Tutorial: Converting 3D Art from Civ 5/Civ BE to Civ 6

[Deliverator]

So if i want in Civ 6 for example the new Archer armor a , Based on for example three Different meshes , all of them have their Own diffuse and normal and gloss map textures, Is that possible ? Or i have to Split one Model into three Different Models and then combine and Reference them in the Ast file Or the Artdef Files ?

I have Samurai Models and Building Models with a lot of Different meshes and several textures for one Model...do not want to make a new uv map with a Place for all texture Parts

Multi-mesh models are supported in Civ 6 just like in Civ 5 via the .br2 overwrite or direct import. You can use CivNexus6 to generate the .geo file and the GeometrySet part of the .ast file. Then in the .ast file you just assign the different sub-geometries to different Materials (.mtl files).

 

[Shirotora Kenshin]

again i have no idea whats wrong here...as you can see in the Pictures...when i Export my Japanese Archer, then in CivNexus6 the belt and the hair of the archer Looks screwed up...it is not a Problem of flipped faces, i checked that...maybe it got something to do with the Export br2 script ?
i have my archer attached as br2 , fgx , and blend file. thanks in advance

 

[Wolfdog]

again i have no idea whats wrong here...as you can see in the Pictures...when i Export my Japanese Archer, then in CivNexus6 the belt and the hair of the archer Looks screwed up...it is not a Problem of flipped faces, i checked that...maybe it got something to do with the Export br2 script ?
i have my archer attached as br2 , fgx , and blend file. thanks in advance

Looks like you need to re-calculate the normal's for these faces (ctrl-n in edit mode). Only use flip if you have just the problem faces selected.

 

[Shirotora Kenshin]

Looks like you need to re-calculate the normal's for these faces (ctrl-n in edit mode). Only use flip if you have just the problem faces selected.

tried that, and recalculate the normals Change nothing here. but when i tried to flip These faces, i noticed something...Pictures are attached

Looks like 2 faces before Export is how it Looks in blender, Looks like 3 faces after Export is how it Looks in fgx Viewer after Export...i changed nothing, and it is the exactly same mesh, same weights, all the same, i changed nothing.

so i got no idea why after Export it Looks like that in fgx Viewer...

even when i Export it all to nif Format, and open the model in nifskope, then all Looks fine, just as in blender....and that is weird because generally in nifskope you can see if faces are in the wrong direction , so it seems like the nórmals are not the Problem.

 

[Deliverator]

tried that, and recalculate the normals Change nothing here. but when i tried to flip These faces, i noticed something...Pictures are attached

Looks like 2 faces before Export is how it Looks in blender, Looks like 3 faces after Export is how it Looks in fgx Viewer after Export...i changed nothing, and it is the exactly same mesh, same weights, all the same, i changed nothing.

so i got no idea why after Export it Looks like that in fgx Viewer...

even when i Export it all to nif Format, and open the model in nifskope, then all Looks fine, just as in blender....and that is weird because generally in nifskope you can see if faces are in the wrong direction , so it seems like the nórmals are not the Problem.

You can see some of those faces in Blender are quads rather than triangles. You need to triangulate your mesh to turn any quad faces into triangles because Civ 6 and Civ 5 only supports triangular faces. There is a Mesh Modifier for the Triangulate function in Blender so you'll need to add one of those and then apply it.

 

[Shirotora Kenshin]

You can see some of those faces in Blender are quads rather than triangles. You need to triangulate your mesh to turn any quad faces into triangles because Civ 6 and Civ 5 only supports triangular faces. There is a Mesh Modifier for the Triangulate function in Blender so you'll need to add one of those and then apply it.

yes, this was the solution, thank you i simply deleted the vertex Groups, then added and applied a triangulate modifier , made the weight Transfer again and now it Looks perfect in CivNexus6 fgx Viewer. so now i can continue with the rest of the work....

 

[Shirotora Kenshin]

SOLVED !!! i found the Problem !!! Attached is my first unit - a more japanese " Japanese Archer "

Please allow me one more question , if i want Parts of the Model / mesh Be transparent ingame via transparent Parts in the texture, How Would i achieve that transparency ?


