Please help... .mod or .3ds to .mag.... ship model conversion

[The_Reverend]

Hello all, I am new here, and very excited to be here. I came with the intention of making a total conversion mod, having bought Starshatter because of the Babylon 5 mod; first to be able to play it, and secondly in hopes of making my own in some time.

I am attempting to convert Starfleet Command .mod mesh files into .mag files. I can run the ship model through Max, export it as a .3ds. From there, I converted the .bmp textures (in the same folder naturally) into the required .pcx format. I then attempt to import this .3ds file into Magic, but Magic states that it 'cannot import the .pcx's', and (mis)lists a few of them. This mesh does show up, but its very small, and has no textures...
Can anyone help? This is the very first ship of at least a hundred I wish to implement.

[p10ppy]

mmmm i did this a while ago (import from SFC 3)

from my rather feeble memory i went from MAX to a OBJ and edited the MTL files to spec PCXs
then changed the BMPs to PCXs (make sure that your PCXs are in the the right colour mode )
see this thread clicky me

I actualy went MOD--MAX--OBJ--Deep Exploration--LWO--Lightwave--LWO--Deep Exploration--OBJ--Magic but i had no problems so skiping or the LW stuff shouldnt matter
[:)] Good luck
P.S ive always had more reliable imports in to magic as a OBJ rather than a 3DS but that maybe a LW thingy[:D]

[John DiCamillo]

Could you guys please zip up one or two of these .3ds file and whatever bitmaps they use and email them to me?

Thanks!

[The_Reverend]

p10ppy.. thank you for much the assistance... at least the mesh comes out normal at first..[:D]
I'll try the instructions in that thread you linked, they sound valid to me.. I'll repost what happens either way.

Milo- I messaged you about those models.. cant seem to send any files through this forum...

[The_Reverend]

Well, I tried above, but I am still having trouble with this conversion, or the hundreds I have yet to go.
I am presently using PSP 7, and Photoshop 7, occasionally. When I converted the .bmp's to .pcx's, it still will not import the images as textures.... it seems they must be 24-bit .pcx's, correct?
I noticed after it failed, the folder with the .3ds and its textures... the colors on the textures were reversed.

I have access to Magic, 3Dmax 4.2..PSP7, Photshop 7... with this in mind,
someone please tell me...

What are the optimal steps for me to convert a .3ds model mesh, and its .bmp textures files, into something palpable that will show up as such in the game? I do not have the capacity to re-texture at least a hundred ship models:(.
If I follow these steps, will I now able to work on the DEF file for the ship, knowing that the ship will appear correctly?

[piratemonkey]

OK I'll start by saying I'm not a 3D guy, so this may not be the best or optimum way to do it, and once you have the model in magic I cant help with additional modeling or texturing etc... BUT I have succesfully been able to convert a Starfleet Command model using 3DS Max 4.2. Heres the way I did it.

1. Install the SFC>MAX importer plug-in in 3D Studio Max http://www.cadalyst.net/extras/plugins/Importmax5.html

2. Install the Max2Obj export plug-in in 3D Studio Max
http://www.habware.at/duck4.htm

3. Import your SFC model into 3DS Max.
4. Export the scene as an OBJ file.
5. At the dialogue use the following settings
(I dont know if these are the best settings but it works)
Group By: "All to Default"
Check "Use Material"
Check "Use Material Library"
Check "Texture Coordinates"
Click OK

At the second Dialogue:
Choose "Scene Materials"
Check "Export Maps"
Click OK.

6. Load the textures from the original SFC model (they should be .BMP files) into whatever graphics program you use and save them as 24 bit PCX files. Save these new textures into the same directory you saved the OBJ file to. You can save them in a different location but in the MTL file (see next step) you would have to alter the relative path to the texture files.

7. Open the .MTL file (located in the same directory as the OBJ file) with Notepad. Change all texture references from .BMP to .PCX (each of these lines is where you would change the realtive path of the texture IF you saved the textures to a different location in step 6). Save the file.

