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edit: TL;DR: I've tweaked the .lwo exporter to preserve autosmooth angle Ahem. When I started writing this post a couple of days ago, it was supposed to be a "please help me, models won't smooth" kind of thing, but as I started taking screenshots and such for a comprehensive view of the problem, the question morphed into a "is there a hack to get .lwo's to export the way .ase's do", then to "how to get the same surface smoothing from Blender as you can get from Lightwave" and eventually to "does anyone around know python and blender enough to fix the export plugin". But then I fixed the addon myself, so it was almost as if there's no point to the thread. However, while googling around for a solution I stumbled upon a whole bunch of incomplete (1,2) or outright wrong (1,2) information, and whenever the question came up the issue was never really resolved completely. That might be because the problem isn't obvious, since a lot of exported models will actually end up correctly smoothed on export, leading one to believe wrong shading in rare cases is due to modeling mistakes / bad shadowmesh / etc. Point is, having the definitive .lwo smoothing post seems useful. Identifying the problem: Here's the mesh. I add an 'edge split' modifier (I use sharp edges while modeling the low poly, so I can uncheck the 'edge angle' option). I can now apply the modifier(s) and export to .ase (triple the mesh either in export options or in modifiers beforehand). The .ase looks alright in-game: Now I'll export it to .lwo using this script. Depending on export options, here are the results: If I also check "remove doubles", I'll lose all of the split (sharp) edges: (recalculating normals on export can be unpredictable as well, so clean up the model beforehand instead) Right about this point I start searching for a solution online, stumble upon this and try the renderbump hack. However, all it seems to do is weld all of the vertices back together at runtime and attempt to smooth the whole surface, similarly to "remove duplicates", but with no upper threshold. (to anyone possibly reading this in the future: don't forget to revert your changes to the materials!) Source of the problem: At this point I still wasn't sure if it's even possible to get .lwo's identical to .ase's, so I installed Lightwave. Naturally, it took some time to eventually stumble upon Surface Editor (F5), and the "smoothing threshold" contained therein. But then I just had to crank it up to 180 and export to "LWO2". That fixes everything in-game: So the issue is trivial, I just have to find a way to somehow pass on a smoothing angle through the exporter. However, the "auto smooth" option on the object data tab doesn't seem to affect anything regardless of angle. Long story short, after some hex-comparison magic, I home in on SMAN block in the exporter script: So what it actually does is set your smoothing angle to either 90°, 86°(??), or 0°, depending on whether you've chosen "idtech compatible", "smoothed", or neither. The solution: Now, I don't know Python and I don't know Blender scripting, so I can't say with full certainty that I didn't break anything. But I did cobble together a version of the script that seems to do the job. Here it is, mirror / do whatever you want with it. If your mesh has autosmooth enabled, and you've checked "idtech" or "smoothed" on export, your chosen autosmooth angle will now transfer to the surface in .lwo: I took the liberty of changing the default export options to what seems to suit TDM the best, you can just open the script in notepad and edit them to your taste. Wrapping up, there are still some mysteries I didn't solve, such as "idtech compatible" models taking up only half the size of models exported otherwise (including from Lightwave itself), there doesn't seem to be any visible difference in-game, at least in TDM. That "1.5 radian" in the code still makes me scratch my head. And I still don't know if the 4-8x size savings over .ase matter for in-game memory at all (but at least I know I won't have to edit the *BITMAPs manually anymore). Even after all this, the .ase still has just slightly better shading, but since the outputs of the exporter and Lightwave itself are now identical, seems safe to say it's as good as it gets.

