All Darnells templates require edited anim states as far as I am aware or the units will be upside down or sideways in the game. If you do not wish edited amin states it only takes 5 mins to make your own template from the civ5 spearman. I think the latest br2 and fbx export scripts don't work with Darnells template either, you will need to get hold of a older fbx export script for Darnells.
Extract GR2 to Blender with mesh AND skeleton and re-export to GR2
- Thread starter Deliverator
- Start date
Deliverator
Graphical Hackificator
I've done some investigation into these NB2 Export issues with the Beta 6 release. It turns out that the switch from 6 decimal places to 8 decimals places often causes the skeletons to come out scrambled. I'll revert that change in the next release.
Ekmek
on steam: ekmek_e
Deliverator
Graphical Hackificator
I've gone through and created a template pack for most of the Ancient Units here. These templates will be more accurate than Danrell's as they are made directly from the GR2. It only takes a couple of minutes to make templates now so I'll go through the rest of the Eras and aim to create a complete library of templates. The other advantage of doing this is that is a good test for the NB2 process.
Deliverator
Graphical Hackificator
I haven't really had time to document this properly. I hope to do some new tutorials soon.
Briefly, the best process for multi-mesh models is now this:
1) To make your template in Blender, either following the steps under Extracting Civ 5 GR2 into Blender in the opening post or use one of the templates made via this process here.
2) Rig your multi-mesh model to the template skeleton in Blender.
3) Export the unit to .br2 format.
4) Make a copy of the .gr2 file you are using the skeleton from - giving it a new name e.g. warrior_target.gr2.
5) Open the copied file in Nexus Buddy 2 and select Overwrite Meshes from BR2. Select the .br2 files you exported from Blender. This will keep the skeleton in the .gr2 completely unchanged but will completely replace the meshes with the data from the .br2 file. It doesn't matter if the .br2 file has more meshes than the original .gr2 had - it will still add them into the file. Following this, you will have a .gr2 with the original units skeleton but with your meshes from Blender.
6) Use Nexus Buddy 2 to fix up your materials and textures - you'll probably need to remove the existing materials first before creating new ones.
This process should allow custom multi-mesh units to made in a reliable way with none of corruption issues of using FBX. Exactly the same method also works for 3D Leaders.
Ekmek
on steam: ekmek_e
I don't know if you have run into the same problem but there are a couple of unit templates I can not get to work in game no mater what I do - even though they work perfectly in Nexus viewer. The destroyer, mechanized infantry and tank, so that is why I still use Darnells templates in these cases. I am hoping with your expertise you will be able to get them to work in game.
Deliverator
Graphical Hackificator
I don't know if you have run into the same problem but there are a couple of unit templates I can not get to work in game no mater what I do - even though they work perfectly in Nexus viewer. The destroyer, mechanized infantry and tank, so that is why I still use Darnells templates in these cases. I am hoping with your expertise you will be able to get them to work in game.
Are these templates you made yourself?
Generally, if you use the Overwrite Meshes from BR2 method described above you shouldn't have a problem.
I'll see if I can get templates for these units working myself at some point.
Yes I made them with earlier version of Nexus Buddy 2
No I have not tried that method, I just tried the BR2 to GR2 method that normally works. I will give this a try though and let you know.
Weird as it actually shows up in the game but none of the animations work (you get the really long pause thing where nothing happens) but the animations work fine in Nexus viewer.
EDIT: Tried what you said and it worked with the Destroyer
. Still can not get damage states to change though as you can see in pic, but this is a small thing - a luxury really.Attachments
Great work by the way Deliverator. One thing I have noticed with the append mesh to skeleton method is that when making a template I need to rotate the mesh -90 to fit the skeleton instead of the other way now. This lines up the skeleton properly with the mesh in the new .gr2 file.
Ekmek
on steam: ekmek_e
Great work by the way Deliverator. One thing I have noticed with the append mesh to skeleton method is that when making a template I need to rotate the mesh -90 to fit the skeleton instead of the other way now. This lines up the skeleton properly with the mesh in the new .gr2 file.
wolfdog,
can you give more details on this? I didn't see it in your tutorial. I guess rotating the mesh instead of the skeleton is better now?
