How To: Export Models, Re-Import. (Blender)

[R_Romach_R]

So, next question is: how to export from 3dmax my model?

Thats the question... i can export as an DAE file but converting it to the xmf/xml format doens´t work... maybe the format has changed a bit since rebirth. Maybe the tool needs some more development...

I used notepad to pick into exported .dae...it's different from default...so do we need to wait for specialized tool? T_T

[ZEFFEZ]

Yeah I have tried both xmf and xml, gonna continue fiddling with it. Where do I put the converter tool files? does it matter?

Yep. That's the problem. When I succeeded first time, I wanted to relocate unpacked files from main game directory...I adjusted path for CatTool and for Coneverter and nothing works.

So I returned to my old placement.

So, to unpack I needed (I'm using win 7) to:
1) Place all XRCatTool's files in my main game directory (E:\All\Games\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\X4 Foundations)
2) Create .bat file there with:
_____
E:
cd "All\Games\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\X4 Foundations"
XRCatTool.exe -in 01.cat -in 02.cat -in 03.cat -in 04.cat -in 05.cat -in 06.cat -in 07.cat -in 08.cat -in 09.cat -out "E:\All\Games\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\X4 Foundations"
pause
_____
3) All .cat files unpacked in main game directory (I don't like it, but it's working, so whatever...)

To convert files I needed to:
1) Place all XRConvertersMain's files into "E:\All\Games\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\X4 Foundations\assets\units\size_l"
2) Create there .bat file with:
_____
XRConvertersMain.exe importxmf "E:\All\Games\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\X4 Foundations" "E:\All\Games\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\X4 Foundations\assets\units\size_l\ship_arg_l_destroyer_01.xml"
pause
_____
3) .dae file had been created in folder with it's .xml

So, when fondling with .bat files, I understood:
1) XRCatTool needed the same folder for .cat files and their unpacked content, when I tried to add "\unpack" to the end of "E:\All\Games\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\X4 Foundations", .bat file wrote, that "E:\All\Games\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\X4 Foundations\unpack" is neither catalog or folder...and did nothing
2) XRConvertersMain in first path need the way to .cat files, in second path the way to .xml file

ahhhh many thanks! It works!!!

[DogyAUT]

X4 destroyers are basically small X3 frigates in size.

Even the Xenon I seems like a joke next to the lovely Phoenix.

Now imagine a mighty ATF Walhalla next to those xD.

[Lc4Hunter]

X4 destroyers are basically small X3 frigates in size.

Even the Xenon I seems like a joke next to the lovely Phoenix.

Now imagine a mighty ATF Walhalla next to those xD.

Nah... i don´t think that someone will notice the little size difference betwenn Wallhalla and ... everything else

But an Orion class destroyer would also fit very well...

[Tomonor]

But the X3 Phoenix was just an unimaginitive pile of metal welded together. The XBtF-X2 Phoenix was something special though.

I can totally see X3 Teladi ship designs used for a pirate faction though, maybe it would fit HAT. Bunch of confederates with low level economy and technology.

[Ojump]

Hi, i'm currently trying to export a DAE file back to xml (after some mesh modification of a ship), but get some errors for the conversion.

First I got this one :

Expected attribute "texcoord" at element "texture"

Which have been easily fixed by adding the attribute in all the texture flags of the DAE file. But I'm struggling on the next one :

Node part_mainXlod0XgenericXgeneric_tech_01 has multiple meshes attached

Any idea on what I can do to to solve this one ?

(I use Blender so far for the modifications)

[ZEFFEZ]

I am having trouble with the thing as well, converting back to xml does not seem to work well, I have managed to scale a ships size by a certain factor but ALL of my other edits seem to be missing for some reason

I have noticed that if I turn an .xml into a .dae and then WITHOUT making any edits turn that .dae back into an .xml I get something different. The conversion back to .xml from .dae seems to be bugged.

[killerog]

Hi, i'm currently trying to export a DAE file back to xml (after some mesh modification of a ship), but get some errors for the conversion.

First I got this one :

Expected attribute "texcoord" at element "texture"

Which have been easily fixed by adding the attribute in all the texture flags of the DAE file. But I'm struggling on the next one :

Node part_mainXlod0XgenericXgeneric_tech_01 has multiple meshes attached

Any idea on what I can do to to solve this one ?

(I use Blender so far for the modifications)

Paste an image of what yoru blender navigation window thingy (or what ever its called) with all the child elements on show.

Should have something like this (in 3dsmax) taken from my tutorial on this.

https://imgur.com/H8FkoPw.jpg


{Images posted directly to the forums should not be greater than 640x480 or 100kb, oversize image now linked - Terre}

[ZEFFEZ]

This is what im looking at


https://ibb.co/mcLkLbN

[jim_baem]

Я произвел некоторые исправления в 3D Max с растянутой текстурой на модели Теладианского контейнеровоза и конвертировал модели обратно в игру. Все сработало, но корабль стал красным там где должен накладываться модификатор раскраски корпуса. (На верхней картинке ванильная модель, на нижней исправленная в 3D Max)

Spoiler

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Кто нибудь с этим сталкивался и как решил проблему?


