"Go ahead - I'm all horns."

[Legacy_PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

               NWN2 to NWN NPC Head Conversion.

Armed with a big brick and an infantile inability to admit he has no idea what he's doing, PHoD continues his medically unethical experiments with gmax... his latest deranged goal - to get Neeshka into NWN1 as a PC.

But... despite a row of minor triumphs with some Placeable warping, PHoD is now locked in bitter combat against the hated forces of the Evil MDB Empire...

Now, I'm assuming it is theoretically possible to convert an NWN2 Head Model to an NWN1 Head model if you happen to be any good at that sort of thing, given that there are plenty of NWN2 Placeables and a few Creature parts (I'm sure I recall seeing the NWN2 Orc head somewhere)... If it ISN'T possible, someone just shoot me now and tell me to stop wasting my time, please!

As she's an NPC, I'm moderately certain Neeshka's head model is a single unit complete with hair and horns - "N_HTF_Head01", I think. The trouble is that gmax/nwmax just don't want to know about MDB files. Has anyone got an MDB import script for gmax, or better still, is there some arcane means of converting an MDB to an MDL? Has anyone actually ever converted an NWN2 head for NWN1?

Any and all advice, assistance, etc, most gratefully accepted. Thanks in advance for anything useful...

PS:- If anyone's already converted the Neeshka head (and thus made a better job of it than I'm likely to), please give generously to an only mildly unworthy cause. I'll sit up and beg... roll over and play dead... even fetch a stick...
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               Have you tried the mdb -> obj command line tool on the vault? There's also a tool to directly import mdb files into blender and one to do the same into 3ds max that is supposed to do the same for gmax. Finally in a serperate location on the vault there is the source code for the first tool I mentioned. I would like to point out that I haven't tried any of these myself as yet but I have just downloaded them for future reference.

TR
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Tarot Redhand, 12 mai 2013 - 12:25 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Zwerkules]

               I have converted Elanee's head from NWN2 to NWN1 and changed it to a dryad. There's a picture somewhere in the CCC plants thread.
The NPC heads from NWN2 have at least three parts: head, eyes and hair. Sometimes the eyes are included in the head file but are a separate mesh. You can usually savely remove the inside of the mouth because the mouth isn't animated in NWN1 and stays closed. The back of the eyes is also not needed in NWN1.
You can also remove a number of polies at the back of the head because those will be covered by the hair.
I have an MDB import script for gmax. I'll see if I can find out where I got it. It can not handle animations, but I think there's no script that can import those anyway.

Edit: I think it is the MDB plugin by Tazpn, the third link Tarot provided.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Zwerkules, 12 mai 2013 - 09:08 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_TheOneBlackRider]

               In addition to Zwerk's post:
This TUT is going the other way arround, but it may show, what NWN2 has and NWN1 is in need of:

http://nwvault.ign.c...ls.Detail&id=98

And "YES", Tazpn's plugin imports NWN2-models - also into Gmax. You'll need to add the Aurora base aso. Or import a NWN1 model, import the NWN2 model into the same scene (if that doesn't work, create and save 2 seperate scenes and merge them). You may have to scale the NWN2-mesh, but you have the NWN1-mesh as a reference for size and position. Now link the needed NWN2 parts to the NWN1-base. Remove the original NWN1-meshes. Rename the base.
Animations... hm... could be handeled by the supermodel, I think.
... that SHOULD be a start...  (keeping my fingers crossed..)
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               <shaking his...>

Shouldn't be any animations on a normal head.
Just get the orientation and position correct and make sure you reset transforms :-)
Else your head spins like Linda Blair after a spindizzy :-P



Edit: NwN2 uses Granny2 skeleton & animation files. There are no animations on the MDB, and the GR2 format is proprietary (and expensive), so the only *exporter* is for Max 6 - 8, and there is, sfaik, no importer at all.

Edit of the edit: Oh, and the exporter mentioned above was pulled from the Vault for copyright issues and is only available through shadowy characters...

Yucky.

<...head>
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Rolo Kipp, 12 mai 2013 - 10:43 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

               Thanks one and all...

(I had examined the command line stuff for mdb. to obj. a while back and got completely messed up - more likely my fault than the script's)...

Latterly I've been looking at the ASCII code with regards removing the built in neck area that NWN2 heads have and which, obviously, needs to be removed. (Zwerk - did you have any neck issues with Elanee?) I am, by this point, entirely convinced this can be done, the only question is whether my rubbish skills with gmax are up to it or whether it might not be better to wait until I've learnt a few more tricks. My so-called plan so far was just to try and import Neeshka directly into a scene with an NWN1 head and then eliminate everything I don't want with a big brick... I shall try Tazpn's plug-in, see what happens.

Either that or I go with my original plan to do Neeshka's "Kleptomaniac Chronicles" with the NWN2 Toolset after all. (Only trouble I have with Electron is that it seems to take me twice the time to do anything as it does in Aurora, hence my attempts to get Neeshka into NWN1).
               
               

               

                     Modifié par PLUSH HYENA of DOOM, 12 mai 2013 - 11:16 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               Rolo which plug-in are you talking about? All of the links I supplied are still on the vault and working (i.e. there are files to download).

