[3dsmax VC|SA] From Max to Game.

[X-Seti]

Basic modelling with 3dsmax tutorial.

Edit; Please do not post on this topic as I am redoing this for 3dsmax 2014 and 3dsmax 2016.

Before we get into anything make sure you have all the tools needed.

Firstly we need to download the tools before we do anything and the scripts to install for your version of 3DsMAX.

I will be posting images with an explanation allowing time for you to complete each step and reply to your posts. I will be taking questions for each step we go. We will be learning how to make basic models first (eg buildings) then more complex objects as the weeks advance. If you know MAX you can also help me by taking questions.

I will be doing this in sections:

[table]

1. Face Mash editing. Getting to know the basic tools and panels, Poly /Vertex Mash editing. Forming better shapes like roofs.
2. VU mapping and texturing. Applying textures to your objects the right way. &. Creating the Collisions with surface maps and TXDs.
5. How to get objects in game.
6. Making Complex objects and mapping.
8. MAP-IO and aligning objects in game.
- [/table]

Edit- Updated Nov10- 2015
3dsmax 9 - 32Bit: https://mega.nz/#!M1F32CxB. 3dsmax 9 - 64Bit: https://mega.nz/#!0osRRJTR

By downloading these files above you agree to use these as trial software only!
There are no hacks, cracks, keygens or viruses in these files. Please consider checking out the autodesk website for your country. www.autodesk.com

Latest Max 2014; http://www.autodesk.com/products/autodesk-3ds-max/free-trial Note+: This site can be buggy. just refresh your browser to fix any links that do not seen to appear for the first time. When you have either max 9 or 2014 installed, reboot if needed, unpack the version of your scripts and place these in; C:\Program Files\3dsMax9\Scripts copying over anything existing.

The Max Scripts: http://www.ukscifi.net/gtatools/Scripts_Max9.rar <-- Max 9 and http://www.ukscifi.net/gtatools/Scripts_3dsmax2012-X-Seti.rar <-- Max 2011 or http://www.ukscifi.net/gtatools/3dsmaxScripts2015.7z and above. The scripts packs are to be installed on the windows HDD ''c:/Program Files/Autodesk/3dsmax'' folder. Copy the Scripts folder of the zip archive over writing the scripts folder of 3dsmax. This will install the scripts.

Basic textures from GTAIII to SA are in .bmp; http://www.ukscifi.net/gtatools/TextList_Textures.7z The textures belong on your Desktop in a folder called textlist/

I will be updating this post until I see people join and then posting onwards depending on the questions asked.

[table]1. Face Mash editing. Getting to know the basic tools and panels.[/table]

The 3dsmax window layout. It's important to get everything where you need it quickly, you can also move buttons and tabs around. So try this out. I like to plan everything down to how I want the 3dsmax window to look like into how I am going to work depending on the project.

Example; http://postimg.org/image/8nj9v41cj/8070ca06/


Basic buttons;

The Viewpoint Toggle can be found in the bottom right hand corner - This will allow us to bring the 4 panels into 1 so we can rotate and see everything better.
Arc Rotate - Allows you to freely move and rotate the object or scene you're in.
Field of view - Pin point zoom tool.
Pan around the object or scene.

[table]
This is all you need to know for now. The rest we can talk about later.

Moving on by right clicking button you want to select; Smooth and Highlights, Edges Faces and Show Grid.

Next you'll notice an empty space on the top right of the icon /buttons bar, clicking on this will enable you to select the snaps tools window using the right mouse button. Alternately this can also be done clicking on the menu bar selecting Customize -> Show UI to Show floating tool bars.

Close everything else except Snaps.





[/table]

Selecting Primitive Objects and how to shape them.

[table] We want to select [ BOX ] looking down that panel you'll see Length Segs, Width Segs and Height Segs. Look at the image below.

We want to set a even number for the Length and Height sides of the cube and a uneven number for the Width.

So 10 Length, 10 Height and 9 Width, All will become clear into why we are doing this later when we start to shape the roof.

 

Move the mouse pointer to the scene window. Press and hold the left mouse button about north west and slowly drag the pointer to the south east and then let go.



Move the pointer up a little to create the height then one left click to end with a cube shaped object.



Because we selected the Smooth and Highlights, Edges Faces and Show Grid in the Perspective settings this is so things are easier to see and edit, we can use wire frame later when required. We now want to manipulate the polys that in turn shape the faces on the cube object. Right Click on the Cube object and select Convert to editable Mash where some modding can happen.



Select - Modify to bring up the modify panel below. Select box01 and change this to a name you like ie; House01 for the name of your model. under Modifier list your notice the words box - Right click this and select convert to editable mash.



How to move around; We will be using Arc Rotate and Pan around to freely move around your object by left clicking and holding your left mouse button down. Zooming in and out where needed using the middle mouse button. Press to select single face, pick Ignore Backfacing and then [Extrude] half way down - ignore the number on the right for now. Select pointer and move back to the scene window to select your faces on the cube one at a time holding the left CTRL key down that you would like to press in or out with [Extrude]. We will start with a Door first by picking the faces we want to change.



Clicking [Extrude] this time from the modify panel watching the number on the right of the extrude button, press the red selected faces moving the mouse and holding the left button we get to effect those faces. we want to push in these faces so what we are trying to do looks like a door.



We have a door shape, now we try for a window by selecting some more faces but this time we will try it another way by selecting [extrude] and to the right deleting 0.0 and putting -5.0 in the box and enter.

Edited November 10, 2015 by X-Seti

[X-Seti]

By using Arc Rotate - Click the circular edge holding the left mouse button down and drag the pointer left to rotate the object.

 

 

We can use the [Extrude] tool to make window ledges and other bits of detail for this building.

 

 

You can use the Move and Select icon with your selected faces - Holding the Left mouse button will move the selected faces in any direction with the movement of the mouse. You can use the Arc Rotate and Pan view to change your viewpoint allowing you see better. But remember to click back to the Move and Select icon to move any more faces.

