NWMax Plus and NWgMax Plus Updated

[Legacy_Michael DarkAngel]

               

I was playing around with this just a few minutes ago and came up with something very similar, but I'm having issues getting the sub-object levels (vertex, edge, face, polygon, element) to stick when extending the modifier.

 

 

Need to try extending some other modifiers to see if the sub-object levels will stick.  Without the sub-object levels we won't be able to paint anything.

 

 MDA

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Michael DarkAngel]

               

Im reposting my two older requests.

1) keep last imported file name in the field as it was in first NWMax version. Its extremely annoying for me to work with this. And I cant see absolutely no disadvantage or reason why this should be erased.

2) button to hide all objects with tilefading other than 0

 

thanks

 

1. Want to re-load your last model.

• Click on the Browse button in the NWN MDL Loader rollout.


• In the Import MDL file dialog, expand the dropdown list next to File name.


• Now you'll see a listing of your recent imported models.  Top one in the list is the most recent.


• This trick even works when closing and re-starting the program.

 

2. I will look into this one.

 

 MDA

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Shadooow]

               

1. Want to re-load your last model.

• Click on the Browse button in the NWN MDL Loader rollout.


• In the Import MDL file dialog, expand the dropdown list next to File name.


• Now you'll see a listing of your recent imported models.  Top one in the list is the most recent.


• This trick even works when closing and re-starting the program.

 MDA

Hmm fine, that makes this job much easier. Thanks for a tip.

 

Still these are three extra clicks over first NWMax version, and if the last loaded file stayed there this feature would still worked. (For anyone who would want to load second last etc.).

 

Please

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lord Sullivan]

               

It's possible you have already done this, but then again it's also possible that you haven't due to the fact that when working with placeables or doors NWMax/NWMax Plus will paint a Non-Walk material on the faces for you, as long as you have the bits and pieces necessary.

 

Apply an "Aurora Walkmesh" modifier when making any kind of walkmesh, be it for a tile, placeable or door.  Choose to select by face.  Select the faces you wish to paint.  Scroll down the right side panel until you see Surface Properties.  In there you see Set ID.  Use the scroll buttons to flip through the different Walk Material types.  In the dropdown box below Select ID, you'll see the names of the different Walk Materials.  See the image below for clarification (I hope).

 

 

I know it's been talked about before that some things were easier to do with MDL Suite.  Unfortunately, due to one of my recent hard-drive crashes, I lost my copy of 3DSMax5 and never did get a chance to try MDL Suite for myself.

 

 MDA

 

Yeah, I already did that, it's ok.

Btw, if that is the Bioware "Armoir" model, the walkmesh and material is wrong. The walkmesh should be a box that covers the "Armoir" completely and the material should be "Obscuring". '>

 

 

 

I was playing around with this just a few minutes ago and came up with something very similar, but I'm having issues getting the sub-object levels (vertex, edge, face, polygon, element) to stick when extending the modifier.

 

 

Need to try extending some other modifiers to see if the sub-object levels will stick.  Without the sub-object levels we won't be able to paint anything.

 

 MDA

 

This looks promising. Do you have access to the Aurora plugin source code?

 

[Edit]: I check and realized NWMax does not use "Aurora.dlm", so no plugins just scripts.

 

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Shadooow]

               

I would write into Tools and Plugins section but it seems your are not checking it there.

 

Recently found issue that is caused by NWMax I believe.

 

tile: tno01_d36_01 (crossroads)

 

If I delete dummy nodes and change parent to the tno01_d36_01, when opened in NWMax, several meshes (foliage mostly) are missing. However the game shows them properly.

 

I suspect that this NWMax issue is a reason why dummy nodes were used there. Im not so familiared with dummy nodes etc. but I would like to get rid of them if I can. Since game renders all meshes just fine I suspect that NWMax should as well?

 

EDIT: shout add that I changed parents in ascii format by notepad, because changing parents in NWMax and export works

               
               

               

                     Modifié par Shadooow, 27 mai 2014 - 09:21 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Michael DarkAngel]

               

I would write into Tools and Plugins section but it seems your are not checking it there.

 

Recently found issue that is caused by NWMax I believe.

 

tile: tno01_d36_01 (crossroads)

 

 

Well, I can tell you it is not anything caused by NWMax.  The dummy nodes are there because that is the way the artist created and exported the model.  Can't say I know why the dummy nodes were used.  I can only speculate they were used to make sure transparency/alpha meshes are rendered in game properly.

 

Rest assured, they are there for a reason. '>

 

 MDA

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Michael DarkAngel]

               

As requested by Shadooow

 

NWMax Plus v5.05.27 Now Available!!!