Would someone be willing to help adjusting some of the following mapping and model issues and suggestions? Mapping: * 0006364: Ladder cuts into the arch and the northern door when door is opened (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6364) * 0006365: Ladder in the wood shed cuts into a barrel (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6365) * 0006366: Clouds in the sky do not move in Tears of St. Lucia (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6366) * 0006374: Chandeliers in church hall (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6374) * 0006396: Return check is too sensitive (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6396) * 0006376: Wrong trigger for the hint about the hammer (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6376) * 0006395: Wall of church grounds unfinished (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6395) * 0006423: Graft map A New Job and map Tears of St. Lucia (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6423) * Training Mission, room Archery: Walking on the stone path outside the shooting range sounds like walking on grass. Floor in tower sounds OK. (-225.92 -807.79 240.29 32.6 -146.3 0.0) Models: * 0006373: Failure to pick lock of chest (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6373) * 0006375: Locked doors have no keyholes (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6375) * 0006381: Issues with model fence around the pulpit (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6381) * 0006382: The depth of the seats of the benches are too narrow (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6382) * 0006397: Some banners with builder symbol look sqashed narrow (https://bugs.thedarkmod.com/view.php?id=6397) The following are listed as authors of the mission: * Original map: Jdude * Story: Springheel * Additional mapping: Springheel, Fidcal, Bikerdude, Greebo, datiswous (not listed), JackFarmer (not listed)

I created two walls: both have a base brush that is 128 x 128, and 4 units thick. One of the brushes, however, has a little bit of decor that sticks out another 4 units. Later on when I was working on my map, I cloned a model, moved it 128 units, and then changed it's model. However, when changing it from the wall with decor to the wall with no decor, it proceeded to shift itself 2 units forward. I thought maybe it had to do with what grid size I had saved/exported the model as, but adjusting that did nothing. And the models are both aligned together. This is the only model I've had do this. What is causing this?

Currently the components that make up a LOD-enabled model are usually stored in various different places. Taking the aphrodite statue as an example: - The most detailed model stage is found in darkmod/decorative/statues. - All the other stages are found in darkmod/misc/lod, probably so that the decorative statues folder is less cluttered. - The LOD entity that makes use of all these stages is in a different menu altogether, Create Entity > LOD/decorative/statues. I've seen that a lot of the times, even though a LOD entity is available for a particular model, mappers just use the most detailed stage in a simple func_static, missing out completely on the LOD optimisation. I suppose this is because mappers mainly use the Model Chooser instead of the Entity Chooser for decorating the map and don't realise how the LOD system works/forget to check every time whether a LOD entity exists for any of the models they create. Some possible ways to address this: - Let the Model Chooser check whether there's a LOD entity that makes use of a model the mapper is about to create. If yes, it could create that entity instead of a func_static. - Wellingtoncrab suggested an overhaul by combining the Entity Chooser and Model Chooser into an integrated asset chooser which could show flags for certain models, i.e. LOD. This would also make it easier at a glance to see what's available.

Latest Darkradiant Git introduces an issue on Linux (Manjaro / KDE Plasma) with the amdgpu driver. To reproduce I simply use "Filters - Func_static entities" to hide all map models, then click on it once more to show them again: Most of the time every model is glitched out and has its polygons stretched all over the screen once it reappears. Fortunately this doesn't trigger a crash and simply reloading the map works... sometimes entities will instead leave a visual copy of their model when you drag then, that does cause DR to crash soon after.

Today I was building my map for a game jam and Idk what happened but there is no preview of the models or prefabs. And prefabs and model that I already placed in the map dissapeared. In the preview there are just a few boxes but it not shows the hole model I've already reinstalled TDM and dark radiant, reload models, prefabs.

Contributions downloads are at http://fidcal.com/DarkMod/index.htm Note that there is no dedicated beautiful sortable webpage list. I don't have time and also this means less delays. Just browse the folders and click on readmes and images and grab any zips. If anyone submits anything I can just upload it in a few minutes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you wish to offer coding, modelling, or any other kind of help got to the I want to help forum for discussion. If you have any extensive assets you wish to discuss also you can go to the I want to help forum. If you simply want to share an FM, prefab(s), textures, whatever then post details in this thread (there are other websites for FMs too.) Generally these need to be zipped up with a description.txt plain text file and optionally an image, and uploaded somewhere I can get them such as a fileshare website like rapidshare. Any problem with that and if you have ftp I can arrange a direct upload to a private temporary folder on my website. All submissions to this thread should be accompanied by a short description summary to go on the download page and optionally a picture(s). Such submissions will be placed on my website download page (wip) at fidcal.com. Anything suspect for any reason I reserve the right to delete. I accept no liability for downtime or even no-continuance of the download section or even the entire website for any reason. Downloaders: I accept no liability if you download anything you'd rather not: download at your own risk. Oh yes, and I am not responsible for global warming, economic depression, you name it; I'm not responsible. From there, any mappers can download what they want. The Dark Mod Team may or may not assess some items for inclusion in future Dark Mod updates. FMs may be assessed for inclusion on the Dark Mod website. Anyone feel free to mirror the download folder. Any suggestions post in this thread too.

