Star Wars - The Old Republic - Beta - GR2 model

[Nintendude]

Hmm I'd be willing to give it a shot, does'nt look that bad to me. I've fixed worse. Much worse.

[Dionix187]

The contents of this post was deleted because of possible forum rules violation.

[Hairless Wookiee]

Thanks for the updated hash list. The one I had only produced about 72,000 named files in the Resources folder. Re-extracting now to see what goodies I've been missing out on. I already know I was missing certain textures for some models.

Oh and an updated EasyMYP too. I'm still using the TOR 3.3 version.

[Nintendude]

I know Malgus and one of the Havok Troopers would be real nice to have 3D Models for, maybe a Acolyte as well. Hopefully with this new program it might have better results ripping from the game.

[Hairless Wookiee]

The problem is not the extraction from the game files, it's the conversion of the GR2s to a usable format.

[Dionix187]

Tutorial: Converting Models / Importing to Milkshape

This tutorial covers converting the games model files into a format usable by Milkshape, as well
as importing and applying a texture.

Assumptions:
I'm writing this based on the assumption that you already have the beta client and have extracted
the archives using the newest hash file. If you don't know what that even means then head over to the Datamining the Beta-Client thread and start reading

Tools/Files Needed:
Milkshape - download here - This program isn't free, but there's a 30-day trial to get you started.
grnreader98 - download here - extract this into it's own dir somewhere that you can get to easily (ex. c:\grnreader98)
3ds Max (Optional) - If you already have 3ds Max you should be able to use it instead of Milkshape, but you'll need an importer plugin (download here). Applying textures looks more complicated in 3ds Max though, but if you have it you probably already know that.

Finding The Model/Texture Files
And of course you'll need the actual model and texture files. To find these look in the folder you extracted the game archives to, then go to \resources\art\dynamic (there's some in other places, like \static, but the bulk of them are in \dynamic). The models are .gr2 files and the textures are .dds files.

Find one of each that have matching filenames. *Note*: The dds filenames will have something like v01 or v02 after the model name, this usually means it's a different colour variation. Also look for textures that end in d, like "_d.dds". That d is important.

For this tutorial I used battledroid_m14x_a03.gr2 and battledroid_m14x_a03_v01_d.dds

Converting The Model For Milkshape

Copy your gr2 and dds files to the same directory as grnreader98. Then drag & drop the gr2 file onto grnreader98.exe (you can also run it from the cmd line, there might be more options that way). You'll get a few pop-ups asking if you want to export various things, just answer Yes to everything. When it's finished you'll now have a .ms file and a .smd file with the same name as your model.

Importing To Milkshape And Applying The Texture
*Click thumbnails for full size images.


In Milkshape click File > Import > Halflife SMD. Browse to where your model is located and open the .smd file.


You'll get an SMD Import Box. Leave all the boxes checked and click OK. Milkshape will now start importing and loading your model. Some models can take a minute to load.


You should now see your model and a few wireframe shots from different angles. You may have to move/rotate your model if it loads sideways or upside down. To rotate click & drag. To move the model around Ctrl+click & drag. To zoom in or out shift+click & drag. I haven't figured out how to rotate in a way to see the model from the side yet.


When you have the model loaded and positioned where you want, click on the Groups tab on the control panel. Select your model in the list, then click the Select button.


When you clicked Select your models wireframe should have turned from white to red.


Now click the Materials tab. Select your model in the list. Below that you'll see a model of a grey sphere appear. I don't know what that's for so just ignore it. Below that you'll see 4 rectangular boxes, 3 say None and 1 has the name of your model. Click the box with your models name. My description sucks so look at the picture above if you're not sure. Browse to where your texture is located and open it. Now back on the control panel click Assign.


If everything worked you should now have a fully textured model. If your model is still just a grey featureless blob then right-click it and make sure Textured is selected instead of Smooth Shaded. You can also click Maximize to display the model in a full size window.

Advanced Procedures & Other Topics
Although this tutorial ends here, there are other things to cover. Some models have extra textures for lights, glowing eyes etc. Some models aren't mapped properly and will look messed up . And on and on.

The hope is the end-user won't have to deal with all this stuff and we'll just have a self-contained model viewer that can read directly from the games archive files (ala Wow Model Viewer), but until someone makes such a program we're stuck with doing it by hand. I wouldn't expect to see a model viewer until after launch.

Finally, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them. All I ask is you please don't quote this whole post, just quote the relevant bits. Also try not to quote the thumbnails since that's just wasted bandwidth

[Hairless Wookiee]

Yeah as I posted before, grnreader98 is not a 100% solution. For a large number of models it does not correctly convert them, resulting in all sorts of issues like missing polys, etc. Even for those it does convert correctly at first blush often have small errors if you go over the mesh with a fine tooth comb. A custom exporter is really required - there's no way around it.

[Nintendude]

I use 3 programs to fix models. For game models I import them into Milkshape, which is'nt exactly free for 30 days, you can't export or save until you get a license. Which I have. Tehn I export to OBJ. Once I have the OBJ, I import it into Meshlab, export it to a STL File, then open it into NetFabb and the program will automatically fix models, For example if one side of the model has holes, it looks at the other side, and repairs the holes by copying what the opposite side of the mesh looks like. There has not been a 3D Model I can't fix in one way or another. 5+ years of experience working on 3D Models. If someone can get me a example SMD file that's broken or the Malgus SMD I'll show you that I can fix them.
Unfortunatly I don't have the SW:TOR Beta otherwise I would have already been working on this. But if I can get the SMDs I can fix them and upload the repaired models.

[Hairless Wookiee]

It's not about whether a model is fixable. I could do that myself, or hell even model some from scratch if I was so inclined, as no doubt could many people here. If people were interested in doing that they wouldn't be chasing an extractor in the first place.

[Privateer]

Part of the problems with the GR2 files is that the CRC is not correct for the file so GrannyViewer will not open it.
Unless you run a program that will correct the CRC.
This program will not open the file yet but it will correct the CRC so you can view it in the GrannyViewer.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=188290
It will ask for the SH5 folder but you can just pick anything for now.
All you want to do is correct the CRC and file size at this point.

If someone would be so kind as to give me a link to those GR2's that show missing or messed up verts on export?
I have several Beta Tools that do a very good job of exporting as obj files.

Regards.

[Privateer]

Test extracts send for evaluation.

[Acewell]

Well this was a lengthy process but i finally got it!


I fixed the CRC with TheDarkWraith's GR2 Editor/Viewer
loaded the .gr2 into GrannyViewer
captured it from GrannyViewer with 3DVIA Printscreen
imported the 3dxml into 3ds Max 9 with KoichiSenada's importer
i hate working in 3ds Max so I exported as .xsi
applied the textures then rotated/translated and welded the model in XSI Mod Tool

A big thanks to all the guys here writing programs and sharing info etc!

I can't wait for a gr2 to obj/dae utility!

[CZW]

The contents of this post was deleted because of possible forum rules violation.

[jcsmith]

Yeah looks like the link is dead.

[delium]

--removed