4ds files hacked

[hdmaster]

@Marvin:
I'm soon going to re-write the importer. The code will get cleaner and I also  hope it's easier to solve the problems then.
Yes, I imported the model with my importer and then exported it again back to a new .4ds file.
I just renamed the .4ds to the name of a palm used in Africa 1 so instead of the palm you see the tank. That shadow belongs to the palm that was there before.

Some progress:


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[Ikaros]

@hdmaster Very nice progress!

Did you understand something new (true for all meshes),
or did you change your script to empirically make just the tank works?

Keep on!

[hdmaster]

That works for all meshes so far. The problem was the vertex positions, that were not relative to the center of the mesh they belong to. Instead the absolute position to the world center was exported. So the standard transformations like positioning/rotating, applied to their mesh, moved them from the right place.

[Marvin (hun)]

Haha, really cool! So you made a joke with the palm model.

And it paralell means that the HD2 can read your exported 4ds files! It's UNBELIEVEABLE! Congratulation!

[Ikaros]

Oh! So it's an even greater conquest! Many compliments!

[2k]

Awesome! Hope you will fix those uv problem  as well easily.

[Ikaros]

Yesterday I tried to manually modify the map.4ds of Normandy 2B occupation.

I've changed the short indicating the number of objects, from 23 to 27.
Then I've duplicated the objects zone5, allied5, axis5 and zone_disabled5 and appended the bytes at end of file.
I've renamed them to zone6, allied6, axis6 and zone_disabled6.
I've also changed the 1st short of allied6, axis6 and zone_disabled6, making them pointing to zone6.

So the hierarchy changed from:
| - center
   | - mapa scale
      | - zone5
         | - allied5
         | - zone_disabled5
         | - axis5
      | - zone4
         | - allied4
         | - zone_disabled4
         | - axis4
      | - zone3
         | - allied3
         | - zone_disabled3
         | - axis4
      | - zone2
         | - allied2
         | - zone_disabled2
         | - axis2
      | - zone1
         | - allied1
         | - zone_disabled1
         | - axis1
| - selectzone

to:
| - center
   | - mapa scale
      | - zone5
         | - allied5
         | - zone_disabled5
         | - axis5
      | - zone4
         | - allied4
         | - zone_disabled4
         | - axis4
      | - zone3
         | - allied3
         | - zone_disabled3
         | - axis4
      | - zone2
         | - allied2
         | - zone_disabled2
         | - axis2
      | - zone1
         | - allied1
         | - zone_disabled1
         | - axis1
| - selectzone
      | - zone6
         | - allied6
         | - zone_disabled6
         | - axis6

But it din't work. It's because 'selectzone' can't be in the middle of 'mapa.scale' children, even if zone6 points to mapa.scale?

I could try more experiments, but if anyone already knows, it's a lot of time saved.
Thank you :)

Edit: moving zone6 and children before selectzone seems to work. As never asked! :)

[finnlayer]

Hi,

I not much idea of this, is their any think you need to adjust or add in the texty.txt

example:

Normandy 2_mp_zone

8700 "ZONE 1 - ALLIED"
8701 "ZONE 2"
8702 "ZONE 3"
8703 "ZONE 4"
8704 "ZONE 5 - AXIS"

?

[Ikaros]

@finnlayer

I'm sorry, I didn't understand what you tried to say. If it was a help for me, I thank you, but I resolved, as I stated in my "edit" quote.

If it was a request for help, try so say it in some other way :)

[hdmaster]

@Ikaros
Any news on your editor?

I've re-written parts of the importer to make it more compatible with the exporter. The exporter now also supports UVW export. Here's a screen of the czech1 locomotive imported into 3ds max and exported back to 4ds :)



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[2k]

Excellent. It seems like an alpha channel problem on wheels.

[Marvin (hun)]

It's amazing! The 4ds files have collision models too?

[Ikaros]

@hdmaster: Very Well! A great work you are doing! :D

Yes, I'm working on the editor by now. Here are some other screenshots, if you like:
index.php/topic,2116.msg10818.html#msg10818

The DC|ED-style editor is almost done. Now I'm working on the more user friendly editor, which handles insert/remove/drag&drop of object by mouse-clicks on map. It's very time consuming :)

[hdmaster]

Very nice  improvement on your editor, Ikaros.

I've added alpha map support for the exporter. There's also a little problem with the brightness of the objects, the left side is always darker than the right one.

Left:


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Right:


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[Marvin (hun)]

Maybe a "hidden" light in the 4ds file!? For example: in the Half-Life 2 models there are a pre-defined light for each model by coords, which can give a better visualistaion for the models.