops to decompile into a ascii-model.mdl file

 

Also if you use the help feature in kotor tool fred provides instructions with picture directions of where to look for alot of the basic where are these file functions. While Fred has built in a version of mdlops into kotor tool it unfortunately is not the latest version of mdlops which allows you to add new model's completly into kotor.

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ok i converted the mdl to ascii.mdl and loaded it in gmax and got this

 

http://img189.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img189&image=gmax19fn.jpg

 

i followed the basic tutorial and got this now...

 

http://img189.exs.cx/img189/4874/nowwat1ad.jpg

 

so now i just recompile it and thats it?? what about the skin??? basically i wanna make this http://www.thelightsaber.com/WorkFolder/SmallSFW/ExarSM.jpg

 

i tried adding the spikes at the end and couldnt figure it out. the grip i believe i can do just the spikes at the end not sure how

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If you have the latest version of mdlops I believe there is a basic tutorial enclosed that covers the trimesh replacement function. However since I can't get a hang of modeling I really couldn't tell you what to do. I would suggest checking out chainz.2da's wip thread hear recently and see if there is anything you can pickup on as tips from that. That or Start a secondary thread specifically for modeling a new saber hilt. So far of the modders out there the following have built new hilts.

 

Svosh

cchargrin(author of mdlops)

T7nowhere

TemporaryTomato

Seprithro

Chainz.2da

 

There may be one or 2 others but I'm not sure.

 

Mono Giganto

Seprithro

T7nowhere

 

have also done other non-lightsaber model weapons.

 

By the way If you can get that saber built it looks great.

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Thanks but i really couldnt have done any of that without sep and svosh's knowledge of 3d max/gmax

 

now i gotta figure out the best way to skin...

 

i tried making a new layer coloring it and bringing the under layer(original) forward but its not covering everything up so well ... whats the best way to skin this?? i checked the skin threads and saw the method i just mentioned after i tried it.. and a few more but its not comming out right... any other suggestions??

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Originally posted by sketch42

Thanks but i really couldnt have done any of that without sep and svosh's knowledge of 3d max/gmax

 

now i gotta figure out the best way to skin...

 

i tried making a new layer coloring it and bringing the under layer(original) forward but its not covering everything up so well ... whats the best way to skin this?? i checked the skin threads and saw the method i just mentioned after i tried it.. and a few more but its not comming out right... any other suggestions??

Have you built a custom UVmap to fit this specific model or are you using a "standard" UV from the in-game sabers?

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Originally posted by ChAiNz.2da

Have you built a custom UVmap to fit this specific model or are you using a "standard" UV from the in-game sabers?

 

huh???? lol.... me and sep havent gotten to that yet so i dunno what your talking about :D

 

he did say though that just because bioware limited themselves that doesnt me i should... so i think it would be custom

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Originally posted by sketch42

huh???? lol.... me and sep havent gotten to that yet so i dunno what your talking about :D

 

he did say though that just because bioware limited themselves that doesnt me i should... so i think it would be custom

You might want to check this thread then:

 

http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=143297

 

In order to skin your hilt "properly", you'll need to create a UVmap based off of your model. Trust me, I tried not to, but T7 told me better ;)

 

The in-game UVmaps/Hilt skins used for the "tube" sabers won't look right when trying to skin your kewl non-tube model... hehe

 

If I'm confusing you more, I'll stop and let the more experienced modelers take over ;)

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@sketch42

were you trying to use a clone of your hilt and change the color. To use as a skin? As ChAiNz.2da said use svösh's UV mapping tutorial, it will save you alot of time. :)

 

@ChAiNz.2da

You know it never ever occurred to me to use a uv map from another model and to tell ya the truth I'm not even sure how that would work or why one would want to do that.

 

@both of ya

 

Your both confusing me :p Every new model needs a new uvmap.

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Originally posted by T7nowhere

[b@ChAiNz.2da

You know it never ever occurred to me to use a uv map from another model and to tell ya the truth I'm not even sure how that would work or why one would want to do that.

 

@both of ya

 

Your both confusing me :p Every new model needs a new uvmap. [/b]

To answer the first part...(for me that is)... laziness by attempting the 'easy path' and lack of "knowing" the hows and what-to-do's. As we both know, that didn't work out ;)

 

For the second part, [Mr. Burns] Excellent....[/Mr. Burns]... hehe

What? no melba toast?...drats...

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