Random Modding questions

[Biffa]

Cranking out some tools and a bit of research into 1930-1940's style of Russian villages and I've got some just basic questions before I start getting carried away:

My main programme apart from Photoshope is 3DSM v5, obviously the tuts and recommended programme is MS, I've used it before for other mods but prefer 3DSM and atm I'm not sure if I can buy MS so it could be 30days lots of fun then, bang end of trial.

MS is also perfect for X.files and sadly as far as I can tell Studio Max only has an X.file exporter (Pandaworks), I've never used X.file before and was sort of hoping I could import a few models (buildings) from the game and play with them before making my own. I could be just being dumb here and maybe you can't do that anyhow since it is also a compiler and you need the originals. I'll only find out when I install MS and take a look but ofc then the 30day countdown will start!

So I guess my main question is can you both import and export X.files from the game with MS and secondly is there an Import X.file plugin for 3dsm v5 out there? Or should I just give up with even trying to use 3DSM and see how I get on for 30 days with MS and make building from scratch and experiment?

My second question is, did I read somewhere about 'Dynamic' campaigns? I haven't looked into much of the components of the game (scripts and files) since atm all I have really done is play it and doing a bit of research online. If there is or could be a 'Dynamic' campaign does that mean that depending on how well the player does that they could fight a different battle i.e. lose this one then the next battle is further back from the front and defensive?

Third and last question is based around Mraahs thread regards 'Minimum Obstacle Clearance', you see I'm dying to mod a city or built up area and the width question could scupper my 'plans'. 'tight and narrow paths will drive the pathfinding algorithim crazy' and then Eriks comment '...as long as there's a bit more room than the unit size on either side', both of those tips suggest that making a tighter city grid of buildings and roads could cause problems for the pathfinding. What size is this bounding box since atm the spaces between most buildings on the game maps are massive?

I guess I could play with things for a bit and answer the questions above myself and then decide what or if to mod some maps but if anybody can answer the questions it would save me a heap of time.



Thanks

[Mraah]

SAF_Biffa,

I can answer some questions ...

ORIGINAL: SAF_Biffa
So I guess my main question is can you both import and export X.files from the game with MS ...

Yes ... see sceenshot ... Import via Tools, Direct X Mesh Tool ... Export via DirectX (JT).

My second question is, did I read somewhere about 'Dynamic' campaigns? I haven't looked into much of the components of the game (scripts and files) since atm all I have really done is play it and doing a bit of research online. If there is or could be a 'Dynamic' campaign does that mean that depending on how well the player does that they could fight a different battle i.e. lose this one then the next battle is further back from the front and defensive?

Nope, not dynamic. The RCG (random campaign generator) builds the battles before hand. I think they hope to add this feature in the future ... I'll let Erik elaborate.

Third and last question is based around Mraahs thread regards 'Minimum Obstacle Clearance', you see I'm dying to mod a city or built up area and the width question could scupper my 'plans'. 'tight and narrow paths will drive the pathfinding algorithim crazy' and then Eriks comment '...as long as there's a bit more room than the unit size on either side', both of those tips suggest that making a tighter city grid of buildings and roads could cause problems for the pathfinding. What size is this bounding box since atm the spaces between most buildings on the game maps are massive?

When I run my obstacle test I'll post some figures.

Rob

[Stridor]

SAF_Biffa,

The team used max verions 7-9 to do most of the heavy modelling work. They also used the polytrans max plugin direct X exporter/importer.

I think polytrans is necessary at this stage for anything which animates. However static meshes (maps/map objects) can probably be exported with panda from max. I didn't have any luck exporting vehicles with panda however.

MS3D is a great / cheap program for doing all your static mesh needs and my tutorial will explain how to make game maps using it. However I have not yet worked out how to export animating objects from MS3D. For this (my vehicles and my TC animations) I did in max8 and polytrans.

I *may* be able to work out a way for panda or MS3D to export animating objects but I wouldn't hold my breath.

I hope that helps

S.

[Mraah]

Stridor,

I have PythonShape plugin for MS3D .... I think a script needs to be written that could make it work??? I'm not a guru on script language ... but this is the sample script the author wrote ...

import wx
import ms3d

class app(wx.App):
def OnInit(self):
print "This is going out to the PythonShape console!"

f = wx.Frame(None,-1,"wxPython in PythonShape")
f.Show(True)

return True

a = app(redirect=False) #the redirect=False is necessary to output error data to pythonshape's console
a.MainLoop()

[Stridor]

Rob, please give it a shot. PC seems very picky about directX data, but it is worth trying.

[Mraah]

ORIGINAL: Stridor

Rob, please give it a shot. PC seems very picky about directX data, but it is worth trying.

Argh ... I was afraid you'd say that [X(]. I'll read the Python manual about scripts and see if I can research the idea later tonight, at work, on my midshift, during breaks. I'm not an educated computer programmer, but, given enough examples and code definitions I can (if possible anyway) make a feeble attempt at a script.

[Erik Rutins]

If you guys do the modeling side, we may be able to help with the import/export if you have trouble without Polytrans, I'll see what we can do.

[Mraah]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

If you guys do the modeling side, we may be able to help with the import/export if you have trouble without Polytrans, I'll see what we can do.

The only other way I can see using MS3D as a vehicle model builder (with animation) is to export the data out of MS3D in a text form and writing the animation code by hand, then converting it back into direct X format. I have a program called 3D Object Converter. This supports 510 format conversions.

3D Object Converter link : http://web.axelero.hu/karpo/

EDIT NOTE : Correction, it supports 3DS Max ... ASCII (ASE) and Script (MS). Also, 3D Studio Binary (3ds) and script. See the FORMAT tab at that website.

Rob