[Tutorial] Exporting models from 3DS MAX into Civ IV

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rabbit, White
  • Start date Start date
And to be continued... sorry for being such a nag.

3dsmax will now correctly export my skinned model.
The .nif-file of my shield is displayed correctly in the viewer.
i can import on the spearman and, after having deleted the
environmental light, the shield is displayed on the spearman in
the correct way.
i edited spearman.nif and spearman_fx.nif, both carrying the new shield.

viewer.jpg viewer2.jpg

Problem is following. That is how the spearman is displayed in [civ4]

civ4result.jpg

As you can see, one mesh is displayed correctly (the bronz/golden one),
the other one not (the shield itself).

I have to mention that in the shield node there normally is only one nitristrip/nitrishape called "Editable Mesh".


Any more help for me?
 
Hmm, this is weird. Maybe try exporting without lights, although I don't think that's the problem. Only other thing I can think of is that the texure needs to have width and height that are multiples of 8 and maybe also square (not sure about that one). Are you using the same texture file for the bronze part and the rest of the shield?

BTW, I've no idea why you needed that other plugin (texporter) to properly export, you shouldn't have to. Maybe that's the problem.
 
this looks good and i installed the pluggin but how do you open a unit onto it??
 
Forgive my ignorance, but I'm new to the whole modeling thing....I've created a model and I've succeeded in exporting it's skin to dds format, and I've also turned the model into nif format, but can someone tell me how exactly do I reattach the skin so that when I edit the dds file, it shows up in-game. Right now all I'm getting (I think) are invisiable, skinless units.
I am using 3dsmax 8.
Much obliged,
j
 
anyone? I keep getting:


WARNING: Deleting texture, "boltthrower.dds", map due to invalid UV channel assignment.

when I export my model, which is I assume why my models are invisable...I've looked up 3dsmax tuts, but no help...someone please help?
 
Sorry guys, I kinda forgot about this thread with all that's been going on :)

@Tommy: If you're talking about opening an existing unit in 3ds max then you can't do that. The plugin is only for exporting models, not importing.

@J: I'm not entirely clear on the problem you're having. Basically, you create a DDS image, assign it to a max material in the diffuse channel, and assign that material to the model. Once that's done you just export the model into NIF and it should work.

I never encountered the error you're getting but maybe you forgot to apply a UV texture map to the model, or there is some problem with that UV map. Try to render the object in max, if it looks fine then I'm not sure why it's exporting correctly, but if there are any problems with the UV map they should show up in the render as the texture will look messed up in some places.
 
when you use parts of models coming with vanilla, i found out that i have to convert NiTriShapes into NiTriStripes, so for example weapons can be handled and attached where ever i want without problems. but triing with the NiTriShape thing, geometry messes up....
I tried changing out the Body_Meshes, to make a pikeman with swordsman body, to get pikeman animation with swordsman model ;). but well, it ends up in wierd geometry in the viewer. and converting the body to a NiTriStripe gets me a crash to desktop... so can you think of a possibility to make it work?! and the other thing is, i dont think animation is worked into the model itself, it has to be somewhere outside (but thats just a feeling).
 
Notarzt said:
Any more help for me?
Click to expand...

@ NotArzt - Pink Textures
Maybe you have textures (.dds) files in wrong folder (or problem with link to the texture, i had the same problem with pink buttons for resources. I thought it was something with alpha, but problem was elswhere.

In xml files i had
PHP: 
                 <BonusArtInfo>
			<Type>ART_DEF_BONUS_APPLE</Type>
			<fScale>0.8</fScale>
			<fInterfaceScale>1.0</fInterfaceScale>
			<NIF>Art/Terrain/Resources/Potato/Spices.nif</NIF>
			<KFM>Art/Terrain/Resources/Potato/Spices.kfm</KFM>
			<Button>, ,Art/Resources_atlas.dds,3,1</Button>
		</BonusArtInfo>

and should be:

PHP: 
                 <BonusArtInfo>
			<Type>ART_DEF_BONUS_APPLE</Type>
			<fScale>0.8</fScale>
			<fInterfaceScale>1.0</fInterfaceScale>
			<NIF>Art/Terrain/Resources/Potato/Spices.nif</NIF>
			<KFM>Art/Terrain/Resources/Potato/Spices.kfm</KFM>
			<Button>, ,Art/Resources_atlas_plemiona_polskie.dds,3,1</Button>
		</BonusArtInfo>

Correct name of texture was: 'Resources_atlas_plemiona_polskie.dds'
Check Xml's or 'something' responding for textures in 3D program (here i can't help you since i'm 3d dummy)
 
