getting a .x file into 3ds max with its texture

[madpeople]

so, we have all the original models in .x format :yay:

i would like to edit them, i use 3ds max 8 as my model editor.

problem: i cant find a .x importer for 3ds max, i've looked and the closest i came was a link to a v0.01 build.. which pointed to a 404.

i tried opening .x files in blender then exporting them to a format max can read, but they didn't have a texture in max. if i did something wrong in the import process to blender / export then i would like to be told how to do it right (i don't have any experience with blender).. hmm, i tried to import a original .x file (ss24a.x with blender and it said python error )


another interesting note,
all the .x files in the alleg art source think their textures are in .ppm format e.g. in the .x file it has lines like

Code: Select all

 TextureFilename {
  "fig11.ppm";
 }

replacing all the "ppm" extensions with "bmp" works, and the model then has the texture correctly applied in DxView

[Achtung]

Hey madpeople,

I used Milkshape to convert a .mdl to a .3ds object so I could use 3ds max as an unwrapping tool, I am playing around with bios high res textures. Allegiance models are weird, there seem to be 3 copies of the model meshes contained in the file plus a shape which surrounds the model ( I assume this is the structure that weapon hits are associated to), where does the .x format come from I haven't looked in the source files for these models. The model I converted was a bios scout and it was textured fine although the conversion changed the length of the texture name. If you point me to some reading material on allegiance model structure and file association maybe I could help solve the problem.

Achtung

[Adaven]

This might help:

http://www.freeallegiance.org/knowledgebase/entry/32/44/

Oh and the multiple meshes in the original MS models are Level Of Detail layers. High poly is used when object is close, low poly when far away, the naming structure is related to which is used at what distances.

[madpeople]

yes, i have a few models in max format that i got using (a now expired tryout of) milkshape.

my problem is, the
.mdl -> milkshape ->.3ds -> max
looses some information about things like the bits that define doors (in max they appear as one mesh that has several small cubes - where they should all be separate meshes with special names)

the milkshape tool is something made by this community. originally ms made models and saved them as .x format then converted them to .mdl with the mdlc toolset.

so we have all the original models in .x format in the artwork svn repository with all the correct naming of everything.
max can export .x and i've got the mdlc toolset working roughly, so i can go from max to allegiance format without milkshape.

but i want to be able to get .x format into max because then i can make things like this without having to re-make all the doors and lights

this may help,
http://svn.alleg.net:8080/svn/ThirdParty/
it has the source for AMT - milkshape's importer/exporter

the mdlc tools source in the code svn directory may also help, looking at factiods .x mdl naming post and some original source .x files from the art source svn may help

p.s. i thought the multiple meshes could have been LOD but they all have the same number of polys

[Adaven]

Ah, are the shapes a little different? They maybe related to when they were considering using animated models.

[madpeople]

all models are the same.

the names are generated by the ms3d importer as .mdl files have no names in them, the original .x 's do (ok, they do say what texture to use, but the meshes don't have names i don't think)

[Achtung]

Thanks guys,

I will do some reading, hopefully I will get up to speed on the modeling aspect of allegiance soon, (I am just used to model/aimating in max, game models and their appropiate file/structure is something new to me) in the meantime I will stick to resizing and fixing bios textures.

Achtung