6 réponses à ce sujet

[Irelin12]

Well I always hate when someone goes to a forum and asks a question that has already been answered 5000 times, maybe even on the first page.  So I have spent 4 days now looking, seeking, searching and reading for the info I need.  I have found lots of info but it's always bits and pieces of what I need to know.

To start: I haven't played this game.  Honestly I don't really game that much in single player games.  I am a 3d graphics designer by trade and my husband LOVES this game.  I needed a break from my real work and so I purchased this game Ultimate Edition(I really can't stand the graphics in DA2) , with the idea of doing some fun mod work.  I assumed that since it had been out for some time that there would be extensive tutorials and information around regarding modding as well as user tools.  There are some but not to the extent that I had hoped

As I understand most users use 3dsmax or blender for model manipulation / export and import.

I have no use for those programs - I use C4D or Hexagon for smaller work.  So my question regarding that is:

What file format are the models in Dragon Age?  Is there an import export utility for the models?

All I really wanted to do with those to start with, just to figure out HOW to do it - is to shorten the mages robes.  It's a simple task and should help me to get my head around the process for model modding this game.

NEXT

Mages robe.  When I looked up the mages robe from the toolset as well as a wiki I found on the topic, I opened the dds and edited in photoshop - put back in game.  All went perfect.   In DATool I see the changes I made to the robe.  However when I start a character as a mage, she is NOT wearing these robes.  In fact I can't find the robe she is wearing anywhere in DATool or the toolset.  Is the first robe I see just a default that will soon change to the one I edited?

Just getting the answers to these few questions will help me immensely in the modding process.  And not to toot my own horn but my work will probably also greatly benefit the community.  I have literally thousands of dollars of high quality texture resources at my disposal and am capable of providing a wealth of top quality mods.  I understand many have moved on to DA2 but I'm sure there are still many who love this original game.  Any help I can get will be very much appreciated.

[Irelin12]

Found answer to one question:

Model file type is .msh
also used in Star wars galaxies.
Apparently the developer is Orbitor

Now the problem becomes import and export in other programs, since most don't support .msh

I guess Blender has an add on script that will both import and export the .msh file type

So my next test for this will be:

Download lame ol Blender (lol this is just redundant for me because of the much better programs that I own) http://www.blender.o...49b-windows.exe

Download extra script http://gitorious.org...-tarball/master

Now after install I will use Blender to import a .msh file
then I will export as a .obj
I'll open that with Hexagon (for simplicity)
then save the obj
Ill open that obj back up with Blender
and export back to .msh format

In the past I have experienced a lot of lost information doing this many saves/exports/imports
I guess I have my fingers crossed that the Blender tool doesn't have a loss of info problem

[Irelin12]

argh - update:

Figuring out how to run the python script with Blender isn't easy.
There are lots of web - pages on using Python with Blender, but most seems to be dedicated to writing it.
Additionally there is apparently a "Being a NasaLevel Scientist" prerequisite for understanding any of the instructions.

(This is why I prefer to stick with programs I know lol)

[alschemid]

If you are going to use Blender, I think it would be better to use this plugin instead: http://social.bioware.com/project/899/
And there is also a manual on how to use it to import/export the models.

[Irelin12]

Oh I very much appreciate that tip. I was going to give up on getting the other to work today. Would be my 5th wasted day on it lol. I've downloaded the tool you suggested - crossing my fingers that it will work easily. I don't really intend to use Blender actually. Just using Blender to import and convert the model - and then I'll use my preferred programs to edit - then back to blender to resave as .msh and export.

I will probably at some point edit this post and put the steps as I found them in order or maybe just make a new post because it sure was a headache looking all over hell and back for the info I've needed and only find a bit here and there.

I do appreciate your response and help!!!

[alschemid]

If you are going to edit the mage robes it is better use the version 0.20, and depending of how much you change the model you will need to adjust the bone weight before exporting the msh file from Blender to the game.

[DarthParametric]

As a C4D user myself, my preferred export path is to GMax, then using Eshme's script (far superior to the Blender script from what I've seen). But I only deal with static meshes - modifying animated meshes directly in C4D is not really practical given the limited export vectors (FBX to Max would be the only viable route to preserve weighting I would think).

By the way, if you are creating a custom model (which you should be, rather than overriding the original), then you'll need to either create a new custom item in the toolset, or edit the appropriate vanilla item to use the new model. Either will require extending the appropriate item variation GDA.

Modifié par DarthParametric, 31 mars 2011 - 11:27 .