Sounds like a bug. Can you upload your .blend file, please?

https://pasteall.org/blend/

You could also try exporting a DMX file.

Originally posted by Artfunkel:

Sounds like a bug. Can you upload your .blend file, please?

https://pasteall.org/blend/

You could also try exporting a DMX file.

I don't think I can really upload the blender file anywhere as it was a paid model

DMX seemingly gives the same results + can't be compiled in crowbar because of "too many bone influences per vertex" error

I can't tell what is happening without the model. But AFAIK a shape's vertices and faces are always 1:1 with the base mesh. It could be that the Blender model is corrupt somehow.

Originally posted by Artfunkel:

I can't tell what is happening without the model. But AFAIK a shape's vertices and faces are always 1:1 with the base mesh. It could be that the Blender model is corrupt somehow.

I could possibly send it to you thru steam dms???

Same issue as well on my end. No matter if the poly count is 40k or 10k

I might have narrowed it down to being a mirror modifier issue when using shape keys and they end up merging when they get too close. Disabling mirror lets it export normally. I will do a bit more testing to confirm if that's the true issue. I don't know if this is the same issue as the OP is having.

Alright so I solved it for my case. When any of the verts end up clipping into each other and merge due to mirror mod when making the shape keys. The exporter throws that error. I fixed it by hunting down verts that merged during movement of the shape key and it fixed it. So not exactly an issue as it can be easily worked around. Just was confusing at first.

If it helps any I checked the VTA itself and it seems to be halting while trying to export time 0?
CORRECTION: time 1 # Ah

Originally posted by Nyama:

Alright so I solved it for my case. When any of the verts end up clipping into each other and merge due to mirror mod when making the shape keys. The exporter throws that error. I fixed it by hunting down verts that merged during movement of the shape key and it fixed it. So not exactly an issue as it can be easily worked around. Just was confusing at first.

Thanks for reporting this. It is indeed a difficult problem to solve, and perhaps even impossible given the way Blender currently works.

I could add a more descriptive error message when this happens, but I don't see anything that can be done programatically to avoid the problem. It's up to the user to fix their input data.

hey, uh. im sorry for the bump but I have the same issue occurring, and im on the latest version.

- D:\Resources\Stuff I Made\Garry's Mod Stuff\Playermodels\RUBI\Sourcefiles\compile\RubiMeshPC.vta
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Users\squid\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\4.4\scripts\addons\io_scene_valvesource\export_smd.py", line 219, in execute
self.exportId(context, id)
File "C:\Users\squid\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\4.4\scripts\addons\io_scene_valvesource\export_smd.py", line 568, in exportId
self.files_exported += write_func(id, bake_results, self.sanitiseFilename(export_name), path)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "C:\Users\squid\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\4.4\scripts\addons\io_scene_valvesource\export_smd.py", line 1239, in writeSMD
written += self.writeSMD(id,bake_results,name,filepath,filetype='vta')
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "C:\Users\squid\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\4.4\scripts\addons\io_scene_valvesource\export_smd.py", line 1219, in writeSMD
shape_loop = shape.loops[mesh_loop.index]
~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
IndexError: bpy_prop_collection[index]: index 53064 out of range, size 53064
Error: Python: Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Users\squid\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\4.4\scripts\addons\io_scene_valvesource\export_smd.py", line 219, in execute
self.exportId(context, id)
File "C:\Users\squid\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\4.4\scripts\addons\io_scene_valvesource\export_smd.py", line 568, in exportId
self.files_exported += write_func(id, bake_results, self.sanitiseFilename(export_name), path)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "C:\Users\squid\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\4.4\scripts\addons\io_scene_valvesource\export_smd.py", line 1239, in writeSMD
written += self.writeSMD(id,bake_results,name,filepath,filetype='vta')
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "C:\Users\squid\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\4.4\scripts\addons\io_scene_valvesource\export_smd.py", line 1219, in writeSMD
shape_loop = shape.loops[mesh_loop.index]
~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
IndexError: bpy_prop_collection[index]: index 53064 out of range, size 53064

i dont have any modifiers on my model and im..uh not sure what could be causing it.

the model is a paid vrchat avatar (which has turned free) so im able to give you the blend file if you need to look into it.

(edited) well I did some more looking into it and at first I thought it was because of loose geometry that was making it fail, but it's the first shape key after basis (any shape key) that's making it crap out. if I have the shape key enabled and I export, it exports just fine (but the model will always look like it's screaming which is not ideal...) so now im wondering what to do to fix it. for now I will just leave the model without shape keys until a fix can be found. im willing to give out anything that can help my case..

Looks like corrupt geometry to me. Your shape has fewer vertices than the mesh.