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Doopliss

2 Sep, 2020 @ 9:35am

How do you import a new model in 2020?

I've been working on a new class mod - I've implemented every unit and class building mechanically, though they still need balancing, and I've plotted out all the spells and empire upgrades. Right now, the big roadblock is art. I can do most of what I want to do with retexturing, which I can do just fine, but the mod won't be remotely publishable unless I can get at least one new model into the game.

Problem is, I have no idea how to do that. I've successfully done the skeleton-binding and weight-painting, but the modern Maya/Blender options for exporting into the .dae format are wildly different from anything in the old guides I've found, and I get import errors or hopelessly-broken animations no matter what settings I try.

Are there any modders here who could explain their model-importing workflow, or maybe point me to a more up-to-date guide? It would be much appreciated.

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ElJoe

9 Sep, 2020 @ 1:27am

I tried a lot of things with these intentions and did not succeed as much as I wanted to. I ran into several problems, the same as you mentioned. I am not a programmer or someone that works with 3D models for a profession, so anything I say might be wrong.

First of all it does not seem possible to add new 'rigs' to the game. So anything you would like to add has to be based upon earlier models and movement.

I ran into the same export problem with .DAE files, which were warped all over the places. Tried several things in Blender and Maya, did not make progress. Reverted many XYZ axes, tried some options, but did not succeed.

Things that I did manage to do:
Rigid moving objects worked out fine. I did manage to create a catapult based upon the trebuchet movement, which throws stones really nice.
Static objects which I connected to the movement of a regular unit, for instance a chicken and a frog. These follow the movement of regular units, yet do not move themselves.
Add new objects such as new swords, hats and even heads.
Was able to connect rigid objects to previous models, for instance a three headed cerberus head connect to the previous dog.
Create 'empty' units with an added PFX, for instance a swarm of bees.

Doopliss

11 Sep, 2020 @ 11:26am

Actually, the Paradox forums gave me some good help with Maya, and I expect the same principles would work with Blender. The big thing is, before binding the object, you have to click Edit/Delete by Type/History, then modify/freeze transforms, then Modify/Freeze Transforms, then Modify/Reset Transforms. It seems to me that a lot of the deformation was because of leftover data that was causing the game to misread the model - for example, thinking it's way larger than you wanted which, or that the objects were in different locations than you wanted, both of which utterly mangle the animations. Also, you're not supposed to bind to the models marked "IK" or "FOXTROT KILO" (censorship evasion), and the balls of the feet are also apparently bugged. I've been operating off this video and getting pretty good results:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBMAgY6Lq48&feature=emb_logo&ab_channel=RobJames

I was also trying to use Maya's native .dae exporter instead of the OpenCOLLADA plugin, which was just a dumb mistake. Blender's native exporter seems fine IIRC.

The help is much appreciated, though. I should have probably mentioned that myself in this thread.

Last edited by Doopliss; 11 Sep, 2020 @ 11:30am

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Date Posted: 2 Sep, 2020 @ 9:35am

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