NWMax "Plus" -- NWgMax "Plus"

[Legacy_Michael DarkAngel]

               I originally posted this in the Tools and Plugins forum, but decided to post here as well for greater visibility.

NWMax Plus provides some minor fixes to NWMax that I have found over the years, adds some new functionality and combines my favorite tools from VelTools and ChilliSkinner.

VelTools should still work along with NWMax Plus, but the ultimate goal is to add those functions from VelTools that users find lacking from NWMax Plus.  You'll find that ChilliSkinner is missing, but if there is something you want from that tool, let me know.  This will not work with NWMax as they are practically mirror tools and one will cancel out the other.  If you autostart NWMax you will find that the autonwmax.ms file has been overwritten to autostart NWMax Plus instead.

There should be no problems when using this with 3DSMax8 as the scripts used were based on that version.  This means it should also work with 3DSMax9.  However, extensive testing with all 3DSMax versions is still warranted.

This definitely will not work with GMax.  That version will come at a later date.

Get it here.


MDA
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Michael DarkAngel, 28 septembre 2010 - 05:26 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Bannor Bloodfist]

               the function "Clean Model" on the plus menu, always fails with the error at line:

lst_mdaBadPivots.items = mdaBadPivots

Note, that I am testing this using 3dsmax 9.

The wok checker never does anything, click button, no delay, nothing runs through listener window, so no feedback that it actually did anything.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Bannor Bloodfist, 20 septembre 2010 - 12:09 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_B_Harrison]

               Same behaviour as noted by Bannor here, also using 3ds max 9 (on Win XP, in case it matters). I'll report anything else I find as I work on things.

I like the new logo!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Jez_fr]

               That's too good to be true BD... but we're past april... what's the catch?

just kidding =)



What's the big plan MDA?

I'm super glad you're working on this, thanks a lot!



               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Michael DarkAngel]

               

Bannor Bloodfist wrote...

the function "Clean Model" on the plus menu, always fails with the error at line:

lst_mdaBadPivots.items = mdaBadPivots

Note, that I am testing this using 3dsmax 9.

The wok checker never does anything, click button, no delay, nothing runs through listener window, so no feedback that it actually did anything.

B_Harrison wrote...

Same behaviour as noted by Bannor
here, also using 3ds max 9 (on Win XP, in case it matters). I'll report
anything else I find as I work on things.

I like the new logo!

I did not test much of anything using 9 yet, other than importing and exporting which both seemed to function properly.  I thought for sure going from 8 to 9 would be less of an issue than going backwards.

Oh well, time to get more creative with ver. 9, and make sure I didn't make any last minute changes to the Walkmesh tool that might have broke it.


 MDA
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Michael DarkAngel]

               Newer version now up, same location.

This fixes the two issues mentioned by Bannor and B_Harrison.  Thanks guys for the testing.

I was missing a big chunk of the "Clean" Model code.  Even if it did work, the most it would have done is "Desparkle" the meshes.

And I did break the Walkmesh Checker, by changing the button name. 
The "Clean" Model routine will not work with 3dsMax6 SP1, but is working with 3dsMax7 SP1, 3dsMax8 SP3 and 3dsMax9 32 bit.
The Walkmesh Checker worked with all 4 versions.

A Word of Warning about the "Clean" Model routine.  If you are going to run this with "Re-Pivot" checked, SAVE THE SCENE!!! before pressing the "Clean Model" button.  "Re-Pivot" can cause 3dsMax to hang on a complex mesh.  "Re-Pivot" attempts to find a safe position for the pivot of shadow casting meshes.  When using this, try to have the listener window open.  When it hangs, the last line in the listener window will list the mesh that is causing the problem.  Once you kill the unresponsive program and restart/reload nwmax plus and your model, turn shadow casting "off" for the offending mesh and try again.

