Milkshape 3D

[Aelita]

The armada 2 one, although that could be it. in the exporter's readme I find this in the comments

This exports Armada II SODs.

As milkshape does not support hardpoints, you will need
to use the UTMV (from assimsoft) to add them to your SODs.

[starfox1701]

MS3D dose hard points just fine. I use it to rehardpoint ships all the time as most ships don't have enough for my taste. Ok 2 more Questions Where did you get that exporter, and are you sure you are exporting the SOD as an A2 SOD. If thats the assimisoft expoter that can be found on MS3D's website it defualts to exporting SODs as A1 SODs. You have to manually change that to A2 SOD from the drop down menu on the export screen every time you use it.

[Aelita]

that could be, the save to window is more of a save as window that you have to save the file on the directory tree line. It doesn't have any drop down menus.

And the exporter is from their site, yes, I'm try the armada sites version

[Aelita]

nope the armada sites version has the same effect.

[starfox1701]

Send me the MS3D file and Ill look at it.

[starfox1701]

Ok I've got it I let you know what I find out. got to go to work now.

[Aelita]

Ok, thanks

[starfox1701]

The bug hunt continuse. There are a few problems I have found. I'm working from the edit.ms3d file and in the file you dont have the mesh groups imput. also the h_shields node is missing. the name is there but the node isn't. Lastly there are no tags on your materials to tell the sod how to light the texture. I'm assuming that you just hadn't got to that last one but it needs to be done before you can test the SOD. other than that I can't find anything else. Ican get it to export but for some reason It will not work in game. This is for personal use right? I'm going to keep at it. I may try starting from scratch withthe MOD file.

[Aelita]

Originally Posted by starfox1701

This is for personal use right? I'm going to keep at it. I may try starting from scratch withthe MOD file.

Right, I just really like his design. I haven't graduated to making my own yet, and its been a long time since I did kitbashes. Ok, so I did allot wrong with it I've been using UTV to add hardpoints so I wanted to try it in Milkshape basically.

[Aelita]

I appreciate the guidance Starfox, but you don't hafta if you don't want to.

[starfox1701]

Well for some reason I still can't find when I export it it wont work in the game I'll keep at it but with my schedual it might take a while. Dont stop working on it either. If nothing else its good practice and you might get it before I do.

[bgil]

I had the same problem when I converted ships from SFC. The ship just would not shoot. It turned out to be a problem in the odf. You may want to check that out.

[starfox1701]

Well at her end it may be but over here the ship I have is giving me the bug cube of death.

[acidfluxxbass]

Originally Posted by archerscott

I'm still stuck on the meshes though. No matter what I do, I keep getting the error message:

'Couldn't match a mesh with mesh node' This happens when I try to export in Armada 2. SOD file.

do you have any joints which are linked to deleted models??
i just had that problem and solved it

[wildcard621]

I'm an avid Milkshape user, because it is cost effective and easy to use. I've recently learned how to apply alpha channel to my models for that great lighting look in unlit areas. Everything I use to accomplish this I get right off of the internet.
1. Milkshape of course.
2. For graphics, I use two programs: Irfanview for the TGA conversions and the GIMP to edit my textures. Both programs are free on the internet.
3. Lastly, I use TXD Workshop to create my maps. What I do is take my tga texture, convert it to BMP form, then load it up with Irfanview. I select the Grayscale conversion method to darken it, then I take the Enhance Colors option to to darken or lighten the texture even further. Then I save it as the _i bitmap. Then you take TXD, go to file, then new, click on 32BPP for new image, then go to Image/Properties, and check the Alpha is used box. Import your colored texture image under Image, then your _i image under alpha/mask, then export the finished image to the folder of your choice.
Use the !phong_(node name), ex. !phong_lod1 tag under the Materials tab to rename your texture. It all works great once the model is ingame.