MeshMaker... I'm having a brain fart here

[Devil Master]

Okay, so I've regularly used MeshMaker to create custom decorations and add them to my own .u package. By loading that package in the actor browser, I would find all my new decorations neatly sorted into the Decorations branch. So I just tried to do the same, and I can't do it anymore. Instead of adding the new decoration to the existing package, MeshMaker deletes the old .u package with all my decorations and creates a new one, with the same name, containing only the new decoration! I can't believe I forgot the correct way to do something this simple, but it actually happened! And yet everything seems straightforward...
- select and open prefab
- verify that all textures are found
- click "Next"
- type the class name and package name
- make sure that "Generate collision hull" and "Create a ready-to-use decoration" are selected
- click "Next"
- click "Close"
... and the decorations file I had successfully used lots of times for the same purpose gets deleted, replaced by a much smaller one with only the new decoration! Fortunately I had been prevident and I had made a backup! What can I possibly be doing wrong?

EDIT: If I change the name of the package, everything works as expected! What... why... WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN...

EDIT #2: I just noticed that the package that gets systematically deleted has a size of 256 KB. Have I just found a bug (overflow?) in MeshMaker?

EDIT #3: Maybe I'm asking the wrong question, if static meshes have rendered MeshMaker completely obsolete. In that case, the question becomes: how can I use a static mesh as a model for a decoration?

EDIT #4: Okay, so using a static mesh as a decoration is straightforward (just create a new decoration and modify its Display->Mesh property using the complete name of the static mesh) but it looks like MeshMaker is still necessary, because if I don't use MeshMaker to create a new .u package with a dummy decoration, I won't be able to create it from the actor browser, despite having used its name to create the static mesh.
Unless I'm doing something else wrong...

[BobIsUnreal]

"ready-to-use decoration"
that option will always overide the existing package with what you compile.

If you want to combine multiple models , i always found its better to use the other option , and then compile or recompile all of the models using ucc manually after you add all models.


also on a side note meshmaker has issues with brushes exported in 227 versions , and you will probably need to edit the t3d for it to even import into meshmaker without texture issues.

the standard way to use staticmesh as decoration is to select the mesh in the mesh browser , then right click in your map and press "add modelmane here" and the mesh will be placed into the map as a meshmodel, that how it is done in every staticmesh supporting version of unreal.
the only advantages to declaring it in the traditional way in actor browser
is if you need to spawn it during gameplay
fe you cant summon a static mesh that isnt a actor, unless you have a actor to represent it.
and even that not always the case since many decos are bstatic so they cant even be spawned anyway.

or you want it to be scripted( like some code to make it take damage , be movable or break like woodenboxes do).

[Devil Master]

"ready-to-use decoration"
that option will always overide the existing package with what you compile.

Uhh... no, it doesn't. Yesterday I made multiple tests to be sure: if the package is smaller than 256K, whatever custom decorations are already present will be recreated when I add the new one. If the package is larger than 256K, already existing custom decorations will not be recreated (so they won't be in the package anymore).

also on a side note meshmaker  has issues with brushes exported in 227 versions , and you will probably need to edit the t3d for it to even import into meshmaker without texture issues.

That's what I always do. Fortunately, it's just a matter of leaving only the texture name, removing the package and group names.

the standard way to use staticmesh as decoration is to select the mesh in the mesh browser , then right click in your map and press "add modelmane here" and the mesh will be placed into the map as a meshmodel, that how it is done in every staticmesh supporting version of unreal.

That's what I do, if I want the mesh to be non-interactive.

or you want it to be scripted( like some code to make it take  damage , be movable or break like woodenboxes do).

Yes, exactly. I love stuff that can be blown up, so I must create new actors that use new meshes. Fortunately, yesterday I discovered that I can also use static meshes for that, and I don't need to create dummy decorations in order to use their meshes for the actors that will appear in the map.

[Leo T_C_K]

Sorry to ask the dumb question, but what is a meshmaker?

[sn260591]

Sorry to ask the dumb question, but what is a meshmaker?

https://wiki.beyondunreal.com/Legacy:MeshMaker

[Leo T_C_K]

Oh, that thing. I did use it myself.

But staticmeshes is a separate cathegory in all this really. This is useful though if you make conversion from staticmesh to brush to mesh, then it's actually effective but you might get glitches...That's what I used it for myself.

[Gustavo6046(BR)]

I'm gonna get on-topic. I know what MeshMaker is, and I only leaved it because brush->mesh conversion bugs.

Actually, the major reason was lack of animation support, but I may be wrong, is it actually possible to animate the mesh with e.g. a mover or multiple input brushes (each representing a frame)?

Sincere thanks, Gustavo.