black_imperator
Deity
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- Dec 4, 2005
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Final Fixes Reborn
- Thread starter Ronkhar
- Start date
Methuselas
Chieftain
Methuselas
Chieftain
I have successfully exported a nif to fbx using Blender. I have successfully imported an FBX to Maya and skinned a model using a Civ IV Bip. I have successfully exported an FBX from Maya to Blender. Finally, I have successfully exported a Nif from Blender and imported it to NifSkope.
That's as far as I've gotten. XD
That's as far as I've gotten. XD
black_imperator
Deity
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that sounds like a good progress ^^
Methuselas
Chieftain
Yeah, unfortunately, I've yet to get a maya modified fbx to export as a nif. :/ I may just bite the bullet and install Max 7, since I still have it with Kael's original scripts. The downside to that is no fbx. I'll need to do some more research. I don't like having to jump to multiple applications to get things to work. It's kludgy and I really don't like Blender.
Methuselas
Chieftain
WONDERFUL NEWS! Thanks to the Mod Community of Skyrim, I have a WORKING copy of NifTools for Maya 2016. I successfully imported a Nif, without issues (without all the crap objects I get from Blender too, as well as being in the right Z-axis.) Evidently it also will export Animations, as well. I haven't tested it, but I loaded up some KF files, they imported and the Bip objects, did in fact, move. Will require more testing.
Methuselas
Chieftain
Guess who I got fully rigged in Maya today?
Methuselas
Chieftain
I figured out animations. ;P
Great! Let me know about any problems
I can modify how the maps work for each separate modmod, so if you don't want to include any of the new features or modify their frequency, I can release a new version that includes that. For example I think that the old version of MapScriptTools that Ashes of Erebus is using has the special features (big dents, big bogs and lost isle among others) disabled. Having mod-specific resource balancers is also an option.
Methuselas
Chieftain
WIP, but I believe this was a request.
New Units in-game. One more hurdle overcome. Haven't tested animations yet, but I've successfully added new units to Civ IV from Maya. When I get everything working, I'll write up a tutorial on how to use the new nif tools for Maya 2016
Wow, someone doing Unit art for FfH! From this thread I couldn't really tell what you are doing exactly, so are you planning to do any animal units? Most I found on this forum are rather poor quality (especially reptils) and I didn't manage to add even simple animations yet.
black_imperator
Deity
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Methuselas will help us with various unit and building needs we have, along with anything he wants to work on ^^.
Methuselas
Chieftain
As of just now, Methuselas has successfully imported animations into Civ IV using Maya. ;P That's right, Kiddos. I know what to do to import Civ IV animations in-game, using Maya. Feris was my test and I've got her using all the default animations from the "female trooper" model that Saibotlieh made. I have to fix some of the animations, though, 'cos they're pretty bad.
I'll start working on a tutorial that shows you what to do, via import/export and how to rig Civ Bips using Human-IK, so people can create their own animations, easily.
As for animals, what did you want? I would happily import some of my low-poly models, such as this:
The problem is, these "low poly" models (around 5-6k, mind you) are too big for Civ 4.
Maogota, where we come.
-EDIT-
Keep in mind, I'm still working the kinks out. For example, on Feris, her sword hand and her sheathed sword are not bound to their respected joints and don't show up, in game. So, she's basically swinging her fist around and I need to fix that. I have to test some more to see what's the problem with that. Also, there are still some transparency issues with textures. I'm still working on proper exports, but essentially, I can get new models and animations in-game now, using the tools I know how to use to model and animate, which IMHO are far superior.
Oh, and if you find a character from another game that you like or want, that's low poly and I can extract the animations from (mdl and nif, mostly), shoot me a link and the name of the unit, along with an image of the said character.. If it has enough animations and I can export them, I'll put it in-game.
I'll start working on a tutorial that shows you what to do, via import/export and how to rig Civ Bips using Human-IK, so people can create their own animations, easily.
As for animals, what did you want? I would happily import some of my low-poly models, such as this:
The problem is, these "low poly" models (around 5-6k, mind you) are too big for Civ 4.
Maogota, where we come.
-EDIT-
Keep in mind, I'm still working the kinks out. For example, on Feris, her sword hand and her sheathed sword are not bound to their respected joints and don't show up, in game. So, she's basically swinging her fist around and I need to fix that. I have to test some more to see what's the problem with that. Also, there are still some transparency issues with textures. I'm still working on proper exports, but essentially, I can get new models and animations in-game now, using the tools I know how to use to model and animate, which IMHO are far superior.
Oh, and if you find a character from another game that you like or want, that's low poly and I can extract the animations from (mdl and nif, mostly), shoot me a link and the name of the unit, along with an image of the said character.. If it has enough animations and I can export them, I'll put it in-game.
Jerrian
Warlord
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2016
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- 137
Great news, thanks for helping this project Methuselas. Hoping for some more sexy female models in AOE ;-)
What are you guys primary working at content wise? Jotun development?
best regards
Jerri
black_imperator
Deity
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At the moment content-wise, it's diplomatic dialogues, AI and emergent leaders mostly, plus a few things here and there. for Jotnar, we're still in the process of designing them, so the actual implementation will wait a bit.
