New test build: Max NifTools Plugin (many versions)

[SACarrow]

All Hail The Great And Powerful tazpn!

Includes 5-9, 2008, & 2009.

Check it out here. When I get time, I should probably try to integrate Wild Magic too, so we can have capsules.

Steve

[Tobi the Dane]

Nice. Can you do a quick summary of has been changed?
I cheked the link, didn't understand much of it

[SACarrow]

Honestly at this point, not too much. AFAIK:

• One tiny thing: now hidden collision meshes are not exported unless you want them to be,
  
• One large thing: With the release of Havok code, there is much better support for the Mopps scheme used used in OB to reduce computation for complex collision meshes.
  

The important thing is that the plugin breathes again (and for more versions). My hobby coding time lately has been devoted to TES4Gecko.

Feel free to correct,
Steve

[nick_op]

Nice, I'll be sure to check it out later.

[Razorwing]

Awesome =)

Originally posted by SACarrow
One large thing: With the release of Havok code, there is much better support for the Mopps scheme used used in OB to reduce computation for complex collision meshes.

What does this mean for a user of the plugin?

[SACarrow]

Originally posted by Razorwing
Awesome =)

Originally posted by SACarrow
One large thing: With the release of Havok code, there is much better support for the Mopps scheme used used in OB to reduce computation for complex collision meshes.

What does this mean for a user of the plugin?

GFQ. haven't had a chance to try it yet, but Phitt's postings on that thread imply that with very minor tweaks, Mopps shapes can be exported correctly. I'm about two voice BSAs away from trying it though.

Steve

[Razorwing]

Aah, kk. Well I would imagine he's got a vested interest in that since he went with mesh collision pretty much all the way on his Dwemer stuff, so that could drive him to pull it off. Wonder if I should jump ship on primitive collision already now? Hmm... nah I'll hang on to the practice for awhile longer, feels "tried and tested" to me.

Edit: I noticed the new exporter exports the minimum size value of bhkBoxShapes. Yaay! That's both a good timesaver and quality control mechanism when one can't or won't do it manually.

Edit (2): Looks like there's a wip version of the Mopp export. You can export a packed strips shape and it gets sorted under a bhkMoppBvTreeShape block. Doesn't work though, when I tested I could run right through the model. I doublechecked with the tcg command and the collision was there, it just wasn't working.
Note; When I switched from the packed strips shape option to the strips option in max, the program crashed. Hmm... after further tests it seems the program always crashes when choosing that option.

[Phitt]

Indeed, indeed.

To get MOPP working with the exporter you need to set two unknown floats to 1, details can be found in the Niftools thread. The havok material in subshapes is also wrong after export (unless you chose 'wood'), but you can set that in Nifskope as well. I asked Tazpn to set some of the settings to Beth defaults (including the two floats that cause the buggy collision), so I hope we'll have a fully functional MOPP export soon. Guess more than one subshape won't be possible then anyway, but it's the performance and material sounds I'm after.

I tested the MOPP performance by the way. At least in the simple test I made (270 tiles with 32 creatures on them) the MOPP collision performance was about 25% better than regular packed strips collision.

Means a lot of work to update all the Dwemer and other meshes I have, but it will be worth it. When I'm done I can send you the updated files (as well as a lot of additional stuff you don't have yet by the way). Might take a few weeks though as I don't want to do it all at once. I have a short attention span when it comes to boring tasks like that. And I want to wait for an exporter that doesn't cause bugs that need to be fixed in Nifskope.

[Ghogiel]

Hail!

[Razorwing]

Thanks for sharing the future update with us, phitt I'll make a note of updating the moldcave pieces shortly after the MOPP-enabled exporter is released and will send you those updates.

Feel free to think of me as a happy go-lucky idiot, because often times I am, but here is a volley of questions from me that I hope you guys can answer.

1. When MOPP shapes can be exported, how do I go about setting it up in 3D Studio Max? Do I create, say, one 3d mesh that covers a wood surface, one 3d mesh for metal, one for stone, et cetera and hook them up to a bhkRigidBody helper?
   
2. Should the 3d meshes be closed, or can I leave holes in it where I don't need collision?
   
3. One of the things I've heard about MOPP shapes is that you can clone collision. To take a wild example, if you have for instance four identical columns on the visual model my understanding is that one can make a fivesided cylinder and clone it to cover each column and that would impact the FPS less than making four separate cylinders. Is there any chance this will be supported?
   
4. Apart from material sounds, will MOPP shapes be able to accomodate for splinters and arrow penetration?
   
5. This is isn't very important but on a sidenote I wanted to ask if there's any chance of a future version of the exporter being able to export NiVertexColorProperty and NiAlphaProperty nodes? Because at least to me personally those abilities would save quite a bit of time. I mean setting them up in Nifskope once isn't a problem but I often find myself revising a model a couple of times before I feel like it's final. It would also be cool to have a custom shader for Oblivion models so a modeller could get a WYSIWYG impression of how it'll look in-game -- but I can understand that that request would be farfetched, so it's not a serious suggestion.
   
6. I shouldn't ask this here, but what the heck. What is the deal with the NiSpecularProperty node? Should it only be added when the texture of the mesh lacks a specular map, but you want the surface to have specularity anyway; or should it be added to enable the specular map on the texture of a mesh? I haven't been able to reach a conclusion on my own, and the times I've tested it I haven't noticed a strong difference in either direction.
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