Anyone knows how get rid off this white borders around texture?
With dark green leaves looks very crappy in the game :(:(

potato5ca.png


Thx in advice :goodjob:
I've added .bmp for the textures in attachement (taken from Assets\Art\Terrain\Resources\Wheat\Wheat2.dds)
 

Attachments

3 months late, but I have 3ds max now. :)

I'm confused on the creating a dds file, but I hope it's something easy I've overlooked. Nice TUT Rabbit. :thumbsup:
 
Heya, i figured out how to make my file into a .nif at last:D, but when i exported it, it came up with this error:

WARNING: Map, "02 - Default", has a DIFFUSE MAP with alpha in the image,
but has no OPACITY MAP. Please add the same texture as an OPACITY MAP to apply alpha.

What does it mean? have i stuffed up?
 
Hello, I'm making a new leaderhead which uses churchill as the base and I was going to add the glasses from Roosevelt to the model (as well as new textures and everything).

For the moment I am just replacing vanilla churchill in my mod in the game, until I am ready to finalise it and create a seperate leader, so anyway I know it is nothing to do with the xml work.

Now the problem I keep having is that whenever I import the main winston_churchill.nif file into 3dsmax 8, then add the glasses, and then re-export it back, it always screws up.

I did a quick test to make sure it wasn't the glasses - I imported the vanilla nif file, and then re-exported it (not adding the glasses) and choosing all the defaults for exporting with no cameras, lights etc. following the tutorial at the start of this thread, and it still didn't work. :\

Here's an error log I got when trying to export, it's about the alpha channels, but this shouldn't be the problem because I tested it with vanilla textures?

- ERROR LOG -
Spoiler :


WARNING: Map, "WC_noskin", has a DIFFUSE MAP with alpha in the image,

but has no OPACITY MAP. Please add the same texture as an OPACITY MAP to apply alpha.



WARNING: Map, "WC_noskin", has a DIFFUSE MAP with alpha in the image,

but has no OPACITY MAP. Please add the same texture as an OPACITY MAP to apply alpha.



WARNING: Map, "eye shadow", has a DIFFUSE MAP with alpha in the image,

but has no OPACITY MAP. Please add the same texture as an OPACITY MAP to apply alpha.



WARNING: Map, "WC_noskin", has a DIFFUSE MAP with alpha in the image,

but has no OPACITY MAP. Please add the same texture as an OPACITY MAP to apply alpha.



WARNING: Map, "eye shadow", has a DIFFUSE MAP with alpha in the image,

but has no OPACITY MAP. Please add the same texture as an OPACITY MAP to apply alpha.



WARNING: Map, "WC_noskin", has a DIFFUSE MAP with alpha in the image,

but has no OPACITY MAP. Please add the same texture as an OPACITY MAP to apply alpha.



WARNING: Map, "WC_noskin", has a DIFFUSE MAP with alpha in the image,

but has no OPACITY MAP. Please add the same texture as an OPACITY MAP to apply alpha.



WARNING: Map, "WC_noskin", has a DIFFUSE MAP with alpha in the image,

but has no OPACITY MAP. Please add the same texture as an OPACITY MAP to apply alpha.



WARNING: Map, "WC_skin", has a DIFFUSE MAP with alpha in the image,

but has no OPACITY MAP. Please add the same texture as an OPACITY MAP to apply alpha.

With the new exported winston_churchill.nif file in the game, it crashes whenever you click on his portrait when choosing a leader, or if you go into the civlopedia he just appears blank, and the entry about him has gone aswell.

If anyone knows what I might be doing wrong, or if anyone else has had this error before? I'd love some help :D

Thanks, Chuggy.
 
Ok, I think I know what the problem is - something to do with the materials in max. Currently I am using the Civ IV Platform (PC) material for all the objects. The first one is applied to the main body, teeth and the eyes, has the right diffuse map, opacity map, normal map (bump) and specular map dds files. The second and third materials are the glasses frame and the glass, both with diffuse maps and opacity maps on them. The last is the eye shadow, which also has the diffuse and opacity dds files as maps. It now does not create an error log in max anymore, but it still has the same result in civ when I run it, basically it doesn't work. :( I'm starting to run out of ideas, I looked around and found a leader head tutorial for blender which I don't have, and also the other tutorial was for units.
help?

EDIT : sorry the glasses frame and the glass do not have dds files to go with them, I meant that I just put them under a civ 4 platform material. Also, if anyone had a leaderhead max file ready for nif export with the materials, it could help me see where I am going wrong? doesn't matter which leader head model it is, any would be great :D

EDIT : Another thing that could be wrong, I don't need nifskope yet, do I?
 
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