Gnasher Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Guys this is the coolest thread I've seen in ages! Top job both of you, this is REALLY exciting & could open the floodgate for loads more goodness! Thanks & good luck, can't wait to see that Tiffie over Hill112! BTW what loadouts do you intend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PanzerkwVIIIMaus Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 wow. how do you do it? seeing all this is so impressive! i'm gonna take a computer model making class in a couple years!!! i really like the hurricane! to think that'll actually be able to interact with other units,statics, things of that nature!serious awesome work knokke. i think with what you can do, you should make the M26 Pershing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knokke Posted September 24, 2008 Author Share Posted September 24, 2008 @Gnasher If I can manage to get this working, i'll make a version with bombs and a version with rockets. I still don't know if I'll succeed to have this typhoon working in game, but i'm trying hard. Well, there must be a few things I don't understand yet, because I still got the same problem, even after compiling the meshes again with the "Generate Space Frames" option set to on in MshConverter. I must have made a silly mistake somewhere, and it could be some time before I find it. I'm making some progress, but it's slower than i would like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knokke Posted September 24, 2008 Author Share Posted September 24, 2008 Again, I need more help Does this file exist?: ToW/data/units/Units_Classes.ini If it exists, what's its use? I can extract only a folder with this name with SFSextractor, but if this file exists, it should be a text file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Jones Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 No, if it's the folder only then the file doesn't exists in the SFS. Knokke, when converting to the DDS i think they must be DTX5 version, other wise the textures don't get loaded in TOW. I have managed to put a one plane from TOW into encyclopedia, but not typhoon for now, to put the plane into lets say cars encyclopedia you need to change some other files aswell, also in unit.ini I think, you need to replace the "plane" type to "car" or other types where you want to display the plane. Also you need GUI material and TGA, usualy these are in other tanks, cars, etc, you just copy from 3dobj folder and put in your own. Also TOW doen't load the msh file if it does not have SpaceFrame info. br. Dr.Jones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knokke Posted September 25, 2008 Author Share Posted September 25, 2008 I've saved the textures in DXT3 *.dds in all my new objects. I'll try with DXT5 version. For the plane in the encyclopedia, I have the unit.ini set correctly (just copied a car unit.ini and changed the name to Typhoon Mkib and the Meshname pointing to the typhoon hier.him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Jones Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 Knokke, try first to display other plane which is already in the game to be displayed in the ecyclopedia, then try to display the typhoon. br. Dr.Jones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knokke Posted September 25, 2008 Author Share Posted September 25, 2008 No luck with DXT5 format either. Also, I'm not sure that we need DXT5 since in ToW modding FAQ 1.02 it is mentionned that DXT3 should be working. But again, info about files in the modding FAQ is different in many respects to the files we are extracting (for exemple, hier.him are called hier.mcn and they're written differently) I've tried setting up several statics objects I've modelled to import them in the game, but have the same result: nothing showing in the preview window, even when I believe i've set everything up properly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knokke Posted September 25, 2008 Author Share Posted September 25, 2008 @Dr.Jones: Ok, I succeeded having the hurricane displaying correctly in the encyclopedia. I can see the 3D model, but only if the data/unit/cars/uk/hurricane_mkiic/unit.ini MeshName section is pointing to 3dobj/planes/uk/hurricane_mkiic/hier.him if it points to 3dobj/cars/uk/hurricane_mkiic/hier.him, nothing is displayed in the preview window (can't see any 3D model), even if the two hier.him files are the same. It almost looks like ToW will accept only the default files with the default path. I've set the typhoon in the exact same way to be displayed in the encyclopedia, but it's not working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knokke Posted September 26, 2008 Author Share Posted September 26, 2008 I noticed I have the exact same problem of the 3D model not displaying in the encyclopedia with the british Sherman I tank added with JSH 1.2 mod. Anyone knows where the problem was (don't know if this was corrected with JSH 1.3) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneaksie Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 Here is big bridge static, sorry for delay. http://dump.ru/file/1081924 The .rar file contains static.ini and BIG_Bridge folder. Place static.ini in Data\Settings directory and BIG_bridge folder to 3dobj\Environment\Bridges. After that, you should be able to place new bridge in Map Editor. It's difficult to determine why your Typhoon isn't working. If you want, send it to us (dina@1c.ru) and we'll try to help:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knokke Posted September 26, 2008 Author Share Posted September 26, 2008 Many thanks Sneaksie! I'll have a look at this big bridge, and I'll pack the files of the Typhoon with the latest changes I've made to it. This is awesome support; I really appreciate it regards, -Knokke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnasher Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 The bridge looks brilliant & will be supremely usefull for new maps! Thanks Sneaksie. Gotta ask, are there any more statics that you guys can let us have? Knokke, keep at it mate, that's the key to pandoras box you are working on there. I'm "gnashing" at the bit to see this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knokke Posted September 28, 2008 Author Share Posted September 28, 2008 @Sneaksie I've sent the files at the above mentionned e-mail adress. Thanks for the bridge. It's going to be very useful Seeing the way it was made make me think i'll have to redo my bridge collision objects in the same way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rofl Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 Here is big bridge static, sorry for delay. http://dump.ru/file/1081924 The .rar file contains static.ini and BIG_Bridge folder. Place static.ini in Data\Settings directory and BIG_bridge folder to 3dobj\Environment\Bridges. After that, you should be able to place new bridge in Map Editor. Awesome bridge, thanks a lot for that Sneaksie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneaksie Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 Knokke, your Typhoon fails to load into our viewer program as well in the game. Our lead artist will check your .max file soon (he is currently very busy with ToW2 interface). