UnrealEd, Lightwave and Static Meshes?

[c_shoults]

Can anyone tell me why UnrealEd 3.0 has so many issues with Static Meshes? And if so, how to work around it?

Here's what I'm doing. Initially, I made a cubicle wall section that contains two window panels. Panes of glass are separate objects. I model just about everything in Lightwave, get rid of extra polys and then triple everything to get triangles. Converted it to a Static Mesh and saved it. Works fine.


Later, I decide to try a similar thing, making a window frame and glass. Each time I try to convert the made object as a Static Mesh, it says it does it, shows up in the editor, but not in game play. If I were to close out of the editor and then re-load the map, I get an error saying the mesh is missing. I load the package and it's there. I'm getting to the point where I think the editor's on crack. I ran a test to see what it would do and made a simple block. No hollow spaces, all right angles. Same problem. Will not show up in gameplay and then says the static mesh is missing.


Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? How can I get around this problem?

[SmokeRingHalo]

UnrealEd is not on crack but it does have particular tastes when it comes to importing LWO files. I use milkshape myself and export to LWO. The milkshape files need to have particular export options "unselected" before exporting or it will cause the kind of problems you are having.
1. MESH - Group as Parts and Group as Layers must be unchecked. Only export Materials should be selected.
2. MATERIALS - Only RGB Texture and Color (Diffuse) should be checked. All others - Alpha Texture, Transparency (Slider), Specularity (Specular), Luminosity (Emissive), and Glossiness (Slider) should be unchecked.
I do not use Lightwave myself so I do not know what kind of export options it has, but if they are similar to milkshapes - they should solve your problem.

[unibrow]

hey im having real trouble exporting with lightwave, how do u get rid of extra polys and triple everything? also how do utell whether its like going to be way to small or way to big?

[SmokeRingHalo]

As I said before, I am not familiar with lightwave. There may be more information exporting with lightwave on the wiki

If it can't be found there - it probably can't be found at all.

For anyone using milkshape 3d however. You can get rid of your extra polys or double, triple them etc. using the "directx mesh tool" in your tool menu.

Depending on your meshs polys - it can take up to 5-10 mins to load up so be patient.

DIRECTX MESH TOOLS CONTROLS
Buttons from left to right:
1) Browse folder 2) Save to model / apply changes 3) Undo changes 4) Double polys 5) Triple polys 6) Quintuple polys 7) Multiply polys by 7 8) W/S = view wireframe or solid mesh 9) slider bar removes polys

The scale of your mesh in unrealed is no need for concern as you can always rescale it within the editor. After adding your static mesh to your level - right click on it and select properties. In the staticmeshactor properties -expand the display menu. Drawscale will scale your mesh evenly on all axis - while Drawscale3D (expand tree menu) will scale your mesh on each individual axis accordingly.