DFF Exporter (3ds Max plugin)

[DK22Pac]

The reason why maxscript is better than sdk

[reix2x]

I saw that the post has been bumped by Reix2x with his request, now that someone actually bumped this and you put your time in to reply. For the love of programmers, any chance you could also convert it to 3ds max 2016 too? I've made quite a lot of models and I really can't be arshed to port them all to 2014 nor to a lower version.

 

What's the pain with the bumps? i want to try a new tool, i found it and i ask if it could be recompiled. i understand that you use another tools but that's why those tools born, to be used. i would appreciate some help with the smoothing groups on my tool, the Kam's GTA Scripts is very nice, it is even the tool than i'm using right now to export, but for me that "Smoothing Groups Helper" is broken (i can't make it work). So pal, keep your focus on the work and don't focus that much on the bumps. cheers.

[ProdigyHD]

The reason why maxscript is better than sdk

 

 

Hey man I've been using your YDR to DFF converter and I ran into an issue yesterday. I kept getting this Warning when converting the file. Is there a way to remove the limit of vertices or something. Thanks

 

[tosfera]

 

I saw that the post has been bumped by Reix2x with his request, now that someone actually bumped this and you put your time in to reply. For the love of programmers, any chance you could also convert it to 3ds max 2016 too? I've made quite a lot of models and I really can't be arshed to port them all to 2014 nor to a lower version.

 

What's the pain with the bumps? i want to try a new tool, i found it and i ask if it could be recompiled. i understand that you use another tools but that's why those tools born, to be used. i would appreciate some help with the smoothing groups on my tool, the Kam's GTA Scripts is very nice, it is even the tool than i'm using right now to export, but for me that "Smoothing Groups Helper" is broken (i can't make it work). So pal, keep your focus on the work and don't focus that much on the bumps. cheers.

 

I'm not really a fan of bumping, some forums don't allow it nor the authors of some threads are not interested in their threads anymore. I've had it several times that I got spammed again because some guy bumped a post of a few years ago. Not a funny thing to see in your email haha.

[ALMOST610]

Well, I have sent a PM to the author of this project as all the models I export with his scripts only come up Black in game, no textures, they look fine in KED, GGMM, etc. but in game they are all Black, and I have tried several different versions of the exporter on different 3DS Max over different PC's and all get the same thing.

[_F_]

Well, I have sent a PM to the author of this project as all the models I export with his scripts only come up Black in game, no textures, they look fine in KED, GGMM, etc. but in game they are all Black, and I have tried several different versions of the exporter on different 3DS Max over different PC's and all get the same thing.

These are the settings I use and everything works perfectly fine. (I'm exporting cars)

[goodidea82]

Just letting you know that I'm also interested in an update. I'm using 3ds Max 2015.

[goodidea82]

Old free versions of 3ds Max are not available anymore, therefore the DffImport and DffExport plugins must be updated for the available 3ds Max versions.

 

The source code is available here http://dffplugin.codeplex.com/ I have built the import and export plugins for 3ds Max 2015 64bit (free student edition) using the following steps.

 

1. During installation of 3ds Max 2015 64bit select also the installation of the 3ds Max SDK.
2. Install Visual Studio Community 2015
3. Download the source code of the plugins from http://dffplugin.codeplex.com/ and open in Visual Studio (VS) the .sln file. VS will convert and upgrade the project. After successul loading you will see two projects: DffExporter, DffImporter.
4. Open Build->Configuration Manager. There you will see the targets 3dsMax2012 and 3dsMax2013. Create the new configuration 3dsMax2015 (using <new..> in the dropdown box), and "Copy settings from" 3dsMax2013. Next we have to update the settings. Make sure you chose everywhere the configuration 3dsMax2015 from now on.
5. For both projects do the following:
   1. Go to Menu: Project->Properties->General. Select plattform x64. Remark: Target Platform Version 8.1 is compatible with Win 7. For TargetName write DffExporter_2015x64 (analogously for the importer).
   2. Project->Properties->VC++ Direcotries. Set the Include and Library Directories where your 3ds Max SDK is installed. For exmple on my system its
      Include: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2015 SDK\maxsdk\include;$(IncludePath)
      Library: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2015 SDK\maxsdk\lib\x64\Release;$(LibraryPath)
   3. Project->Properties->Linker->Input. Edit "Additional Dependencies". There I have to replaced the file springsys.lib with spring.lib because springsys.lib does not exist in the SDK. Since the compilation works I assume this is ok.
   4. In DffExporter.h (similarly for DffImporter.h) replace the line where PLUGIN_VERSION is defined:
      

      #ifdef MAX_RECENT	#define PLUGIN_VERSION VERSION_3DSMAX#else	#define PLUGIN_VERSION ((MAX_RELEASE<<16)+(MAX_API_NUM<<8)+MAX_SDK_REV)//	#define PLUGIN_VERSION ((MAX_RELEASE_R12<<16)+(MAX_API_NUM_R120<<8)+MAX_SDK_REV)#endif

      MAX_RELEASE represents the current version of your SDK

   5. Build the project

6. Install the scripts (and also GTA_Material.ms and GTA_MultiMaterial.ms) as described in the original DffPluginReadmes.xps

 

 

 

The problem I encounter is the following. I import an original vehicle and without any change try to export it again. Both plugins work but the export crashes at some point. In Project->Properties->C/C++->Preprocessor->Preprocessor Definitions I have added the preprocessor directive LOGFILE. To activate the logging which is already built in the scripts (Note you must update the hard-coded path in DffExporter.cpp (line 13) to a path on your system). Using the logging I found out that the crash happens in the function void DffExporter::WriteGTAMaterial(Mtl* material, INode* theNode). The logfile says:

0: Writing clump0: Writing frames0: Writing frames0: Writing frames0: Writing frames0: Writing frames0: Writing frames0: Writing frames0: Writing frame extension0: Writing frame extension0: Writing frame extension0: Writing frame extension0: Writing frame extension0: Writing frame extension0: Writing frame extension0: Writing geometry0: Rebuilding mesh0: writing materials list0: writing material

Is anybody able to fix that?