NWgMax Plus v5.05.27 Now Available!!!


The following applies to both versions.

Added "Hide Fading Object" and "Reload" last imported model functionality.


"Hide Fading Objects" can be found under the "Plus" rollout and is used to hide objects which have their tile fade property set to something other than "Not a Cap".


"Reload" can be found under the "NWN MDL Loader" rollout and is used to reload the last imported model.

 

Links remain in the first post.

 

 MDA

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Shadooow]

               

As requested by Shadooow

 

NWMax Plus v5.05.27 Now Available!!!

NWgMax Plus v5.05.27 Now Available!!!


The following applies to both versions.

Added "Hide Fading Object" and "Reload" last imported model functionality.


"Hide Fading Objects" can be found under the "Plus" rollout and is used to hide objects which have their tile fade property set to something other than "Not a Cap".


"Reload" can be found under the "NWN MDL Loader" rollout and is used to reload the last imported model.

 

Links remain in the first post.

 

 MDA

Not exactly what I wanted, but Reload button is a very nice compromise.

 

Again, I will explain why do I want to keep name of last loaded model: that way I can reload current model (though new button works better in this regard so I dont need to reset - perfect!) OR manually rename the model name (aka from ttr01_d04_01 to _02) easily without having to browse whole folder of 200+ tiles (though, with that trick with recent opened files I can select last loaded and rename there, still a lot more complicated over what I get in basic NWMax '> .

 

Re Hiding fadable objects. Perfect. The only little problem is that when reloading a model or importing new one this option is still "on" but not applied. So I have to turn it off and on again. I can certainly ignore this though. '>

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Michael DarkAngel]

               

Both of those need to have a little more functionality added to them.  They were quick adds, done to give everyone something to play around with while I continued trying to add Lord Sullivan's request (more on that at the end of this post).  And in between I would hopefully get some feedback.

 

Reload:  Currently it will reload the model right on top of whatever you are presently working on (if anything).  Maybe you hit it accidentally, "Reload" doesn't care, it does what it's told to do.  So, quite possibly in the future you'll see a simple yes/no pop-up box.  That accidental import is the biggest reason I did what I did.  I hated messing up something I was working on by hitting the Import button by mistake when all I wanted to do was scroll the rollout.  The other thing is the textbox.  Too small for the entire filename.  I don't need the full location, I've already browsed to the location, just show me the filename.  But I never did finish that implementation, mainly because that textbox has always been a placeholder for the variable that passed on to the import function.  Until this last release, that is.

 

So you're one step closer to getting your textbox functionality back. '>

 

Hide Fading Objects:  It's pretty simple right now too.  Click it, and it hides any mesh not tagged as "Not a cap".  Unclick it, and it unhides everything.  Next release I hope to have that unhide only what it has hidden.  Should probably throw in some callbacks to so that if you "New All" or "Reset" the scene it will uncheck if necessary.  Should be simple enough to add in the hide if checked functionality when importing a new model.  However, that may be confusing if you forget that you have it checked.

 

New Walkmesh Modifier:  Sorry to say that's not going to happen with a scripted plugin.  It's a bug that has been around for quite some time in 3DSMax (haven't tested yet in gMax) where the subobject level UI is not available unless you write your modifier with the SDK (which I don't have access to at this time).  That's what I was thinking the issue might be, and one of the nice posters on the CGTalk forums confirmed it for me.

 

Thanks for reading,

 

 MDA

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lord Sullivan]

               

...

 

New Walkmesh Modifier:  Sorry to say that's not going to happen with a scripted plugin.  It's a bug that has been around for quite some time in 3DSMax (haven't tested yet in gMax) where the subobject level UI is not available unless you write your modifier with the SDK (which I don't have access to at this time).  That's what I was thinking the issue might be, and one of the nice posters on the CGTalk forums confirmed it for me.

 

Thanks for reading,

 

 MDA

 

Thats ok, I've been thinking lately how convenient it would be if NWNax was  made into a plugin using the SDK and MS Visual C++ express. I'm not setup for it right now and don't know if I have the will to start on such a project, but I'm still thinking about it.


Thanks for taking the time to try/check it out Micheal.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Shadooow]

               

Hide Fading Objects:  It's pretty simple right now too.  Click it, and it hides any mesh not tagged as "Not a cap".  Unclick it, and it unhides everything.  Next release I hope to have that unhide only what it has hidden.  Should probably throw in some callbacks to so that if you "New All" or "Reset" the scene it will uncheck if necessary.  Should be simple enough to add in the hide if checked functionality when importing a new model.  However, that may be confusing if you forget that you have it checked.

