Updated model viewer with skin support
 

I've just uploaded a new version of the model viewer to http://www.geocities.com/Kaiyodouk/ which can view and export the old-world character models correctly (Luclin models still don't work). It's also got support in for exporting the skin and bone information to 3dsmax via a Maxscript export option.

I've updated the readme and added another readme which just deals with the maxscript export. Shouldn't be too hard if you've used the viewer before :)

K.

/clap

Nice work :)

Merry Xmas to you, Kaiyodo !! :)

Question/problem with model viewer
 

Hi,
I have downloaded and installed the latest version. It seems
to run without a problem. I have also done a fresh install
(from a fairly old EQ disk) and patched without problems.
It shows the .s3d files and loads them (I did not see a chequip.s3d
though, but several global*_chr.s3d type files). When I
load the .wld file I get a list of files which are obviously character
related. If I choose one, the textured model shows, but much
of the geometry is displaced (imploded?). The exception
are head files which seem to be ok. I have also looked at
some zone files and the object files within. The problem
occurs when looking at local monster models there.
I have tried turning scale off, but model is so large I can't
really look at it (no apparent zoom in the viewer window?)
I have also tried exporting, but the problems persist in
the exported model when viewing (I do not have studio max
to try that however).
Any help on what I am doing wrong?
Thanks,
J.B.

If you don't have a chequip.s3d file then you're a bit stuck. This is the file that contains the character models that the new viewer can view and export, i.e. the pre-luclin model files. The global_xxx.s3d files contain the luclin models as far as I know and they won't work with the viewer.

chequip.s3d is a pain to find in the list of 3ds files, I've stared at the list for ages not being able to see it so I made the viewer auto-select it on startup :) Maybe it's only installed with one of the expansions, I'm not sure to be honest, I've got them all installed on my machine.

There is a scale in the viewer by the way, it's on the middle mouse button I think, if not then it's on the right button :) It has some problems when viewing really big models such as the dragon model, it's so big that by the time you've zoomed out enough to view the whole model most of it has dissappeared behind the back view plane. It doesn't affect the export though which is the only time you really need the 'scale on load' option turned off.

K.

:worship:

Follow-up
 

Hi,
Well, I was lucky and found chequip.s3d on a computer at
home with an old install. Not sure why it wasn't on the
new install, but may be that it wasn't on original disk and
is no longer patched as same file (will look into this some more).
After looking at chequip.s3d with model viewer it became
clear that the model files that display are the .spk and not files
from the .wld which all seem to be image maps.
I am curious as to whether or not any other .spk exist, though
so far no other file I've checked does. The problem is that only a
limited number of image maps associated with the .spk model
files are included in the .wld found in chequip.s3d. No way
apparently to get them from other files for different faces I
guess.
I couldn't try the middle button to zoom because my trackball
doesn't have one. I thought there might be a keyboard
alternative.
Thanks again,
J.B.

I'll give you a little history about the model file formats first to try and explain what all the different file types are for.

Originally the old world models were stored as SPK files inside the s3d files, these are text files that contain all of the geometry/bone/texturing info about a model. Sometime in the past VI decided this was bad and moved them over to a binary format, they used the same format which they store the zones in (.WLD format) which is a semi-encrypted binary format.

As you can imagine, trying to read a model out of .WLD files is a lot more complicated that parsing a text SPK file. I've not done too badly with the WLD files so far, the only thing I can't work out is where the bone information is stored in the skinned models. Non-skinned models like the weapons work fine from WLD files. Because I can only obtain the bone positions correctly from SPK files, they're the only skinned models that come out correctly.

Interestingly, within chequip.s3d there is a single WLD file which contains binary versions of all the spk files. I presume this is the file that the client loads the old world models from so you don't have to have two code paths for loading models (one for wld and one for spk). The models within this WLD file won't display correctly in the model viewer.

To answer your questions specifically, as far as I am aware there are no SPK files other than those in chequip.s3d. I'm guessing that format has been obsolete for a long time. WLD files can contain pretty much anything except image maps. Zone geometry, models, material libraries, animation data, zone object position/definitions etc. can all be stored in WLD files. The image maps are stored individually inside s3d files with either a BMP or DDS extension (some of the bmp files are really dds files in disguise).

The image maps you say are missing from the WLD file inside chequip.s3d aren't there, you are correct. They are stored in chequip.s3d itself, if you extract it you'll get thousands of texture files. The alternate faces won't show up in the model viewer as it only picks the first texture it finds, you can alter this if you export the models to 3dsmax. The textures for the faces and armour types are all numbered (e.g. GNMHE0001.bmp might be the first gnome face, GNMHE0001.bmp would be the second).

And, yeah .. I just sort of assumed everyone would have middle button, sorry about that :)

K.

Further follow-up
 

Hi,
Thanks for the additional info.
I found that the chequip did not install from my original
(1999?) EQ disk, but did install from the Kunark expansion
(the only one I had).
I've tried the POV export, using ver3.5 to render, and I
get a strange result which obviously had origins from the
original model and .bmps, but not a correct render. I'm
no expert on POV ray so not sure if I ran it wrong or
need a different version or what.
I have successfully loaded the .obj file into MS3D, but
as expected this gives no uv map. I am going to see
how easy it may be to do one as I have no other way
to get a model out at present (don't have 3dmax).
Thanks,
J.B.

I'm no export on POVRay either I'm afraid, in fact I don't think I've ever run the program. I used the POVRay format as an intermediary for exporting models so I could pull them into 3dsmax with a povray import maxscript. This was before I wrote the maxscript export option of course.

I basically wrote out the pov file in the same format as mitselplik's EQZoneConverter files came out, I just presumed those rendered in POVRay correctly :)

K.

http://zi0.boggletech.com/stuff/scarecrow.jpg

Without it playing like live, some of the models are funny. :mrgreen:

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA sorry that was in pure joy... lol
THANK YOU SO MUCH KAI i love you lol..... uhm hmm you ever mess with Bryce 3d any? currently im "trying" to learn how to work 3dsmax 4.0 ne way i was thinking would it be possible to convert the models to bryce 3d format? if not its cool im sure i will figure out max eventually lol.



[crappy] 3D artist,gamer,musician,writer

Lucid =p

:D Hey Kaiyodo im working on a converter from the s3d to max format so we could have better 3d engine beofre they come out with eq2 if you got any suggestions i would love a reply to this

character models
 

can the model viewer show character models?
how about pop characters too?

Thanks Mudman

mudman: The model viewer can display the old world character models, but not the PoP ones yet. I still need to work out how the bone positions are stored for those so they don't come out collapsed.

jdankanyin: If you use Mitselplik's zone converter and the maxscript from my site you can already get zones from s3d into max. After that it should just be a matter of exporting in a sensible format for your engine.

K.

Hi,
The old world models were collasped / crushed or am I doing something wrong. Seemed they looked same as the POP models. Is there any way to see the entire character? even old world?
Thanks Mudman