TR
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               <checking for...>

The Obsidian "Expotron" plugin that allowed importing and exporting GR2 files (skeletons and anims) that link with the MDB files (skins). It used to be available on the Vault but was pulled.

Edit: But there's lipstick on their collar here: http://eqvault.ign.c...ntnews&id=31923

<...coppers>
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Rolo Kipp, 13 mai 2013 - 01:27 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

               Progress! Neeshka's an obj. now and, when I have some time again, I shall hit her with a brick... very gently, in the nicest possible way, of course.
Thanks for the pointer to Tazpn's useful little whatnot. It did the trick.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

               Startled Hyena thing falls off chair six million times inside one atosecond at the improbable yet undeniable reality of Neeshka looking back at him from NWExplorer...

So far so good. Tazpn's exporter works fine, though the MDB shows up at sub-miscroscopic size on the Aurora base, so there's still a little guesswork to do regarding scale...
Still a little high poly-wise, but perfectly usable and stripped of all the endless data relating to emotion dummies and so forth which apparently infest NWN2 Heads like seething swarms of digital lice...
Hm. What a repulsive concept.
Anyway, now I have to go and dig out a suitable DDS converter thing and hit her texture with a big brick and then commence fine tuning.

(Rabid Hyena creature grapples viciously with himself in a physically unlikely - not to mention unsightly -  way as he attempts to finish doing one thing before trying to extract every other head model NWN2 has to offer, desperately and not very successfully averting his eyes from those female PC Yuan-Ti heads from SoZ, especially the one who looks a bit like Fifi (only scalier).
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

               Shabby Hyena object shrieks with glee as he manages to completely succeed in the glorious triumph of converting a model from one game to another. Properly. Preens himself with a ridiculous level of pride for six seconds before admitting that probably everyone else in the community could have done it in half the time whilst locked in a darkened cupboard...
Suddenly, horrifyingly, Neeshka found herself in the wrong game...

Still a little fine tuning to do, but I now have a NWN 1 Neeshka head AND a greater understanding of the processes involved in nailing things to Aurora bases, welding verts, texture mapping (eyes had to be added to the main texture) and generally hitting things with an even more enormous brick than before.

Many thanks for helpful the hints and pointers! The Deranged Hyena Ultimate Masterplan seethes ever onward...

But Neeshka's Kleptomaniac Khronicles (or Legends of Larceny, or Tales of Thievery, or Stories of Stolen Stuff, or whatever) will have to wait as I've just decided where the TARDIS is going to end up next and thought of seven trillion exciting new Placeables that will instantly become necessary...
               
               

               

                     Modifié par PLUSH HYENA of DOOM, 15 mai 2013 - 09:20 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Jenna WSI]

               Love this head and torso... was it ever released? '>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Master Jax]

               I don't think so, no. This was merely a personal endeavor.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

               Neeshka sort of got pushed aside by assorted other stuff, but she's still lurking about and, (assuming she hasn't stolen herself by the time I get back to her) she may yet end up in a Module I've been planning for ages with a Vault release in mind.

As usual, take very little notice of anything I say.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

               Right; even I'm not taking any notice of anything I say...

I never intended to release Neeshka to all and sundry, but as sundry (if not all) have been asking for her, here she is...



PHoD Neeshka head model files available through the magic of Hyena-o-rama HERE:-

http://social.biowar...m/project/9050/

With blistering logic, you want the file called "PHoD Neeshka".
Currently it's the ONLY file there, but I'm writing this for those who may stumble across the thread at some future point when there may be a stack of other files lurking in that Project too.

As I wanted the model for my own Modules and wasn't thinking of sending her twin sister out to the Community, you will discover that Neeshka's eyes are red. This is because her eyes are red. No matter how much you poke the PLT with a pointed stick, her eyes will remain red.

PLT textures have only 4 channels for heads - skin, hair, tattoo1 and tattoo2. I dislike using leather or cloth for body parts (unless I have a specific reason). It would irritate Neeshka something chronic if her horns changed colour every time she put a different outfit on.

Thus with skin and hair spoken for and the tattoo channels taken up on horns and makeup, there was nowhere left for her eyes. However, with searing insight and quasi-godlike powers OldTimeRadio figured out that you can link a separate texture to separate meshes within a phenotype model by means of a simple TXI. Simple once you know anyway.
HUGE thanks to OTR for that and to Amethyst Dragon for pointing me to the discovery.

I thus applied a separate DDS texture to her eyes, which is why they're red and staying that way. If you, the Community Member, want to use Neeshka as some other Tiefling and want her eyes to be green, blue, purple, whatever, I'm afraid you'll have to rework the model and PLT yourselves, OR simply recolour the "neeshkaeye" DDS to whatever colour you desire. OR just give up and leave her eyes red.

There's a ReadMe in the file to remind you pointlessly of these things, just in case you're not here and never read this and thus found the Project via some other path... at which point, as you're not reading this, I'll just pack it in now and stop writing this increasingly spurious and tautologous drivel.

Have fun with Neeshka, but don't leave anything valuable unattended anywhere near her... and above all, don't let her read the plans of the locking mechanism for the Treasury Vault.... 



Too late.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par PLUSH HYENA of DOOM, 14 janvier 2014 - 12:18 .