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Mesh installation trouble

Started by SpeightM09, April 05, 2012, 04:06:38 PM

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SpeightM09

Hey there  :thumbup:
I've been playing FF for a while now, and ever since i can remember i've had uber-amounts of trouble installing meshes. I downloaded some and did everything you need to do to install em properly, but they still come out looking like a person coated in a suffocating layer of white paint, or a white playdough man or whatever. What am I doing wrong?

BTW, am new to this forum, so if this has been posted before and i'm just repeating summat someone else has said, then if you could redirect me that would be cool  :)

cheers all

stumpy

#1
First off, welcome to FR!  :D

I am not the meshing expert, but I believe that may be a symptom of a missing texture. Unless you are seeing a white cube, in which case I believe a mesh file is missing. It would probably help someone figure this out if you were to post what you got when you installed the mesh. In other words, I might say
QuoteI am trying to install tommyboy's Blok mesh. Here is how I have the files set up

Inside the skins/standard subfolder, the file list looks like this:
11/01/2011  02:35 AM    <DIR>          .
11/01/2011  02:35 AM    <DIR>          ..
01/16/2006  11:17 PM           197,147 cape_t.tga
11/30/2005  07:24 PM            33,307 cape_t_glow.tga
01/13/2006  04:54 PM           197,147 cape_t_refl.tga
04/19/2006  09:54 PM           197,147 empress_bits.tga
01/13/2006  06:37 PM           197,147 empress_bits_glow.tga
01/13/2006  06:06 PM           197,147 empress_bits_refl.tga
04/09/2006  02:21 PM           197,147 ffv_hair.tga
04/15/2005  10:31 PM            49,691 ffv_hair_glow.tga
04/15/2005  10:31 PM            49,691 ffv_hair_refl.tga
04/19/2006  09:52 PM           786,971 male_basic.tga
01/17/2006  10:24 PM            16,923 male_basic_fire.TGA
05/24/2004  01:50 PM            33,307 male_basic_glow.tga
02/04/2003  03:49 AM            12,332 male_basic_lightmap.tga
05/24/2004  01:50 PM            33,307 male_basic_refl.tga
04/19/2006  10:21 PM            16,923 portrait.tga
04/19/2006  09:54 PM           197,147 strangefate_bits.tga
04/15/2005  10:32 PM            49,691 strangefate_bits_glow.tga
04/04/2006  06:40 PM           197,147 strangefate_bits_refl.tga
04/04/2006  08:41 PM           197,147 terror_bits.tga
04/15/2005  10:30 PM            49,691 terror_bits_glow.tga
04/04/2006  08:41 PM           197,147 terror_bits_refl.tga
12/07/2005  01:54 PM           177,977 tom_basic_wiremap.tga
04/19/2006  09:53 PM           197,147 tom_Extras.tga
05/18/2005  01:16 PM            66,075 tom_Extras_glow.tga
04/04/2006  12:38 AM           197,147 tom_Extras_refl.tga
01/16/2006  11:17 PM           197,147 wings_t.tga
05/17/2005  01:53 AM             3,611 wings_t_glow.tga
03/27/2006  09:45 PM            34,433 wings_t_refl.tga
04/19/2006  10:28 PM           786,971 zemo_bits.tga
07/31/2004  11:42 AM            33,307 zemo_bits_glow.tga
04/19/2006  09:50 PM           197,147 zemo_bits_refl.tga
              31 File(s)      4,994,266 bytes
               2 Dir(s)  261,757,620,224 bytes free

Something like that will help others check that you files and folders are set up right.
Courage is knowing it might hurt, and doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same. And that's why life is hard. - Jeremy Goldberg

SpeightM09

hi, and thanks  :)

right now i'm only complaining about  :ff: tho i do remember getting the white block in  :ffvstr: so it may be different between games.
either way, i got the mesh from the official site and unzipped it, but there ain't no 'install' file in it or anything, or at least nothing that looks like what you've posted.
this isn't a big deal, i just always wanted to make my own heroes and this is kinda frustrating  :banghead:
plus i have no idea how to upload images onto this thing, believe me i would if i could!