Thanks for the support,

  MDA
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Morikahn]

               Mike, you should contact Thrikreen, aka Brian Chung about this. He's been working on an update to the NWmax scripts for over a year. If anything, it would prevent one project making the other obsolete or divergent.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_OldMansBeard]

               Any improvement to NWMax is worth having.



I only have GMax, so I can't try out "Plus" yet, but I've read the scripts to see what you've done, MDA, and it's impressive.



Well done.



OMB



               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Michael DarkAngel]

               Thanks OMB, and nice to see you again.

I decided to start working on the gMax version now instead of later.  I only started last night, so we'll see how that goes.

Thanks for the reminder Mori.





 MDA
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Morikahn]

               Maybe with your prodding, his scripts could be incorporated into yours and finally see the light of day '>

And.. are you active again Old Man? I thought you left the scene.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Morikahn, 22 septembre 2010 - 12:49 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_OldMansBeard]

               *OMB looks down benignly from his cloud*



Just lurking, really. I tinker with CM3 occasionally for amusement but I'm not planning to publish anything.



               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Bannor Bloodfist]

               Installed the newer version, tested, I get a bit further, but not by much.

The wok checker now at least loads the window where you are supposed to select the wok, however, it does NOT recognize that the wok is selected, so it never actually enables the button to check the wok.

Since I had the wok already selected, I clicked the button to select wok, did this several times.  The wok object was the only object listed in the object selection list, and the feature would not allow me to actually select it.  Anyway, this one doesn't work yet.

Cnce I reloaded script set from the failed wok check, this clean mdl feature did appear to work.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Bannor Bloodfist, 22 septembre 2010 - 03:15 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Khuzadrepa]

               

OldMansBeard wrote...

*OMB looks down benignly from his cloud*

Just lurking, really. I tinker with CM3 occasionally for amusement but I'm not planning to publish anything.

Well, it's really nice to see you here.'>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Michael DarkAngel]

               

Bannor Bloodfist wrote...

Installed the newer version, tested, I get a bit further, but not by much.

The wok checker now at least loads the window where you are supposed to select the wok, however, it does NOT recognize that the wok is selected, so it never actually enables the button to check the wok.

Since I had the wok already selected, I clicked the button to select wok, did this several times.  The wok object was the only object listed in the object selection list, and the feature would not allow me to actually select it.  Anyway, this one doesn't work yet.

Cnce I reloaded script set from the failed wok check, this clean mdl feature did appear to work.

Not sure what's going on there.  I did check the Walkmesh Checker in 3DSMax9 and it did work for me.  The only thing I can think of why is that the mesh you were using for the walkmesh did not have an AuroraWalkmesh modifier.  I say this because the pickbutton will only allow you to select meshes with that modifier.

Just double checked to make sure.  And it worked fine for me.  Didn't matter if I had the wok selected or not, isolated it, same deal.  Even went so far as to delete everything else, wasn't thinking and deleted the modelbase also, and it gave the error that my walkmesh had "No Valid Parent Found".

So not sure what's happening with yours.  The only thing is if you have a different version of 3DSMax9 than I do.  Perhaps that could be something causing a problem.

Thanks,


  MDA
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Bannor Bloodfist]

               Nope, I have been creating/fixing tilesets for a long time Michael, it wasn't an invalid wok, in fact, I was testing it with tiles that I knew worked fine.

Anyway, it seems that I had to completely exit 3dsmax, and reload to get it to properly clear the memory.  Just reloading the nwmaxplus scripts were not clearing things out apparently.

Anyway, that aspect appears to work, at least with a valid wok.  Next test will be with a damaged wok, just to see how bad it crashes.

Edit:  Had exact same problem again.  But it then started working.  So this one is flaky.  It is probably NOT your fault, and I never really use the wok checker anyway, was just trying it out since it was on your nwmax plus rollout menu.

I am just going to ignore it from now on, and go about working on the actual problem tiles I need to fix.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Bannor Bloodfist, 23 septembre 2010 - 02:46 .