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Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Questions and tools for modelling.
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Skywolf
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Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by Skywolf »

Alright. With Blender 2.8 finally released it's time to make my plugin compatible with it. Lots of things changed in 2.8 so this version isn't compatible with 2.79 and earlier. If you want it to fill in the texture file name in the .uc file make sure you have an Image Texture node in the material shader as the active node with a texture assigned to it.

Code: Select all

   1.3.4 - 27/7/2019
       -Made exporter and importer compatible with Blender 2.8. It now looks for the active material node for texture file name.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hdyxigic6luo5 ... 4.zip?dl=0

Haven't tested it extensively. It did work during my testing but please report any issues here if you come across one.
Last edited by Skywolf on Wed Jul 31, 2019 3:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Krull0r
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Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by Krull0r »

Thank you for the update. I'll try blender 2.8 and your plugin in the next days.


I have currently an issue which I can't solve. I have a mesh which uses different objects in blender. All objects are rigged with separate skeletons.

When I try to export the mesh in the Unreal format I select all objects and it only exports the last selected object instead of combing all to one.
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Skywolf
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Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by Skywolf »

That's a case pretty much no exporter supports. If you want to export that mesh you should merge all of them into one (select all meshes and press ctrl+J). If everything is correct should the merged mesh still have all the (armature) modifiers so you keep your animations. Then select everything (the skeletons can stay seperate) with the mesh as active object (selected last).
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luke11685
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Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by luke11685 »

I want to ask how can I pack animated models and textures into the any pc game related to unreal engine/editor 1(it's little bit way much easier to mod games like Unreal Tournament 2016/UT4)? I only know how to import and export unreal meshes in Blender thanks to this Blender plugin/add-on and Unreal Model Viewer. Should I use UCC.exe? What if this file got some errors/bugs that should be fixed? It's very important to me to know.
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Skywolf
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Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by Skywolf »

This is really more a scripting question that a modeling one but I will give you a quick summary for Unreal:

In Unreal you have to add EditPackages= under [Editor.EditorEngine] in Unreal.ini. Then add a folder with in Unreal Root directory (The folder with with the system, textures, sounds .etc directories) with the name you entered in unreal.ini. And export to that folder from Blender with Export to ucc folder structure checked during export. Then open a command prompt in the system folder (press shift and right click somewhere empty in windows explorer and select open command prompt here) and enter ucc make. Keep in mind it won't recompile packages that already exist. So if you made any changes you will have to delete your .u before running the command.

It might show some errors from missing textures but you can import these later in UnrealED and simply assign them in mesh viewer or actor default properties. (ucc can only import .pcx files anyway so I prefer doing it this way).

Other UE1 games will probably follow a similair process but due to the different UE1 versions and game-specific tweaks are packages from one game usually not compatible with the other. You will have to look and ask around and see if you can find resources that explain how to set things set up in those games. The model format itself should be compatible though.
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luke11685
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Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by luke11685 »

So I pack models and textures without ucc helper unreal engine 1 tool? I can do it with ucc.exe by using cmd,right?
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Skywolf
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Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by Skywolf »

I never used UCC Helper but I assume it's just a GUI to execute commands using UCC.exe. So while yes, you can do what I said if you for some reason don't want to use UCC Helper but UCC Helper should import models and textures the exact same way. Just add the package in there instead of adding it as a EditPackage in Unreal.ini and compile it.
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Krull0r
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Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by Krull0r »

You are right :) works now.

I simply joined all objects and rigged it again with a new skeleton and matched the vertex groups to each bone.

That works perfect currently :)


I really like your plugin so many new possibilities! I also figured out how to add new animations to existing models without reanimating everything :)
I simply overlay a skeleton over the first frame of a mesh and it keeps it’s shape keys bu at the same time it t can be animated behind the animation set with the bones!


Good job Skywolf and thanks! ;)
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luke11685
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Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by luke11685 »

What and which .u I should delete if I want to mainly want to focus in modding jj3d alpha demo(for example) right now? It might sounds confusing,but what's the difference between adding some playable characters and just swapping Spaz and Lori over Jazz model animations? Should I rewrite this line (copy and paste method if I want to add some playable characters to the game)? Because if I would like to replace only playable one character, it's enough that later in Unreal Editor 1, importing textures and HUD, I swap me, right? Also do I have to overwrite folders from Unreal directory?
Last edited by luke11685 on Thu Aug 01, 2019 9:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Skywolf
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Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by Skywolf »

Didn't even think about that but that is indeed a neat way to add new animations to Unreal's models. You can even add one new shape key that is a t-pose and base your armature around that. That way you can do usefull things like mirroring poses to make things like new walk cycles easier to create. And me thinking the importer would be more-or-less a useless :D .

