kohlenklau's CM Modding Blender adventure

[lcm1947]

On 4/3/2021 at 9:57 AM, kohlenklau said:

As some of you know, I took a long break from CM. 5 years? Now as of a month or so ago, I am happily back and have a lot on my CM modding to do list. I don't recall that I had ever heard of Blender before a month or so ago. So, back when I returned to the forums I set it on my list to learn Blender but starting 1 April. For some folks who years ago had been in fear of learning ANYTHING about Photoshop, this thread will serve to try and answer their "new frontier" question "Can any random idiot on the forum learn Blender and use it for their own CM modding purposes?" I have volunteered to be the test idiot!

Well, I already know that you are helpful for the times you've helped me but now I find you are also bold and daring as well.    Good luck Kohlenklau.  

[lcm1947]

Any game you have in mind to mod first?  Just curious.  

[kohlenklau]

18 minutes ago, lcm1947 said:

Any game you have in mind to mod first? 

Hi Lee, 

Well, I have a few little things I did for CMRT and CMFI. That is it so far.  

 

[kohlenklau]

On 1/6/2022 at 9:11 AM, kohlenklau said:

In Blender, working on the sun helmet...

First there was the XXXL size he was issued back at the supply depot in Naples. "Take it! Your head will swell in the heat and it will fit fine. NEXT!!!"

I had scaled and rotated numerous times but in game it didn't seem to take. The secret was (in Blender) to "apply" the transformations by Ctrl-A and this reset to 0,0,0 as it became an mdr.

Then he got this one off a dead guy. Maybe now it is too small. I will go back to Blender and tweak the position and scale and material shininess.

It took many months and scratching my head but I have solved it.

Below is @boygarvin aka pitbull's gorgeous uniform mods with some of my mods (grey green icons and the sunhelmet) . Later this year we will have a nice return to Libya!

 

[Erwin]

Brilliant!

[kohlenklau]

I am happy to see more folks are involved in Blender to make CM mods. @Lucky_Strike @RockinHarry

I am ATTEMPTING 2 new Blender Mods to make some vehicles for my CMRT Hungary Mod.

39M Csaba Armored Car

43M Zrinyi Assault Gun

 

 

 

[RockinHarry]

On 3/4/2022 at 5:41 PM, kohlenklau said:

I had scaled and rotated numerous times but in game it didn't seem to take. The secret was (in Blender) to "apply" the transformations by Ctrl-A and this reset to 0,0,0 as it became an mdr.

Ah..might try that. Had various issues with finding right transformation application while editing in Blender.

17 minutes ago, kohlenklau said:

I am happy to see more folks are involved in Blender to make CM mods. @Lucky_Strike @RockinHarry

I am ATTEMPTING 2 new Blender Mods to make some vehicles for my CMRT Hungary Mod.

39M Csaba Armored Car

43M Zrinyi Assault Gun

 

 

 

Nice and good luck! Which CMRT vehicles will these replace and what of original vehicles hard coded data will they use? The AC bits of look like the Panhard and 43M will be a StuH 42?

[kohlenklau]

12 minutes ago, RockinHarry said:

Which CMRT vehicles will these replace and what of original vehicles hard coded data will they use?

I am using the SdFkz 222 as the mdr host for the Csaba.

And you are correct, I am using the StuH42 as the mdr host for the Zyinri.

The best matches I can come up with.

 

[RockinHarry]

9 hours ago, kohlenklau said:

I am using the SdFkz 222 as the mdr host for the Csaba.

And you are correct, I am using the StuH42 as the mdr host for the Zyinri.

The best matches I can come up with.

 

Ah yes. The Panhard had a somewhat stronger gun.

[kohlenklau]

1 hour ago, RockinHarry said:

Ah yes. The Panhard had a somewhat stronger gun.

Honestly, I don't even know where the Panhard is. Is it even in CMRT? Hidden somewhere as an odd vehicle?

 

[RockinHarry]

36 minutes ago, kohlenklau said:

Honestly, I don't even know where the Panhard is. Is it even in CMRT? Hidden somewhere as an odd vehicle?

 

Oops. My fault. It ain´t in any the games. My wishfull thinking I guess.

[kohlenklau]

The Franken-Csaba progress continues thanks to @Lucky_Strike and Mark's superior skills at the PS joystick.

I am adding Hungarian crosses and license plates. I waited for hours down at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to get the damn tags. Insurance papers and my war vehicle license. The lady had it almost all done and THEN said she was going on break and I must return after lunch. DMV joke.