Tomato

Here's a few things to help you out

-white blob characters is a common problem in the FF games, though you see it more often in  :ffvstr: (though  :ffvstr: has pink blobs instead of white ones). Usually it means you've got the mesh files (character.nif, keyframes.kf) installed correctly, but the texture files (male_basic.tga, extras.dds) are either missing or in a format Freedom Force doesn't recognize. Make sure the texture files are in the proper folder (either [meshfolder]\skins\standard or skins\[WHATEVER]) and double check that they are in TGA format.

-as for taking images... if you already know how to take screenshots, then posting them isn't that hard. Simply find a free image hosting site (imageshack, imgurl, etc) and upload it there. Almost all free image sites will give you a "forum link" of some kind, though I'd recommend adding it manually by putting the "direct link" inside a set of [ img ] tages

SpeightM09

cheers tomato, i looked into the unrecognizable files and all i could see was that the mesh i downloaded had .MAX files in it, whatever the hell that is  :blink:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

and i don't think i put anything in wrong folders, cos there was no 'install' option, so i just put the unzipped mesh in with all the other custom characters



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

me has tried everything, but still it comes out looking like this



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

and thanks for reminding me about imageshack  :)
been ages since i used a forum

Tomato

If you would, please show/tell me a few things

-First, how exactly are your folders set up? According to your second screenshot, the skins folder is inside a folder called "Civilian_male" which is inside "maleciviliansmallmesh." The "skins" folder should be in the same folder as your nif and kf file.

-If, moving the skins folder and its contents doesn't work, post both a screenshot of the inside of the skins folder and one inside the subfolder, usually "standard"

As for the max files, they're irrelevant to you at this point... max files are the raw format used by a 3d program called "3d studio max"

stumpy

Yes, as Tomato noted, the MAX files aren't used by the game, but you should have a NIF and KF file in the mesh folder. In that same folder, the skins subfolder should exist. You can look at the example I posted above to see where the mesh folders and files go in relation to the characters folder. I should note that the mesh folder only needs those three things in it (the NIF and KF files and the skins folder). My example has a few extra copies of the NIF and KF files in it because 1) I made back-ups (the .original files) of those before I ran them through nifconvert for use in FFvT3R (which you won't do to use in FF) and 2) I made a backup of the keyframes (the .bak file) before I edited them for contact timing. And, the Image4.jpg file is an image tommyboy helpfully included that shows the comic character that inspired the mesh/skins.

Looking at the first image you posted, it seems like there is an extra folder level. If you post a link to the mesh you downloaded, we can tell you exactly what files in the zip archive go where.
Courage is knowing it might hurt, and doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same. And that's why life is hard. - Jeremy Goldberg

SpeightM09

am i naming the folders wrong? cos thats the only thing i can think of   :(   i've tried everything, even putting it in different locations, but nothing works. i may give up on this, i think its a lost cause to be honest.
but i'd appreciate if you guys could take a look at my other thread about skin editing. cheers all   :)

stumpy

It's not the folder name itself, it's that there seems to be one folder-within-a-folder too many.

For example, if I look at the female_longhair mesh, which is pretty straightforward in terms of file setup, these are what the folders and files (and optional files) look like:

└─freedom force\Data\Art\custom_characters
     └─female_longhair
         ├─character.nif
         ├─character.kf
         ├─note.txt
         └─skins
             ├─female_longhair_WIRE.jpg
             └─standard
                 ├─female_longhair.tga
                 └─portrait.tga

The odds are that you need something almost the same, except with male_civilian_small (or whatever the mesh is called) instead of female_longhair. It looks like inside your custom-characters folder you have a civilian_male folder inside a maleciviliansmallmesh folder, which is one folder too deep. Since I don't know what files are in the mesh you downloaded, it's hard to say exactly, but you probably want something like:

└─freedom force\Data\Art\custom_characters
     └─male_civilian_small
         ├─character.nif
         ├─character.kf
         ├─note.txt
         └─skins
             ├─male_civilian_small_WIRE.jpg
             └─standard
                 ├─male_civilian_small.tga
                 └─portrait.tga


Installing meshes is a very solvable problem. Right now, it's tough to tell which files came with the archive (the zip or rar file) with the mesh you downloaded and where they have ended up. If you post a link to the mesh archive (or post a tree list of its contents), then we can look at it and tell you how to set it up in your custom_characters folder.