As for modding JJ3D: I know very little about it but assuming it works similairly to Unreal am I pretty sure you can't just swap out a model from a package with UnrealED. Normally what you would do is create a new class that is a child of the current player character with the default properties changed so it uses your mesh. Then store that character in a new .u package. But even if you manage to do that do I not know how, if at all possible, you can make it use your custom player class. That really depends on how things are implemented.

One thing that might work is having the mesh in a seperate .u package and then changing the default properties of the player character to use that and then saving the .u package that has the player character class in it. Not the cleanest solution and you should really make a backup first so you can change things back but you can give it a shot.

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luke11685
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Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by luke11685 »

What do these errors mean?
Image
Image
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I added some new lines in Unreal.int already,I opened UCC.exe in cmd I used command UCC make(no warnings(0) and no errors(0) it's just my own interpretation) and I imported also my spaz jackrabbit skin texture into unreal editor. There are some textures which are not implemented to Unreal Editor 1. New animations that I was thinking could be wall jump (for Jazz)(in unofficial jazz Jackrabbit 3 patch user GloverJazz/JazzGruff (he's no longer present on jazz2online because patching this game was too complicated to him so that's why he left the forum)), Helicopter landing (just like Rayman did)(for Jazz,Lori and Spaz),Karate Kick(for Spaz), multiple kicks(for Lori). Also Lori Jackrabbit has already some unused(even jazz and razz A'ma Tazz had)(never used even in demo sound effects).
Last edited by luke11685 on Thu Aug 01, 2019 10:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Skywolf
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Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by Skywolf »

First error no idea. But UnrealED 1.0 is a pain to get going in my experience and that was on Windows 98. Can't imagine it being easier on Windows 10.

Other two errors are from missing packages. Since it's an alpha demo you are working with might those be packages that once were included but are now either renamed or removed but still referenced in the EditPackages.

Regardless, I recommend you start a separate topic. This topic is about using the exporter. Not about how to mod JJ3D. Which, considering it's an unreleased and never finished game, could get quite difficult as you have to start fixing bugs the devs never got around to fixing themselves.
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Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by luke11685 »

At least level editor is working fine now.
Bogie12

Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by Bogie12 »

I'm having a very particular Blender problem, so I'm not really expecting anyone to solve this, but anyways.

I have this mesh that I've attached an object to, via a 'Vertex Parent'. It works, until exporting gets involved. I can't (or can't figure out how to) combine the object with the mesh into one mesh, without losing animation on the object. There's no way to do a vertex parent within the mesh either, and I'm pretty lost. Trying to export with both objects selected doesn't work, as the exporter will only export one of the two meshes. And even then, the object has no shapekey data, where the mesh does. If anyone could help me, that would be wonderful.

(in short basically, is there any way to bake the shapekeys and vertex parent onto the object from the mesh?) (object is highlighted)
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Last edited by Bogie12 on Sat Aug 17, 2019 1:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Skywolf
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Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by Skywolf »

There really isn't a way to do this in the current exporter. It might be possible to make the exporter merge multiple objects in such a way that it can export your model but that could open a can of worms for something that really is a niche situation.

I did come up with a workaround though. Hacky as it may be:

1. First create an armature, go into edit mode and move the single bone to somewhere above the head (you technically don't have to do this but it makes it easier to work with). And name the bone Helmet

2. Duplicate your character model (optionally delete most geometry you don't care about. Like the legs and arms) Create a new vertex group on the duplicated mesh and name it something like Parent_Verts and select three vertices on the head and assign them to this vertex group.

3. In pose mode of the armature add the Child Of Bone Constraint to the single bone we have. Set the target to the duplicated character model (GM_DressShirt.001 in your case) with the vertex group to the one we just created and click on Set Inverse.

