Issue with Kam's 3ds plugin

[murderslastcrow]

I'm trying to get into modding GTA3 (old, I know, but I love it regardless). The issue is that I've tried to import player.dff, cop.dff, and other pedestrian models, and it works- the mesh comes in and everything. But the skeleton doesn't come along with them! I'm way into modding, but this is just mind-boggling. I don't have any reference to go from (I know how to model, texture, etc. I'm a 3d designer).

 

So, is it just an issue with GTA3 dffs? If so, is anyone aware of a valid workaround? I don't have any of the other games on-hand to test, but I installed Kam's plugins correctly. Thank you in advance for your thoughtful replies.

[xrk]

Gta3 player/character models dont have skeletons. Instead they have a hierarchy.

Edited January 20, 2009 by xrk

[murderslastcrow]

No way! So that means I have to create the limbs separately and place them in the same heirarchy? Well, that makes sense. =_=; Oh wells (goes to separate his meshes).

 

P.S. How do you go about exporting a GTA3 heirarchy? Just select the parent attachment along with all the meshes, then click the export .dff? Sorry, that's my last question. ^^;

[murderslastcrow]

K, well, I created a character and made all the separate meshes, etc. Now, in the skin changer (Options\Skins), the model appears perfectly.

 

However, as soon as I play, the meshes are all over the place, not correctly aligned at all.

 

Example pics here.

 

 

I'm going to look through the forums for a similar issue, but it's really hard since a lot of people don't use 3ds max for their modelling. I'll keep looking, but if someone knows about it, please reply with what you think could be the problem.

 

P.S. I'll most likely cap off the meshes as soon as I get the rigging right.

 

Thanks for reading, at the least.

[murderslastcrow]

I think I might be getting to the root of the issue.

My parts were all created from one mesh that was taken apart, rather than several. It appears that when I align my meshes to the parent bone separately, they all come together since they have the same object center/rotation. However, when the default player.dff is aligned to the root (each mesh separately) they all align to the middle, coming out to the right. So perhaps I just need to redo my object dimensions somehow.

 

I'll try and get back to you guys- please drop by if you have a better idea. ^^;

[murderslastcrow]

 

So, this is what I get after tooling around with the axis of each mesh in my model, making it match the axises of the original model exactly. I'm quite bothered, to be honest. Starting to realize how easy it is to mod the other games (only have to use the skin modifier and one mesh). :3 But I'm determined to finish this one.

 

If anyone has any ideas, please tell me. =_=; This is getting aggravating, but I'll keep toying around until I get it right.

[murderslastcrow]

K, so after resetting the Xform of each mesh part, and trying a few different options, nothing has turned out any better than the last image I posted.

 

There has to be someone who's modded GTA3 who understands what I've done wrong. And if not, I guess I'll just move onto the next game for my modding purposes. =_=;

[xrk]

Have you copyed the original model exactly? i.e named the parts the same too??

 

other than the axies thats all can think of but then I've never done anything with player models in gta3.

[murderslastcrow]

Yeah, the heirarchy and names are completely the same, too. It's weird, though- When I import the original player.dff and re-export it, it works just fine.

 

So it's not the exporter that's screwy. However, when I have the imported dff and my imported 3ds side-by-side, the axis' and positions and names are identical. But, when I export my 3ds to DFF, even when I've reset the X-Forms of each part, THEN I import the .dff I exported, the axis' are all straight up and down, the default positioning, unlike when I import the original DFF.

 

But yeah, at this point I've done everything I can think of. So I guess I'll just do my game-conversion with Vice City instead, since it seems a lot simpler, time-efficient, and I guess it's a better game. But I really do feel bad for GTA3. XD

 

But I'll check back just in case, since I do wanna' do a few mods to this game at least. *sniffles*