 

2. Poly/Vertex Mash editing. Forming better shapes like roofs.

 

I made another quick basic model to show you how we can move the vertex points to make the roof shape we want.

 

 

Click on Vertex to show the vertex points as little blue dots.

 

 

First click the Move and Select icon selecting as many vertex points as you want holding the CTRL key - Holding the Left mouse button will move the selected vertices in any direction with the mouse affecting their position with the vertices you did not pick. I want to move the mouse pointer up just a little. (See next image) You can use the Arc Rotate and Pan view to change your viewpoint allowing you to select the vertices more easier. Remember to click back to the Move and Select icon to move any more vertices.

 

You can also change the coordinates of the selected vertices by using the X, Y and Z coordinates bar. With your selected vertices use the up down arrows to move the vertex within the X, Y or Z 3D space.

 

 

Another way to move selected vertex is by the left clicking and pressing on the Red (X), Green (Y) and Blue (Z) arrow indicator moving the mouse pointer. (You can see this just above the roof)

 

The object is far from ready from being inserted into any game. we can add more detail to the house by creating other objects that can be resized and attached to resemble the look we are going for.

 

Click on Selecting Primitive Objects this time look for [cylinder] on the list and give this about 12 sides. Press anywhere in the scene first clicking and moving the pointer to the left to create the radius and then pressing and holding the left mouse button to create the height, un-clicking to finish this new object.

 

Right click over the new object and select Convert to Editable Mash, with the new object highlighted we can change the name and resize / stretch this new object to look like a drain pipe using the Scale icon.

 

 

Holding the left mouse button on the bottom of the triangle moving the mouse up or down are can change the shape from small to large, thin or fat.

 

 

We can use this pipe to apply to the sides on the main model 'the house' by right clicking over the pipe and selecting clone, This will bring up a new window where we can check the new cloned model name and by pressing OK we save the new model to the scene. Once you have clicked 'OK' in the window you need to right click over the new object and select Convert to Editable mash again. Each model name has to be unique except where you might be planting the same objects names like trees or lamp posts (I will show this much later in the MAP-IO tutorial)

 

We are going to place this pipe against the house by moving the pipe object against one of the house walls by using the Move and Select and Snaps toggle icons, now in the snaps bar click on Snap to vertex. We now want to select all the vertices on the pipe by dragging the mouse pointer over the object till we have all the vertices highlighted in red. This can take a bit of getting used too.

 

Touch the bottom of the pipe object and drag this over to the house holding down the left mouse button. You will notice that the pipe will snap to the nearest vertex on the house model, if you happy with the position let go with the mouse.

 

 

This time you'll notice that the top is sticking out. You can select the top of the pipe's vertices to either delete or move them by dragging these vertices to touch the top of the house. If you had chosen to delete the vertices on the top of the pipe you would need to drag the next in line to reach the top of the house.

 

Now for the guttering. We will only do the side your looking at by clicking the Select and Rotate icon. Select all the vertices in the new pipe model and type 90 in the X part of the coordinates bar. This will turn the pipe 90 degrees now we can place this the same as before to the edge of the roof using the Move and Select icon selecting all the vertices and snapping this to the edge for the roof.

 

 

The model is almost done. we now need to optimize the models before we do anything else, we do this by clicking on the modifier list drop down and selecting optimize for each object.

 

[Collapse To] every time a window pops up.

 

 

Once we have all the objects ready and optimized we can finally VU texture the model. This will be covered in the next tutorial. the UV mapping tutorial.

 

Note: You can use many other buttons like [Divide] to add faces back into the model if you want to add more detail.

 

 

Next tutorial -> http://gtaforums.com/topic/693469-3dsmax-2-vu-mapping-and-texturing-tutorial/

UV Mapping your objects.

[X-Seti]

Section 2; VU mapping, texture and creating the Collisions with surface maps.

Before you start the next section download the textures, here is the link again; https://www.dropbox.com/s/qrobjzay56xd86e/textlist_Sol.7z

if the above link does not work for you try here; http://www.ukscifi.net/gtatools/TextList_Textures.7z

 

These textures belong on your Desktop in a folder called textlist/

Tools you needed are;

TXD Builder -> http://www.steve-m.com/downloads/tools/txdbuilder/
TXD Workshop -> http://www.gtagarage.com/mods/show.php?id=8320
Steve M's Col Editor 2 -> http://www.steve-m.com/downloads/tools/colleditor2/
Steve M's RW Analyze -> http://www.steve-m.com/downloads/tools/rwanalyze/
Text editing - Notepad ++ -> http://notepad-plus-plus.org/download/v6.5.5.html
Image Conversion tools -> http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/graphix.htm
Gimp or some other Paint editing tool. -> http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

To be able to run the tools below use XP compatibility from right clicking the tool.
System dlls -> http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/download/mwgfxdll.EXE
ConvIM -> http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/programs/convim.htm
Show -> http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/download/show.zip

I will be posting images with an explanation allowing time for you to complete each step and reply to your posts. I will be taking questions for each step we go. We will be learning how to make basic models first (eg buildings) then more complex objects as the weeks advance. If you know MAX you can also help me by taking questions.

This tutorial is made up into sections:

[table]

1. Face Mash editing. Getting to know the basic tools and panels, Poly /Vertex Mash editing. Forming better shapes like roofs.
2. VU mapping and texturing. Applying textures to your objects the right way. &. Creating the Collisions with surface maps and TXDs.
5. How to get objects in game.
6. Making Complex objects and mapping.
8. MAP-IO and aligning objects in game.
- [/table]

The Max Scripts: http://www.ukscifi.net/gtatools/Scripts_Max9.rar <-- Max 9 and http://www.ukscifi.net/gtatools/Scripts_3dsmax2012-X-Seti.rar <-- Max 2011 or http://www.ukscifi.net/gtatools/3dsmaxScripts2015.7z and above. The scripts packs are to be installed on the windows HDD ''c:/Program Files/Autodesk/3dsmax'' folder. Copy the Scripts folder of the zip archive over writing the scripts folder of 3dsmax. This will install the scripts.