@Wolfdog and @Deliverator

i really Need your help another time...i am sorry but cannot figure out why my unit doesnt Show up ingame , if i know whats wrong here, then i think i will not Need help again...i hope so.
my modbudy Project is attached but without the textures Folder inside, cause i got a error message when i first tried to upload it with textures, that the zip file is too large...thank you very much in advance guys

 

[Deliverator]

SOLVED !!! i found the Problem !!! Attached is my first unit - a more japanese " Japanese Archer "

Excellent work @lasttry! Congratulations on becoming a Civ VI 3D Unit modder!

 

[Deliverator]

Please allow me one more question , if i want Parts of the Model / mesh Be transparent ingame via transparent Parts in the texture, How Would i achieve that transparency ?

Transparency for units wasn't possible with Civ 5 and I'm not sure it is possible in Civ 6 either but it may be.

Some of the Civ 6 Resources have an Opacity map for controlling transparency in their Material .mtl files e.g. RES_Cocoa_Tree.mtl uses the RES_Cocao_O.dds as its Opacity map. You could try adding an Opacity map to a Unit - white is full opaque and black is fully transparent. I haven't tried it so I don't know if this would work.

 

[Shirotora Kenshin]

Regarding the opacity map...i Tried, But when i create a new Material in asset Editor, and Choose Type "Unit", Then i can Choose a lot of Different texture Types, for example normal , gloss or base Color, But for Type Unit there isnt a Option to Choose a opacity map...i have Seen the Option for Type Landmarks But not for Unit.
Could i achieve a opacity map entry via xml editing the Material in Mod Buddy ?

 

[Deliverator]

Could i achieve a opacity map entry via xml editing the Material in Mod Buddy ?

Maybe but this all is all a long shot. Bottom line I think is that Civ 6 doesn't support transparency for units so it is the same as Civ 5 in that regard.

 

[Lion King]

Hey Guys,
I can't open NExusBuddy2.3.3 (moved it to the SDK folder but still didn't work). Do you know what might be the issue? Also, would anyone be able to convert the following armored cruiser model from civ 5 into civ 6? I feel there is a big gap between ironclad (which btw looks small and ugly) and destroyer. Really love this model from Civ5.

 

[Wolfdog]

I think I've identified the issue. Civ 6 uses additive animation for some states. for example there are Breathing animations that might be combined (added together) with an Idle or Run animation to create the end effect of breathing combined with standing, running or whatever.

I noticed this earlier when I was trying to fix the flying dragon conversion - the animation effects seemed to be doubled. Now I understand that this is because I was pointing the same animation to BREATHING_A and IDLE_A for example so when these two animation are combined by the DSG each bones animation effect was being doubled, thoroughly mangling the unit.

So Civ 5 animations do indeed work fine in Civ 6 - there is no difference! But what remains is to find a nice way to remove the breathing stuff from either the behaviour data sets or the .dsgxml or both to create a non-additive set-up where one animation state uses only one .fgx/.anm animation.

But anyway the news is good on the animation front - just need to find the cleanest way to remove the breathing stuff either by using a different vanilla .dsg or by creating a new one. Another option would be to create a unmoving animation and use that for the breathing animation entries so that there is no multiplication effect.

View attachment 470082

View attachment 470083

Thanks Deliverator., I finally got around to trying this and like you said I changed the breathing animations to mechanized_infantry_idlea and it worked. I originally tried to use the original idle animation twice but that just distorted it.

Hey Guys,
I can't open NExusBuddy2.3.3 (moved it to the SDK folder but still didn't work). Do you know what might be the issue? Also, would anyone be able to convert the following armored cruiser model from civ 5 into civ 6? I feel there is a big gap between ironclad (which btw looks small and ugly) and destroyer. Really love this model from Civ5.

I plan on doing this but I have a few other units ahead of it in the list before I get around to it.

