Hi UBoat,
sorry, no news so far. But I´m in contact with skwasjer. He seems to have a pretty good access to programming and analyzing. I hope he´ll succeed debugging the common file formats.

Regards,
DD

Again cheers a BUNCH MAN!

HM, flipping vertexes is for sure not my strongest discipline at the mo...DAM! I am used to complicated software but there is always a point when you just want to to this to the keyboard :damn: ...trying to grasp them :88)

THIS IS A SMALL STEP FOR...MAN, but a huge rock for CAPTAIN COX!

MAN I COULD KISS YOU...if I was not a guy:oops: :rock: :rock: :rock:
@DivingDuck LOVE YOU MAN....I REALLY DO!
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...ox/ROCKBIG.jpg

Gonna get going on this...work in the morn..half day but, and the Mrs is going to Swe for the WEKEED...oh glorious modding days indeed :)

It would take you less than 45min to get here (SE of Darmstadt) to kiss me. ;) But I guess my wife wouldn´t agree. BTW, neither would I.

I always encourage my wife to see her parents in Northern Germany and to take our son with her. Sometimes my wish fullfills.

You´re welcome any time. Glad I could help you. Keep on modding.

Regards,
DD

Thanks
 

Many thanks DD. I hope for all a good work. :up:

BEST REGARDS
UBOAT234

OK so I hit a wall with this. I think I need some HEXING as the file I am trying to run is bigger then the original=crashing. I know privateer wrote a tut on how to do this...been searching my ass off but can't find it again :( I basically just modified the officers hats to look more realistic in 3D MAX but as i said when loading the game it crashes, so it must be the size or something. Any hint/link would be very welcome!

Cheers guys!

Hi CC,

did you just import the new hat or did you hex edit it into the *.dat?
If importing the vertex data by hex you have to adjust the data block size indicating bytes as well.

Regards,
DD

Hi man.
No i basically just did what i did to the rock but i tweaked some surfaces etc. I the simply imported back as i did the rocks. No hex editing so far, just import/tweaked/export/....crash :p. Never did any "importing the vertex data by hex" or "data block size indicating bytes"...actually sound like classical Greek to me...if there is a tut or explanation of this stuff...please link:oops: ...please!

Did you try to import back the original object? I don´t think it is your model that causes the problem. If you don´t succeed you could send me your modded *.dat file. I´ll have a look at it sunday night.

Regards,
DD

WOW, you are DA MAN!. OK gimme me like 30-40 min trying to finish something else here, and i will give that a go, if it don't work i send you a PM. Great having guys like you around, really appreciate it!

OK, verified it, does import OK if using "stock" model, does NOT! if its changed, at least not my end. I uploaded a .rar with a readme and PMed you. Like the "readme" says i will work on with this but any input would be MUCH APRECEATED!. Would like to get my head around this 3D stuff.

@CC Your hooked up with the right man!!

DivingDuck has taught me alot!!!

Wish I had the time to help you more myself but I'm finishing up a month long
Work tour.
I've been from Ohio to Alabama, to El Paso, Texas, BACK to Alabama.
Tomorrow I head to North Carolina for a week before I go home!!

I'll be home for 2 to 3 weeks free time then.
Feel free to ask me any questions you want.

Cheers privateer! have fun..I know these business trips can be pretty tedious, at least for me. Spent a lot of time in Italy building car prototypes, many loooong months in hotels and what have you. That also made me scared of flying. I think I flew something like 86 times in 2005.

I will look at this stuff again today...never give up and all that ;)

fyi, the only format that is actually usable at this point is Max. Neither obj and 3ds can hold the extra UV's for the occlusion map/self illum. Bottom line is, they are useless. Even more so, because interiors have even more TMAP's per model (more UV maps).

The problem is, the Max format is a bit difficult, factor 1:100 (or whatever ;)) compared to dat-files. I've got a basic file reader atm, but it's not usuable in any way at this point. Also, writing the Max format is again, complex.

I have thought of some other formats still. All in all this isn't going to be a short term project (which wasn't my intention anyway), so don't expect anything soon. I also go on vacation next week, so it will be at least July until I may be able to have an early release and even then no guarantees... Hope you can have a little patience :/

When I get back I'll dive into the issues again. l8r

I was just guessing something like that... As I told you I´m pretty sure they used a custom plug-in to export the objects from 3dsmax to a .dat file containing all data in the scene: objects position, UVs, texture links...

Wouldn´t it be possible someone contact the developers to get some light on this issue? I´ve been looking arrownd for the e-mail of the studio that developed the game but found nothing.

Anyway, if you need some help on the .max format check this forums:

www.cgtalk.com

In the 3dsmax or programers section you can be helped by some of the best 3D artists/programers in the world :up:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=115065

Last post is by elanaiba, he is a member of dev team, ask him... though I don't think he is graphics orientated.

I think we still need an intermediate format, so we don't have to depend on one 3D studio application. There are still some alternative formats to investigate, which I'm doing right now. The OBJ format seemed valid, for the author of Pack3D back then. Its open, easy and accessible. One interesting format is Microsoft's own X format.

Check this plugin out for Max 9:
http://www.andytather.co.uk/Panda/di...downloads.aspx

Supposedly it supports exporting to .X format with multiple UV sets (see the features page):
http://www.andytather.co.uk/Panda/di...nfeatures.aspx

I don't know if the Max 8 plugin also supports this feature. So, I need someone (or sometwo) with access to Max 8 and 9 to test this, preferably on the exact same model. I need an export from both versions of Max to X, with two UV sets mapped to a model. Make two indentical exports, one binary and one text file type and send them to me :)

Some more settings for the plugin: enable mesh definition (duh!), materials, normals, mapping coords (duh2!)

[edit]Thx for the link

[edit2]I just noticed it's only an exporter plugin, so it loses a bit of its usefullness as we need both ways.. :( Some alternatives?

Thanks, I´ll try to contact them :up:

Ok, I contacted them, here is the response:

"This has been discused the decision of the management of the studio was not to release the export plug-in or the format of the dat file because its like the Pandora's box (you can't take it back there will be issues related to copyright and many other issues besides that). This kind of information can easily be used to hurt the interests of the studio and there are people that will do that if given the possibility.

Many parts of the game have their data stored in a way that makes it easy to mod them, but the dat files are not intended for modding."

Well, reading this is obvious we are not going to have things easy to mod the freaking .dat files :lol: