Extract GR2 to Blender with mesh AND skeleton and re-export to GR2

[hugojackson18]

Ekmek, I'm working in Maya, not in Blender. So it's not a problem of the exporter, and I can't export as BR2 from Maya.

EDIT: I see what you were saying. The FBX export from Blender that I'm doing is just to get the model into Maya. I'm using the normal Blender script to do this. I can't import BR2 in Maya anyway.
I'm just wondering if there's a reason for that Null to be there and to be scaled by 100, and how you guys are dealing with creating a whole new rig for a unit.

 

[Ekmek]

We're doing everything in blender. We just re0rig it to the bones that it gives us and then export as a BR2 and then over-write the meshes. Is it possiblefor you to iport and export through blender but do your work with Maya?

 

[hugojackson18]

That was my original plan actually, to work in Maya, reimport it in Blender and export as a BR2, but I thought managing to get an FBX straight out of Maya would be the easiest, and I couldn't find an FBX importer for Blender.

 

[Ekmek]

yeah there is no fbx importer for blender only export. obj seems the most universal format but it doesn't do skeletons AFAIK

 

[hugojackson18]

Alright, I managed to do what I want, it's working fine now, I've got my model rigged showing perfectly in Granny.

Another question now...
How do i create new animations from Nexus Buddy? I've got my file with the model rigged, and I've got my 2 files with my 2 animations. Can I get some more precisions on this please?

Many thanks guys

 

[Ekmek]

you may be breaking new ground. But fbx is the only way to get animations AFAIK. But I haven't tried it

 

[hugojackson18]

Maybe Deliverator could help me on this? I know it used to be doable in Nexus, but Nexus Buddy is more up to date and I would quite like to know how to do it. Basically creating a completely new unit, with new skeleton and animations.

 

[Nutty]

I know it used to be doable in Nexus, but Nexus Buddy is more up to date and I would quite like to know how to do it.

Most of the changes to Nexus Buddy 2 are specifically to make re-using Civ 5 animations easier; which doesn't really apply to you.

Basically creating a completely new unit, with new skeleton and animations.

The animation section of the Getting Civ 4 Units into Civ 5 tutorial should still be pertinent to the extent you can apply it to your process with Maya.

 

[hugojackson18]

Thanks Nutty.

So I've got everything working, my unit shows up fine in Nexus Buddy 2, in Nexus viewer, but its invisible in Civ V. I have really no idea why and it's really bothering me, because I really don't know what I'm doing wrong....

The animation works fine in Granny Viewer, but when I try to open it with Nexus viewer, it seems like it cannot read the fx_animation_trigger file, but it's doing this with any custom unit I open. It says the path of the file is wrong.
Anyone has an idea of what's happening here? Thanks guys

Spoiler :

 

[Wolfdog]

Thanks Nutty.

So I've got everything working, my unit shows up fine in Nexus Buddy 2, in Nexus viewer, but its invisible in Civ V. I have really no idea why and it's really bothering me, because I really don't know what I'm doing wrong....

The animation works fine in Granny Viewer, but when I try to open it with Nexus viewer, it seems like it cannot read the fx_animation_trigger file, but it's doing this with any custom unit I open. It says the path of the file is wrong.
Anyone has an idea of what's happening here? Thanks guys

Have you imported the .gr2, .dds, .fxsxml & .ftsxml files into vfs and checked the reload unit system box? Also are your file names etc. unique?

 

[hugojackson18]

Yes Wolfdog, I did all of this, double checked and everything is checked and set up correctly.

Although, I have trouble with the fx_triggers file, when I open my fxsxml in Nexus viewer, it says the fx_triggers path is wrong, and when I browse for it, it opens fine, with all the events but it doesn't seem to link to the animation and nothing happens (compares to when I copy the fx_triggers_caravan_late, it only shows me the event 1400 and the animation is screwed up).
Do I need to edit this file? And if I do, how does it work? I don't really see anything I could update or change in the file.

 

[hugojackson18]

Ok so I've remade the mod from scratch, re-exported everything and tried with just the Idle animation, and I can see my unit in the game now, except that its exploded. But it's animated. I can see the wheels in the sky and the shadow on the ground haha. So that's a small step forward!

Can someone explain to me what's the use for the Bone_Usage lines in the fxsxmsl please? And if I need to tweak the fx_triggers file at some point?

Cheers!

Spoiler :

PS: I've attached the new mod if anyone fancy having a look at it!