Basic textures from GTAIII to SA are in .bmp; http://www.ukscifi.net/gtatools/TextList_Textures.7z The textures belong on your Desktop in a folder called textlist/

 

[table]How to apply UV textures to objects.[/table]

This is the building we made last week. The House -> https://www.dropbox.com/s/onvdzihsydvnbyg/TheHouse.max. I added a chimney stack on the side for this weeks tutorial. We can get into more complex stuff next week.



How to texture:

Select all the faces of the model by holding and left clicking, moving the mouse diagonally cross the scene to select all the faces.



Now holding the CTRL key down and left clicking each face we can un-select the faces we do not want to texture like windows, doors and roof bits

We can click ignore backfacing to aid in clicking the faces in view and not the faces behind by mistake.



We only want to texture the wall. When we are happy with the selected faces we can move onto the next step, finding the right textures from the texture archive on the desktop. It is best to plan out what textures your going to use so make a folder called house01 and copy the textures you think your going to use into this model, in time when you get used to texturing your be able to harvest them from the textlist folder.

Update: I had made a bit of a discovery that .png is better to texture then .bmp, this can fix the texture corruption issues with models. A texture in TXD workshop that includes an alpha texture like railings. You can use the ConvIM tool -> http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/programs/convim.htm to mass convert them all over to .png.





You can click on this image above and resize it or find the original in the texture archive.

I choose the above image for the walls and by pressing M in 3dsmax, I bring up the Materials editor.



I drag and drop the texture I am after onto the Material editor using up the 1st slot. Where I apply the image to model pressing this paints the faces with the texture.



The texture is now applied to the house model. Next we UV map the texture zooming into a corner of the building like the image below.



Clicking on the Modifier list, Select UVW Map towards the bottom of the list.

On the right new panel click box first, then change the dimension area values to 12x, 12y and 12.

Like this image below.



Once you're happy with the Mapping of [12, 12, 12] in the Length, Width and Height boxes we can set the texture tile offsets [1.0, 1.0, 10] below in the 3 other boxes but looking at the scene the texture placement looks fine so this time we can apply the texture by right clicking UVW Mapping shown in gray above editable mash. Select Collapse To to set.

You could experiment with VU Mapping yourself by undoing the UV map scene and this time try with other numbers in the dimension boxes and offset boxes to get a better idea.

We have done our first UV Map. Now we can do the roof by picking another texture.



I add this texture to the 2nd slot in the material editor and then I apply this to the roof. Select VUW mapping from the Modifier List. and Collapse To to set the texture.



Changing my view point.

Notice the values I put on the right hand side, I wanted to scale the texture currently and at the right rotation by selecting X or Y, Z in the alignment box. When you do the other side of the roof you need to flip the texture using the boxes on the tile offsets section.



We are now going to do windows and doors. this time using the offset tile window in UVW Mapping.





Highlight the door first and click on the modifier list again for UVW mapping.



This time when we apply the image and clicked box we have the whole image. we only need to show half the bitmap, one door not both. Click on the tile offsets and in the U box put -0.5 or 0.5 depending on the side of the door texture you want to show. Right click the UVW Mapping bar and Collapse To. now using the same method as used with the door you can do the windows.

We can also make our own textures by taking pictures of walls or doors, brick walls or edit the existing textures. All textures are best to be kept within 64x64, 128x128, 256x256 or 512x512 pixel sizes. Remember that the bigger you have the textures the slower in game these objects will render.

we are going to change the ws_boxhouse_wins6.bmp as we can do simple things with MS Paint. Load in the window texture and copy the region from one side of the texture and paste it over the other.

->

I saved this new texture under a new file name called wsboxhouse_wins6.bmp as I did not want to overwrite the original file, just apply this new window texture for the larger windows.

I also finished off the piping and guttering around the roof using white and dark colored textures (You can make these), To finish off the building I added some other detail under the windows by making boxes and painting them like that was showing in the last tutorial. Placing the boxes under the windows and attaching them in place and moving the vertices to make them wider to just overlap the window edges.

If we bring everything together from Basic Modelling and Texturing tutorials we end up with the final scene. Remember to always attach all the objects in the scene just before you save for the last time and only before you ready to export to game.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/036zarfhenbzkq3/TheHouse_final.max

Edited June 24, 2015 by X-Seti

[X-Seti]

How to get this into game.



We are going to get this in game using all the tools required to be downloaded on the first page.

First we need to export the model.



Click on the - Hammer icon on the right side of 3dsmax. look for Launch-Bar on the bottom right.. This just runs the scripts panel where we can launch the scripts. The GTA Scripts box. Click on the Blastov (shown in light green) button. This will bring up a longer vertical control panel with lots of useful buttons. Here you can export the DFF (shown in yellow) and COL (shown in blue) using the 2 top buttons, Mass DFF and COL it doesn't matter if there is one model and col to export. Put the dff and col in their own folder called dff-convert.

If you working with the VC engine you'll need Steve M's RWA tool. -> http://www.steve-m.com/downloads/tools/rwanalyze/ <-. load the exported dff(s) using this tool



Follow the menus to convert one or in mass your extracted dff's from 3DSMAX. save this to the dff-convert, mass convert will do this for you. Keep the dff to the side as it is ready to be put the dff into game (almost).

Lets work on the collision now for this you'll need Steve M's COL Editor 2. Start COL ED2 and load in the new col.



Right click the house02 entry and select optimize. You'll be best to do this after each object you have added to the tool. Only the new objects need to be optimized this can be done to one or more files once by selecting them.

You can only optimize type III cols. if your working on VC type I then you need to convert the COL format down to type I after you have optimized your files. Not before!. to convert to COL type 1, right click the house02 entry and find target version and select type I.

 

If your working with the SA engine leave the COL as type 3

We do not really need to do surface types unless we are working on land the player is going to be running, jumping or driving around on, the house02 should be using a default surface type so we can check this.