Automatic translator Yandex into English language:

I made some fixes in 3D Max with a stretched texture on the model Taldinskogo of the container ship and converted the model back into the game. Everything worked, but the ship became red where the hull coloring modifier should be superimposed. (On the top picture vanilla model, on the bottom corrected in 3D Max)

Spoiler

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Somebody faced it and how solved the problem?

[BrummBear02]

Hello everyone.

I try to make changes to models for quite some time now but somehow my game keeps crashing.

a simple example is my ship "Koha". I make a copy of the Discoverer and rename relevant stuff to Koha. Create a component and wares and macros file. some T file.
Then i start the game, the Koha shows up in the wharf. If i now go and make a .dae file out of the discoverer with the converter, load it into blender, export the model without changes to koha.dae and convert it back to .xml and a data folder...
the game crashes when i try to build the ship.

another try was this: i made made changes to the new koha model to narrow down what i can change. i left all files untouched and only changed part_main-lod0.xmf
so i also only replaced that file. the changes show up in the wharf and i can look at it. but as soon as i build the ship the game crashes.

I guess im messing up when exporting from blender... but i dont know where. all i do is klick on export, choose .dae and change Materials to UV Textures. Any ideas?

[vrod]

I had a bit more time for playing around and converting models to DAE and importing them to 3ds Max works...
The texture coordinates are also ok, i just had to apply the correct texture to the ship... the name of the texture is added to the parts name




I hope this is the same in blender?
It would be great to find a way to load the textures directly during import to the model..

---

Edit: Got it.

If you oben the DAE via Notepad++ it looks like this:


I replaced the path prefix to the complete path:


And this is the result (and yes, the textures look like this...)

I am trying hard to replicate this, but failing.

I can import a model (and yes, I have updated the DAE file with the full pathname to the textures). Still no textures.

ANy ideas?

thanks

[Zeron-mk7]

I can import a model (and yes, I have updated the DAE file with the full pathname to the textures). Still no textures.

I was the same problem, textures of imported DAE files doesn't show up, I don't know why , for me only solution was this.

[vrod]

I had a bit more time for playing around and converting models to DAE and importing them to 3ds Max works...
The texture coordinates are also ok, i just had to apply the correct texture to the ship... the name of the texture is added to the parts name




I hope this is the same in blender?
It would be great to find a way to load the textures directly during import to the model..

---

Edit: Got it.

If you oben the DAE via Notepad++ it looks like this:


I replaced the path prefix to the complete path:


And this is the result (and yes, the textures look like this...)

I can duplicate the final picture you have, however I was expecting the ship to come out in color with more textures.

Am I missing something?

thanks.

[linolafett]

Just as short info:
The ships are coloured via vertex colours. The atlas textures are just black and white.

[Axel6430]

Hello there!

I'm trying to re-skin existing NPC character models and add those models to the roster, to get additional NPC skin and clothing colors for more diversity.

To do so, I've used the Export/Import utility mentioned in this thread to convert .xac to .dae, before editing the suffix in the materials node to refer to a new material I've created via a material_library.xml diff file.

However, I'm running into issues with the .xac <-> .dae conversion. Simply converting a body model from .xac to .dae then back to .xac somehow changes the filesize (from 638kb for the original to 762kb for the converted-back-and-forth version).
Putting the untouched, original (but renamed) .xac in my extensions folder works fine, and the NPCs that refer to this body model show up properly.
However, doing the same thing with the converted-back-and-forth version crashes the game. The debug log shows this message before the crash:

Code: Select all

[MCore::LogCallback Level 0x04] *** PERFORMANCE WARNING*** Mesh for node 'ar_f_body_04' in geometry LOD 0 uses more than 50 weight(s) per vertex. Forcing CPU skinning for this mesh.

Does anyone here know what's going on? I suppose there's a way to make XRConvertersMain.exe work properly on this one?

(Also, if anyone knows how to make the materials used by a specific .xac point towards a new material without touching the file itself, I'm interested as well)

[KrYcHokE]

It never worked for xac, you should to open xac files in hex editor and edit material and textures names

[Axel6430]

That seems to do the trick! Thanks.

What compression scheme should I use when exporting the new textures to .dds, though? No matter what I choose, the new texture is 4 or 5 times the original's size, and that's without mip-mapping. Sounds to me like that would take a toll on performance...

[Darkfire1]

Can anyone stream / record themselves adding a ship model from xr into x4?

[BrummBear02]

depending on the model this would take several hours or, if S or M sized, days for a sloppy port. read up my tutorial on creating your own ship for dummies. it covers most of the porting process for L and XL ships.