Export as MD3/smd files????

[Tiwaz]

Hi there,

I've recently had a breakthrough on modding M&B! I actually figured out how to go from wings model to being able to hack at people with it in the game... woot.

Anyhow, I got some ideas and went into BRF Editor and exported a arrow quiver, but when I went to import to wings I couldn't find it! It turns out, I had exported it as a MD3 file (there are three options for exporting in BRF Edit: obj, smd, MD3) ...

In a minute I'm going to just go ahead and re-export it as an obj file, but out of curiosity (and perhaps necessity, if the .obj doesn't work for the quiver for some reason) what are these other filetypes and how do they relate to M&B?

Thanks!
Tiwaz

Edit: As a followup to this, can someone tell me what the .lod1/.lod3 etc. files are for? They seem like very low polygon models of other items... Will the program sometimes load these as intermediary placeholders for the "official" mesh?

 

[CheeseOnToast]

MD3 files are meshes that have vertex animation. M&B uses them for several things, such as hands and quivers.

SMD files are meshes that are rigged and contain vertex weighting and skeleton data. M&B uses these mainly for torso armour (including thighs and arms) and horses.

LoD stands for "Level of Detail". These meshes are swapped in for the higher-poly version when the model is further from the camera and small details won't be noticed. They make the game run more efficiently.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[Tiwaz]

Cool! Thank you... even though I have no idea what rigging, vertex weighting, or skeleton data is...  I've seen rigging mentioned in the forums somewhere... I'll go take a look!

On second note, if I were to take one of my models and create a my_model.lod1 or something, would the program know to use it?

Thanks again,
Tiwaz

 

[CheeseOnToast]

About LODs, I think as long as you name it correctly (as you mentioned), it should recognise the naming convention and automatically swap the model at the correct distance.

If I were you, I'd start with something simple like a helmet which doesn't require any rigging or vertex animation. Once you've successfully got something into the game then you could start to look at some more complex things.