Click on the Edit Mode button and select faces but bewared there is no undo button what so ever. Save often after every 5 changes if you modifying faces in any way.

Surface types;

Scroll down Edit Mode window till you see ignore backfacing. untick this and right to this is edged faces, tick that. Move down some more till you see surface types and a button with . . . on it.

We want to make sure the object is using default surfaces so tick on this



SA and VC have their own surface types to make sure your col's and using the right type first.

You can select the facing you want to surface like the windows (glass) and the doors (wood)
Remember this for when your doing land next time, like roads - tarmac and grass.

Note: There are engine limits with collision files; The main rule is no file can be bigger then 128Kbs (That's about 1900 faces). The makeup of the collision could be lots of faces with only one surface type or not so many faces used with a lot of surface types used for every face. surface types add 4 bytes per face thus adding data to the overall collision file.

You may need to reduce the amount of faces where possible to get higher quality models in game. This is known as custom culling where you only want to make the collision wall / area around parts of the model you do not want the playing to can access to, in game.

Looking at the house model as have collisions on the bottom of the house where the player would never need to get to unless your creating interiors for buildings places the player is allowed to go inside. so we can select the faces on the bottom and delete these.

Next the exterior walls of the house. We can reduce the faces here to by selecting all the faces up to the roof and replacing these with a box. the image below shows this.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2p6f6b8el1zmeys/slightlyoptimizedhouse.col

You do not need high quality collisions for your high quality models, you can reduce the faces by making boxes or spears to replace this faces, try the [replace by box] on some of the faces.

Save your work and put the col to the side with the dff file.


The TXD's

We now need to create the TXD file to contain the textures for your building, there are many ways to do this but I'm going to show you the simplest way to harvest them and build the TXD with TXD builder.



Note: Look where I've put a gray underline. Edit; there was something up with my windows partition. fixed now so we can continue on with windows 7.

1. First we select the dff file and load this into Steve M's RWA tool. -> http://www.steve-m.com/downloads/tools/rwanalyze/ scroll down the menu's the same as before from the tools menu but this time select Texture list.



A new window will appear where we just click [texture list]. save this in the same place as your dff and col.




Now click save to your desktop.



2. Now because Steve's RWA tool does not retain a set path to where your textures are storied we need to change the path in the house02.txt file so we can harvest the textures from your textlist/ folder on the desktop every time we make a TXD.

Open up Notepad++ and load in the house02.txt change where it says from Desktop/ to Desktop/textlist/ with find name and replace option. We can keep this window open if we are doing a lot of model.txt files. All you would need to do is click the replace button and save every time for each file you drag and drop into the editor.




3. Next we open up TXD builder and drag the house02.txt file into the window where we see all the textures from the txt file compiled into a list, Click Build TXD. check the name is house02.txd and...



Click save on that window to save. put the house02.txd with your dff and col. We are almost ready to put this into game.

4. Next we open up TXD workshop with the new house02.txd set the version as VC or SA depending on what your working on from the icon in the right hand bottom corner.



Click on image from the menu and scroll down to compress all images. You do not have to do this for GTAIII



Click on Save TXD and we are done here.

Steps 1 to 4 can be a little repetitive when your working with bigger maps with a lot of objects where we need to create the TXD. you can make your dff objects share textures from a single TXD file that can hold a 64 textures however you can not make the TXD's to big as there are engine and file limits to think about depending on the game engine your working on - VC, LC or SA. Bigger TXD's can lag any engine as the textures take time to be rendered in game we are talking milliseconds but this can all add up. It's heavy not to make your TXD's bigger then 2Mb (Megabytes) in file size.

When you have the dff, txd and col ready for the game we can start to create IDE file entries. his part we need to go into depth on the next tutorial.

Other info for later; on importing map objects.



Things to remember for the next tutorial. and look at the image above.

To import objects you can use Kams script's shown on the right DFF-IO, (I've colored this pick) select bmp but only if you have bmp textures on your desktop otherwise leave this as tga. Click on import and select your model.

To import a map you first need all the textures downloaded from the first page extracted / put these into a folder called textlext on your desktop and all the dff's extracted from the GTA game you want to see the map in 3dsmax. Lets say GTA Vice City, just extract the GTA3.img from the models folder into a folder called VCModels on the desktop using ImgTools.

Next with Map-io set the models folder by selecting the VCModels folder on your desktop. Set .bmp and then the Version VC and SA, find the IPL you want to load from the GTA: Vice City/Data/Maps folders.

Trouble shooting:
Collision never export well from bigger maps using Map-io, this is because Kams does not retain each models pivot coordinates when models are merged, split or newer created.

Examples;




Have a new 3dsmax window open for importing your finished models. you can from that point make the collisions by importing each model.dff and exporting the collision as .3ds by clicking on the File menu and next the export ... option.

A new window will allow you to save the model.3ds file that can be imported into Steve's COL Editor 2 for your new collision with the pivot centered.

Ignore any other options the new window with give you as these are not important to collisions. Just save.


Note; Try to use .png textures and not .bmp because you can also have what's called texture alpha correction where you notice the alpha layer bitmap on your railings model is messed up with another texture. using PNG to import into TXD workshop can fix this.

 

How to get your objects in game.

Just a reminder on the tools needed:

Text editing - Notepad ++ -> http://notepad-plus-plus.org/download/v6.5.5.html
Image Conversion tools -> http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/graphix.htm
Gimp or some other Paint editing tool. -> http://www.gimp.org/downloads/
Free ID List Generator -> http://www.gtagarage.com/mods/show.php?id=16944

To be able to run the tools below use XP compatibility from right clicking the tool.
System dlls -> http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/download/mwgfxdll.EXE
ConvIM -> http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/programs/convim.htm
Show -> http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/download/show.zip

Just to make sure you downloaded the textures, here is the link again:

http://www.ukscifi.net/gtatools/TextList_Textures.7z The textures belong on your Desktop in a folder called textlist/

I will be posting images with an explanation allowing time for you to complete each step and reply to your posts. I will be taking questions for each step as we go. We will be learning how to make basic models first (eg buildings) then more complex objects as the weeks advance. If you know MAX you can also help me by taking questions.

