Importing custom props?

[Rahcul]

I created a custom shield using blender and I am wondering how I can import said shield into my custom mod folder.

What do I need to save the file as and what is the location I need to save it to?

[Stan`]

If you want to follow the conventions said shield should be put in something like (from the top of my head)
The mesh should be exported in Collada format (DAE).

binaries/data/mods/public/art/meshes/props/units/shields

and you need to create an actor file that will be put into nearly the same folder

binaries/data/mods/public/art/actors/props/units/shields

Looking forward to see what you will come up with. Feel free to ask questions if you are stuck. Also look at the wiki (trac.wildfiregames.com) there are some good tuts here and in this subforum.

 

[Rahcul]

First of all thank you very much for the quick reply.

I tried creating the actor file and all that comes with it, with the help of the basic 3D implementation guide, but it didn't work since I do not know what to type in exactly because only a crate was used in that example.

If you could tell me what to type in the code to make the shield work, or link me to a thread where that is explained, I would be very thankful.

[Stan`]

Just now, Rahcul said:

First of all thank you very much for the quick reply.

I tried creating the actor file and all that comes with it, with the help of the basic 3D implementation guide, but it didn't work since I do not know what to type in exactly because only a crate was used in that example.

If you could tell me what to type in the code to make the shield work, or link me to a thread where that is explained, I would be very thankful.

Can you be more specific than "It did not work" ?

Can you upload the actor file here ?

Also note you will only be able to see the shield in the editor by switching to actors(all)

[Rahcul]

1 minute ago, stanislas69 said:

Can you be more specific than "It did not work" ?

Can you upload the actor file here ?

Also note you will only be able to see the shield in the editor by switching to actors(all)

I can't upload the file, but I uploaded screenshots of the error message and the file

[Stan`]

@Rahcul Okay, the mesh won't load unless it's uvmapped. That's one of the requirement.

[Rahcul]

Thank you, the shield loaded into the game now.

But where would I put a sword .dae since there is no folder that says weapons?

[Stan`]

15 minutes ago, Rahcul said:

Thank you, the shield loaded into the game now.

But where would I put a sword .dae since there is no folder that says weapons?

You can create a new folder. I'm trying to organize the art repository, and that's one thing I'm planning to add after the next release.

[Rahcul]

Oh, so I just create a weapon folder in the exact folder as the shield one?

And if yes, does that apply to structures, helmets and armour aswell?

Sorry im asking that much, im just trying to make a mod and have troubles finding the right directories.

[Stan`]

1 hour ago, Rahcul said:

Oh, so I just create a weapon folder in the exact folder as the shield one?

And if yes, does that apply to structures, helmets and armour aswell?

Sorry im asking that much, im just trying to make a mod and have troubles finding the right directories.

No problem, always nice to see new modders
We do not have armors in the main game but I guess they'd go in something like

binaries/data/mods/public/art/meshes/props/units/armors/

helmets would go in

binaries/data/mods/public/art/meshes/props/units/helmets

swords would go into either

binaries/data/mods/public/art/meshes/props/units/weapons/

or something like

binaries/data/mods/public/art/meshes/props/units/weapons/swords/

Image you have a roman unit prop gladius which is a sword. with no folder the name would be

binaries/data/mods/public/art/actors/prop_unit_weapon_sword_rome_gladius.xml

With our last naming convention, the file name would simply be :

binaries/data/mods/public/art/actors/props/units/weapons/swords/rome_gladius.xml

 

[Rahcul]

hmm, is there any rule on how to name the different props like swords for example, because if I try to put the sword into the game, with the directories you told me, I get this error message:

<!DOCTYPE html> <meta charset="utf-8"> <title>Pyrogenesis Log</title> <style>body { background: #eee; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; } p { background: white; margin: 3px 0 3px 0; } .error { color: red; } .warning { color: blue; }</style> <h2>0 A.D. (0.0.22) Main log (warnings and errors only)</h2> <p class="error">ERROR: Could not load mesh 'art/meshes/props/spartan_test.dae'</p> <p class="error">ERROR: CObjectEntry::BuildVariation(): Model art/meshes/props/spartan_test.dae failed to load</p> <p class="error">ERROR: Could not load mesh 'art/meshes/props/spartan_test.dae'</p> <p class="error">ERROR: CObjectEntry::BuildVariation(): Model art/meshes/props/spartan_test.dae failed to load</p> <p class="error">ERROR: Could not load mesh 'art/meshes/props/spartan_test.dae'</p> <p class="error">ERROR: CObjectEntry::BuildVariation(): Model art/meshes/props/spartan_test.dae failed to load</p> <p class="error">ERROR: Could not load mesh 'art/meshes/props/spartan_test.dae'</p> <p class="error">ERROR: CObjectEntry::BuildVariation(): Model art/meshes/props/spartan_test.dae failed to load</p>

 

And this is what I see in the editor:

 

 

Also, for a sword it uses a .dds texture file, but for the shield it needed a .png, is there a reason for that?

 

 

 

 

[Stan`]

Can you show me your xml file ?
Where did you put your dae file ?

In the past we only had dds for textures, now the engine automatically converts png to dds, so we use png for new textures.
 

[Rahcul]

Ah okay, well this is what is say in the XML file:

 

This is the directory for the XML file:

 

This is the directory for the DAE file:

 

And this is the directory for the DDS file:

 

This is every file, I hope you can tell me what's wrong with it.

[Stan`]

Oh I think I might have confused you sorry.

The following actor should do it.
 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<actor version="1">
  <castshadow/>
  <group>
    <variant frequency="1" name="Laconic Sword">
      <mesh>props/weapons/spartan_test.dae</mesh>
      <textures>
        <texture file="props/weapon/prop_test.png" name="baseTex"/>
      </textures>
    </variant>
  </group>
  <material>basic_trans.xml</material>
</actor>

 

[Rahcul]

It's still not working, but the error message has changed, it now says this in the crashlog:

crash_log.txt

 

And this is what it says in the Editor:

[Stan`]

4 minutes ago, Rahcul said:

It's still not working, but the error message has changed, it now says this in the crashlog:

crash_log.txt

 

And this is what it says in the Editor:

Okay, so this error is not really explicit.

It might means different things

A ) Your model has more than one blender materials
B ) Your model has edges or vertices that are not par of a face, to solve this in blender, go to face mode, press A to select everything, and press h to hide, then switch to vertice mode and you should see the culprits.

[Rahcul]

Thank you, it finally worked! You can only see it from one side of the camera angle but I can probably fix that in blender.

If you could let me know what exactly you changed in the code for it to work, that would be great.

 

Thank you again and I will let you know if I need help with anything else if that is okay!

[Stan`]

@Rahcul Your paths were wrong for the mesh and the texture

<mesh>props/spartan_test.dae</mesh>

Instead of :

<mesh>props/weapons/spartan_test.dae</mesh>

and 

<texture file="props/prop_test.png" name="baseTex"/>

instead of

<texture file="props/weapon/prop_test.png" name="baseTex"/>

 

[Rahcul]

Hello, it's me once again!

Would you mind walking me through importing custom buildings into the game?

What I mean is basically, what directories the files need to be in, and the necessary code if possible.

I would really appreciate it!

[Stan`]

For actors:

binaries/data/mods/public/art/actors/structures/{civ}/building_name.xml

For prop actors:

binaries/data/mods/public/art/actors/props/structures/{civ}/building_name_propname.xml

For meshes

binaries/data/mods/public/art/meshes/structural/{civ}/building_name.dae

For mesh props

binaries/data/mods/public/art/meshes/props/structures/{civ}/building_name.dae

Though currently it's a complete mess and is in the following folder.

binaries/data/mods/public/art/meshes/props/{civ}_building_name.dae

For textures for main buildings

binaries/data/mods/public/art/textures/skins/structural/{civ}_struct.png

 

[Rahcul]

42 minutes ago, stanislas69 said:

For actors:

binaries/data/mods/public/art/actors/structures/{civ}/building_name.xml

For prop actors:

binaries/data/mods/public/art/actors/props/structures/{civ}/building_name_propname.xml

For meshes

binaries/data/mods/public/art/meshes/structural/{civ}/building_name.dae

For mesh props

binaries/data/mods/public/art/meshes/props/structures/{civ}/building_name.dae

Though currently it's a complete mess and is in the following folder.

binaries/data/mods/public/art/meshes/props/{civ}_building_name.dae

For textures for main buildings

binaries/data/mods/public/art/textures/skins/structural/{civ}_struct.png

 

What if I do not have any prop actors etc. and just the bulding itself, can I just ignore all the prop actor code in the actual actor file or do I have to delete them?