 

 

Edited August 22, 2015 by goodidea82

[goodidea82]

Ok, I have figured it out. I used the wrong version of GTA_Material.ms and GTA_MultiMaterial.ms which resulted in a nullpointer exception in the export plugin. When following the description of the compilation process, the plugins are fully functional under 3ds Max 2015.

 

For convenience I have uploaded the precompiled files on gtainside.

Download: http://www.gtainside.com/sanandreas/tools/77870-dffplugin-for-3d-studio-max-2015/

The author is of course seggaeman.

Edited August 23, 2015 by goodidea82

[tosfera]

Going to check it out tomorrow Goodidea82, thanks a lot! Does it also include exporting objects? Or just vehicles?

[goodidea82]

There are options for peds, vehicles, and buildings. I haven't checked if other objects can be exported. Others probably know better.

 

Download: http://www.gtainside...tudio-max-2015/

[tosfera]

Oh sh*t, I forgot that I'm running 2016. Time to see if I can use the same way as you to transport it to 2016.

[barti]

Actually the 2015 plugin seems to work under 2016 just fine.

Edited August 24, 2015 by barti

[seggaeman]

Thanks a lot for porting the plugin to 3ds max 2015 goodidea82. I have been absent from the gta modding scene for quite a while, but I will find time to fix bugs in the tool and also port it to 3ds max 2009. A few people have requested that.

I'd also like to know if any of you like to have the tool on Maya?

[tosfera]

I've been a Maya-user, and it would be awesome to have it there but it's not that populair anymore. It's really up to you.

 

Also, I keep getting the 'DLL failed to initialize' error, it can't find the module? error code 126. Installed the 2010 c++ package already.

Edited August 28, 2015 by tosfera

[seggaeman]

I have 3ds max 2011 installed. I just tested the appropriate importer plugin for it and didn't get any issues. Maybe it's one of these 2 redistributables that must be installed.

 

32 bit

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5555

 

 

64 bit

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=14632

[BMWSauberF1.08]

Hey seggaeman, some time ago I sent you a PM about the plugin, I don't know if you have read it yet.

[seggaeman]

Oops apologies I didn't notice the message. Sent you a link by PM. Unfortunately I don't have more recent versions of 3ds max than 2011 installed.

[tosfera]

I have 3ds max 2011 installed. I just tested the appropriate importer plugin for it and didn't get any issues. Maybe it's one of these 2 redistributables that must be installed.

 

32 bit

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5555

 

 

64 bit

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=14632

 

I've installed the c++ packages, still nothing.. running on the latest AutoDesk 3ds Max version, 2016.

Edited August 29, 2015 by tosfera

[seggaeman]

sh*t. Finally the problem is not the redistributables. Its the plugins that are not compatible with 3ds max 2016. I will have to download it (this will take some time). You can also try compiling the plugins yourself with visual studio. Hopefully there won't be many source code changes required.

 

The source code is here

 

http://dffplugin.codeplex.com

[cj2000]

Sorry, but what are the advantages over Kams script?

[goodidea82]

I use both solutions for different purpose. I don't remember the details but I could not export a car with collisions using Kams script, and when adding the collision using Coleditor2 the game crashed. This script was the only way that worked for me.

[tosfera]

Main reason I'm interested in this one is because it's still being developed, seggaeman didn't give up yet nor will do any time soon I guess. Since he released the source code, he's showing us that he wants to stay alive with his script.

[tosfera]

seggaeman, did you have the chance to port it to 3ds max 2016 already?

[Blue]

Delete the post, mods.

Edited January 25, 2016 by Juan 16

[paulo2435]

Please Upload Autodesk 3Ds max Installer

[Flame]

Unfortunately, the exporter still has a bug - when we add a new part on the original game model (attach other model to original game's model), this part will not display at night, it just will be transparent.

 

As a decision of the problem: re-save model with other plugin (I use Deniska's plugin and old 3ds Max for this)

 

Hope this bug will be fixed in one good day. Because, at this moment, this is the best 3ds Max plugin for DFF. Importer saves original game's prelight correctly.

 

Also in my opinion, exporter's window with settings in latest posted version of the plugin, was much better in previous (or first, 2012) variant, and I still use it.

Edited March 31, 2016 by Flame

[seggaeman]

Hi everyone,
Sorry no the importer and exporter haven't been ported to 3ds max 2016. These days I'm not getting time to maintain this project. Actually it might be best to rewrite it in Python to ensure that it retains compatibility with future 3ds max versions. Python scripts execute pretty quickly on Autodesk Maya (almost no difference between it and C++ API). Should be the case on 3ds max also.

[dkluin]

I was hoping you would support collision aswell (for vehicles if not supported already) as Bully dff exporting (and importing).

 

New tools like yours are definitely going to be much better to work with.

[Jinx.]

Talking about seggaeman's tools...

 

Your importer cars exported by Kam's wrong. Every model is green.