Lightsaber Modeling Help

[Fuu]

Recently I finished modeling a lightsaber and managed to get the model working in-game. I replaced w_lghtsbr_006 <Malak's Saber> in order to do this. Everything was going great until...........

 

I decided that I wanted my new hilt model to have a short-saber counterpart, so I went back into gmax and found a save from just BEFORE I originially exported. I delete all the geom. <save my new hilt, which still has its uvmap modifiers> then import a "regular" saber in. The steps I take to do this are:

 

1 W/ the KT use "export" button to export .mdl/.mdx of a stock saber <not using the double click method....never did that to work right for me....grrrrr>.

2 Use mdlops to make an .ascii of the "stock"/"regular" saber.

3 Import this .ascii into gmax via the nwn toolbar <with my hilt already loaded>.

4 Continue the necessary steps as outlined in T7's "saber_tut.rtf" <followed this to the LETTER>.

 

Start up the game only to find that my new "short saber" uses the "stock" Malak Saber hilt <the blade seems to be the correct one, as its too small for the hilt>. WTF?

 

Another question...... to my recollection, when you align your new hilt's pivot point to the old one the green and red arrows should completely merge correct? I remeber this happening when I did it correctly before..... however the same functions do not yeild the same effect now. Now the pivot arrows simply become "filled" <ie: the hollow space in the center of the red/green arrows is filled by a thinner set of arrows> as opposed to merging.

 

Yarrrrgh! I've tried re-installing nwnmax/gmax and mdlops a couple of times, importing almost every "regular" lightsaber <I've redone the mdlops part of that tut about 20 times.....think I have it memorised> ...no dice....

 

Is there something I can do to "fix" this? To "start over" from a point earlier than this means completely re-mapping/skinning my hilt.....is it worth it?

 

Please help me oh mighty modeling gurus.

 

I'm going to bed before my head explodes.

 

Thanks in advance,

Fuu

 

Sorry about the typos. Hope this was'nt too confusing.

[oldflash]

There is no size difference between shortsaber hilt and regular saber hilt. More easy for you is to load existing binary model (first you make-it) in mdlops and use rename function in order to change weapon name, textures and blade color. Many problem with hilts are linked with "reset xform" function or in other case you need to select custom hilt and convert to editable mesh again.

Doubleclick in kotor tools work for me everytime when it comes to extract ascii model. There is differences between ascii made-it by KT and ascii made by mdlops. I think that differences are in floating values format in numeric definitions. I don't know for sure and since both work just fine I wasn't look close to see what it's happends.

[T7nowhere]

Are you certain that you linked the hilt to the animation dummy and that you unlinked the old hilt.

 

You could try to re-rig your model again. This time though, convert your model to ascii import it into gmax, delete everything except your hilt and import and rigg it with the standard single.

[Fuu]

Are you certain that you linked the hilt to the animation dummy and that you unlinked the old hilt.

 

You could try to re-rig your model again. This time though, convert your model to ascii import it into gmax, delete everything except your hilt and import and rigg it with the standard single.

 

Yes, and yes. I as for the re-rig I tried doing this <multiple times actually> but the end result was the same.

 

 

This is what I am doing:

 

1. Either from my save, or from my working hilt, delete all geoms <except my hilt>

2. Make sure I have the correct material applied to my hilt <w_Lghtsbr_098.tga, which is working just fine.>.

3. Select none.

4. Import .ascii of regluar lightsaber <tried this with 7 out of the 10 regular saber models, the only one it had ever worked with is my "original" working hilt, i used w-lghtsbr-006> with the nwn toolbar.

5. Select <by name> the old hilt, I usually look for the one that has aurora and editmesh, something like lshandle006.

6. Re-name lshandle006 to old hilt.

7. Unlink oldhilt from its parent, then click object properties to check that the parent has become "scene root".

8. Select <by name> my hilt and move down to match top of oldhilt <I try to pull it straight down but....... I always end up having to move it over some. I use the blade texture for a refrence point to line it up, centering my hilt to the blade on the x/y.>

9.Click hirearchy>pivot>affect pivot only>align.

10. Select <by name> oldhilt and <click> pick.

11. Check world:x,y,z Local x,y,z and pivot point on both sides, click ok.

12. Click affect pivot only to turn it off.

13. <with my hilt still selected> reset x form.

14. link my hilt to oldhilt's parent <dummy something>, then use "object properties"again to check it.

15. Select <by name> the aurora <w_lghtsbr_00x> and go to modifier tab.

16. Mdl base paramater export <tried this with creature setting and item setting, didnt seem to make a difference> export geom's only.

17 Close gmax <and snoop> then fire up mdlops <which btw likes to crash if I open it too soon, ie 2 secs after I close the snoop>

18 Load the original model <bianary> along with my freshly exported hilt, lshandle06 to be replaced by newhilt, hit do it!