[Stan`]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<actor version="1">
  <castshadow/>
  <group>
    <variant frequency="1" name="Laconic Sword">
      <mesh>props/weapons/spartan_test.dae</mesh>
      <textures>
        <texture file="props/weapon/prop_test.png" name="baseTex"/>
      </textures>
    </variant>
  </group>
  <material>basic_trans.xml</material>
</actor>

Yeah just like this example you can have no props.

[Rahcul]

On 1.2.2018 at 12:09 AM, stanislas69 said:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<actor version="1">
  <castshadow/>
  <group>
    <variant frequency="1" name="Laconic Sword">
      <mesh>props/weapons/spartan_test.dae</mesh>
      <textures>
        <texture file="props/weapon/prop_test.png" name="baseTex"/>
      </textures>
    </variant>
  </group>
  <material>basic_trans.xml</material>
</actor>

Yeah just like this example you can have no props.

I see, sorry for being this late in replying, I have encountered another error though:

 

<!DOCTYPE html> <meta charset="utf-8"> <title>Pyrogenesis Log</title> <style>body { background: #eee; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; } p { background: white; margin: 3px 0 3px 0; } .error { color: red; } .warning { color: blue; }</style> <h2>0 A.D. (0.0.22) Main log (warnings and errors only)</h2> <p class="error">ERROR: Actor gaul_test_building: required texture sampler aoTex not found (material art/materials/player_trans_ao_parallax_spec.xml)</p>

 

I guess it has something to do with textures and materials, im just not quite sure what?

[Stan`]

2 minutes ago, Rahcul said:

I see, sorry for being this late in replying, I have encountered another error though:

 

<!DOCTYPE html> <meta charset="utf-8"> <title>Pyrogenesis Log</title> <style>body { background: #eee; color: black; font-family: sans-serif; } p { background: white; margin: 3px 0 3px 0; } .error { color: red; } .warning { color: blue; }</style> <h2>0 A.D. (0.0.22) Main log (warnings and errors only)</h2> <p class="error">ERROR: Actor gaul_test_building: required texture sampler aoTex not found (material art/materials/player_trans_ao_parallax_spec.xml)</p>

 

I guess it has something to do with textures and materials, im just not quite sure what?

Okay, so this is a more "recent" change.

Let's take some materials as examples

<material>player_trans.xml</material>
<material>player_trans_spec.xml</material>
<material>player_trans_parallax_spec.xml</material>
<material>player_trans_ao_parallax_spec.xml</material>

First one just needs a diffuse texture. ex:

<texture file="skeletal/kart_cjv_e_1.dds" name="baseTex"/>

Second needs diffuse and spec. ex:

<texture file="skeletal/kart_cjv_e_1.dds" name="baseTex"/>
<texture file="skeletal/kart_cjv_e_1_spec.dds" name="specTex"/>

Third needs diffuse and spec and a normal (parallax) map

<texture file="skeletal/kart_cjv_e_1.dds" name="baseTex"/>
<texture file="skeletal/kart_cjv_e_1_spec.dds" name="specTex"/>
<texture file="skeletal/kart_cjv_e_1_norm.dds" name="normTex"/>

Last one needs an ao  map on top of that. ex:

<texture file="skeletal/kart_cjv_e_1.dds" name="baseTex"/>
<texture file="skeletal/kart_cjv_e_1_spec.dds" name="specTex"/>
<texture file="skeletal/kart_cjv_e_1_norm.dds" name="normTex"/>
<texture file="skeletal/kart_cjv_e_1_ao.dds" name="aoTex"/>

 

[Rahcul]

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Edited February 10, 2018 by Rahcul