Heroes of Might and Magic 6

[Demonsangel]

Iirc that model didn't have any bone names in its file. Only a few files have actual names, so I just gave them numbers.
Edit: I noticed in the sentinel file that the elbows were positioned at the root bone but the hands and upper arm weren't.

[Karpati]

I had another look at the format and I "figured out" the correct boneset data.

Can you tell me how did you it ? (What chunk contains the bone parent/child datas ?)

[Demonsangel]

The bone data is in chunk 35 30 20 as shown below:

It's the chunk after the animation data and the text "visibility" (there are multiple 353020 chunks). For the sentinel model it's located at position 0x1A8605
the bone data is in a 31 02 subchunk
and is the following structure:

Code: Select all

Float3 Positions ; //(x,y,z)
Float3 Normals  ; // ????
Float4 Rotations; // Quat(x,y,z,-w)

After this you have parent data in the 35 40 20 chunk: (green block)

each number is the parent ID (int16), -1 or 255 means no parent

[Kwarc]

Sorry for digging this topic out, but I found this script and it can be very useful for H7 modders (this game have the same graphic style), but as I can see animation reading wasn't complieted (but some method is included within script). So I want to ask you how can I interpret them? Because in this form they are oscure for me so I cannot export them to another format. Can I count on your help?

I enlisted readed animation date, they look like this:

Code: Select all

###############
### Bone 0 ###
###############
    block: 0
    block: 1
    block: 2
    block: 3
    block: 4
    block: 5
    block: 6
        Frame: 0    , vector: 0.000031, 0.000000, 0.000000
    block: 7
        Frame: 0    , vector: 0.000031, 0.000000, 0.000000

How can I interpret them? What does 'block' mean and why some have zero, one or a lot of frames? What does vector inside frame say to us?

[Demonsangel]

Graphic style might be the same, but that doesn't mean the model format is the same.
That aside I never finished the animation processing for HoMM VI, because good luck getting anyone other than the Noesis author to help you with animations.

[Kwarc]

H7 has Unreal Engine nad it reads PSK format.
Damn... that's not Gold. But maybe typu mnie nad remember what readed data mean? Because for me it's incomprehensible. That might na raty useful for me.

[Genshinrange]

Graphic style might be the same, but that doesn't mean the model format is the same.
That aside I never finished the animation processing for HoMM VI, because good luck getting anyone other than the Noesis author to help you with animations.

Is it possible to finalize this script? without animation, the models themselves are almost meaningless...

[serraphiel]

Indeed...

As the creator of heroes VII.V we really need that script!!! We need a lot of models from heroes VI to complete our project...

Please... make the script to be able to extract the animations... and we promise we will deliver the best, most completed heroes game ever created!

[shakotay2]

Please... make the script to be able to extract the animations... and we promise we will deliver the best, most completed heroes game ever created!

As a dedicated member of the Riders of dead horses club I feel obliged to ask: after ten years, why did nobody care for animations? There must be a reason!?
.

Hoom6_OrcWarrior_gobj.jpg

You can export an smd file from Noesis:

Code: Select all

version 1
nodes
  0 "mesh0"  -1
  1 "c:OrcWarrior_base"  2
  2 "c:OrcWarrior_geo"  -1
  3 "c:OrcWarrior_rt_pinkyCup_jnt"  4
  4 "c:OrcWarrior_rt_hand_jnt"  5
  5 "c:OrcWarrior_rt_wrist_jnt"  6
  6 "c:OrcWarrior_rt_elbow_jnt"  7
  7 "c:OrcWarrior_rt_upArm_jnt"  8
  8 "c:OrcWarrior_rt_clavicle_jnt"  9
  9 "c:OrcWarrior_spine_end_jnt"  10
  10 "c:OrcWarrior_spine_hi_jnt"  11
  11 "c:OrcWarrior_spine_mid_jnt"  12
  12 "c:OrcWarrior_spine_low_jnt"  13
  13 "c:OrcWarrior_Skeleton_grp"  14
  14 "c:OrkWarrior_setup"  -1
  15 "c:OrcWarrior_rt_pinky_a_jnt"  3
  16 "c:OrcWarrior_rt_pinky_b_jnt"  15
  17 "c:OrcWarrior_rt_pinky_c_jnt"  16
  18 "c:OrcWarrior_rt_thumb_a_jnt"  4
  19 "c:OrcWarrior_rt_thumb_b_jnt"  18
  20 "c:OrcWarrior_rt_thumb_c_jnt"  19
  21 "c:M_Skull01_jnt"  9
  22 "c:M_Skull02_jnt"  21
  23 "c:OrcWarrior_hip_jnt"  12
  24 "c:OrcWarrior_lf_upLeg_jnt"  23
  25 "c:OrcWarrior_lf_knee_jnt"  24
  26 "c:OrcWarrior_lf_ankle_jnt"  25
  27 "c:OrcWarrior_lf_ball_jnt"  26
  28 "c:L_Cloth02_jnt"  29
  29 "c:L_Cloth01_jnt"  23
  30 "c:L_Cloth03_jnt"  28
  31 "c:L_Cloth04_jnt"  30
  32 "c:OrcWarrior_weightSpine_b_jnt"  33
  ...

[serraphiel]

Indeed...

The models in heroes VI are a piece of art!!! and most suitable to heroes VII. since Ubisoft abandoned the franchise all together...

My dream, and dozen of other people's dream, is to extract what we already have in heroes VI and complete our missing creatures. We used other games models for the moment, but heroes VI models and animations will be the most suitable ones!!!

Towns are all complete, gameplay is complete, we just need the skins of heroes vi... but we can't do anything without the animations...

[WollieWoltaz]

Are the character/creature models of Heroes of Might and Magic 6, different then 7? Or mostly the same...?

[shakotay2]

Looks as if animations were part of the gobj file and
looks doable to me. (Still suspicious, why noone gave it a try then the last 10 years? Too busy to find it out. )
.

OrcWarriror_frame.jpg

[serraphiel]

Maybe you can be our hero? (I can see you are very knowledgeable, I can only follow tutorials to extract )

The faith of Ashan on your shoulders?

People didn't do it, because they lacked interest. But I assure you that the community now is more active than ever, since Ubisoft killed the franchise.
Heroes V.V is growing so much as well as Heroes VII.V.

Once again, we are begging anyone with the knowledge, make our dream come true... and give us a way to extract the animations.

Heroes VII vanilla doesn't have Sanctuary and Inferno faction, we added them already to heroes VII.V, but we do lack some key creatures. Most importantly we need the heroes from heroes VI!!!!

[shakotay2]

Maybe you can be our hero?

No. Being a hero is a burden. And, as I wrote, I'm too busy with my own concerns to be a hero.
All I can give you is some basic hints:
.

Homm6_anim struct.jpg

.
Next question to solve: which (translation) frame block belongs to which bone?
You may search for 00000000020231 with > 10k of findings.
The bone names are accompanied by sequences like 31022100 but they don't seem to link to any block.

Well, so, it would be insane to start with the OrcWarrior, imho; too many bones. Maybe a bird or something like that would do better?

### btw: did you have a look at WollieWoltaz' question?

[serraphiel]

Hi

I really appreciate your tips... but I never did something like this, and it is worst than an alien language for me...
What we used to mod Heroes VII is the powerful editor, that allows to do everything, no need of coding skills.

If anyone understands these tips and wants to help us with the script I would be forever grateful. No matter how long it takes, but at least we have hope that one day it will be abailble.

For the question if most of the units of heroes VII are the same with Heroes VI? It is not true, heroes VII has some models of heroes VI, but very few. Most of them are new and unique. And also there is almost none of inferno and sanctuary models in heroes VII.