OE Problem - Scorpion tank

[Zany Reaper]

Hi, since this may've happened to some other aspiring modders too, I'd like help with this problem.

Now, in 3DS max, I got my turret of the scorpion & merged it with a 3DS file of Catwells scorpion, with the turret removed (for mine to go on instead).
It looks normal in Max, but then I export it (full force export or not). I export it as ref.max, without any animations. I get this in Object editor -



Now, I don't know how Shingouki managed to get it into OE/ingame without this texture screw-up. My turret is absolutely fine here (except for the transparency), but Catwells scorpion unfortunately isn't. I used his textures too.

Any ideas on how to bypass this?

[compiler]

You could report this problem to this thread.

[Zany Reaper]

thanks, & done.

[Palii]

Someone forgot the rendered UVW map in the TGA's Alpha channel! Make sure your alpha channel is full white.

[Zany Reaper]

Holy crap! As soon as I checked it, something really wierd has happened to Catwell's beautiful texture! Thanks Palii, I'm gonna try to change it!

Wait, how do you do that in your average image editor (Photoshop 5 or the GIMP)?

[Palii]

In Photoshop, there is the panel with layers & channels & paths, select the channels tab, hide the rgb channel, unhide the alpha 1 channel. Use paintbucket with max tolerance to paint the whole channel white.

[Zany Reaper]

Ok thanks, that's done, but now 3ds max is saying that it can't open/find the texture that I just modded.

What do I do? The texture's on the diffuse map, by the way.

--Edit--

Sorry, it showed up the error because the targa file was in 32 bit mode, not 24 bit. Damn. Why did the gimp do that?

Palii, you're like a god with a metal brain!
Now someone, please tell me:

How do I get the FX to display in the areas I want them to be in? Do I need to apply FX markers?

Also, how do I copy (most of) the animations from the Falcon onto this beastie?
Where should I put the bones in the model (if there are any in the Falcon) for this?

[potemkis]

Huh? I thought they had to be 32-bit tga!?!?! Aww crud!

[ShinGouki]

Nothing wrong with 32 bit. Just need to make sure that your alpha channel is set up right. Most of my textures are 32 bit and work without any problems at all.

As for the texure, yeah it's just got an alpha channel. Just select the alpha channel in photoshop *to the right of layers* highlight everything and delete it. That should get rid of your problem. If you still have problems I can just send you the texture I have.

So Zany you have max now? If you want that pulse laser fx put in should be very easy for you to do yourseflf now. Just export relics falcon using santos tools and then export the whe file using the tutorials I wrote on it. Be useful for you to know how to do anyway in case you want to add other stuff. Let me know if you get stuck with any of it.

EDIT ---

Ok for the fx to appear in the right place you need to have markers, these are just points which are found on the helpers panel in max. When you make a point it defaults to pointing up on the y axis in case there is any confusion.

You need to make sure these points are attached to the relevant bone or they won't move with the model. *e.g the muzzle of the barrels you need to attach to the same bone as the barrells / turret itself.

You should go check out Palils OE tutorials before going any further. Specifically make sure you get an understanding of Aim_Horizontal and Aim_Vertical anims or you will have all kinds of headaches.

[skills]

Lol i always save tga's as 32 bit i though you had to... also i dont add alpha channals to mine i just leave the background transparent and it seems to work fine.

For fx you need to put markers at the source of the fx then in the OE link it up check out Palii tutorial for linking up fx

[Zany Reaper]

Alright, thanks guys!

Yes Shingouki, since I now have Max, I've already implemented by new FX & sound. I'm gonna try & get near to your level, if I'm gonna support my own mod.

[fneep]

screeny?

[Zany Reaper]

Here's a screeny of what I have so far.




I have another problem though.

When animating, only some of the animations work - the main turret aim animations & half of the idle_hull one where the tank hovers on the spot.
For that one, the turret moves, but not the hull.

The turret's linked to 2 bones, & the hull isn't.
When I made & bone & skinned it to the hull (all verticies were 'controlled' too), it seemed fine. I then exported it. THat seemed to work.
But then I opened it in IE, & it crashed! It didn't do this with any other models, so it's definately a problem with the scorpy model.


--Edit!--

The above was just solved. Still trouble for the other animations though...

I solved the other problem by making a bone & simply attaching it to the chassis, not skinning it to it (as on the modifier tab).

Is it true that to get an animation to actually display in OE & ingame, you have to animate the bone, & not the geometry?
Just wondering if that's the problem I'm having...

I think that every object needs to be skinned/attached to a bone of some sort. Do all of them need IK solvers?
If so, which ones?

Please help me on how to get this thing fully animated & working!

[compiler]

Before going any further, you may want to read this thread.

"Is it true that to get an animation to actually display in OE & ingame, you have to animate the bone, & not the geometry? "

Yes, geometry cannot be animated, only bones. So you have 2 options :
1- parent the editable mesh to a bone and animate the bone
2- declare the editable mesh as a bone : select the mesh, then go to character > bone tools > object properties > Bone On.
(or use Relic's properties manager that comes with the mod tools and set "Max Bone" to "yes" for this mesh).

[Zany Reaper]

Thank you Compiler!

However, after I edited the post, I found out how to successfully get the other weapons animated - by linking them to the bones (object to bone), & animating the bone only.
Seemed to work, & displayed in OE too.

I copied the idea of what was done on the falcon, which worked.

The next problem I have is with vis files:

In the Falcon's multiple vis files, all weapon meshes are displayed regardless, as they are in the basic ref.max file. Should this be done with the scorpion too, or shall I make the unneccessary weapon meshes invisible in whatever vis file it is?

Here's a video of the dodgy death animation. It's just over 1 MB big.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v7...=scorpdie2.flv

[compiler]

Again, please read the above mentioned thread as it contains the answer to your question.
Setting objects to invisible in the layer manager won't change anything. To make an object disapear from the vis file you have 2 options :
- delete it from the vis file (which is not always desirable)
- set it to invisible in the special properties

[Zany Reaper]

I posted a link of the death animation in the previous post, compiler. I edited it after you posted.

--Edit--

Oh right, in the 'User defined' secion of the properties thingy (Right click). I'm about to test it.

Yeah. The vis properties work, but only in the motions. In the 'User defined' section, I put the Forceinvisible = Yes in the suitable things. That was it. No ForceSkinning = Yes &
Stale = Yes
Are they necessary? The falcon has both for all bones.

Now, the next problem is to get the FX to display at the markers...