I will be doing this in sections:

[table]

1. Face Mash editing. Getting to know the basic tools and panels, Poly /Vertex Mash editing. Forming better shapes like roofs.
2. VU mapping and texturing. Applying textures to your objects the right way. &. Creating the Collisions with surface maps and TXDs.
5. How to get objects in game.
6. Making Complex objects and mapping.
8. MAP-IO and aligning objects in game.
- [/table]

[table]Getting your objects into the game.[/table]

I have been thinking about how to go about showing you how to do this the best way possible and the common questions are how do you find free ID's on a game map. I will show you this first with one of my old mods.

I would also like to explain how are the IDE, IPL and other data file store the model data later and coordinates system. but first the download link is below - We can have some fun with this map from what we have learned from the first and second tutorial. You can use this mod as a base with the simple map provided.

This was a work in progress mod using imagery from google maps and is pretty much unfinished. but this can be used as an example mod where we can get your objects into the game.

Download the 0.5 version and not the 0.7. http://gtaforums.com/topic/482205-gta-dunsfold-2008-released-2011/ scratch that link as I forget about where the file was hosted, My web server is down so try this one http://www.gtagarage.com/mods/download.php?f=22916

If your starting a total conversion you'll need a map cleaner for either VC or SA these can be found of GTAGarage but I will give you the links below.

http://www.gtagarage.com/mods/show.php?id=9606 Map cleaner for VC. http://www.gtagarage.com/mods/show.php?id=1070 Cleaner for SA.

The engine will use ID's for objects like Peds, Vehicles and Weapons. so depending on the engine the ID range will differ between a range of 0 - 300, leaving ID's 301 to 6200 free without the need for a Limit Adjuster (Image below) for Vice City, SA it's 0 - 616 ID's used up leaving you a range from 617 - 19999. There is no ID limit adjuster for SA.


http://www.gtagarage.com/mods/download.php?f=23156 -> SOL Limits adjuster.

Adding objects to an existing map - Finding free ID's

There are tools for SA engine to find free IDs called 'Free ID List Generator' made by fastman92 however on VC we have to do things the old fashion way by combining all the IDE files in sequential order making one larger IDE file. browse the larger IDE file you'll spot free IDs by the numbers that are missing, so note them down and put #free in between the lines to mark them.

Example layout starting with 'objs' - This stands for object definition.

objs1300, Dunsfold, dunstxd, 1, 300, 01301, Dunsfold01, dunstxd, 1, 300, 01302, Dunsfold02, dunstxd, 1, 300, 01303, Dunsfold03, dunstxd, 1, 300, 0#free1305, Dunsfold04, dunstxd, 1, 300, 01306, Dunsfold05, dunstxd, 1, 300, 01307, Dunsfold06, dunstxd, 1, 300, 01308, Dunsfold07, dunstxd, 1, 300, 01309, Dunsfold08, dunstxd, 1, 300, 0#free1311, Dunsfold09, dunstxd, 1, 300, 01312, Dunsfold10, dunstxd, 1, 300, 01313, Dunsfold11, dunstxd, 1, 300, 01314, Dunsfold12, dunstxd, 1, 300, 01315, Dunsfold13, dunstxd, 1, 300, 01316, Dunsfold14, dunstxd, 1, 300, 01317, Dunsfold15, dunstxd, 1, 300, 01318, Dunsfold16, dunstxd, 1, 300, 01319, Dunsfold17, dunstxd, 1, 300, 0endtobjendpathend2dfxend

You can get more information about 'tobj', 'path' and '2dfx' check out the gtamodding.com wiki site, I'm not going to tell you everything. Learning to mod is finding out this information for yourself.

So looking at the example ID's above you'll notice 2 are missing, 1304 and 1310. These IDs are free to use for your own models.

The original installed Vice City, there will be a lot less ID's. You can not use the same object ID twice as this has to be unique like the model name. You'll find that each object you add will use up ID's with VC so it is possible to raise the ID limit to a max of 32760 IDs with a Limit Adjuster. http://www.gtagarage.com/mods/download.php?f=23156

IDE format;

ID, DffModelname, TXDtexture, Clumps, Detail Distance, Render Flags (SA doesn't have Clumps) OR!SA Engine301, mynewhouse01, House01tex, 299, 0 !VC Engine301, mynewHouse01, House01tex, 1, 299, 0 

The draw distance range is from 0.1 - 299.9 where all objects will remain solid in game. everything higher like 300.1 - 3000 will be non-solid with no collision generated - These entries are classed as LODs objects.

What are LODs?
LOD models are low level of detail versions of the original models in Vice City and GTAIII. These are the buildings in game you see loaded far far away. As you get closer to the LOD models the normal detail model should take it's place.

In Vice City LOD models are designed to have the same name as the original model, say 'Nornalhouse01' except the first three letters of the LOD model are replaced by the letters LOD as an engine Identifier making the model name 'LODnalhouse01'. LOD collisions do not need mesh data. So any LOD collisions you export to Steve M's COL Editor 2 select the LODmodel and right click select delete mesh.

For SA LODs you are best to look this up - http://gtaforums.com/topic/188549-official-myriads-san-andreas-conversion/page-7?do=findComment&comment=3177288 as there is a lot of information to take in.

Note; Do not use short file names for your objects because if you planning on having a LOD counterpart model you will run into problems. however Model (Dff) and Collision (Col) file names can be no longer then 19 characters excluding the .dff or .col extension. If any models / collisions exists with names longer then 19 characters you'll crash the game on either SA or VC engines.

IMG files;

You can make your own custom IMG file called mymods.img, this is where you can to keep your own DFF and TXD files, If you choose to do this then you have to add a path entry to the ./data/default.dat file at the bottom like;

CDIMAGE models/mymods.img

This works for Vice City

The SA engine you have to add;

IMG models/mymods.img

To the gta.dat file at the top but just below the other IMG entries.