19. Copy/paste the .mdl/.mdx into overide and load up a gamesave where i already have both <my original that works, and my "new" one that works but has malaks hilt instead of mine.>

20. Get pissed off because it still isin't working.

 

Would anyone be willing to look at my mod and tell me what I did wrong? The only other issues are: a broken icon, and my original saber needs a edit so it will use the correct texture, but I can fix that in 5 mins. If anyone wants to do this I'll fix those issues before I send it over.

 

I'd really prefer to "fix" this instead of having to go back and re-map/re-skin/re-link/re-replace. I've put alot of hours into this mod, and was almost done <fine tuning everything else but the model for my "short" saber>.

 

The funny thing is, right before this happened I had a goal for a release date.

I was planning on puting it up next week....so much for that.

 

I dont want to have to remap my saber, but if i have to go back that far to get this to work i should get started soon.

 

 

Thanks for the feedback guys, I'm going to go try this again.

Fuu

[T7nowhere]

It looks to me like your doing everything correctly and I don't understand how your short saber continues to end up as malaks hilt mesh with a normal blade instead of your mesh on the normal blade.

 

After you compile the model are you renaming it to w_shortsbr_xxx (xxx being the model var) and using the baseitem 10(short saber) in the uti.

[cchargin]

Hello,

 

17 Close gmax <and snoop> then fire up mdlops <which btw likes to crash if I open it too soon, ie 2 secs after I close the snoop>

Hmm, first I ever heard of this behavior. Interesting.

 

Would anyone be willing to look at my mod and tell me what I did wrong?

Sure. Send me the gmax file and I will take a look at it. You can get my e-mail from the MDLOps readme. Oh, I will also need to know which Kotor binary model you use with replacer.

[Fuu]

It looks to me like your doing everything correctly and I don't understand how your short saber continues to end up as malaks hilt mesh with a normal blade instead of your mesh on the normal blade.

 

After you compile the model are you renaming it to w_shortsbr_xxx (xxx being the model var) and using the baseitem 10(short saber) in the uti.

 

I think that might be it...the .uti says its a "short" saber but the texture/modelname are in w-lghtsabre format. So are all the other files that go with this saber.....so at this point I need to rename all of the 98 <number of my short saber> files to shortsbr and edit my .uti/upcrystals? </feeling retarded>.

I'll go try changing this and see if it helps... I did think it was odd that the Malak hilt was showing up....since it wasnt used in my "short" saber's model.

 

@cchargin: Yeah this just started recently, mdlops seems to crash on a whim at this point. I've tried reinstalling, without any effect.<I'm going to thry this again though.....> I was glad when it stayed open long enough to replace the 99 saber. <Which actually works great........thanks for all the help you guys!> I have no clue what I did to mess it up, nor how to go about fixing it. Haha removing and reinstalling was the best thing I knew to do.......I'm still glad to use it, just requres more patience now .

 

If anyone has intrest in checking this mod when its done let me know..... Once I get this issue resolved there won't be much left <to do> before its ready. I'd like to get someone experienced to look it over before I release it....I dont want to put out a buggy mod.

 

 

Thanks a million times guys......you deserve a giant cookie!

 

Fuu

 

Edit: You can tell I'm tired when I use the same word repetedly.....ugh sorry about that.

[Fuu]

Its' alive....its alive! Thank you chargin, oldflash, Svosh, and T7nowhere!

 

I reinstalled mdlops again and no crashes this time My litttle re-naming convention suceeded as well. One thing I did notice..... I was unable to change the modelname to w_shortsbr_098 when replacing <model name must be 13 characters long! Bwaaaa? It's 14 characters long.>...... I just had to re-name it after. Is my 'puter having another hiccup, or is this part of the way mdlops works?

 

Either way... I'm still extatic right now, because I have two fully functional lightsabers. Wooooooooot!

 

 

Thank you again to those who have aided in my modding education.

Another girl is about to join the ranks.

 

Fuu

[cchargin]

Hello,

 

Its' alive....its alive!

Congrats!

 

I was unable to change the modelname to w_shortsbr_098 when replacing <model name must be 13 characters long! Bwaaaa? It's 14 characters long.>...... I just had to re-name it after. Is my 'puter having another hiccup, or is this part of the way mdlops works?

Yep. Basically replacer is, well, replacing what was in the binary model with your mesh. So the name for your mesh has to be the same length as the name of the binary model you chose. Don't worry though, the name of the mesh does not really affect anything. And as you said you can change the name of the .mdl and .mdx files to anything you want (as long as it matches the info in your .uti of course).

 

So, how come the name has to be the exact same length, but the mesh can be a different size? Uh, well, I won't go on a tirade about the model format, because that is to blame. It's not that I was lazy when coding replacer. Nope, not that at all. Nope.