 

[Wolfdog]

Ok so I've remade the mod from scratch, re-exported everything and tried with just the Idle animation, and I can see my unit in the game now, except that its exploded. But it's animated. I can see the wheels in the sky and the shadow on the ground haha. So that's a small step forward!

Can someone explain to me what's the use for the Bone_Usage lines in the fxsxmsl please? And if I need to tweak the fx_triggers file at some point?

Cheers!

Spoiler :

PS: I've attached the new mod if anyone fancy having a look at it!

The Bone_Usage as far as I am aware are the reference points for your fx ftiggers like where a arrow will fire from or exhaust smoke will come from. I think your root bone needs to be in there as well. basically if its mentioned in the fx_trigger file you will need to add that bone to Bone_Usage.

Looking at your main .gr2 file I see you are using .fbx conversion. This method is unreliable so that is probably where your problems are coming from. I would try and use .br2 and overwrite the late caravan mesh to begin with.

 

[Vicevirtuoso]

So, I'm finally diving into unit "art" (I am horrifically bad at using Blender). I'm attempting to make an edit of the Wolf model from Civ 4 which was converted to Civ 5. I'm actually just trying to edit that file directly rather than look for its Civ 4 files; hopefully that's not what's causing the problem.

I've got things ready for the most part, but whenever I try to export it to .br2 I get the following Python error:

File "C:\Users\Vice\Documents\blender-2.49b-win64-python26\.blender\scripts\export_br2.py", line 126, in saveBR2
     if not parentArm0b.name in modelMeshes:
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'name'

I can post my working files if needed (warning: it looks laughably bad, but if I can get it to work I will be super happy anyway).

 

[Wolfdog]

So, I'm finally diving into unit "art" (I am horrifically bad at using Blender). I'm attempting to make an edit of the Wolf model from Civ 4 which was converted to Civ 5. I'm actually just trying to edit that file directly rather than look for its Civ 4 files; hopefully that's not what's causing the problem.

I've got things ready for the most part, but whenever I try to export it to .br2 I get the following Python error:

File "C:\Users\Vice\Documents\blender-2.49b-win64-python26\.blender\scripts\export_br2.py", line 126, in saveBR2
     if not parentArm0b.name in modelMeshes:
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'name'

I can post my working files if needed (warning: it looks laughably bad, but if I can get it to work I will be super happy anyway).

Are you exporting from a civ 4 blend file? I think the script looks for certain things to be present that would be in a civ 5 template. I would copy and paste it into a civ 5 template and then export.

 

[Vicevirtuoso]

Are you exporting from a civ 4 blend file? I think the script looks for certain things to be present that would be in a civ 5 template. I would copy and paste it into a civ 5 template and then export.

I exported the .gr2 from the zip file in the thread I linked to into .nb2, then imported that into Blender.

Which Civ5 template would I use? The wolf unit doesn't have existing animations in the base game, as far as I know.

 

[Leugi]

Anyone managed to get a working Cannon template? When I convert to NB2 all the Cannon bones are gone! (the crew bones are there and all the meshes too, but no Cannon bones exist)

If not... would it work if I "re-created" the bone structure somehow?

 

[Leugi]

Ok... scrap the last question, I found the nice txt templates Ekmek made some time ago...

But I have another question. How can I change the position of one of those bones? I want to have bigger wheels, and for that I need to change the positiong of the wheel bones; of course overwriting the meshes from a br2 file changes the meshes but not the bones, and when I open the br2 file to turn it into a gr2, it doesn't work at all, it becomes invisible (in grannyviewer it works)

 

[Wolfdog]

Ok... scrap the last question, I found the nice txt templates Ekmek made some time ago...

But I have another question. How can I change the position of one of those bones? I want to have bigger wheels, and for that I need to change the positiong of the wheel bones; of course overwriting the meshes from a br2 file changes the meshes but not the bones, and when I open the br2 file to turn it into a gr2, it doesn't work at all, it becomes invisible (in grannyviewer it works)

I have the same problem. I would like to add bones for FX triggers but when I do a br2 to gr2 it does not work, its either invisible or contorted.

I don't think you can move the structure bones, I think you would need to edit the animations as well if you did that, but I don't know that for sure.

 

[Ekmek]

I don't think you can move the structure bones, I think you would need to edit the animations as well if you did that, but I don't know that for sure.

Assuming its like civ4 nifs - then moving bones does nothing because animation says where it is at. BUt making bigger wheels or farther apart shouldn;t matter since the mesh 's position is relative to the bones.