I need some help relating to converting Unreal Engine 1 files to a more modern format.

[DSHenry]

I’ve been wanting to get assets from Unreal Engine 1 Games and convert them to more modern formats (e.g. obj, fbx, dae) as I was planning on using them for a project (not relating to the Unreal Engine in any way) and also just to see if it was possible.

What I know so far about how assets are used in UE1 is that they are stored in .u, .utx and .umx files, with .u files being where the models are.

I used UEViewer to view the assets inside these package files and that works well, but every time I tried to export the model files it always gave me back these .3d files no matter what file format option I selected in the export GUI. Exporting image and audio files worked fine though.

I’m not sure how to use these .3d files as I don’t know of any tools that support or can convert them. While I have a Hex Editor to analyze the inner workings of these files, I don’t really have the knowledge to use that kind of information for anything.

I have tried using UTPT to export models in the package files to .3DS files, but UTPT exports every frame of the model’s animations into individual .3DS files (Likely because the model uses vertex animations) which would be a little awkward if I have to convert it to some other format.

I have also used Dragon Unpacker to export the raw LodMesh files directly from the .u package files, but I’m left in a similar situation with the .3d files and I just have a file that I can’t do much with.

Other than a rough idea of how the package files work, I’m not really that familiar with any other nuances of older versions of the Unreal Engine or have never made anything with UE in general.

I’ve seen some post on this forum relating to this mentioned Milkshape, but I can’t use it crashes for me, even when I download the latest version.

I also have Noesis in case this helps.

I use Wine to run a lot of these tools as I have a Mac, which may explain some of the issues that I’ve had with them.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[DSHenry]

Correcting grammar:
I’ve seen some post on this forum relating to this mentioning a program called Milkshape, but I can’t use it as it seems to crash for me, even when I download the latest version.

[Leo T_C_K]

U3DBinRead from yrex try that. It can import .obj and I believe even export them. The 227 unreal patch can export to obj (per frame) directly also.

Milkshape is a bit of an outdated thing and it caused problems that had to be fixed plus gave everyone impression they should do animations without any skeleton at all, when unreal models actually had a skeleton for the most part, it just didn't retain it upon conversion.

There are also various blender plugins and what not that people use.

[Leo T_C_K]

The .3d thing was a "genius format" invented by schmalz already in 1994 when Unreal was starting as a MS-Dos game. They used internal tools to convert other model formats into .3d, most notably dxf to 3d and used a ms dos based utlity from 1995 to edit polygonal flags and texture slots. That utlity actually ran the actual ms dos "unreal" engine...before the game was called unreal.

[DSHenry]

U3DBinRead from yrex try that. It can import .obj and I believe even export them. The 227 unreal patch can export to obj (per frame) directly also.

Milkshape is a bit of an outdated thing and it caused problems that had to be fixed plus gave everyone impression they should do animations without any skeleton at all, when unreal models actually had a skeleton for the most part, it just didn't retain it upon conversion.

There are also various blender plugins and what not that people use.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will try it and will reply back if I have any issues.

[DSHenry]

The .3d thing was a "genius format" invented by schmalz already in 1994 when Unreal was starting as a MS-Dos game. They used internal tools to convert other model formats into .3d, most notably dxf to 3d and used a ms dos based utlity from 1995 to edit polygonal flags and texture slots. That utlity actually ran the actual ms dos "unreal" engine...before the game was called unreal.

Here is my experience so far with the tools you have suggested

I downloaded U3DBinRead through a Wayback Machine archive of the main download link as it seems to be down. When I loaded it up, it gave me 2 errors possibly relating to the .NET Framework

Screenshot 2025-01-01 at 3.55.56 PM.png

Screenshot 2025-01-01 at 3.56.19 PM.png

A forum post about the program mentioned needing .NET Framework 2. When I tried to install that, Wine claimed that I already had it installed.

After the 2 error messages, the programmed work relatively fine although the model preview does not load. Like you said, the models are exported frame by frame, which might cause me to run into the same problem that I did with UTPT, so I'm not sure how I'll deal with that.

As for the blender addons, I haven't been able to find any good ones. The only ones I could find were Blender for Unreal Engine and UModel Tools, which don't really work with the files that I have.

[Leo T_C_K]

Well at least you will have the frames and you can import them/merge them into a model using another program then. And its not anymore .3d. Try to contact yrex about further suggestions. ampoyrex (at) wp (dot) pl

[Reborn]

In ancient times there was a program called "3D Object Converter"
I don't know where to find it now

[Leo T_C_K]

In ancient times there was a program called "3D Object Converter"
I don't know where to find it now

quick search reveals some results? not sure if they are all working but well he can try.

[Reborn]

quick search reveals some results? not sure if they are all working but well he can try.

Official site of 3D Object Converter
http://3doc.i3dconverter.com
There is a list of supported formats on the site

[DSHenry]

Well at least you will have the frames and you can import them/merge them into a model using another program then. And its not anymore .3d. Try to contact yrex about further suggestions. ampoyrex (at) wp (dot) pl

Yes, this is true. I'll see what I can do for that.

[DSHenry]

Update!

I found another program I can use called "IqeBrowser" that lets me view .3d files. It works quite well apart from the animation files like I mentioned with the other program.