FRANKENCSABA  hahaha

I have to alter the SdFkz222 MG to be a water cooled looking MG. I had to swap the sides of 2 weapons on the turret,  cannon goes to the left, MG goes to the right. Messing with the crew spots. Effing with the hatches the best I can. Still gotta make vehicle crew uniforms for Hungarians! Fun stuff. Work in progress. 

 

EDIT: I might mess with editing the fenders. I will grab the low hanging fruit to push it more towards a better Csaba look. Am I 100% making it a Csaba? No way man. It aint worth it to me. This is a hobby and I see @NPye staying up until 4am doing stuff. I have to bloody ask where the actual BFC people are. It seems the fans can crank out the content but BFC still has bunkers that shoot wrong for every title. I don't run a business so I guess I work for free here. But BFC must carefully plan the 15 minutes they budget in to have somebody on the clock to do a small 3D change? If SOMEBODY was paid to make those bunkers then it should be warranty work and be done for free and released in a special email. You do not need a big release and activation headache process to give us the corrected files. Very depressing.

 

Edited October 30, 2022 by kohlenklau

[Lucky_Strike]

57 minutes ago, kohlenklau said:

The Franken-Csaba progress continues thanks to @Lucky_Strike and Mark's superior skills at the PS joystick.

Too kind my man.

This is looking really fine. Did you do the colour for the hull already, do you still want that tweaked? (Your hull that is)

Out of interest how does the turret get its movement, is it just down to the naming and organisation of the various mesh parts in the mdr in Blender, that is to say the Franken AB-41 turret MUST have the same name as the 222 turret so that the game thinks it's a real 222 turret?

57 minutes ago, kohlenklau said:

Am I 100% making it a Csaba? No way man. It aint worth it to me. This is a hobby and I see @NPye staying up until 4am doing stuff. I have to bloody ask where the actual BFC people are. It seems the fans can crank out the content but BFC still has bunkers that shoot wrong for every title. I don't run a business so I guess I work for free here. But BFC must carefully plan the 15 minutes they budget in to have somebody on the clock to do a small 3D change? If SOMEBODY was paid to make those bunkers then it should be warranty work and be done for free and released in a special email. You do not need a big release and activation headache process to give us the corrected files. Very depressing

It's hard to be inspired to keep at this stuff at the best of times. There's so few doing this and to put it mildly, bugger all interest from our creators. It would be beneficial to the community, the game and ultimately BF if things like the bunker bug I just reported in Artkin's thread were acknowledged, and perhaps even farmed out to be fixed by an enthusiastic urchin. We're not here moaning about this stuff because we want attention or because we want to dis the games and their creators, no in fact I'd say the opposite is true. But as Phil says - what's going on, have they just had enough already, made enough wonga to retire on? Got better things to do (huh hum, Ukraine monster thread top poster in topic)? Or are we on then verge of that exciting new version with all the bells and whistles we all desire, so why invest in the old engine - NOT!
 

[kohlenklau]

4 minutes ago, Lucky_Strike said:

Out of interest how does the turret get its movement, is it just down to the naming and organisation of the various mesh parts in the mdr in Blender, that is to say the Franken AB-41 turret MUST have the same name as the 222 turret so that the game thinks it's a real 222 turret?

For these Franken-vehicles, I use the following terminology: you have a shell mdr coming in to wrap itself around the host mdr and that host mdr's game code parameters. The shell and host should be the best apples to apples as possible in the main categories such as crew number, speed, armor protection, weapons, wheeled or tracked, turreted, etc.

In Blender you import an mdr and see the naming nomenclature is very consistent. weapon can replace weapon, turret can replace turret. The axis of the shell mdr's turret can be adjusted to match up with what the host is supposed to do. When things are not matched up, as in a STOCK PzIII we got with F&R, the turret will do odd things. Bad QA on BFC's part. Weird oddities with the 3D model. 

[Lucky_Strike]

13 minutes ago, kohlenklau said:

For these Franken-vehicles, I use the following terminology: you have a shell mdr coming in to wrap itself around the host mdr and that host mdr's game code parameters. The shell and host should be the best apples to apples as possible in the main categories such as crew number, speed, armor protection, weapons, wheeled or tracked, turreted, etc.

In Blender you import an mdr and see the naming nomenclature is very consistent. weapon can replace weapon, turret can replace turret. The axis of the shell mdr's turret can be adjusted to match up with what the host is supposed to do. When things are not matched up, as in a STOCK PzIII we got with F&R, the turret will do odd things. Bad QA on BFC's part. Weird oddities with the 3D model. 

