Need help with sur

[Nova]

Drawing in 3DSMax is very easy, drawing in Milkshape is hell

[Mirkha]

The process is simple, i will also give some advices for 3dsmax because, you can find tutorials on the net but all that i saw were very complicated compared to what you need to know.
anyway if it’s not usefull for you it can be for someone else

You also need the hitbox tools.
I uploaded a rar here : http://www.filefront.com/17377475/hitbox_tools.rar
The pack is composed with :

1 - Preliminary work :

Import the cmp in milkshape and center the model to the 0.0.0 absolute.
Optionnal, if you need it scale the model.
Save it to my_cmp_origin.ms3d
Export as a cmp.
Export a .3DS.

Import the new cmp in flmodeltool.exe and search the radius

The ini.ini is like this :
You need to modify it

shadow_academy.sur -----> the same name as the final cmp
shadow_academy_cons_fix.dat ------> what you want but i prefer the same than the cmp
10100 -------> the radius of the cmp
10000 10000 10000 -------> the mass in the ini file (shiparch.ini or solararch.ini)

z_shadow_1.sur Root
z_shadow_2.sur zomgbayz01
z_shadow_3.sur zomgbayz02
z_shadow_4.sur zomgbayz03
z_shadow_5.sur zomgbayz04
z_shadow_6.sur zomgbayz05
z_shadow_7.sur zomgbayz06
z_shadow_8.sur zomgbayz07
z_shadow_9.sur zomgbayz08
z_shadow_10.sur zomgbayz09
z_shadow_11.sur zomgbayz10
z_shadow_12.sur zomgbayz11
z_shadow_13.sur zomgbayz12
z_shadow_14.sur zomgbayz13
............

2 - Work in 3dsmax :

Import the 3DS in 3DSMAX.
As you can see, he is not well placed. What you need to do is rotate on x by 90°.
Normally the model is well placed.

Be careful about one important thing : The root group is the group who is selected in space when you click on a base/ship. So his choice have to be pertinent.
I advice you to draw it first because in the ini.ini the first sur is dedicated to the root part.

What you need to know about 3dsmax

keyboard :
Alt + W will maximize/minimize the windows you are in.
Wheel clic move the object
Alt + Wheel clic rotate the object
When you are in edition (vertices, face, etc) Ctrl + selection adds object and Alt + selection removes object
Wheel zoom in/out

Only simples shapes will work, as simples shapes i mean squares, rectangles, spheres and cylinders.
You can do a concave shape but “not to much concave” if i can say
About cylinders ––> many bases have cylinders in them, so my advice is to make more cylinders and not a “single very complicated shape”.

You can also use the spline tool, with line option only.
It’s a very accurate way to draw box.
Just select spline\line, draw the shape, in modify select extrude and right click on the shape to convert in mesh.

You can also work on poly, very usefull if you want to add lines/vertices but at the end of the process each shape have to be in editable mesh

At the end : select the base, delete it and then export all the box you drew as a my_cmp_hb.3DS.

3 - Work in Milkshape :

Open the my_cmp_origin.ms3d
Import the 3DS you just make.
Rotate it by -90° in X and center it if you need 0.0.0 in absolute.
Place it around the cmp
Delete the group(s) of the cmp
Save it as mycmp_hb.ms3d

Rename each group. I advice you to take the same name as in the ini.ini
For example : z_mycmp_01, etc etc.

Make a new material and assign it to each group.

Export each group one by one. For this, i advice to do like this :

4 - Make the splice :

Very simple, use the splicer.bat to make it.
A shell windows will pop up and warn you about if it’s good or not.

5 - Work in the cmp :

I don’t know if you have the possibility of making macro but with the last version of utfeditor it’s very useful.
Enter will pop up the rename function in the right data.

I do the integration in a certain way

6 - Import the .dat :

Here is a little weird some times … Don’t ask me why but it’s a fact.
You generated a mycmp_cons_fix.dat. So open it in xvi32.
As you can see you have sections.

Root .....
.....
.....
.....
zomgbayz01....
.....
.....
.....
..............€?
..............€?
..............€?

You have to add a section at the beginning.

without

Save your cmp in utf editor and just test it in hardcmp.

Open the cmp with flmodeltools.exe and just save it, without doing any modifications.

[Nova]

z_shadow_1.sur Root
z_shadow_2.sur zomgbayz01
z_shadow_3.sur zomgbayz02
z_shadow_4.sur zomgbayz03
z_shadow_5.sur zomgbayz04
z_shadow_6.sur zomgbayz05
z_shadow_7.sur zomgbayz06
z_shadow_8.sur zomgbayz07
z_shadow_9.sur zomgbayz08
z_shadow_10.sur zomgbayz09
z_shadow_11.sur zomgbayz10
z_shadow_12.sur zomgbayz11
z_shadow_13.sur zomgbayz12
z_shadow_14.sur zomgbayz13
............

Where is this from? I need to imagine the future parts or what?

