3D models in 3DGE

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Marscaleb
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3D models in 3DGE

Post by Marscaleb »

I was thinking about creating my monsters as 3D models, but first I wanted to just run some experiments to see how 3D models really look in the engine, get a feel for how they really behave so I can decide if this is the route I want to go or not. I'm trying to create a small sample wad with just one or two MD2 files to replace some of the monsters so I can tweak and experiment with various settings.

But I can't figure out how to edit the was to use this content.
First off, I don't see any documentation for this in the wiki.
I'm looking at the 3DGE Model Pack to see how I have to set these up, and I don't see how the system is actually determining what to use.
For example, for the ZombieMan the only thing I see in the ddf just says "MODEL_SKIN=1; MODEL_BIAS=1; MODEL_SCALE=1.0;" which is also says for ALL the monsters. The MD3 file in the wad itself does not seem to possess the same name as the original sprite. So I honestly don't see anything in here anywhere that tells the game what mesh to us.

...could someone explain this to me?

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Corbachu
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Re: 3D models in 3DGE

Post by Corbachu »

Yep -- it's in the actual frame states.

For instance, if you have TROOMD5 to replace the trooper, instead of:

States(idle)=TROO:A:1:NORMAL:NOTHING;

You would replace the "A" with @x, where X is the actual frame number in the MD2, MD3 or MD5.

The @x is used to lookup a model (any four letter + the MDx suffix) in the engine. All DDFs use this system.
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Marscaleb
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Re: 3D models in 3DGE

Post by Marscaleb »

Ahhh, so that's how it works. Which is also how sprites work; I don't know why I didn't think of that. I suppose that means I could change out between different mdx files for some animations if I need to. (Hmm, does that mean I can switch between being a sprite or a mesh on the fly? No idea why I would want to do that, but the option sounds pretty neat.)

You know, all of this dependency on four letter names is going to bite the system in the butt when you try to get pk3 support. Everyone is going to want to organize things by folder and group, but items can't share the first four letters of their name. But that's a different subject.

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Corbachu
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Re: 3D models in 3DGE

Post by Corbachu »

Marscaleb wrote:Ahhh, so that's how it works. Which is also how sprites work; I don't know why I didn't think of that. I suppose that means I could change out between different mdx files for some animations if I need to. (Hmm, does that mean I can switch between being a sprite or a mesh on the fly? No idea why I would want to do that, but the option sounds pretty neat.)
Yes, you can switch out to anything on-the-fly, including models and sprites. Its really robust.
You know, all of this dependency on four letter names is going to bite the system in the butt when you try to get pk3 support. Everyone is going to want to organize things by folder and group, but items can't share the first four letters of their name. But that's a different subject.
We have addressed this with PHYS_FS, but it is in the early stages :-)
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