Importing Meshes from 3DS Max into Dromed (Thief II) by Schwaa

The purpose of this tutorial is to help you import custom meshes into Thief2. The first section will cover 3DS Max mesh editting and how to align joints and planes, the second section explains file types and their uses.
Thanks go out to Shadowspawn and Colourless for helping me figure this stuff out :)

Section one:
Setting up a mesh with Joints and Planes (this section is not about getting high in anyway whatsoever ;)

  • Joints and Planes- setup.
  • Download a 3ds file with joints and planes for:
    SwordsMan
    BowMan
    Bystander
    Zombie
    Burrick
    Robot

    Section two:
    Importing the mesh, file types, ect...

  • Conversion Tools-How to use 'em.
  • RTG Files-What they are, where to find them.
  • 3ds Files-requirements.
  • E Files-How to create.
  • Bin and Cal Files-How to create.
  • Importing Objects-How to import bin/cal files into Dromed.

    Section three:
    Problem solving.

  • Problem Solving-These are things that have gone wrong for me and how to fix them.

    Section One - Mesh Joints and Planes


    {Fig.1a}
    As you can see above in {Fig.1a} a mesh for Thief has Joints and Joint Limit Planes. These are used for Dromed to calculate where each joint is and how much it can move. This is a fairly archaic system as most modern games are using a skeletal animation setup. This limits us to motions so you'll have to stick to one of the predescribed lifeforms currently available. These limits do have slight work arounds, for example: I made a dragonfly that flaps its wings as it flies around, a tut for it is included with the download. This was done by creating an animated object and attaching it to the head of an invisible AI. Refer to the object creation tut for more on that. A few dedicated Dromers (Weyoun and Shadowspawn) have been figuring out the Motion editor so there might be future options for AI types. Until then we can still get cool new meshes into Thief and use the current motions just fine.

    An explanation of joints and planes in {Fig.1a}

  • A:Limit Plane XJRWR_SREL
    This limit plane describes one of the edges of joint rotation, any vertices/polys inside the space between these two planes will become "stretchy polys" and will flex in Dromed during animation. There is a small square "Joint" between these planes, anything falling outside these planes will not move when the wrist flexes.
  • A breakdown of what the name means:
    X= tells Dromed to not render, it won't be seen in game.
    JR= "Joint Right"
    WR= "Wrist Right"
    SR= "Shoulder Right"
    EL= "Elbow" - These last two place the plane on a "Torso"

  • B:Joint JLFINGER
  • A breakdown of what the name means:
    J= tells Dromed to not render, it won't be seen in game.
    LFINGER= "Left Finger"

  • C:Limit Plane XJRHI
    X= Not Rendered
    JRHI= "Joint Right Hip" - You'll notice that this plane is beside the AI and not thru a joint area. There are several of these per mesh and they serve a very useful purpose. The stop the limit planes of the joints from extending to infinity. But mainly they stop problems from one joint crossing over the planes of another, basically just letting an AI retain its shape. More noticable is a swordsman mesh that has a large plane under the right arm, this keeps the sword from being bent along with the knee when the AI's arms are down.

    One thing to keep an eye out for is correct joint and limit plane names, they tend to get shuffled when converting them from an RTG file into a 3ds file.

    Section Two - Importing the mesh, file types.


    {Fig.1b}

    Conversion Tools
    There are multiple tools that come with Thief II and a few that have been created that allow you to convert 3ds files into Thief formats, they are:

  • DOS Prompt
  • RTGto3DS.exe
  • N3ds2e.exe
  • MAP and MJO files
  • meshbld.exe
  • DO.bat,DOMAN.bat, ect...
    These tools can all be found in your ThiefII/RES/obj and ThiefII/RES/mesh folders, with a few exceptions which can either be found on my downloads page or Shadowspawns site.
    Place them into the folder you are using for custom objects/meshes.