4. Now merge your helmet with your character mesh (the original, non-duplicated one) and go into edit mode. Add another vertex group here and name it Helmet and assign all vertices from the helmet to it (select one vertice on the helmet and press ctrl+l)

5. Finally add an armature modifier to the character mesh and tell it to use the armature we just created.

Select all objects with the character mesh selected last and export.

About what and why (if you care): This method is practically the same as what you did only we use an armature as an inbetween step to allow transformations of parts of the same mesh we use as a source for transformation. However, if we would use the same mesh for transformation and parent for the armature this would create a cycle. (Blender would deform the mesh, then move the bone, then the mesh would be deformed so it would have to move the bone again, which deforms the mesh .etc) To avoid an endless loop does blender simply only update any object once per frame. This causes the helmet to lag behind one frame which we don't want. Hence why we duplicate the character mesh to avoid this (now blender deforms the duplicated mesh, which affects the armature which then deforms the character mesh).

Blender if very capable. You sometimes just have to bend it a bit to get it to do what you want :D.
Last edited by Skywolf on Sat Aug 17, 2019 8:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I hate it when people ask me what my favorite game is. Just try to explain you're not talking about Unreal Tournament ::).
Bogie12

Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by Bogie12 »

dude, thank you so much. this just opened so many opportunities for me :P
Bogie12

Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by Bogie12 »

hmm, alright, that worked dandy until this happened.
Image
idk why, but when the parent vertexes start rotating something goes wrong with the bone and it doesn't rotate with the parent vertexes properly. i tried it with a character too and same problem happened; it seems to have a bias against the Y axis and won't budge. EDIT: this doesn't occur with Parent Vertex btw, so idk



(how it should look for reference)
Image
Last edited by Bogie12 on Mon Aug 19, 2019 2:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
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luke11685
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Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by luke11685 »

What a shame I was banned permanently from only vg resource models resource, but not in discord server and it seems sadly nobody cares they are doing whatever they want. According to rules I can't even ask someone to upload some models from jj3d and jjios assets including animations and textures so maybe someone else could be interested for game modding for example I guess only someone like me.
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Skywolf
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Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by Skywolf »

I have no idea why it does that. Seems to me like an odd bug in how the Child Of constraint works. I always assumed it worked like vertex parent but apparently not.

Anyway, since vertex parenting works could you simply add another object (like an empty), vertex parent that to the duplicate mesh and parent the bone to that.

Alternatively, you can replace the armature modifier with a Hook modifier, set the object to whatever object you vertex parented and set the vertex group to the one with the right vertices assigned to it. This way you don't need the armature anymore which saves some time in setting things up. This essentially turns an object into a single bone for deformation.

I honestly never use the Hook modifier. So I didn't think about using it before. But for this use case it seems to be perfect.

I hate it when people ask me what my favorite game is. Just try to explain you're not talking about Unreal Tournament ::).
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Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by luke11685 »

1.Is it possible to turn morph targeting into skeletal meshes like with that weapon? 2.What I did wrong with low poly Zoe Cottontail model swapping Jazz Jackrabbit model that her look like for example clothes,eyebrows,eyelashes and flange are visible only in edit mode not object mode? 3.How to swap character models in Sonic Rush? 4.How to extract and pack to the game models from Sonic Rush?
Bogie12

Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by Bogie12 »

Couldn't figure out the second one, but first one worked PERFECTLY. thanks again dude!
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luke11685
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Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by luke11685 »

Did someone try character modding in Sonic Rush already?
Bogie12

Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by Bogie12 »

why ask here? sonic rush doesnt even run on unreal engine. but yes according to google, it has been
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Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by luke11685 »

lol what? i thought you know guys how others game engines with low poly aesthetics(reverse engineering stuff) works besides unreal engine 1 from late 90's,but i was wrong. Anyway at least tell me why my low poly zoe cottontail was deformed and how to extract and then pack any character models from jj3d even every npcs' by using only ucc.exe(it's ue1 after all)? Is it possible or not? I hope I'm not repeating myself.
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Skywolf
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Re: Blender Vertex Mesh export Plugin [V1.2.5].

Post by Skywolf »

Afaik UCC only compiles packages. Not decompile. If you want to extract the _a.3d and _d.3d files you would have to export it from the editor.

No idea what deformation you are talking about exactly. Is this in blender or in the game? Can you upload the .blend file and _a.3d and _d.3d files?
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