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Modelling Questions

The greatest unfinished sequel ever!
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itchyboy
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Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2015 5:39 am

Modelling Questions

Post by itchyboy »

I am currently trying to learn modding for Carma2. I currently have this "test" model to learn on. I am using Zmodeler2. Some reading and research shows that it is possible to get it into Carma2, but with significant difficulty with having to deal with multiple programs. I have read many tutorials but some issues I am encountering do not seem to be covered.

I have detached the parts I desire to be smashable and have set them aside. What is left is this blank 'base' upon which I have not modelled the inside components of the vehicle in order to make testing simpler.



This model was built by me for the game 'Emergency 4'. Context for it is that it is at 2.3k polygons and when split apart, none of the parts exceed the 1000 per part limit. The model has been stripped of its original textures and relplaced with a checkered 128x128 texture so I can see if any UV mapping gets destroyed in this process. UV mapping has not been touched though.


Upon export into 3ds from Zm2, I seem to have lost all my textures.


Looking at the material editor shows me otherwise. Doing a quick render also confirms that the mapping and textures are still there, but just not visible in the user or perspective viewports.


The model currently relies on .png's because Zmodeler cannot load .tifs. I have been able to reassign the textures to some tiff equivalents inside of the 'tiffrgb' folder in 3ds, but the textures still do not appear on the model.


In my initial attempt yesterday, I disregarded this and went on to the steps mentioned in BeMax. Exported the 3ds file under the same name as everything else, made sure that the texture and materials all had the same name (while staying under 10 characters)

Ran it through BeMAX with a few issues. It seems to be asking for a map even though it (seemed) to have them already in 3ds.


Then when put in Plaything2, it is also textureless. I'm ignoring the axis issue because I think I have worse problems than that.

Assigning the tif textures to the vehicle either makes the program crash, or nothing happens.


I did not go further after this due to the high likelihood that the game would CTD.


My plan is to create models specifically for Carma2 once I complete this test process. I enjoyed this game a lot as a child and only returned to it recently, this time, armed with foreknowledge of modding, modelling and some scripting. I have a few ideas that I'd like to put into this game.


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Harmalarm
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Modelling Questions

Post by Harmalarm »

Hey Itchiboy, welcome to the forum! What a neat and organised first post.

If you are aiming to work from 3ds, or at least use it as a conversion tool from Zmodeler to the game, I stongly advise you to use my 3dsmax exporter tools. Bemax is very old and was originally designed for max 3.1 I think. I have never really gotten the hang of it, so in the end I decided to write my own tools. These only work in max 2010 and up, so lower versions are not supported.

You can find the tools over here:
Carmatools 25150119

- the content of the Scripts folder should go to your 3ds max/Scripts folder.

- If you are using 3ds max 2015, the content of the UI folder should go to the 3dsmax/UI-in, if you are using a lower version then it should go to the 3dsmax/ui folder. (these are the icons used by the scripts)

- if properly extracted you can run the script Carma_tools.mcr from the 3dsmax/scripts directory. It will create a bunch of macro scripts in you max installation.

- now you can run the exporter tool by creating a ui button in toolbar above. I always create a new toolbar and add the buttons to it. In 3ds max, go to Customize/Customize User interface/Toolbar. Create a new toolbar, and add the button found in the Carmatools cathegory on the left. Now dock the toolbar for future use.

- Pressing the icon on the toolbar will open the exporter tools. In your case, set the output to CAR mode and depending if you have setup your hierarchy in max you can turn that on or off. Polygon export is not really needed, but smoothing groups are. The exporter will export all visible objects in the scene, so hide whatever you want to have skipped by the exporter.

- You can open your export in Plaything2. If you can open it there you can open it in the game, provided you have the correct car setup and everything setup for the game that is. ;)

from there it should be pretty straigt forward. But if you have any questions, let us know
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itchyboy
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Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2015 5:39 am

Modelling Questions

Post by itchyboy »

I appreciate the detailed response as well.

I will download the tools and follow the instructions as best as I can. I will be sure to reach back when I am able to. Thank you for the assistance, and I do hope it sets me in the right track for getting this thing done. I cant wait to see some of my cars being put into this classic.
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