BPV and SHT?

[rosuto]

So ive been working on an exporter from 3dmax to msh using the info Xunil has put together. While it seems to work quite well right now, theres two other areas I want to push into to make the and Im having trouble either finding info, or understanding them.

The first is the bytes per vertex in the msh file. I know like nothing about modeling and just started this like 3 weeks ago. So how in the world would you be able to assign multiple uv points to a single vertex?

Xunils MSH data

Also does anyone know what the shader file data mean. I understand the texture file, but the other data is kinda of like ????

 

[Timbab]

No idea if you're actually looking for what .sht is, so I'll just explain it.

Well, .sht files link to a .dds (texture) and an .eft (effect) file, the texture as you said is obvious, the .eft links to the actual shaders (.psh - pixel shader / .vsh - vertex shader) and can also do multi pass shading (but I still need to figure out the right node structure for it.

Or are you looking for more in depth information on the actual nodes and bytes?

 

[rosuto]

So the sht is a link file, not a shader file if I understood that correctly. I will change that info in my exporter. So there is three forms in it. Two is the texture link, three is the shader link. Whats number one?

Ive looked at a few and have set mine up to go
0000803F - does that 8 times
00000000 - does that 4 times
0000803f - does that 1 time
00000000 - does that 3 times
0000A041- does that 1 time

I have no idea what it means, but it produces results. And I will try to locate some .psh and .vsh files to take a look at them. I would love to make it nice, so all you need to do is type in all the info, hit export, and wala, done.

 

[Timbab]

Yea the .sht is a link file pretty much.

For more detailed info you'll need to contact Uli or something, best bet is on the Emu forums. I suck with the whole hex and node stuff for now.

Looking forward to seeing your progress!

 

[rosuto]

So I added the code to export an sht file along with the msh file. How many it makes depends on if you want one for each object. Nothing fancy, all it really does it link the texture and the default effect. I also sent Uli a pm to see if I could get any more info about the node stuff.

Ive also spent some time optimizing and streamlining the exporter. Objects like 30,000+ verts and 50,000+ faces take about 10 seconds to export instead of hours. Array checkers are soo much faster than loop checkers. Also, if you save the msh file into the swgemu directory, it will put the sht files into the shader folder. Still needs more testing, just to see what I can break or what not.

 

[Aigik]

Awesome work! I've been working on a graphics update to SWG, and part of that is making new models... unfortunately I have no way of getting them in game quite yet. When do you plan on releasing this? Is it possible you could upload the latest version even if it's heavily WIP? You'd be my hero.

 

[rosuto]

Thanks. So Im pretty close to being done with .msh extractor since I just figured out how to do multi texture and vertex coloring support. Its currently coded but hasnt been properly tested. Right now I need to rewrite the .sht creator to support the new features in the msh extractor, and I decided to give full support to most of the features in the .sht file. So when Im done with that and I can boot into game without crashing, then I will probably release an alpha version for testing. Might need to write an FAQ first or something, lol.

 

[Aigik]

Thanks. So Im pretty close to being done with .msh extractor since I just figured out how to do multi texture and vertex coloring support. Its currently coded but hasnt been properly tested. Right now I need to rewrite the .sht creator to support the new features in the msh extractor, and I decided to give full support to most of the features in the .sht file. So when Im done with that and I can boot into game without crashing, then I will probably release an alpha version for testing. Might need to write an FAQ first or something, lol.

You're awesome. Keep it up! :heart:

 

[DavinFelth]

You're awesome. Keep it up! :heart:

Just wanted to echo this, it's great to see someone taking the time to make great tools like this and then actually releasing them! Looking forward to it!

 

[rosuto]

Thanks for the support. Ive been working hard on it but will be taking a break for the weekend as I will be away from my computer. But that should give me time to get started on the faq. I think I have been able to gather enough data from the .sht to create something that will work, atleast I hope. The options are all unknowns right now, but hopefully leaving them in with easy to access will allow people to figure out what they do.

Aigik, what 3d software are you using?

 

[Aigik]

I use 3ds Max.

 

[Timbab]

Nice work man, can't wait to play around with it, I urgently need to remap existing models, then I can do some real textures with out the damn mirroring.

 

[Digitalburn]

I use maya, but I also have 3Ds Max, is this exporter Maya compatible or is it 3Ds only?

 

[rosuto]

I coded it in 3Ds Max and Im not sure how much of that code crosses over to Maya.