You're allowed to have up to 8 img's files including the gta3.img by default, Fastman92 has released a IMG adjuster for SA and VC that can give you a limit of 128 img files. link -> http://www.gtagarage.com/mods/download.php?f=34180

IMG files have their own engine limits of about 1.96Gb total Most GTA tools depending on how these were made have a file limit of about 1.4Gb for IMGTool2 before things get messy and you can lose your data. So if you're planning to make a big map, split it down into sections.

There is another way to build IMG files. When you export your DFF from 3dsmax you should add each entry to the mymods.ide, like the example shown above. once you have finished exporting all the DFFs and built your TXDs there is another tool that can help you called IDE to IMG sorter.

Place all your DFFs and TXDs into one folder called mymodels. Download Fastman92's IMG to IDE Sorter http://www.gtagarage.com/mods/show.php?id=20552 this tool will make the img files for you sorted against the IDE and COL file.

All you need to do here is config the bat script;

IMGbyIDE.exe /build /ideFile "mymods.ide" /sourceDir "mymodels" /destinationArchive "mymods.img" /IMG_version "1"pause

Now run the scripts and this will produce a perfectly built and sorted img file.

Example below.


The Cols;

All the single collisions need to be gathered into one COL file called mymods.col, once all the files have been combined we can check the COLs we have against the mymods.ide file with Steve's COL Editor 2.



We can also do a duplicate check, but for now the Sort by IDE. These options can later become handy if there are issues. we should have equal amount of COLs, DFFs per entry in the mymods.ide file.



Sort by IDE gives me and error report of possible issues with the COLs against IDE entries. for each entry there has to be COL and for every COL a DFF file.

Now these errors can happen with the bugs in 3dsmax scripts upon exporting broken dffs. I know the map is fine so I can delete these from the IDE but I also check that these files are not in the IMG file or the IPL files. If I found any of these files in the IPL when we have a problem where we need to check and import the missing COLs.

If the IPL file are fine we continue to remove these lines with the errors noted in the above image.

Kam's scripts are known for their bugs so when you export a map you have to make sure that each model is correct, VU mapped. and nothing has changed within the model.

We should have by now the IMG done, COL built, IDE file ready. Next we need to export the IPL file using Map-IO

Now the fun begins.

Open up 3dsmax, Click on the Hammer icon to bring up Kams scripts towards the bottom MAP-IO. highlight everything in the scene then click on the udder icon. Not really sure what its called. We will call this the udderbar.



Click on [Effect Pivot Only] and below [Center to Object] now we can go back to MAP-IO and click on export IPL. This may give an error saying there is no ID for any given object. I find this strange that it would say this because there isn't a way to map the IDE within Kams scripts with the correct TXDname. IDE files are best done manually with a text editor where you can add each line as you export your models.

Moving on... Click on the white entry box on the bottom left corner to bring up the listener window. (second image below).





Look at the IDE file for the DFF object Map-IO requests. Look back on the Map-IO panel and click on the [+Object Properties bar] image below, click on the object first then Input the new ID in where it shows ID: 1943, Those #free ID's go in there and not! 1943. Put anyname in the TXD box pressing [set].

Now try the export IPL again on the highlighted object. if this error comes up again you know what to do.



The IPL file. (inst) more info go here -> http://www.gtamodding.com/index.php?title=Inst

Click on all the objects you want to export using MAP-IO select export IPL. The IPL output data will appear in the listener window where you can cut and paste into a new text file,

Example;

3390, NorVCRoundRoad, 0, -1055.62, -2022.77, 4.51743, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0, -0.325568, 0.9455193391, NorVCNewDocksW, 0, -922.251, -2043.16, 3.82984, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0, -0.771625, 0.6360783364, NorVCNewDocks, 0, -932.012, -2072.97, 14.4952, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.03295, NorVCdockbridge01, 0, -876.754, -1615.38, -6.16142, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0

You need to add the inst at the top and end at the bottom like this and check the model object name against the IDE file to make sure we have the correct IDs.

inst3295, NorVCdockbridge01, 0, -876.754, -1615.38, -6.16142, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.03364, NorVCNewDocks, 0, -932.012, -2072.97, 14.4952, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.03390, NorVCRoundRoad, 0, -1055.62, -2022.77, 4.51743, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0, -0.325568, 0.9455193391, NorVCNewDocksW, 0, -922.251, -2043.16, 3.82984, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0, -0.771625, 0.636078endcullendpathend

Save this data to the mymods.ipl file and place /data/maps/mymods/.

Note; It helps to have all your IDE, IPL files sorted in alpha-numeric order like the example above as this can help the engine sort and render the objects faster increasing FPS and also speeds up loading time.


The gta_vc.dat file. (gta.dat for SA) this next step. we will be adding your IDE, COL and IPL entries to the gta_vc.dat
In the IDE section add;

IDE data\maps\mymods\mymods.ide

The next step is the collision, if your working with SA the col goes in the mymods.img not the gta.dat file.
Otherwise add the col in the collision section.

COLFILE 0 data\maps\mymods\mymods.col

in the IPL section add;

IPL data\maps\mymods\mymods.ipl

That should be it, start the game and find your model.

Edited December 6, 2015 by X-Seti

[X-Seti]

How to create complex objects - Buildings and Land.

 

Text editing - Notepad ++ -> http://notepad-plus-plus.org/download/v6.5.5.html

Image Conversion tools -> http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/graphix.htm

Gimp or some other Paint editing tool. -> http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

 

To be able to run the tools below use XP compatibility from right clicking the tool.

