[MDL ED] Trying to learn how to edit a model

[MaZiCUT]

never used billboards in the level editor. Since I have no idea how to mess with models, I was wondering if maybe this is something I could get someone to do for me and I'd include their name in the credits.

You're so generous dude!

[Your Computer]

This is a little confusing, and I dont expect to fully understand all of it at the moment. I really want this or this one project as it really compliments the story and adds more depth to the game. If you guys could word your answers in a straightforward yet simplified way that would be great. Anyways I appreciate that you guys are trying to help, and once my game is done im going to make sure to include all of you guys who have helped me in any of my threads in the credits. Once again thanks! And sorry if i say anything stupid or dont make a connection you expect me to make, because as I said earlier this is a little confusing (not overly as I thankfully have some programming background).

Obviously E:/Frictional_2/animations/mutant_Project/ does not exist on most people's systems. But what kind of insight does it provide? It tells us the game doesn't use absolute paths when loading files. It tells us that the game uses the file name of the images referenced. Therefore, having something as simple as servant_grunt_custom.dds would suffice for init_from. The game would then look for a MAT file named "servant_grunt_custom" when loading the DAE file that references servant_grunt_custom.dds.

[zergling50]

This is a little confusing, and I dont expect to fully understand all of it at the moment. I really want this or this one project as it really compliments the story and adds more depth to the game. If you guys could word your answers in a straightforward yet simplified way that would be great. Anyways I appreciate that you guys are trying to help, and once my game is done im going to make sure to include all of you guys who have helped me in any of my threads in the credits. Once again thanks! And sorry if i say anything stupid or dont make a connection you expect me to make, because as I said earlier this is a little confusing (not overly as I thankfully have some programming background).

Obviously E:/Frictional_2/animations/mutant_Project/ does not exist on most people's systems. But what kind of insight does it provide? It tells us the game doesn't use absolute paths when loading files. It tells us that the game uses the file name of the images referenced. Therefore, having something as simple as servant_grunt_custom.dds would suffice for init_from. The game would then look for a MAT file named "servant_grunt_custom" when loading the DAE file that references servant_grunt_custom.dds.

So basically, I need to rename both the .dds and the .mat to (insert name here) and then reference that .dds name in the DAE file where you showed me and then everything will work? Do I need to change any other names or should that fix it. Ill try it out and see but if im missing something let me know. Thanks!

[zergling50]

This is a little confusing, and I dont expect to fully understand all of it at the moment. I really want this or this one project as it really compliments the story and adds more depth to the game. If you guys could word your answers in a straightforward yet simplified way that would be great. Anyways I appreciate that you guys are trying to help, and once my game is done im going to make sure to include all of you guys who have helped me in any of my threads in the credits. Once again thanks! And sorry if i say anything stupid or dont make a connection you expect me to make, because as I said earlier this is a little confusing (not overly as I thankfully have some programming background).

Obviously E:/Frictional_2/animations/mutant_Project/ does not exist on most people's systems. But what kind of insight does it provide? It tells us the game doesn't use absolute paths when loading files. It tells us that the game uses the file name of the images referenced. Therefore, having something as simple as servant_grunt_custom.dds would suffice for init_from. The game would then look for a MAT file named "servant_grunt_custom" when loading the DAE file that references servant_grunt_custom.dds.

So basically, I need to rename both the .dds and the .mat to (insert name here) and then reference that .dds name in the DAE file where you showed me and then everything will work? Do I need to change any other names or should that fix it. Ill try it out and see but if im missing something let me know. Thanks!

So I changed all the references to the original files listed in the directory of the DAE file to the newly renamed ones. Most of them werent even in the DAE file, but dds and mat were in it (it said material instead of mat but i figured it was the same thing since I think mat is short for material). I crossed my fingers and opened it up and... HOORAH it didnt crash. Sadly it didnt work either, but baby steps im getting there. When I opened him up he has the same default skin. Originally before I did all this messing around (right after you guys introduced me to gimp) I made skins for the characters and were able to make them wear them by changing their material to the .mat file thing. However as soon as I start making changes this material seems to completey disappear. It now only shows the default skin to select with the same name as my new monster.mat and gives me no option to select my newer skin like before. Then again, when I would attach the skin that way it wouldnt show up in the level editor so I'm guessing that wouldnt work. What do I need to do now to get the model to wear the skin and keep it thus finally solving this dilemma? This is going to be the most complicated thing im going to do for this story, so once im done with this the rest shouldnt be too bad. Thanks for all your support and let me know of what I need to do.
EDIT: Im going to a camp today. I might be able to continue talking, but ill be back friday and I wont be able to make any changes till then. Still, If I can figure this out by the time I get back thatd be great. If I dont respond to any answers please dont take that as me having figured it out. In fact the more replies the better so ill have more to work with when I get back. Once again Thanks!