Methuselas
Chieftain
Just a small update:
I've got Civ IV BIPs working with HumanIK now, so it's possible to create custom animations for Units that are Humanoid and basic Quadrupeds. Tails are still a problem, as you'll have to create a custom IK for the tail, 'cos they're not supported by HumanIK, but that's fairly easy to do, on your own.
Units rigged with HumanIK are compatible with existing animations, so you can now mix and match custom animations with existing animations. (HumanIK will pitch a fit about Local Rotation Axis, but they'll still work so you can ignore it.) Just don't export the effectors - they may break the Nif.
Units that used the "Bone Transplant" techniques from Nifskope will require additional editing (mostly unparenting) in order to work properly. (I've noticed that units using "Bone Transplant" will nest the MD rig four or five levels deep - this isn't needed anymore.)
Effects can be edited it Maya now, but you can't create new Effects. I haven't fully tested this, though, so don't hold your breath on it working properly. (yet......)
Maya Niftools supports more than 18 bones per rig. Don't go too crazy with it, though. I know Civ IV supports more than 18 bones per skeleton, but I'm not sure how many.
If you follow my standards and workflow, animations are interchangeable PROVIDED the skeletal structures are similar, in that they use the same names for Joints (Bones). IE, you can have a unit use multiple animations from different units, such as the Die animation from the Mage, the fidget animation from the Warrior, the Attack animation from the Jaguar Warrior, etc. I found a script that lets you change KFM (Key Frame Motion) files to an XML file, edit it in Notepad and then convert it back to KFM.
Nifskope is no longer needed.
TO DO:
Figure out why unparented props disappear on export and don't show up in game.
Figure out the mem limit on Civ IV (probably 3 gigs, which is the limit of 32bit applications), to increase poly size of units.
I've got Civ IV BIPs working with HumanIK now, so it's possible to create custom animations for Units that are Humanoid and basic Quadrupeds. Tails are still a problem, as you'll have to create a custom IK for the tail, 'cos they're not supported by HumanIK, but that's fairly easy to do, on your own.
Units rigged with HumanIK are compatible with existing animations, so you can now mix and match custom animations with existing animations. (HumanIK will pitch a fit about Local Rotation Axis, but they'll still work so you can ignore it.) Just don't export the effectors - they may break the Nif.
Units that used the "Bone Transplant" techniques from Nifskope will require additional editing (mostly unparenting) in order to work properly. (I've noticed that units using "Bone Transplant" will nest the MD rig four or five levels deep - this isn't needed anymore.)
Effects can be edited it Maya now, but you can't create new Effects. I haven't fully tested this, though, so don't hold your breath on it working properly. (yet......)
Maya Niftools supports more than 18 bones per rig. Don't go too crazy with it, though. I know Civ IV supports more than 18 bones per skeleton, but I'm not sure how many.
If you follow my standards and workflow, animations are interchangeable PROVIDED the skeletal structures are similar, in that they use the same names for Joints (Bones). IE, you can have a unit use multiple animations from different units, such as the Die animation from the Mage, the fidget animation from the Warrior, the Attack animation from the Jaguar Warrior, etc. I found a script that lets you change KFM (Key Frame Motion) files to an XML file, edit it in Notepad and then convert it back to KFM.
Nifskope is no longer needed.
TO DO:
Figure out why unparented props disappear on export and don't show up in game.
Figure out the mem limit on Civ IV (probably 3 gigs, which is the limit of 32bit applications), to increase poly size of units.
Methuselas
Chieftain
I would have been helping out years ago, but I didn't have the proper tools, until now. Don't thank me, though. Thank the modders over at Nexus forums. I'm using their Skyrim/Morrowind/Oblivion Tools.
As for "sexy female modles", the biggest problem we have right now is limitations in polys. More than likely, my models will be over the 1k limit imposed by most of the modders of Civ IV back in the day. Single unit graphics will probably be the way to go.
dvor
Chieftain
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2016
- Messages
- 37
GPUs today are much better than they were when Civ IV was released. So go for it!
Methuselas
Chieftain
+1
Yup. Most of my "low poly" work is around 3-5k in polys, which is 6-10k in tris. The more you have on the screen, the bigger chance of crashing the engine. The trick is finding the "sweet spot." In truth, I think a safe, REASONABLE limit would be to double the poly count to 1500k (the average Vanilla model is around 750 polys), which would be 3k in tris. If you played the game in single unit graphics, I don't think it would be much of a problem. Doubling polycount can do a lot for low res models.
I've hit a road block anyway. I have no problems with converting units that use a BIP skeleton from Civ IV. I can change and create new animations to my heart's content. Adding new units, with specialized skeletons give me the red ball of doom. Work fine in Nifskope, but puke in-game. I need to figure out what the problem is......
I still haven't figured out why parented, but unskinned assets (swords, shields, etc.) won't show up in game, either. If they're skinned, they work fine. So far, I've managed to circumvent both 3DMax and Blender, as well as Nifskope (except for viewing test purposes). I'd like to keep it that way.