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knokke Posted October 1, 2008 Author Share Posted October 1, 2008 Thanks for the update Sneaksie. regards, -Knokke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneaksie Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 1) In Body.msh there are only two strings in [FaceGroups], while Spitfire, for example, has 4. 2) Section [Materials] in Body.msh contains only Material0 string, while it should list correct materials of the unit, as they are set in 3dsMax. 3) Hier.him file usually contain 'Attaching' string not in _ROOT_ section, but in section for one of the bones. It's difficult to say is it fault of the convertor or the model itself. Normally these files are created by converter and special Max plugin. Did you make your model in 3dsMax9? Our converter supports version 9 files only in ToW2, all models in ToW were made using 6 or 7 version. Artists are still too busy to provide more accurate analysis of the model, maybe later they will lokk into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knokke Posted October 8, 2008 Author Share Posted October 8, 2008 Thanks a lot for the reply Sneaksie. It looks like I've made some mistakes while packing the files for the Typhoon (putting old incorrect Body.msh and wrong hier.ini): My latest version of the hier.him file doesn't have the wrong line with 'Attaching' string in _ROOT_ section (this is a silly mistake from my part). My latest version of the Body.msh have only one material listed in [Materials] section, and the string is called skin1, not Material0. I see the spitfire msh file saved by MshConverter as two strings in the [Materials] section: glass and skin1. For the Typhoon, I used only one material for each LOD - skin1 for LOD0, skin2 for LOD1, skin3 for LOD2, skin4 for LOD3 and LOD4, and didn't use the glass material for the cockpit transparency, but used an alpha channel in the skin1.tga DDS texture instead, to set the transparency of the glass. I don't know if this is correct, or if it is mandatory to have a different material for the transparent parts, but I'll rebuild the typhoon model with sub-materials with different ID for skin1 and glass, assuming I need to have a different material for transparencies. I assume that the section [Materials] is used for listing only the materials of the LOD0 (the spitfire msh file saved by MshConverter is listing only two materials, glass and skin1) As to the [FaceGroups] section in Body.msh, the msh file of the spitfire saved with MshConverter has only 3 strings instead of the 4 you're mentionning. I don't really know what this section is made for, but I suppose it is for listing all the groups of faces with a different material. If i assume correctly, the 4 strings in the Spitfire should for the materials skin1, glass, gear and wheels - but when I open a 3DS file of the spitfire converted with MshConverter, I can find only 2 materials with ID 1 for the transparency of the cockpit (glass?) and ID 2 for the whole rest of the plane except the transparent canopy (skin1?). Perhaps this is a problem with MshConverter, and Dr. Jones will be able to confirm if it is or not. Also, I've exported my 3DS file from 3DSmax9. But the 3DS file would probably not be usable straight as it is (even if I save it in 3dsMax version 6 or 7), because of the restriction to 10 characters for the names of the objects. In my 3DS file, all the objects have a shorter name because of this, and I've to rename them correctly in MshConverter before exporting to Msh file. Since the other 4 models i've tried to import in Tow (one bridge and three Horsa gliders) have all the same problem of not appearing in game or in the viewer, I suppose it is because I've an incorrect setting of the transparency materials. I'll redo all models with sub-material with different ID for the parts that have transparency, and see what happens. Of course, there is still the possibility that the problem comes from a bug in MshConverter, but first I've to redo the models exactly like they're set-up in TOW to make sure the problem doesn't come from my part. If it's still not working, i'll send you the updated and corrected version of the Typhoon for further analysis, in case the artists have more time to spare later and would have the kindness of looking into this. Anyway, thanks a lot to you and the devellopers that are taking the time to help me. I really appreciate. Best regards, -Knokke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnasher Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 Knokke, If you crack this you will definately be crowned as the "TOW 3D God". Brilliant work so far, thanks for your effort so far, I for one really appreciate it & wish you every success in your efforts. Give out but don't you give in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneaksie Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Usually a separate material is used for glass, because it contains tfBlend 1 parameter which is slow (turns on alpha semi-transparency). There is simpler and faster flag used for binary alpha (black-white only) tfTestA 1, which is used for cutting out tree leaves, make wheel texture round instead of square, etc. it's used together with AlphaTestVal 0.5 (it means that all alpha values under 0.5 of entire spectrum are invisible and all above 0.5 are visible). Strangely enough, artists said they don't quite understand why you had problem with names longer than 10 characters, they didn't have such problem. Good luck with your models! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnasher Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 I say old bean, what's the latest gen on this kite then? Any chance of rolling in on the Hun before pancaking back to base for tea & biscuits? Bally good show far chaps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnasher Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 Knokke, It would be very very nice even if we could just have this as a crashed object (require some work I know.). It would be supremely usefull for Normandy / North West Europe scenarios. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knokke Posted October 28, 2008 Author Share Posted October 28, 2008 Hi Gnasher, Unfortunately, I still can't make the Typhoon (or any other of my models, wether static objects or controlable units) work in game. I suspect there might be a problem with the output of MshConverter, as I'm pretty sure my files are correctly set now. If we're lucky, Dr.Jones might find a solution to this problem while working on his Maus. In the mean time, i'm still doing some more models in the hope I can add them to the game later. Don't worry, i'll also make a crash-landed version of it (it's only little more work), and will make it available to you as soon as I manage to have this working. After all, I made this typhoon specially for you and your British Bulldogs campaign. regards, Knokke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnasher Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 Thanks very much Knokke, such sentiments makes all of the hours I spent sweating over the campaign worthwhile. Work commitments have made it difficult to spend the time I'd like to on the campaign. However as soon as I can I'll get a new version out. BTW I'm still very interested in a Market Garden campaign & have found a brilliant name for it from RObert Kershaw's brilliant book "It Never Snows In September!". Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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