    DOS Prompt - All of the conversion programs run through a DOS Prompt. The easiest way to do this is to find your DOS Prompt. In Windows ME it can be found in the C:\WINDOWS folder. I believe it is in the same place on an Windows XP system. Right-click and made a shortcut to it, place this shortcut in your custom objects folder.
    Now when you use any of the tools listed below you will just double-click the DOS shortcut which should have the path of the folder it's in typed and waiting, it should look something like this:
    C:\Custom Objects>
    You will type the following commands in for each specific program.

    RTG Files - This is the original LGS mesh file, it can be found in your ThiefII/RES/Mesh folder. This file will have NO extension unlike .bin, .e and .cal files. If you want to use the joints for Zombie 01 find zom01 (no extension) rtg file. This isn't a nessecary step, the above .3ds files have already been converted. The Dos command would be:
    rtgto3ds zom01
    Now you will have zom01.3ds.

    3ds Files - To convert 3ds files they need to be UV mapped. If you source the files from somewhere and you're not sure, you can import them into one of the mentioned programs and check it. If you don't have a program for it (Anim8tor is FREE) then you can try converting it into a .bin anyway. You'll probably create an .E file but when you go to convert it into a .bin you'll find out if it'll work or not.

    To convert a .3ds file into an .e file type this in the DOS window:
    n3ds2e zom01.3ds
    Now you should have a file named zom01.e in your custom object folder. If you recieved an error look at the problem solving section.

    E Files - need to be converted into a .bin AND .cal to be used as an AI. An AI has joints and motions, therefore you will need the additional .cal file. The .bin file tells Dromed what shape, color and mapping an object or mesh has, the .cal file tells it where the joints are and how they move. This is why an AI will "collapse" in Dromed if no .cal file exists.
    To create a .cal file you will need to have .map and .mjo files for the AI you are using.

    Map and MJO files - These files can be found in the Thief/RES/Mesh folder. Their names correspond to the type of AI with which they are associated. For example, I have been using zom01 for this tut. That's Zombie 01, zombies are Bipeds (walk on two feet) so you'll need to find biped.map and biped.mjo and put them in the same folder as your custom objects too. Map and MJO files can be read in Thief Edit or Notepad, open them up just for kicks.
    MAP will have a number for each joint, this can be helpful if you want to give the AI a Creature Attachment like SFX particles, wings or a tail using that joints number.
    MJO will show you the number of Torsos on an AI and which limbs they contain. Basically a Biped has two torsos. One holds the head and arms, on contains the legs. This would probably be more helpful if motions could be made.
    Other AI files will use different map and mjo's. For example: Playarm is the players arm, it is used for the players hand holding a sword or blackjack. Spidey for spiders, Flexbow for the players bow and arrow.
    Along with the.map and .mjo files you will need to include manbase.cal (also in Thief II/RES/Mesh) and the correct DO.bat files in you custom objects folder.

    DO.bat files - These tools run meshbuild from DOS. To use them you will first need to right click on them and choose edit, remove the bold lines below, but leave the italics:

    @echo off
    echo.
    n:\bin\win95\rtg2e %1 %1.e
    n:\bin\win95\    meshbld %1.e %1.bin biped.map -mbipednw.mjo -v -cmanbase.cal
    echo.

    Now it will say:
    meshbld %1.e %1.bin biped.map -mbipednw.mjo -v -cmanbase.cal
    Save and it is ready to use. Basically it says "run meshbuild, size = 1% ,e to 1% .bin (same size input to output files), use biped.map and .mjo along with manbase.cal". I'm not sure what the -v means.

    Now that you have all of the files in place and edited correctly you can convert your .e file into a .bin and .cal. Type this into the DOS Prompt:
    doman zom01
    No need to type .e after zom01, meshbuild is already looking for an .e file, it also knows to export a .bin and .cal. If everything goes well you should have a .bin and .cal in your custom object folder.
    It's now time to import the AI into Thief :)

    Importing Mesh Files into Dromed

    Now you have a zom01.bin and zom01.cal file, place them in Thief2\Mesh folder. Place the texture(s) into Thief II/Mesh/Txt16 folder.