Thanks Phil, that's what I thought. Have only messed with the one Panzer IV and that had all sorts of bugginess, mostly textures, to figure out. I doubt I'll be doing many vehicular models but it's good to know this stuff.

[kohlenklau]

11 minutes ago, Lucky_Strike said:

Thanks Phil, that's what I thought. Have only messed with the one Panzer IV and that had all sorts of bugginess, mostly textures, to figure out. I doubt I'll be doing many vehicular models but it's good to know this stuff.

My current SOP is this...I offer as we are all in learning mode. EDIT: it could be wrong or over-kill!

I have a folder called "Blender Stuff" with subfolders that are project named working folders. Csaba - Zrinyi - KV-1, etc.

Whenever I am going to cause mischief and mayhem and mess with something like a vehicle mdr, I first copy the BFC folder(s) contents over there to my working folder. All the parts of the Franken-vehicle or the thing I am editing. You need Blender to be able to see all that stuff "locally" when you import the vehicle mdr from your "Blender Stuff" working folder. Some stuff in the BFC folder is not important. UI portrait, all the extra modtagged texture versions such as [muddy]. They can be left out of the working folder.

 

Edited October 30, 2022 by kohlenklau

[Lucky_Strike]

1 hour ago, kohlenklau said:

My current SOP is this...I offer as we are all in learning mode. EDIT: it could be wrong or over-kill!

I have a folder called "Blender Stuff" with subfolders that are project named working folders. Csaba - Zrinyi - KV-1, etc.

Whenever I am going to cause mischief and mayhem and mess with something like a vehicle mdr, I first copy the BFC folder(s) contents over there to my working folder. All the parts of the Franken-vehicle or the thing I am editing. You need Blender to be able to see all that stuff "locally" when you import the vehicle mdr from your "Blender Stuff" working folder. Some stuff in the BFC folder is not important. UI portrait, all the extra modtagged texture versions such as [muddy]. They can be left out of the working folder.

 

Yes, v.similar approach here. And also make sure when first importing a mdr into Blender to check the displayed model for missing textures. BF have a habit of reusing odd little bits from all over the place, I found Tiger turret texture (MG) inside Panzer IV G turret, not obvious just by looking at the model. Here your friends are the File > External Data > Report missing files and File > External Data > Find missing files. Have the Blender Info pane open for this. Saves hassle later when exporting.

 

[kohlenklau]

6 minutes ago, Lucky_Strike said:

And also make sure...

excellent tips. thank you sir

[kohlenklau]

 

 

Edited October 30, 2022 by kohlenklau

[Lucky_Strike]

Oh yes! No where did I put my IS2 ...

[RockinHarry]

Anybody yet found a Blender solution for when try exporting modular building models which (can) have multiple alternative texture sets? Blender won´t export these unless one nails a particular texture set to them manually. But that defeats CM 3D editor browsing alternative textures with SHIFT - Click. 

Only thinkable method coming to mind would be hacking the buildings mdr files with a Hex editor, then changing file name scheme back to original. Not tried yet.

[kohlenklau]

1 hour ago, RockinHarry said:

Anybody yet found a Blender solution for when try exporting modular building models which (can) have multiple alternative texture sets?

Well, maybe I did. I somehow was able to make the mosque in CMFI. This was building003. I changed the roof to allow the domed mosque. EDIT: Ooops. Building003 is an indie. Sorry.

Edited October 30, 2022 by kohlenklau

[RockinHarry]

5 hours ago, kohlenklau said:

Well, maybe I did. I somehow was able to make the mosque in CMFI. This was building003. I changed the roof to allow the domed mosque. EDIT: Ooops. Building003 is an indie. Sorry.

okay then, thanks. I´d as well put some flat roof from CMSF1 onto CMBN 8x8 mod building succesfully. But it was rather simple geometry and had a uniform texture IIRC. Then just bits of tweaked the roof texture fitting the building and mod tagged it. But none of Blender was involved during that process. Just hex edit hacking the mdr for file name. So likely the way doing other these things like mentioning above (hex edit). Unless @sbobovyc returns and adds some more options.

[kohlenklau]

29 minutes ago, RockinHarry said:

okay then, thanks.

What are you aiming to do? 

[RockinHarry]

26 minutes ago, kohlenklau said:

What are you aiming to do? 

For now just META data investigations and ingame testing any changes I made there. Can do that with "fixed" texture assignment but would prefer using the original scheme (SHIFT Click abilty). Then I´ll see. Maybe then starting with some the buildings detail stuff (window frames i.e) but need knowing what got to be changed in META as well.