[Your Computer]

So I changed all the references to the original files listed in the directory of the DAE file to the newly renamed ones. Most of them werent even in the DAE file, but dds and mat were in it (it said material instead of mat but i figured it was the same thing since I think mat is short for material). I crossed my fingers and opened it up and... HOORAH it didnt crash. Sadly it didnt work either, but baby steps im getting there. When I opened him up he has the same default skin. Originally before I did all this messing around (right after you guys introduced me to gimp) I made skins for the characters and were able to make them wear them by changing their material to the .mat file thing. However as soon as I start making changes this material seems to completey disappear. It now only shows the default skin to select with the same name as my new monster.mat and gives me no option to select my newer skin like before. Then again, when I would attach the skin that way it wouldnt show up in the level editor so I'm guessing that wouldnt work. What do I need to do now to get the model to wear the skin and keep it thus finally solving this dilemma? This is going to be the most complicated thing im going to do for this story, so once im done with this the rest shouldnt be too bad. Thanks for all your support and let me know of what I need to do.
EDIT: Im going to a camp today. I might be able to continue talking, but ill be back friday and I wont be able to make any changes till then. Still, If I can figure this out by the time I get back thatd be great. If I dont respond to any answers please dont take that as me having figured it out. In fact the more replies the better so ill have more to work with when I get back. Once again Thanks!

You weren't supposed to edit anything beyond the library_images::image::init_from elements in the DAE. The MAT file i was talking about can be created with the Material Editor of the HPL editor suite or generated with the Model Viewer of the HPL editor suite.

The thing about the monster is that it has animations to it, and technically these animations are just other DAE files. I'm not entirely sure how the game handles these other files in relation to the main DAE file, but you may have to repeat the process for these other files.

[zergling50]

So I changed all the references to the original files listed in the directory of the DAE file to the newly renamed ones. Most of them werent even in the DAE file, but dds and mat were in it (it said material instead of mat but i figured it was the same thing since I think mat is short for material). I crossed my fingers and opened it up and... HOORAH it didnt crash. Sadly it didnt work either, but baby steps im getting there. When I opened him up he has the same default skin. Originally before I did all this messing around (right after you guys introduced me to gimp) I made skins for the characters and were able to make them wear them by changing their material to the .mat file thing. However as soon as I start making changes this material seems to completey disappear. It now only shows the default skin to select with the same name as my new monster.mat and gives me no option to select my newer skin like before. Then again, when I would attach the skin that way it wouldnt show up in the level editor so I'm guessing that wouldnt work. What do I need to do now to get the model to wear the skin and keep it thus finally solving this dilemma? This is going to be the most complicated thing im going to do for this story, so once im done with this the rest shouldnt be too bad. Thanks for all your support and let me know of what I need to do.
EDIT: Im going to a camp today. I might be able to continue talking, but ill be back friday and I wont be able to make any changes till then. Still, If I can figure this out by the time I get back thatd be great. If I dont respond to any answers please dont take that as me having figured it out. In fact the more replies the better so ill have more to work with when I get back. Once again Thanks!

You weren't supposed to edit anything beyond the library_images::image::init_from elements in the DAE. The MAT file i was talking about can be created with the Material Editor of the HPL editor suite or generated with the Model Viewer of the HPL editor suite.

The thing about the monster is that it has animations to it, and technically these animations are just other DAE files. I'm not entirely sure how the game handles these other files in relation to the main DAE file, but you may have to repeat the process for these other files.

Hey, so Im back from all the camps and stuff. So I was wondering, as it seems I still dont fully understand what I'm doing yet I have all the files I need, if I could send the textures I made and the files for the grunts to someone and they could just put it in the right order? Or at least give me a step by step guide on how to make everything work, taking into account that I won't understand extremely technical talk. Im not a beginner with computers and programming, but im no expert either but I do want to be able to do this. I honestly right now owe a lot of this projects progress to you guys on the forums, you are all great and im so sorry to bug you, I will defintely owe a lot of credit to its creation to all of you guys!

[Traggey]

So I changed all the references to the original files listed in the directory of the DAE file to the newly renamed ones. Most of them werent even in the DAE file, but dds and mat were in it (it said material instead of mat but i figured it was the same thing since I think mat is short for material). I crossed my fingers and opened it up and... HOORAH it didnt crash. Sadly it didnt work either, but baby steps im getting there. When I opened him up he has the same default skin. Originally before I did all this messing around (right after you guys introduced me to gimp) I made skins for the characters and were able to make them wear them by changing their material to the .mat file thing. However as soon as I start making changes this material seems to completey disappear. It now only shows the default skin to select with the same name as my new monster.mat and gives me no option to select my newer skin like before. Then again, when I would attach the skin that way it wouldnt show up in the level editor so I'm guessing that wouldnt work. What do I need to do now to get the model to wear the skin and keep it thus finally solving this dilemma? This is going to be the most complicated thing im going to do for this story, so once im done with this the rest shouldnt be too bad. Thanks for all your support and let me know of what I need to do.
EDIT: Im going to a camp today. I might be able to continue talking, but ill be back friday and I wont be able to make any changes till then. Still, If I can figure this out by the time I get back thatd be great. If I dont respond to any answers please dont take that as me having figured it out. In fact the more replies the better so ill have more to work with when I get back. Once again Thanks!