    Open the object hiearchy>animals> and choose which hiearchy you want to create your new AI under, pick the closest possible AI and hit ADD. In this case we would start under Undead>Zombies. Give your new model a specific name. Edit as nessecary in Dromed and create in the physical world and see if it works :)
    If you create a new type of AI don't forget to save your gamesys and mission in Dromed, or just create a regular AI and change the Shape/Model Name and put your new name in the text feild.

    Congragulations! You have successfly imported a new lifeform into the Thief Universe, if you haven't head on down to the Problem solving section...

    Section Three - Problem Solving

    Common errors that show up in the DOS Prompt:

  • Vertice .... not assigned to set- this error occuors when trying to convert an .e file into a .bin and .cal. It means a vertice doesn't fall into the parameters of a joint area, therefore it can't be calculated. Recently I figured out an easy way to find these vertices and it has saved me alot of time so I will share it with you now :)


    Pic B is the error you will recieve if any vertices are out of bounds. The DOS Prompt will usually kick out 3-10 vertice numbers before it crashes. In 3DMax you can select single vertices and look in the selection column for the number, however this has always been tedious for me trying to track down 1 vertice out of 1,000. But if you keep the DOS Prompt on screen you can use the coords from the DOS Prompt to your advantage. I always keep my 3D program running during conversion in case I have to go back and fix anything, then I will create a small cube and name it something like "Delete_Me" as a reminder to myself that it isn't a joint.
    OK, now you have a cube named Delete_Me in 3d with your mesh, choose the Move tool in 3dMax. Right click on the Move tool button now and it will bring up a coords. window, type in the coords (see DOS Prompt) and hit enter:
    -0.165
    0.024
    1.179
    This will move "Delete_Me" the cube to the same position as the bad vertice. Now you need to find the offending vertice and move it to a better location. In this case a vertice (Pic A) fell in between the two knee joints, the fix is to nudge it over into one of the knee joints (Pic C). If you had more than one error continue until they are all fixed. Another associated error is having a joint plane at an angle that will clip off vertices, in this case you need to fix the clipping planes position instead (Pic D). This is a Burrick's leg, the Red Line is where the plane was,cutting off the Blue Vertice. The White Line is the correction made.

  • "Who Built This?"- if you see this command then your object is probably too complex or has some wierd polygons in it, the best fix for this is practice in low poly modelling. I got this error alot when I started making models for Thief but haven't seen it in along time. It usually has to do with too many "Sliver triangles" which are hard for Drom to deal with.

  • DOS seems to freeze after spitting out alot of commands- it'll probably finish, but it means that your object is REALLY complex,try optimizing more in MAX. Of course its always best to optimize before you texture the model, if you optimize too much afterwards it'll probably mess up your texture.

  • "Oh MY!"- I just got this for the first time yesterday, working with VHots (door handle attachments- but that's another tut at a later date). It'll spit out an empty .bin file, something will need fixed in MAX, in my case it was a door handle name.

    Common errors that show up in Dromed:

  • Hollow Log does not match texture width, height - your texture is not scaled correctly, make sure it is in rounds of 32 (i.e 32x32, 32x64, 64x64, 64x128, 128x 128, 256x256 - any combo of these numbers will work, you might as well not go below 32 because the detail won't be very good).
  • Bounding box of object is offset from object - recenter your object in 3DMAX on the center of the grid.
  • Object can't be seen - the object is WAY off center, its probably hanging out in a wall somewhere, recenter in MAX.
  • Object is HUGE - You probably scaled it to feet in MAX, thus 12 feet = 120 feet in Dromed. If you want a 12 foot model in Thief make it 12 inches in Dromed.