1) If you press Numpad-3 over the 3D View in Blender you will a side view - this shows that the skeleton for our model is upright along the Z-axis and our mesh is 'lying on its back' along the Y-axis. The skeleton is in the correct position now. So we need to rotate the mesh backwards -90 degrees to be in line with the mesh. These are the steps to acheive this.
2) In the 3D View, click View and then select View Properties. Now make sure the 3D Cursor is at position X:0,Y:0,Z:0. Also, set the pivot to be the 3D cursor as shown.
3) Right click on the mesh to select it, then press TAB to enter Edit Mode and then A to select all bones.
4) Now press this sequence of keys: R, -, 9, 0, Enter, TAB. This will rotate the mesh counter-clockwise 90 degrees, confirm and exit Edit Mode.
Yeah I did not put this bit in my tutorial. The making templates tutorial was a lot newer so I put a link to here instead.
Ekmek
on steam: ekmek_e
thanks.
I guess I should of edited my post since i dove in and found out what was going on. SOOO much better than moving the skeleton since the side/front/top views are correct now.
Thanks!
I guess I should of edited my post since i dove in and found out what was going on. SOOO much better than moving the skeleton since the side/front/top views are correct now.
Thanks!
S3rgeus
Emperor
I thought I'd contribute to this a bit. Though I've yet to make a unit with this template, I figured someone might have use for a Berserker template. (There's a surprising amount of extra animation in this model, the berserker's cape, the leather hanging from his belt, and the two halves of his beard all seem to animate separately.)
I've added it to the spreadsheet.
I've added it to the spreadsheet.
Is there a solution for that problem? I use win7 64 bit + framework 4.0 and Nexus Buddy 2.0 simply does not start...nothing happens when I try to start the program.
Nutty
Deity
I suspect you're using an older version of Nexus Buddy, because AFAIK those issues have been resolved (resolved for me, anyway, on my 64-bit Windows 7 and 64-bit Windows 8 machines with Framework 4.0).Is there a solution for that problem? I use win7 64 bit + framework 4.0 and Nexus Buddy 2.0 simply does not start...nothing happens when I try to start the program.
EDIT: Either way, this is the thread to discuss those issues.
Deliverator
Graphical Hackificator
Do you have the Civ 5 SDK installed and the assets path set? These are both needed for Nexus Buddy 2 to work.
hugojackson18
Warlord
Hi guys. First of all, thanks so much Deliverator for all your tutorials and for Nexus Buddy, and all of you here for your templates, messages and help. This forum is not the best without a reason!
I'm trying to make my first unit, which would be a replacement for the Late Era Caravan. I'm using Blender to extract the GR2 and I export it in FBX to then work in Maya, where I export an FBX from there.
My question is concerning the rig. When I import the GR2 into Blender and export it to FBX, it comes with a Null (Locator in Maya) scaled to 100. After a couple of tests and seeing my rig and model completely explode in Granny Viewer, I figured out that it was this Null scaled to 100 that was causing problems. Have any of you managed to get around that problem or found a workflow about rigging new units? I basically copied the rig that comes with the GR2 just adding a few extra bones, so I don't really understand why it's doing this.
Any help will be much appreciated! I'm so close to finally getting my unit in the game after months of trying and years of hoping to start, it's really annoying to fail so close to the goal!!!
Thanks a lot guys
I'm trying to make my first unit, which would be a replacement for the Late Era Caravan. I'm using Blender to extract the GR2 and I export it in FBX to then work in Maya, where I export an FBX from there.
My question is concerning the rig. When I import the GR2 into Blender and export it to FBX, it comes with a Null (Locator in Maya) scaled to 100. After a couple of tests and seeing my rig and model completely explode in Granny Viewer, I figured out that it was this Null scaled to 100 that was causing problems. Have any of you managed to get around that problem or found a workflow about rigging new units? I basically copied the rig that comes with the GR2 just adding a few extra bones, so I don't really understand why it's doing this.
Any help will be much appreciated! I'm so close to finally getting my unit in the game after months of trying and years of hoping to start, it's really annoying to fail so close to the goal!!!
Thanks a lot guys
Ekmek
on steam: ekmek_e
Don't export at FBX - the script is buggy. Export as a BR2 then over-write the meshes onto your copied gr2 file
Similar threads