8. You should now be able to import the OBJ file into magic with the textures mapped properly.

Hopefully that works for you.

[DamoclesX]

Okay

here is what I do


Make sure everything is in max and working the way you want.
Only use the diffuse texture slot
max sure ALL textures are POWERS, as in 256x256 512x512, none powers wont work
make sure NO textures are more then 8 characters long
Export as -3ds- format to a directory on your desktop
boot up photoshop and open up all your texture files, save them as normal PCX files IN the directory you exported that 3ds file to
load up MAGIC, import OR open the 3ds file, I dont see a difference with either option
once its loaded, goto preferences and set the camera to texture, or render to texture, I Cant remember what one
you will now see textures
now, select the entire model, goto the menu select reduce verts and do it by a factor of 0.1, do this twice, you wil notice it kill a LOT of verts
now save it as a mag file
-done-

[The_Reverend]

Thank you PirateMonkey and DomoclesX... both of you were extremely helpful, and much appreciated. Sorry it has been a bit, I am not too good at multi-tasking, but I'm getting better.
Yet, it still goes on...
I used those .OBJ tools for Max, got the ship exported exactly as stated. The texture files are 252X252 and 512X512. They were of long name, so I imported them into Paint Shot Pro, and saved them as the same file kind, .bmp, but with a short name.
I double checked that they were good by viewing it in Max- texture sit good.
I then imported each texture file (in separate instances, too); first I imported them in Paint Shop Pro, saved them as .pcx's. I then tried to pull the OBJ into Magic... still, no textures.
I tried again in Photoshop, this time PS changed the files in "p_1.bmp.pcx", and so on. Tried to pull the OBJ into Magic again, still no bloody textures.
All things are in the same folder, named the same as the OBJ. It made it easier before.
Where have I gone wrong? Thanks again in advance guys.

[piratemonkey]

The only thing based on your description that I think you missed was editing the .MTL file (this 'material' file gets output from Max with the OBJ file). This is the file that the OBJ uses to define the textures it needs. It defaults to the BMP files of the original, and if you dont change it to PCX, it will continue to try and use BMP files when you import into Magic (hence no textures).

Open up the MTL file with notepad or some other text editing application, and you should see a list of entries to BMP textures. Just do a Find and replace (or do it manually if you are a masochist) and change all the ".BMP" extensions to ".PCX"

Also be sure you set the Camera Display Preferences in Magic to "texture" otherwise even if you get it all right, you still wont see the textures.

[DamoclesX]

arg,

did you read my steps lol

dont use obj, dont use mtl dont use any of that



Make sure everything is in max and working the way you want.
Only use the diffuse texture slot
max sure ALL textures are POWERS, as in 256x256 512x512, none powers wont work
make sure NO textures are more then 8 characters long
Export as -3ds- format to a directory on your desktop
boot up photoshop and open up all your texture files, save them as normal PCX files IN the directory you exported that 3ds file to
load up MAGIC, import OR open the 3ds file, I dont see a difference with either option
once its loaded, goto preferences and set the camera to texture, or render to texture, I Cant remember what one
you will now see textures
now, select the entire model, goto the menu select reduce verts and do it by a factor of 0.1, do this twice, you wil notice it kill a LOT of verts
now save it as a mag file
-done-

messing with objs, mtl and that crap is just creating more work

[piratemonkey]

Actually I agree with Damo...his way is way easier and more straight forward.
I only went with the the OBJ method cause I was having weird issues with textures using 3DS back in the pre 3.9 days, and as I was just playing around with a few ships I went with what I knew worked for me...extra work and all.

Had I to do it again today....[:)]

[DamoclesX]

sometimes it does odd things, you need powered textures, and with you start messing with specs and lums.. shudder, stuipid stuff happens.

cant wait for milo to fix that,

tell you what would be awsome, a damn max exporter that would export to magic, and place the lum, diffuse, specs, and whatever else maps ss might use in the right places lol