Need access to Original Sins models...

from Sins Forums
Any one know of a way to get the original Planet (or other) models extracted from Sins? I need a model with their exact UV setups so that I can paint onto the models in Maya and then export new textures. I can make some nifty textures in Maya, but I need the original UVs for them to work. I've been noodling around with the Modmaker version of Softimage, but it's not got everything I need (plus I've got like 10 years experience in Maya and none in XSI).
modding
3,704 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
Maybe you could use, if you have 3DMax, the unofficial exporter, then convert it to something Maya can read, and use that? Its a bit circumvent, but I can't think of anything else right now...
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
...then convert it to something Maya can read,...
End of quote


Once it is in one 3D application, it is no problem to export it to a other... simply use the Collada format ( interchange file format for interactive 3D applications )...

Some info...

Maybe you can already work on the texture themself... they are .dds file ( directdraw surface )... someone have created a plug-in for the free Paint.Net who import/export .dds ... take a look at http://www.dmashton.co.uk/?page_id=13 ... You can paint using Paint.Net ( software find at http://www.getpaint.net/ )

For the knowing the name of the texture, you need to convert the binary mesh file in text... and you can simply read them...

By example, the AsteroidBig00.MESH have at the begin :

TXT
MeshData
hasValidTangents TRUE
BoundingRadius 1454.501343
MaxBoundingExtents [ 1329.848267 662.514648 868.514832 ]
MinBoundingExtents [ -1291.298096 -968.677917 -876.064148 ]
NumMaterials 1
Material
DiffuseTextureFileName "AsteroidBig00-cl.dds"
SelfIlluminationTextureFileName "Black-da.dds"
NormalTextureFileName "AsteroidBig00-bm.dds"
DisplacementTextureFileName ""
TeamColorTextureFileName ""
Diffuse ffffffff
Ambient ffffffff
Specular ffffffff
Emissive ffffffff
Glossiness 16.000000
NumPoints 3
Point
DataString "Above"
Position [ 0.000000 617.505920 0.000000 ]
Orientation
[ 1.000000 0.000000 0.000000 ]
[ 0.000000 1.000000 0.000000 ]
[ 0.000000 0.000000 1.000000 ]

So you will be able to know the needed .dds texture used for each mesh... for work on the texture, you don't really need a 3D program... but if you change the mesh, it is a other problem...
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
No. I need access to the mesh, because I can bake the texture from one mesh to the original then, but without the correct UV I can't do that. I don't have any problem editing the dds files, that's simple enough in Photoshop with the nVidia plugin, editing the textures isn't an issue. In Maya I can paint both 2d textures, and 3d structures to an object, which can influence the final baked texture on the original object in really cool ways. Making an enormous crater on a planet, or simply painting city lights to a curve attached to the objects skin would be simple enough for example.

The current map for the planets is cross shaped, which leads to less distortion at the poles, but it's not easy to paint to without the exact UV available.

I don't have 3d studio (I stopped using it long ago, when Maya came out), though unfortuneatly both are owned by Autodesk now. If I can get the original meshes in obj format, then I'm set. Later on I plan on bringing ships into the game, and I'll have to use XSI for part of that, but for now I want to start with something simpler. Adding a few new planets would be a good place for that.