Couple of little problems

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               Having consulted my usual oracle and not gotten the usual confident answer that I normally would, I thought I would post on here in the hope of getting the information that I need. The first question is a really simple one.

How many icons can you have for a single category? I know it's greater than 64, but is it 128 or 256?

The second is also reasonably simple but means I need to post a part of a visual effects model to illustrate what I need to know.

<model start>

#MAXMODEL ASCII
# model: vdr_vdr_map_im99
filedependancy vdr_vdr_map_im99.max
newmodel vdr_vdr_map_im99
setsupermodel vdr_vdr_map_im99 NULL
classification effect
setanimationscale 1
#MAXGEOM ASCII
beginmodelgeom vdr_vdr_map_im99
node dummy vdr_map_im99
parent NULL
#part-number 0
endnode
node emitter e_vdr_map_im99
parent vdr_map_im99

<cut>

 texture map_im99

<cut>

endmodelgeom vdr_vdr_map_im99

donemodel vdr_vdr_map_im99

<model end>

Because I have approximately another 40 visual effects models in the series that I need to create (ie numbered 100+), can I safely change the names starting with vdr_vdr_ to just start with vdr_ or will I need to alter the second part of the name in order to stay within the 16 character limit for names?

Thanks in advance for any help given.

TR
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Tarot Redhand, 30 avril 2013 - 10:49 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Pstemarie]

               Icons cap at 255. AFAIK, if you number an icon 256 it will appear as 001 in the tool set.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               <going back...>

And definitely trim from the front. You only need one "vdr_".

<...to the beginning>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               @Pstemarie, thanks that confirms what my oracle thought but wasn't sure of.

@Rolo Kipp In that case what do I rename - node dummy vdr_map_im99 - to if all of the vdr_vdr_map_im99 become vdr_map_im99?

TR
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               <wishing the mad catter...>

Depends on what it's for, eh?
Is that the root node? vdr_map_im99.
Is it a rootdummy for animation? vdr_map_im99a
Is it a usenode? p_im99_usenode01
Is it the pwk dummy? vdr_map_im99_pwk
What's it's purpose? Or is it extra?

<...would draw him a pretty picture>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Pstemarie]

               My bad - icons number 000 - 255. So numbering an icon 256 would in effect overwrite 000, NOT 001.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               <scratching an itch...>

There's been something nagging me, and I just figured it out.
You have to limit the model name to 12 chars, not 16.
The extra 4 chars are used sometimes internally (such as when putting in an "a" node - adding "a" to the entire model name, or the "_pwk" node).
If you use veltools to create the base objects, they will warn you to make the name between 7 & 12 chars. That is the reason.

<...at the back of his mind>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               @Rolo dealing with your first post after my last, I have no idea. I have a base model that I edit in notepad++, so I don't get any warning only a crash if I screw up (). Here is a subsection of what I posted above showing the in-model context of my question.

#MAXGEOM ASCII
beginmodelgeom vdr_vdr_map_im99
node dummy vdr_map_im99
parent NULL

The bit I was asking about is the third one down. From your second message I would guess that the leading vdr_ is one of those things that gets added in and so needs to stay which means that I will need to change the model names after they reach 99 (both internally and externally) or I can switch to using hex for the numbers. Or have I misunderstood yet again?

TR
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               <cranking up...>

Dropbox the model and let me see. That *looks* like the root dummy. But I need to see the blasted thing :-/
Edit: i.e. "parent null" suggests that's the aurora base node and it *should* be the 12 char model name.

Edit 2: Filenames: Leaving space for 255 variations, you have 9 chars left. The first 4 should be a type declaration "vdr_", but that's not set in stone, just best practice. That leaves you with 5 chars for the base name "mpimg" or "image" or whatever. So vdr_map_im255 is one char too long. It won't matter if you don't have a pwk ("vdr_map_im255_pwk"), but otherwise might. Either take out the underscore or otherwise trim it by 1.

The engine needs ascii numbers 000-255.

Edit 3: That e_ prefix was another potential prob. You should probably put it at the end, rather than the beginning. The vdr_ tells the engine it's a visual effect of Duration type.

<...the creaky old engine>
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Rolo Kipp, 30 avril 2013 - 07:08 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               Model is in rk-tr uncompressed. I have decompressed one that I know works in game. I was thinking to use pseudo hex actually of the form

100 = A0
101 = A1
110 = B0
120 = C0

etcetera.

TR