System dlls -> http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/download/mwgfxdll.EXE

ConvIM -> http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/programs/convim.htm

Show -> http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/download/show.zip

 

Other related tutorials on pre-lighting - useful once we have our models ready for exporting to game. -> http://gtaforums.com/topic/451953-3ds-maxmodel-prelighting/

 

Advanced Radiosity Lighting. -> http://gtaforums.com/topic/273217-3dsmax-radiosity-advanced-lighting/

 

I will be posting images with an explanation allowing time for you to complete each step and reply to your posts. I will be taking questions for each step as we go. We will be learning how to make basic models first (eg buildings) then more complex objects as the weeks advance. If you know MAX you can also help me by taking questions.

 

I released the tutorials in sections:

 

[table]

1. Face Mash editing. Getting to know the basic tools and panels, Poly /Vertex Mash editing. Forming better shapes like roofs.

2. VU mapping and texturing. Applying textures to your objects the right way. &. Creating the Collisions with surface maps and TXDs.

5. How to get objects in game.

6. Making Complex objects and mapping.

8. MAP-IO and aligning objects in game.

 

- [/table]

 

[table]making complex objects - Buildings and Land [/table]

 

I want to make some more land south of Vice City next to the docks and airport.

 

Loading a map into the game.

 

To import objects you can use Kams script's shown on the right DFF-IO, Click on [DFF Path] to import the models and select your dff models folder.

 

Note;:I keep a repository of all the models I have stored in the IMG files in the models/ folder on the Desktop. If I update anything in the game I also have to update the models folder in case I import the map again.

 

Next we either want to select [VC] or [sA] I want to work with VC. under that is tga,, bmp.. check boxes click on .bmp.

 

Now we can import the map by clicking on [iPL]

 

 

From clicking [iPL] I can browse for the .ipl file I want to load into 3DsMax.

 

 

Click on Primitives tab on the right and select plane. Give this object around 22 segments in both the length and width segs boxes.

 

Right clicking on the new plane I select Convert to -> Convert to editable mesh. I will also give Plane01 a name so clicking on Plane01 I will rename it to cow island. I can't think of anything else.

 

I have not planned the shape of the island at all. however in my mind I do have an image of something of how the island could turn out like. so I guess we are going to wing it a little.

 

First I level the grid by selecting all the vertices and line this up with the road using the select and move, I click on the snaps toggle and then the snap to vertex toggle I can select, move and delete the vertices I do not want.

 

 

I have the shape I am after and I am thinking of the swamp areas around Miami, long grass, trees and crocodiles.

 

We need to define the sea edges, the height of the island. faces we can texture later.

 

 

 

The best way to do this is select all the vertices on the edges of the island, then drag them down just a little by Z (image above)

 

3 hours later I end up with this (image below), I still need to shape the land some more but it's beginning to look like an island.

 

 

All I'm doing is moving the vertices up, down, left and right to form the land.

 

If I click on the modifier list and select optimize. We get this..

 

 

Before I texture the island I want to make sure that the road edges are lined up with the road shown in blue. I used convert to editable mash, I moved the vertices and switched to faces to join it all up. If I find I come up short on faces I can just make more.

 

You should know how to make new faces from the earlier tutorials; making boxes and planes.

Edited June 13, 2015 by X-Seti

[X-Seti]

How to texture the island.

 

Click on Perspective and browse all the options, Left, Right, Top and Bottom views, Select Top.

 

Rotate the island so you can see the bottom of it and make this level using Arc Rotate.

 

 

There are many ways to texture the model from covering the whole mash and with a grass texture and then detailing the edges with the right type of texture. I prefer to do the edges first shown the bottom image and then the middle.

 

Also observe the modifier panel mapping options. Length, Width and Height values.

 

 

 

OR....

 

I decided to have a better road edge so I can apply a better texture with the grass to stone transition texture.

 

 

Cut out part of the road by highlighting the faces and [ Detach ] these from the original model. We now have a new model cut from the old original mode.

 

Clone the new model selecting convert to editable mash and apply the new model to the outta edges of the original road making this look wider. Move the vertices of the new model so these align with the original model.

 

 

Replace the textures with grass to stone transition.

 

 

[ Attach ] the new cloned model to the island mash, Not the road shown in blue (3rd image above) The road that was first cut up I [ Attach ] this back into itself making that model whole again.

 

 

 

Next we do the edges.

 

Select 3 faces under the bridge and apply the grass to cliff texture. Go to the modifier list and select UVW mapping. Here we can check the Length, Width and Height settings then level the view using Arc Rotate and then chick [ View Align ] this button will level the texture depending on the angle of view.

 

If you are happy with the aligned texture right click on UVW Mapping -> Collapse to.

 

Move on to selecting the next face. and repeat.

 

 

Working our way around the island we end up with..

 

 

Getting your stuff into game - More detailed.

 

Click on the Primitives tab.

 

 

Select the object. Right click and select convert to editable mash.

 

Highlight the faces you want to [Detach]. Lets try for the small island on the bottom right.

 

 

Once there are some faces highlighted click on [Detach]. A new window will appear showing 'Detach as': check the name starting with the original object name - example 'Swampisland' add a numeric after the model name 01, 02, 03.... depending on how many pieces are detached from the original model.

 

 

The bottom image shows there are 8 pieces in all detached from the original model, now are have 8 smaller models for the game.

 

 

Note: Checking for rogue vertices;

 

Before we get to the point of exporting the models as dffs and exporting the IPL data we need to check each model for any vertices not connected to any faces. This can create problems aligning the models correctly in game.

 

Select the first model and select vertex.

 

When you detach pieces from other objects you can have vertices left behind in areas no joined up to the selected object, Example shown below.

 

 

And again highlighted in yellow.

 

 

What has to be done is the rogue vertices for this object need to be deleted by first being highlighted and identified. then delete these left over vertices just leaving the model object. Do not delete any vertices connected to any faces. Also you many need to check each object you detach.

 

Also you can check over this earlier tutorial http://gtaforums.com/topic/695622-3dsmax-5-getting-your-objects-in-game/

 

The object pivot;

 

We should now have 8 objects all checked and ready for the pivot to be aligned: First select all the objects and click on the udder icon.

 

Click on [Effect Pivot Only] and below [Center to Object] & [Align to Object] Right click the center of the object and select Convert to editable mash.