You weren't supposed to edit anything beyond the library_images::image::init_from elements in the DAE. The MAT file i was talking about can be created with the Material Editor of the HPL editor suite or generated with the Model Viewer of the HPL editor suite.

The thing about the monster is that it has animations to it, and technically these animations are just other DAE files. I'm not entirely sure how the game handles these other files in relation to the main DAE file, but you may have to repeat the process for these other files.

Hey, so Im back from all the camps and stuff. So I was wondering, as it seems I still dont fully understand what I'm doing yet I have all the files I need, if I could send the textures I made and the files for the grunts to someone and they could just put it in the right order? Or at least give me a step by step guide on how to make everything work, taking into account that I won't understand extremely technical talk. Im not a beginner with computers and programming, but im no expert either but I do want to be able to do this. I honestly right now owe a lot of this projects progress to you guys on the forums, you are all great and im so sorry to bug you, I will defintely owe a lot of credit to its creation to all of you guys!

Don't be lazy, if you want it done do it yourself. All the info you need has already been posted in this topic, just go back and read the information we have given you before. If you can not understand what has been said earlier then I'm sorry but you shouldn't be trying to do something like this just yet, learn more about modeling and games development first.

[zergling50]

So I changed all the references to the original files listed in the directory of the DAE file to the newly renamed ones. Most of them werent even in the DAE file, but dds and mat were in it (it said material instead of mat but i figured it was the same thing since I think mat is short for material). I crossed my fingers and opened it up and... HOORAH it didnt crash. Sadly it didnt work either, but baby steps im getting there. When I opened him up he has the same default skin. Originally before I did all this messing around (right after you guys introduced me to gimp) I made skins for the characters and were able to make them wear them by changing their material to the .mat file thing. However as soon as I start making changes this material seems to completey disappear. It now only shows the default skin to select with the same name as my new monster.mat and gives me no option to select my newer skin like before. Then again, when I would attach the skin that way it wouldnt show up in the level editor so I'm guessing that wouldnt work. What do I need to do now to get the model to wear the skin and keep it thus finally solving this dilemma? This is going to be the most complicated thing im going to do for this story, so once im done with this the rest shouldnt be too bad. Thanks for all your support and let me know of what I need to do.
EDIT: Im going to a camp today. I might be able to continue talking, but ill be back friday and I wont be able to make any changes till then. Still, If I can figure this out by the time I get back thatd be great. If I dont respond to any answers please dont take that as me having figured it out. In fact the more replies the better so ill have more to work with when I get back. Once again Thanks!

You weren't supposed to edit anything beyond the library_images::image::init_from elements in the DAE. The MAT file i was talking about can be created with the Material Editor of the HPL editor suite or generated with the Model Viewer of the HPL editor suite.

The thing about the monster is that it has animations to it, and technically these animations are just other DAE files. I'm not entirely sure how the game handles these other files in relation to the main DAE file, but you may have to repeat the process for these other files.

Hey, so Im back from all the camps and stuff. So I was wondering, as it seems I still dont fully understand what I'm doing yet I have all the files I need, if I could send the textures I made and the files for the grunts to someone and they could just put it in the right order? Or at least give me a step by step guide on how to make everything work, taking into account that I won't understand extremely technical talk. Im not a beginner with computers and programming, but im no expert either but I do want to be able to do this. I honestly right now owe a lot of this projects progress to you guys on the forums, you are all great and im so sorry to bug you, I will defintely owe a lot of credit to its creation to all of you guys!

Don't be lazy, if you want it done do it yourself. All the info you need has already been posted in this topic, just go back and read the information we have given you before. If you can not understand what has been said earlier then I'm sorry but you shouldn't be trying to do something like this just yet, learn more about modeling and games development first.

I'm sorry, im not trying to be lazy. I really have been working on this and theres this one small thing I want to do because I feel it would make the story and the overall game more interesting. Its not that I dont completely understand what you guys are saying, but just that when following the instructions I encountered a few problems because sometimes an answer was a little vague. I have more experience with Java and the like than model design and how some of the less common file types work. I am just asking if someone can explain how to add the texture that I made to the monster so that It stays on the monster in a way that is more easily understandable to someone who is newer to something like this.

[zergling50]

Me and a few of my friends are going to put our heads together and see if we can figure things out. I understand where you guys are coming from and am sorry to have bothered you too much. When I was asking about helping with the models I didnt mean to imply that I wanted someone to do all the work for me, but rather if anyone wanted to help collaborate with a segment of the map for credit. Me and my friends however should be able to figure something out, but we may come back if we stumble upon a major problem. Thanks again for helping so much and I cant wait for it to be done. You guys have helped me a lot.

[Statyk]

Can I have a summary of the issue if you are still having it? Try to keep it short and sweet.