[ZetaPirate]

Thank you, I bookmarked and downloaded and will play with this as soon as I have the chance to do so. More questions coming I’m sure

[Mirkha]

Nova wrote:

z_shadow_1.sur Root
z_shadow_2.sur zomgbayz01
z_shadow_3.sur zomgbayz02
z_shadow_4.sur zomgbayz03
z_shadow_5.sur zomgbayz04
z_shadow_6.sur zomgbayz05
z_shadow_7.sur zomgbayz06
z_shadow_8.sur zomgbayz07
z_shadow_9.sur zomgbayz08
z_shadow_10.sur zomgbayz09
z_shadow_11.sur zomgbayz10
z_shadow_12.sur zomgbayz11
z_shadow_13.sur zomgbayz12
z_shadow_14.sur zomgbayz13
............

Where is this from? I need to imagine the future parts or what?

it’s in the ini.ini present in the hitbox_tools.rar
take a look at it
you have to fill it with as many parts you have done

edit : and of course change the names to match to your cmp

[Nova]

you have to fill it with as many parts you have done

Erm… i have the 1 part. What im doing wrong?

[Gisteron]

obviously instead of zomgbays[blahblah] in the right you have to put in your cmp’s object names.

[Mirkha]

in fact you can put what you want for the names but it have to match in the entire cmp
i prefere keep zomgbayzXXX at the end, therefore i can just drag and drop from another cmp

@Nova : you have one part ? i don’t understand
you talk about your cmp ?
if yes, nevermind, you have to draw the boxes around your cmp in 3dsmax and then export all these boxes and follow the tutorial

[Forsaken]

Mirkha is custom hitbox king. hats off

[StarTrader]

Because he has made very many.

You should see his hair - he doesn’t have much left!

[Mirkha]

yes it’s me here, just after that i done a hitbox

trust me, follow the tutorial and you’ll keep your hairs

[Skotty]

I got everytime the same problem with surplice: no collision for all sur groups except the root for the player.

Full collisions for NPCs and objects but not for player.

What could it be? I followed the video and your written tutorial 2 times, everytime a great result… but everytime no physical collisions for the player!

I don’t think its sur splicers fault but here the entry of my ini:
Zug.sur
Zug_cons_fix.dat
70
200000 200000 200000
cargotrain.sur Root
cargotrainengine01.sur Sur_Zug1_lod1
cargotrainengine02.sur Sur_Zug2_lod1
cargotrainanhaenger1.sur Sur_Zug3_lod1
cargotrainanhaenger2.sur Sur_Zug4_lod1
cargotrainanhaenger3.sur Sur_Zug5_lod1
cargotrainanhaenger4.sur Sur_Zug6_lod1

All sur files are working and are convex.
The groups for the ship (sur_zug*_lod1) works well too, no change if I use multigroups created via the normal exporter in milkshape.

[Mirkha]

the lod1 at the end are not necessary

have you put in the cmp the Zug_cons_fix.dat ?
which dll do you use ?
i work with the 0.2.1 for cmp and 1.1 for the sur

[Skotty]

I imported the cons fix made by sursplicer and I’m using the same dlls like you.

[Mirkha]

can you upload the cmp here ?
and i take a look at it

[Skotty]

http://erik.gmod.de/Eriks Zeug/Freelancer/Zug.7z
Everything you will need.

[Mirkha]

ok :

1 - your Sur2.ms3d doesn’t have a blank material assign to the parts then it’s necessary
2 - you don’t add the little square we need to make the sur works properly, it’s on the video made by sushi, if you can’t find it i could upload it somewhere, let me know
3 - the _lod1 are totally useless, so don’t add it on the ini.ini and so on the cmp
4 - i don’t have the mat file and at this time i have to rebuilt a cmp from scratch so i need it
5 - the Zug.cmp is about 244.94 meters but the ZugNeu.ms3d you give me is about 22534.46 meters, so i concluded you export from this ms3d but with 92 on the cmp exporter settings
but the settings need to be “back to front” and “scale down = 1”

[Skotty]

1 - your Sur2.ms3d doesn’t have a blank material assign to the parts then it’s necessary
2 - you don’t add the little square we need to make the sur works properly, it’s on the video made by sushi, if you can’t find it i could upload it somewhere, let me know
3 - the _lod1 are totally useless, so don’t add it on the ini.ini and so on the cmp
4 - i don’t have the mat file and at this time i have to rebuilt a cmp from scratch so i need it
5 - the Zug.cmp is about 244.94 meters but the ZugNeu.ms3d you give me is about 22534.46 meters, so i concluded you export from this ms3d but with 92 on the cmp exporter settings
but the settings need to be “back to front” and “scale down = 1”

To 1.:
I read everywhere, that sur meshes have to be blank (no material).

To 2.:
I think the method with the squares is necessary with more than 18 groups. I’m working with 7.
I also tried it already with the squares.

To 3.:
_lod1 or not makes no difference.

To 4.:
Same mats like the freight train x4 (ships/utility/freight_train)

To 5.: Yes its for scaledown factor 92, so my model is 92times bigger in milkshape then in real.
Back to front was always enabled.

[Mirkha]

ok, for the 1, trust me it’s necessary
i have done a looooooooooot of testing and with a material, without a texture of course but with, it works
without not
i personnaly allways add the box event if it’s less than 18 groups
i don’t think that the collision will works without
for the scale down i advice you to have a ms3d at the same size than the cmp

i take the mat and rebuild a cmp
i’ll give you news tomorow

[Skotty]

Found any relevant mistake I made?