Unhiding all doesnt bother me, but its possible it may be annoying if one would working on tiles in a specific way. So I guess that it should really unhide only what was hidden with it.

 

Btw, when working with this a bit I find out that this button should rather than reset itself apply this feature automatically into new imported model if the button is on.

 

Because - I either use the button to cut the upper part of the tile when working on the black tilefade coverage or something and then I restore it once im done, or I am working on multiple tiles where I have to do this and then I have to reapply the button everytime (which mean several mouse click in the GUI since there is too many choices and it doesnt fit my screen. But its not so problematic - the feature even in this state is ultimate time saver for me.

 

EDIT: I mean. If I want to load different model I have to close the "Plus" tab. So if I know I will not need this feature I can turn the button off before I will change the tab. If I know I need it I keep it on.

               
               

               

                     Modifié par Shadooow, 30 mai 2014 - 03:26 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Michael DarkAngel]

               

Now Available!!! (a bit late getting this uploaded)

 

NWMax Plus v5.05.29

NWgMax Plus v5.05.29

 

The following applies to both versions:

 

• Added more functionality to "Hide Fading Object".  It now keeps track of what was hidden and will only unhide those meshes.  A couple of callbacks have been added to uncheck the button when creating a new scene or resetting the scene.  If there is nothing to hide, it will tell you so.  If you import another model while this is checked, it will unhide the hidden meshes and uncheck itself.  This may not be the best way to do it, but I believe it to be the least confusing should you forget you have it checked.



• Added more functionality to "Reload".  In the case of an accidental press, I have added a query box for confirmation.



• Found an issue that OldTimeRadio mentioned a few years ago in this post regarding rounding during export.  To potentially solve this issue I have added the ability to disable rounding.  Look for the "Round to Nearest cm" checkbox below the export buttons in the "MDL Base Parameters" rollout.



• Fixed a standard helper parenting issue when creating a "Character" modelbase.

 

Regarding the rounding issue:  The rounding is supposed to only happen if the model if classified as a "Tile" (the checkbox has defaults built-in for this, but you can use this checkbox to override those defaults).  What I found during testing, the section of code OTR mentioned was hit twice and it would always round on the first pass.  The second pass would take into account the model classification.  There are other sections of the code where it performs similar rounding operations, however I haven't done enough testing to determine if any of them have a bearing on the issue reported.

 

As always, the links remain in the first post

 

Thanks for your support,

 

 MDA

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Pstemarie]

               

Two things:

 

1) I had an odd thing happen to a tile model on export. I had checked the compile button to compile the tile on export, which it did, but all of the geometry for the walkmesh got erased from the .MDL file. However, the surface material properties under aabb in the ascii file was still there - just the verts and faces data was gone. The data WAS in the .WOK file.

 

2) I have a skinmesh from an old model that keeps crashing when exported on the new rounding feature you added - line 1274. I have the rounding box unchecked. The model exported fine about 6 months ago - the last time I worked on it.

 

EDIT: Crashing at the same point - line 1274 - whenver I try to export a model that has skinmesh. I've rolled back to v27, which worked fine for me.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Michael DarkAngel]

               

Two things:

 

1) I had an odd thing happen to a tile model on export. I had checked the compile button to compile the tile on export, which it did, but all of the geometry for the walkmesh got erased from the .MDL file. However, the surface material properties under aabb in the ascii file was still there - just the verts and faces data was gone. The data WAS in the .WOK file.

 

2) I have a skinmesh from an old model that keeps crashing when exported on the new rounding feature you added - line 1274. I have the rounding box unchecked. The model exported fine about 6 months ago - the last time I worked on it.

 

EDIT: Crashing at the same point - line 1274 - whenver I try to export a model that has skinmesh. I've rolled back to v27, which worked fine for me.

 

1) I've tried multiple models from the simplest (single mesh) to more complex (multiple meshes, meshes with geometry outside of the tile boundaries) with no luck of replicating this issue.

 

Any chance you can send me a scene file prior to export?

 

2) Fixed.

 

Would like to fix issue #1 as well prior to making another release.

 

 MDA

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Pstemarie]

               

1) I've tried multiple models from the simplest (single mesh) to more complex (multiple meshes, meshes with geometry outside of the tile boundaries) with no luck of replicating this issue.

 

Any chance you can send me a scene file prior to export?

 

2) Fixed.

 

Would like to fix issue #1 as well prior to making another release.

 

 MDA

 

Well, I loaded the model version that experienced the walkmesh issue on export, exported it again and everything worked fine. I've tried exporting it multiple times and can't get it to delete the walkmesh geometry. I'm pretty certain at this point it was an isolated incident.