 

 

Next click on [Effect Object Only] and below [Center to Object] & [Align to Object]

 

 

Right click Convert to editable mash on the object one more time. For some reason the pivot changes do not update without this step for exporting the DFF objects and changing the MAP-IO coordinates for exporting the IPL data.

 

Exporting your models using MAP-IO;

 

Next we select all the objects.

 

Moving on... Click on the white entry box on the bottom left corner to bring up the listener window. (second image below).

 

 

We can now see every action from 3dsmax and the scripts. Click on the - Hammer icon, scroll down that window and pick [Map-IO]

 

Press + to open the top tab and select [VC] and then .bmp. In the export section. Check on export IPL

 

 

Select file on the listener window, Save to file. now give it a name with the extension .ipl

 

We have created a new IPL file. We need to look at this file again later to amend the ID's for the IPL lines.

 

The model Dffs

 

Click on the - Hammer icon again and look down for GTA Scripts Bar. Click on [Launch bar] from this click on [blastov] this will being up a new window with a ton of scripts attached.

 

First we need to click on Mass DFF exporter. just continue pressing [EXPORT] choose a file to export your models too.

 

Open a new 3dsmax window and click on the - Hammer icon once more. Select DFF-IO. Now select [VC] and then press the +Import DFF dropdown to revile a new section where we can import the dff models from before. one by one we can load in the DFF models.

 

 

We can see all the models stacked and ready to be all selected so we can make the COL file collisions with perfectly cantered pivots.

 

Click the - Hammer icon again and click on [Launch bar] from this click on [blastov] and finally [Mass COL exporter. In the new window locate where your dff's are exported and save your cols there also.

 

We now have the DFFs done and the COLs done.

 

You can now refer to the getting your objects in game tutorial to go the rest of the way, but remember you have more then one object to get into game so you need to plan what ID's to use and fix the ID's in your IPL.

 

http://gtaforums.com...bjects-in-game/

 

Reserved

 

Paths.

Edited June 13, 2015 by X-Seti

[PaleFaceKillah]

Was excited to start getting into this- Went to download 3ds max and the link was dead!

[X-Seti]

Sorry I will have a look at that today.

 

links can be a pain.

3dsmax 9 - 32Bit: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3tw196d01gz6r7w/3dsmax9Trial.7z?dl=0. 3dsmax 9 - 64Bit: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zpjby31r0q3s7tu/3dsmax9Trialx64.7z?dl=0

Edited August 14, 2015 by X-Seti

[PaleFaceKillah]

No problem. I downloaded the trial version of '16. Will that cause any issues you know of?

 

There are 3 other zip files contained in the scripts package. Do they need to be unzipped as well or will they be done automatically when I extract the main file?

Edited August 14, 2015 by PaleFaceKillah

[PaleFaceKillah]

 

 

To import objects you can use Kams script's shown on the right DFF-IO, Click on [DFF Path] to import the models and select your dff models folder.

 

I don't see this anywhere. Would post a screenshot but I'm not too good with forum stuff yet. I can assure you it is nowhere on the left with the other loaded scripts.

 

Any suggestions?

[PaleFaceKillah]

Found it! Had to open the "GTA Scripts Launchbar", then it pops up at the bottom.

[X-Seti]

Well done m8. Take your time with the tutorial once you have a basic idea.

 

Don't be afraid to get creative.

No problem. I downloaded the trial version of '16. Will that cause any issues you know of?

 

There are 3 other zip files contained in the scripts package. Do they need to be unzipped as well or will they be done automatically when I extract the main file?

 

3dsmax 2016 doesn't work with the old Kam scripts.

 

I would suggest you learn both 3dsmax9 for RW and 2014 for Rage.

Edited August 16, 2015 by X-Seti

[PaleFaceKillah]

Yeah I figured there was a compatibility issue when I tried to import one of the existing IPL's just to get a look and got this message in the listener window-

 

>>>Can't Find/Open C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grand Theft Auto Vice City\models\road_downtown08.dff<<<

 

268 times

[X-Seti]

Yeah I figured there was a compatibility issue when I tried to import one of the existing IPL's just to get a look and got this message in the listener window-

 

>>>Can't Find/Open C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grand Theft Auto Vice City\models\road_downtown08.dff<<<

 

268 times

 

You have to make sure all the objects from the game are extracted into a single folder that you set in the models path first before you load the ipl file, if your using 3dsmax 2015 or newer there could be issues.

 

[protossevolution]

I'm intrigued. You tutorial is amazing, very detailed. But why cover the conversion/creation of 3d models to GTA VC and SA? There is a demand still going on for both games? If still there's new stuff being created for both games, it looks like I need to reinstall both games here. X-Seti, are you planning on doing a tutorial for GTA IV too? I fell here because I was looking for a solution for a problem. I created a simple object with 2 textures and I don't have a clue how to export to OpenFormats. The tutorials on youtube:

 

 

 

doesn't seem to work, since I got an error in the first step of the tutorial. When I try to export the object that I created with GIMS, It doesn't export anything, because "Can't find the parent dev_model dummy", whatever this mean. Using gims, it can't find any texture assigned (under GIMS/TOOLS/UTILITIES/MATERIAL EDITOR), even if my object already has two textures. And unfortunately, there's no such detailed tutorial for GIMS IV as this one you creating for VC/SA. Too bad. Anyway, great tutorial, even if I'm learning to mod in GTA IV, the 3ds max tips are amazing.

Edited October 18, 2015 by protossevolution

[X-Seti]

I will do a tutorial for GTAIV and beyond when time allows.

[Gummy]

3dsmax 9 64bit link doesn't work

[X-Seti]

Looking for alt download sites. maybe Mega.nz

[X-Seti]

Fixed links to the top page, first page.

 

Copy the links for them to work, copy location and paste into a new browser tab.

[ILOVEFOOTBALL95]

is the "Getting Objects In Game" for Gta Sa as well?

[X-Seti]

It's the same thing, just export as SA format.