I don't have any expertise in skin editing, but I suspect that getting the mesh files/folders set up properly will help you there, since it will at least let you see the skins you are creating. Once you can see what's going on, the tutorials will get you going.
Courage is knowing it might hurt, and doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same. And that's why life is hard. - Jeremy Goldberg

SpeightM09

#9
nope that's what i did. the printscreen image that was from was while it was on the desktop before i moved it. sorry for the confusion  :lol: i'm certain that i used that exact folder layout as you said but it still ends up all paint-y  &lt;_&lt;
ah well i have a feeling this cannot be fixed and it may just be that i have a bum copy of the game. but thanks for all the help you guys  :)
and i really would appreciate ppl taking a look at me other post  :D

Cyber Burn

If you don't mind me asking, where did you get the "Male_Civilian_Small" mesh? I'm not familiar with it. Maybe one of us could take a look at it in Nifskope to see if there are any missing (.TGA) files or something.

SpeightM09

the official freedom force site, good Cyber Burn, tho i am a bit confused as to why it says 'small'

Cyber Burn

I just downloaded the mesh, and installed it in  :ff:. Funny though, there are no keyframes/animation files that came with it (But that wouldn't cause your problem). The mesh worked fine for me in-game otherwise. I would try to re-download the mesh and re-install it. You may have just gotten a bad download.

stumpy

I just took a look at it, too. The archive is both missing the keyframes file and it has the NIF file (the actual mesh) in the wrong folder. Both are pretty easy to fix.

First, install the mesh by opening the downloaded archive and dragging the Civilian_Male folder into your freedom force\Data\Art\custom_characters folder. Then, drag the character.nif file from that same archive and drop it into the newly created Civilian_Male folder.

Next, I grabbed the keyframes for the civilian_male mesh from the art.ff file in the freedom force\data folder. (Perhaps another mesh's keyframes would have worked, but you'd have to play with that.) However you get art.ff open, navigate to Art\library\characters\civilian_male\ and drag keyframes.kf (and maybe head.nif) and drop it into you new Civilian_Male folder.

[Art.ff is a simple ZIP file that you can open with any program that will open such files. Personally, I use 7zip. Some will recommend renaming the .ff to .zip to open the file and then renaming it back after you are done with any unzipping. I prefer to right-click the .ff file and choose "Open with..." and choose my zip program and make sure I check "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file". Doing that just once means that I can just double-click on any .ff files to open them in the future.]

Now, you should have a folder setup that looks something like this

└─freedom force\Data\Art\custom_characters
     └─Civilian_Male
         ├─character.nif
         ├─civilian_male.max
         ├─civilian_male_head.max
         ├─head.nif
         ├─keyframes.kf
         └─skins
             ├─civilian_male_WIRE.jpg
             ├─standard
             │   ├─civilian_male.tga
             │   ├─Laserpurple_loop.tga
             │   ├─mouth_tex.tga
             │   └─portrait.tga
             └─blue
                 ├─civilian_male.tga
                 └─portrait.tga


I opened this in the character tool and it worked.
Courage is knowing it might hurt, and doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same. And that's why life is hard. - Jeremy Goldberg

Amazo Version 2.2

could he just extatc the entire contents of the art.ff file?
For anyone, and everyone, who has ever done anything to improve the FF/FFvs3R gaming experience, I want to say thank you. Life is so short, and you have all brought me so much joy. I hope that one day, I am somehow able to return the kindness and generosity that all of you have shown.

stumpy

That's an option as well, assuming there isn't any concern about the extra space it takes. Nowadays, computers are so fast that it doesn't seem to provide any speed benefit to have the art files unzipped, but it can be convenient to have them unzipped when working with the files a lot. I tend to play with the scripting quite a bit, so I keep missions.ff unzipped. I don't do quite as much tweaking of the art files, so most of those stay sipped in the archive. I still find it worthwhile to set the default program for opening .ff files to 7zip (or any archiver) so that it's easy to open the files when needed, even for the ones I don't fiddle with much. It only takes a couple seconds and then you don't have to worry about it again.
Courage is knowing it might hurt, and doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same. And that's why life is hard. - Jeremy Goldberg