 

[Lion King]

Thanks Deliverator., I finally got around to trying this and like you said I changed the breathing animations to mechanized_infantry_idlea and it worked. I originally tried to use the original idle animation twice but that just distorted it.



I plan on doing this but I have a few other units ahead of it in the list before I get around to it.

Wolfdog, if you are going to do this, would you mind making a video on it? I managed to fix Nexus2 issue but still can't properly create files to work in Asset editor

 

[Shirotora Kenshin]

Something seems to Be wrong with the Saka Horse Archer in the Civ vi Assets modding Directory.

I made a Horse Archer, available for all Civs and my japanese Horse Archer ( i First Do Japan,Then versions for Other Civs, as i want to make more cultural diversity ) and something Is wrong when Its Time to Play the Saka attack Animation, Cause ingame, there isnt a Visible attack Animation. The Unit move a bit, and Then Thats it....the Enemy get their damage But without Visible been Attacked by the Horse Archer. I checked AND made everything Double , But no success...so i Wonder if they delivered Us a Saka Horse Archer, with wrong entries in the behaviour file when it comes to attack ?

 

[Deliverator]

Thanks Deliverator., I finally got around to trying this and like you said I changed the breathing animations to mechanized_infantry_idlea and it worked. I originally tried to use the original idle animation twice but that just distorted it.

The simplest way I've found to deal with this is just to remove all references to BREATHING_A and BREATHING_COMBAT_A elements from m_animationBindings, m_timelineBindings and m_timelines. potential_any_graph.dsg doesn't seem to mind some states being missing.

Something seems to Be wrong with the Saka Horse Archer in the Civ vi Assets modding Directory.

I made a Horse Archer, available for all Civs and my japanese Horse Archer ( i First Do Japan,Then versions for Other Civs, as i want to make more cultural diversity ) and something Is wrong when Its Time to Play the Saka attack Animation, Cause ingame, there isnt a Visible attack Animation. The Unit move a bit, and Then Thats it....the Enemy get their damage But without Visible been Attacked by the Horse Archer. I checked AND made everything Double , But no success...so i Wonder if they delivered Us a Saka Horse Archer, with wrong entries in the behaviour file when it comes to attack ?

You also need to copy the Saka Horse Archer's entries from Units.artdef - making sure that the Formation, Unit Combat, UnitMovementType and MemberCombat stuff is all the same. It sounds like that's what the issue is - you don't have the right MemberCombat or UnitCombat .artdef settings from the Saka.

 

[Shirotora Kenshin]

Unfortunately that was not the Problem Here...dont Know what to Do with the Horse Archer...will work on my Next Unit now. I Hope i will be able to Upload my First Unit pack...Japan including a Fully Working japanese Horse Archer as soon as possible. Still have some Units to make

Hm...i could try to assign the Vanilla Bow in the asset Editor to my Horse Archer in Units Artdef. This only to Check where the Problem actually Is, the Bow or the armor Files...

 

[Deliverator]

Unfortunately that was not the Problem Here...dont Know what to Do with the Horse Archer...will work on my Next Unit now. I Hope i will be able to Upload my First Unit pack...Japan including a Fully Working japanese Horse Archer as soon as possible. Still have some Units to make

Hm...i could try to assign the Vanilla Bow in the asset Editor to my Horse Archer in Units Artdef. This only to Check where the Problem actually Is, the Bow or the armor Files...

Did you rig a new model to a Civ 6 skeleton or use Civ 5 skeleton & animations?

 

[Shirotora Kenshin]

Did you rig a new model to a Civ 6 skeleton or use Civ 5 skeleton & animations?

I rig a new Model to a Civ 6 Skeleton.

 

[Deliverator]

I rig a new Model to a Civ 6 Skeleton.

That's strange then. I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work if everything about your .artdef and .ast are the same as for the vanilla Saka Armor. Did you used Saka_Armor.fgx or Saka_HorseArcher_ArmorA.fgx? It looks like the latter is the one that is actually used by the game. That would only be a problem if the skeletons are different.