7 replies to this topic

[Triaxx]

i was wondering if anyone knew a way to import a Warcraft3 model into BG2 that i could use ingame. (I need to be able to assign it in ShadowKeeper. to say this simply, i want to see if its possible to


1. Import this model into BG2. needs to be functional, so that it can attack, move, cast spells,"die" etc.
2. make it so i can assign this model to a character using shadowkeeper

If you can tell me how to do this(be descriptive please) i can do it myself.

And again, im aware this might not be possible.

Note:i have the WC3 world editor program, if that helps.

Edited by Triaxx, 16 July 2010 - 01:38 PM.

[Miloch]

Ok, I'll bite .

1. First of all, the model is in .mdx format with textures in .blp format. These are proprietary Blizzard/Warcraft formats that would need to be converted to something more readable like Autodesk .flc or animated .gif format. I would suspect that's possible given the converter info related here but I don't have time to look into it further.

2. If it could be converted to a format like that, it can be converted to the IE .bam format, but it's a lot of work (see here for examples of porting from other games).

3. As for whether it could attack, cast spells, die, etc., that all depends on whether the original model has animations for all that.

4. BG2 character models have overlays for different weapons and armour. Most likely, this one does not, meaning you probably have a hardcoded weapon and armour that can't be changed. Most liches anyway just use an undroppable "touch" type of attack with special properties, not normal weapons.

5. You need a paperdoll too, which could probably be converted from the concept art for the model. Like the models, this won't have overlays for specific weapons etc. without a lot of special work creating those weapon overlays etc. Likewise, it won't be paletted without a lot of extra work, meaning you can't change the display colours.

[vilkacis]

Not a mod idea.

Moved.

[Kwiat_W]

The easiest way (thou certainly not easy) would be to import the model with animations into 3ds max and use it to create avi (or gif) files that can be later converted to bams.
Another way to import Lichking model into BG2 would be to use a WoW model. This is doable as I have already converted a pack mule model from WoW. I have done this with help of wowmodelviewer, witch allows you to not only view wow models (with animations) but also save what you view as avi files, witch, as I already said, can be converted to bams. The process isn't very complicated (thou it's still a lot of work), unfortunately all tools used in it are buged (bamworkshop 1&2, DLTCEP, wowmodelviewer) and sometimes something may simply not work correctly without apparent reason. It's very frustrating. My best advice would be to give up, as I don't think it's worth the trouble.

[Triaxx]

well, i may try it. im perfectly fine having it be like the sarevok model, with no inv paperdoll and can only use custom weapons with no paper doll. i think im gonna try it. if anyone comes up with any other ideas, let me know. Ill try to upload it if it works.

[Miloch]

It can have a paperdoll - that's the easy part. Just convert it to a BG2 character slot (unpaletted I suspect, unless you really want to make your life difficult and palette it). Paperdolls are single .bam files with maybe 2 frames, whereas creature animations are made up of several .bam files with dozens (sometimes hundreds) of frames.

BAM Workshop 1 should work ok - you just need to make sure your background is cyan (RGB 0,151,151) and the creature shadow is pink (255,101,151). Then just change the shadow from pink to black (or dark grey) in DLTCEP. Took me a while to figure that out, though it shouldn't've, because I'd come up against it before when making inventory icons.

[Triaxx]

thanks.
although im going to mainly concern myself with getting the model itself into the game first, lol, but ill keep that in mind

[Kwiat_W]

I would suggest using rather bw2. Use function 'convert to unpaletted', import frames from your avi or gif file and 'convert to paletted' before saving. Do this fore each cycle and save them as separate files, later merge those files using DLTCEP.
And now piece of advice that can save you a lot of work. When you create your avi/gif files imagine that Lichking stands in the circle (the one that characters in game usually stands in) and that the center of this circle is the center of your animation, this way you won't have to reposition any frames when BAM files are ready.