convert .Mdl into .obj or 3DS or ...

[francoiscoiscois]

Hi everybody



We would like to make a mod of serious sam which consist to modificate some object using in the game and also replace new one to make a crazy futuristic look to the game

like to mix little village house whith radiactive futiristic habitation or

to place robotic textures on the tree...

So we will try to keep it quit funny arcordigly with the game mood



But for this we need to be able to import the object used in the game in a 3D application like max or milshape and convert the mesh from .mdl format into another format like .3ds or.obj



although milkshape say it have the ability to import serious sam .mdl

there is no way for me to import the .mdl file "the format are not supported"



Know anybody a tools for convert this format into .obj or other common format? Or have any help or suggestion?



Hoppe to have some answer

you can also email me dolipolis789@hotmail.fr



thank you

[geyser]

Originally Posted by francoiscoiscois

We would like to make a mod of serious sam

SS or SS2? This subforum is for SS2 talk.

Assuming you mean SS2 :
*Import/export plugins to Lightwave formats have been shipped with Serious Editor 2.
*Once you export .MDL to .LWO, MilkShape should be able to convert the models to your favorite format (with textures)
*Additional textures you can export from .TEX to .TGA (that's another natively supported import/export format)

*Last but not least, you can create "radioactive village houses" and "robotic trees" very easily :
**by mapping e.g. Sirius textures onto Ellenier meshes (load a Sirius level, grab a mesh, select the texture, share, load an Ellenier level, look up the newly shared texture, unshare, apply to the mesh of your choice and tweak UV-maps a bit)
**by saving your own "futuristic" textures in .TGA format, and then importing them in the level of your choice.

milkshape say it have the ability to import serious sam .mdl

Only Serious Sam 1 .MDL files at the moment.

[francoiscoiscois]

Thanks alot for your repply geyser

We have alredy explored the serious sam engine and founded a way to export mesh object (.amf) as .RAW and .LOW file which can be readed for most 3d software

But all the object used in the game are in .mdl
and If I import an.mdl object it is imported as an model object
and I didn't found any possibity to export the models object

Is there a trick to convert the .mdl into .amf ?
Or is the mesh .amf a sub category inside the model .mdl ?

Thanks to you we founded the way to export the texture to .tga
By right clicking on the .tex ressource in the explorer windows -> export
-> export to .tga
YOUHOU!!!!!

So we try to understand the logic of this
and all help are most welcome

But no PROBLEM
once we can get it in 3Dsmax it will be a lot of fun to remodel and retexturate

[francoiscoiscois]

Hallo again

Same probleme no solution

I open a model an ennemy for example
I can see the model all seems ok
go in the config pannel and see in the hierarchy "mesh"
save it as .bmf
reopen it and nothing is to see!
Althought the file is 436 ko (so I think the file contain the model)

Have anybody an Idee?

[Alen Ladavac]

Originally Posted by francoiscoiscois

I open a model an ennemy for example
I can see the model all seems ok
go in the config pannel and see in the hierarchy "mesh"
save it as .bmf
reopen it and nothing is to see!
Althought the file is 436 ko (so I think the file contain the model)

Have anybody an Idee?

All the models used in the game have been finalized. It means that the so called "edit data" has been stripped from them, and you can't reverse the process and get the actual editing geometry back from them. That was done to minimize the CD/DVD space usage for the final game. Only the .wld files have been left with their edit data inside when shipping for PC, so that people can get acquainted with the editor more easily. I am affraid that for any geometry you are going to use, you will have to recreate it yourself.

As a workaround, it would be possible to create a converter that would extract most of the geometry data from finalized models, but we don't have that in our schedule, as it is not generally needed. If anyone is interested we can assist in explaining the basics of the file format. Though, it is a bit complex.

HTH,
AlenL

[francoiscoiscois]

OK I understand now why it couln't be possible to see the mesh itself


As a workaround, it would be possible to create a converter that would extract most of the geometry data from finalized models

If you have the time to explain the basics of the file format a friend of mine could try to programm a converter although his coding knowlege are a little skimpy
(sorry Nicolas...)

Or we could make it with other modder who need to work directly on the mesh file
(changing uv ore to simply reloock some part) for this converter

But I'm sure you have other things to think about as to work on another release of serious sam that we all are awaiting with BIG interress

[francoiscoiscois]

Another possibity would be to share some non stripped model
to enable people to modd with
... if the datas are not to big for thi server...

[promethius]

Hi, I am a noob at this game editor2 for SS2, but I have been modeling for a while in Lightwave 3D 5.6 to Version 8.5 right now. A question if anyone can enlighten me?

I have the plugin for exporting file to .amf and .aaf, but all the Serious Sam games are using .mdl files for the models, which I can view all of them.

I experimented with the SKA for SSE and again only converts to .bm, .bs, and .ba, ok I am cool with that, but is there a step missing in some of these tutorials that did not mentioned yet. Something about making .mdl files out of what I have. Right now I have the Grunt character as a reference for creating. Any comments would be appreciated.

I do have Milkshape, but I am wondering if I can do this only with a few tools possible?

Cheers,
Promethius

[Admir Elezovic]

[QUOTE=promethius]Hi, I am a noob at this game editor2 for SS2, but I have been modeling for a while in Lightwave 3D 5.6 to Version 8.5 right now. A question if anyone can enlighten me?

I have the plugin for exporting file to .amf and .aaf, but all the Serious Sam games are using .mdl files for the models, which I can view all of them.

All files with .a** extension are ascii in-between files used to build models inside SED2. .Amf is actual geometry with UV maps, morph maps, weight maps, layers... . .Aaf contains animations (both skeleton based and morphs) and .asf contains skeleton hiearchy. To create new enemy for example, run SED, New document, select Model and go to Mesh editor (if not there by default). Now, import .amf and save it as .mdl. Adjust shaders, colors... Next step is to give it some skeleton, go to Skeleton editor and import new skeleton (.asf). Finaly go to Animation editor, create new animation set and import animation you exported.
Binary files (.b**) are as Alen explained binary "finalised" versions of meshes, stripped of all editing data for lighter memory footprint and faster loading. Also, they contain all links to textures, shaders.. so they can be used to create different models mixing more .bmf (binary mesh files).

Hope this helps, if you have more questions or problems, post here or shoot me email at admir@croteam.com

Cheers,

A

[--Fragman--]

In SSSE when you export to a** files and create a model with skastudio, you'll get an smc file. You'll have to use Modelholder3 entity to use this kind of model.
You can also save as lwo and use serious modeller to create mdl file which is used with modelholder2. You'll have to see what fits you best, modelholder3 doesn't have animation support, it's only possible to use anims through code atm with that.

[promethius]

Thanks Admir and Fragman, that makes sense. I finally found out that the modeler can load .lwo files even though the file drop down was showing for .mdls only in SED. Finallly found the modeling Tut in the help section and will read up all day on this. Thanks again.