Is there documentation about creating 3D model for TDM especially for animated characters? thanks

[EDIT] This matter has been resolved, and no fault of the website. I wanted to add a different look to my Venice map by buying a street of models to use. I found this and bought it. It's a lie. What you get is a set of OUR (Dark Mod Arcturus Rocks and assorted .ASE models from the Grass Demo; packaged up with random textures and images. This has given me a complete head fuck as now I can't trust this bastard with my credit card details so I have to cancel my card and notifiy everyone I do business with in direct debits of the new card which I won't get for 10 days.

This is pretty impressive and looks like a hell of a lot less work than building the model manually.

This seems to have been happening since the first time i played The Dark Mod. Basically after playing for a while I notice that weapon models are completely invisible, the only things that are visible are arrows and sure, i can aim good enough even if i dont see the bow, but that kinda ruins the immersion. Moreover loading a previous save doesn't help at all. The only thing that would solve this is quitting the current mission and starting anew (just pressing restart doesnt help) Im on 2.08 btw

It occurred to me that I'm still missing credits for 2 models that I found on free online repositories. Checking those websites again, it turns out that they don't state anywhere who made any of their models (one of the websites says it's for 3d printing). This makes it very doubtful whether I can use these models, because it's possible they're being distributed on these websites without their authors' consent. Is there maybe some hope for something that could redeem my use of these models?

Not so long ago I found what could make a pretty good profile picture and decided to try it out on these new forums. But I couldn't find a button anywhere that would let me change it. I asked on Discord and it seems Spooks also couldn't find anything anywhere. So I logged into an old alternative account and, lo and behold, that account has a button. This is on the first screen I get when I: 1) click on my account name in the top-right of the browser -> 2) click on 'profile'. Compared to my actual account: Are you also missing this button on your account? It'd be very much appreciated if that functionality could be restored to any of the affected accounts.

Hi, I thought I should document this discussion here, for future reference, as info on this subject has become quite scattered and out of date. I've been wrestling with MD5s for a while now with no success. Importing works but the meshes and armatures are problematic. I decided to start with an animated model from scratch. Followed a few instructions in videos or tutorials (most recently trying out Sotha's solution http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/14970-blender-rig-for-standard-male-npc/?do=findComment&comment=325423 ) but have yet to be able to export successfully. The animation oddly enough is working correctly (on the model viewer, havent gotten into the game yet), but the mesh itself is getting horribly deformed. Im using the io_scene_md5 importer/exporter. Going back to version 2.72 didnt solve it for me. In blender After exporting Any thoughts?

One of the things I left unresolved when I wrote up the wiki entry for Model Scaling, is how to make duplicates. If you just hit the space key, it creates a new unscaled object, which is really not what you want. I just recalled this problem again, when I was set to make a dozen scaled items that I wanted to be identical in size. I don't know if there's a workaround.

Hi, I need to know what the code is to use Spoiler Tags. I am using my tablet and I don't have the options to use anything, like spoiler tags, quote tags, text changes etc. Thanks

For the 3d modellers who want inspiration or examples, i found some great 3d human models in D3 mods. Like Jill Valentine from resident evil: https://www.moddb.com/mods/ruiner/news/jill-valentine-player-packs-released Doom Slayer, Scarlet Rivensin https://www.moddb.com/mods/ruiner Arx: end of sun https://www.moddb.com/mods/arx-end-of-sun