Unable to set bin directory

Started by biscuit-boy, April 17, 2012, 03:05:31 AM

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biscuit-boy

Basically what is happening is that I try to set the Bin Dir in export options, but whenever I select a folder the Bin Dir button remains normal as if I had not set anything. (it looks as it did previously). Is this normal? I believe this is why I cannot export VTF, because I think have Material Root Dir and paths set properly. I am using 3DS max 2012, if that helps.


Also, a ragdoll is a static prop, yes?

Thank you so much for the tools, and for your time and help!

EDIT:

Here is a JPG showing what I mean.


wallworm

#1
First... Welcome to Wall Worm :)

Second, the bin button not showing a change is simply a bad UI inconsistency. It's set once you press it... even though it doesn't display anything different. I need to update it to be consistent with the others.

The real problem is probably that in the WWMT UI (and potentially in the global settings where you make the presets) the Model Folder Path and Material Folder Path are incorrect.

What you should do is this. Create a new folder inside your mod's Source SDK Content's materialsrc folder called "biscuit". If you want you can make further sub-folders like "trees", "trucks", etc. You can do the same for the models in the modelsrc folder.

Then your Material Folder Path in that UI should simply be biscuit or busicuit/trees , etc.

I really suggest reading this page in the docs to understand all the path setup.

wallworm

I forgot to answer the ragdoll.

If you are exporting a model with bones, you cannot use the "$staticpop" flag because the exporter won't export all the bones correctly.

Here is a simple example of making ragdolls. It doesn't go into all the potential intricacies... but should get you on your way.

biscuit-boy

Thank you SO much for the help so far! I successfully changed all of the paths, but now I get this window. Any idea? So sorry that I'm having problems at every step, I really appreciate you offering such great help.


wallworm

I haven't seen that error on top of my head. But my guess is that you are trying to use an animated texture... and perhaps the image file list (IFL) is not composed of TGA bitmaps. The texture exporter can only use TGA bitmaps.

Unfortunately, I'm away from home a lot this week helping my father out. So I won't be able to test this at the moment. I'll address it as soon as I am back in front of my development machine. There is probably some bad logic letting the exception through... but if my assumption is that the images are not TGA... try using TGAs in your animated texture list.

biscuit-boy

Please don't feel any hurry! I have time aplenty, and I'm just glad that you're helping at all. Also, all of my textures are .TGA files and appear to be applied to the model properly. They appear to be loaded correctly in the texture export window as well.  Thanks so much again.


wallworm

That's just odd. There has to be something about your material/texture setup that is confusing the exporter.

Is it possible that the export texture dialog was open for a long period of time and some of the materials/textures were changed/deleted while that dialog was open? In other words, does this happen every time (even when re-opening the tools anew)?

You can also try to do this until I can really delve into it. Paste the following chunk of code into line 47 of the file that erred (ww_struct_mat.ms):


if f == undefined then (
return #()
)


Then save the file*... close all open WW items... and reopen WW. Try the export again.

*If you cannot save over the file... then you have to edit it with elevated permissions. You can right-click Notepad in your Start Menu and choose Run as Administrator. Then open that file from there, insert the code, then save.

If that doesn't fix your problem, I may need you to send me the problematic file and it's associated images to figure it out. It could be a few days.

Also, out of curiosity... what version of Max, Windows and WW are you running?

biscuit-boy

Okay, I'll be away from my computer until morning, I'll update then. But for now, I'm using Max 2012 (fresh install just this month), Windows 7 Pro 64Bit, and I downloaded all of the wall worm files just this week I believe.

wallworm

Actually... I think I know the problem after looking at your screen shots again. It's that the model has diffuse color but not a bitmap in diffuse. That is a valid option... but when I added IFL (Image File List) bitmap support recently, I neglected to test/accomodate this scenario in the code change. In other words... I broke it :) I'll fix that this week.

biscuit-boy

Oh, awesome, thank you! I'll test if for you whenever it's ready. Much appreciated.

wallworm

#10
Well one thing you could do it to update your materials ... adding the diffuse texture into the diffuse slot of your material. I noticed, for example, that your Bitmap list (in Windows Explorer) shows names of files like face_d.tga along with face_s.tga, etc. The face_d.tga should be applied to the diffuse slot of the face material. Applying the diffuse bitmaps to the diffuse slots of the materials it should work for you before I patch the solid color issue.

biscuit-boy

Oh, yes, yes. I'll go do that haha, my bad. I'm awful with 3DSmax.

wallworm

I've updated WWMT to patch the texture bug. You can now use materials with only a diffuse color again. Of course, generally speaking, you should use materials with a diffuse bitmap as much as possible.

biscuit-boy

#13
Okay, thank you so much! I've actually been meaning to use the bitmaps but I've been incredibly busy as of late with the semester ending and projects looming. I'll be back to let you know once I get a chance to try it out again though, thanks again!

Oh, and I just realized, the reason that they're applied as color is that the model also has light maps, which bitmap doesn't appear to support, so it appears the import converter automatically applied them as RGB_Multiply. I don't really know if it'll work in source engine but I appreciate you adding color compatibility.

biscuit-boy

Okay, once again thank you very much, it is accepting color. NOW I have another problem. CMD does not recognize vtex.exe. Is this another issue with bad directories or paths? I'm really sorry that I can't get anything to work at all.


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