Build-A-Mech

A section featuring all of Kell's projects and files.
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Skyfaller
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Re: Build-A-Mech

Post by Skyfaller »

It vaguely reminds me of a Crab, a 50-ton inner sphere mech: http://sarna.net/wiki/Crab. Perhaps exchange the arms and legs, use the Mad Cat's?

If you extract mechs with MechVM, you can load and edit them in 3DS Max.

It's a breakthrough, but we need several of those before we can actually add mechs into MW2. Not to mention, there are more than 50 mechs in MercNet, so I don't really see a need for it, but I see how it's a tempting challenge.The biggest hurdle would be feeding the mechs into the shell. Otherwise, we would have to replace the shell, which I have been working on. Another limitation is that the NetMech sim is limited to Clan weapons. With a shell replacement, we would be able to design mechs with inner sphere weapon critical counts and weight, but the sim would use Clan weapon ranges, heat and damage. While we haven't implemented or tested adding new files to the PRJ, that might be possible, too. So there is a way of adding mechs to MW2.
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Col.Kell
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Re: Build-A-Mech

Post by Col.Kell »

Wow, Skyfaller, this program you have made is amazing! This is so much easier to edit things with this than a hexeditor.
The Gargoyle gets a makeover...
The Gargoyle gets a makeover...
mw200002.gif (31.22 KiB) Viewed 18029 times
Notice anything different here on Devin?
Notice anything different here on Devin?
mw20000.gif (22.58 KiB) Viewed 18029 times
Skyfaller, when I insert geometric shapes from a different MW game like Mercs or GBL into the original game, why does it crash if it's the same WTB format?
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Skyfaller
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Re: Build-A-Mech

Post by Skyfaller »

Really cool creations. What are the specs for your easter island mechs? MW2 clan mechs are lacking a 90 ton mech, I think. GBL has the Executioner, a 95-ton mech.

If you like, we could fix this mech to look perfectly normal, i.e. flip the face to front and place it firmly on the hips. Maybe we could even change the size of the head. Just post the mech .BWD or ask me how if want to do it yourself.
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Col.Kell
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Re: Build-A-Mech

Post by Col.Kell »

This is just an edited Gargoyle mech, I never really intended for this to be a new design until I saw some possibilities. The "Easter Island" heads, or "effigy" heads, they came from the Clan Wolf mission "Golden Spade" on planet Morges. I think I replaced GG1_HEAD.WTB with S_BESTRA.WTB. The Vista, which is the computer I run MechVM on, it is not always avalible to me, so I'll have to give you the .BWD some other time.

I've got this 3D editor-program-thing, "3D Milkshape", I am able to open up and actualy edit MW2 shapes after I have exported and saved .OBJ files through MechVM! :D

Only problem is.... I don't have a way of exporting the shapes back to .WTB format. Do you have something that would do that? Or am I just screwed? :lol:

P.S., I have a lot more to discuss, but I think I will talk/show it in the MechVM forums.
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Skyfaller
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Re: Build-A-Mech

Post by Skyfaller »

As discussed in this thread, I don't know yet how to transform OBJ's back to WTB's.
Until we figure out exactly how textures are assigned to polygons, we can use only workarounds. For example, if you edit a mesh by moving and transforming vertices, but not changing the connectivity or the order of vertices in the file, we might try to reinsert the changed points into the WTB. I can't tell yet whether that works. Figuring out texturing works might lead to a better solution, but it would be more work.
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Col.Kell
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Re: Build-A-Mech

Post by Col.Kell »

Look what I did by swapping around some .BWDs!
Dropship1.gif
Dropship1.gif (32.6 KiB) Viewed 17986 times
''Wingmates''.gif
''Wingmates''.gif (42.03 KiB) Viewed 18079 times
Cool, eh?
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Pepsi-Wolf
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Re: Build-A-Mech

Post by Pepsi-Wolf »

very nice aerotech fighters
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Ego homini Lupus

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Col.Kell
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Re: Build-A-Mech

Post by Col.Kell »

This was probably one of my easiest mods.
What I did, was run MechVM, and replaced the Marauder's BWD with the DROPA.BWD to get the dropship. I replaced the Stormcrow's BWD with AIRCRAFTC.BWD to get those cool aerotechs! I replaced BWDs that were similar in memory size since the game acts all funny when they are two whole different sizes. I.E., replace a little file with a huge one.

Was that type of aerotech ever in the game other then when it was grounded? :?
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Re: Build-A-Mech

Post by Col.Kell »

Skyfaller, I must confess, I was wrong; you CAN import WTBs from the other MW2 games, look at this pix below and tell me what you think this looks like:
Awesome head on Marauder Chassis.
Awesome head on Marauder Chassis.
Awesome.gif (23.31 KiB) Viewed 20109 times
At the time I did not realize that the PRJ would react badly when MechVM replaced a file with a new file larger than the original. But the problem is that most Mercs chassis and limbs are much larger in data size then 31cc, but the Awesome head was actualy smaller than the Marauder head, so that worked out just fine.

There are also some pretty cool shipshapes, buildings, and other mechs and stuff that are in the Merc's PRJ that could be used in 31cc, that opens a whole new field of mod options! :D
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Skyfaller
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Re: Build-A-Mech

Post by Skyfaller »

Sorry to hear that you are running into trouble with replacing files with larger files. The current solution to this is little more than a hack which works in some cases. I can take a look if I there's a bug, but it may well be that adding files cleanly requires rebuilding the entire PRJ. Probably doable, but not fun. However, this would also solve adding files.

One question about the Awesome/Marauder hybrid: what does it look like in normal viewing mode? This might give clues about how texturing works. Do you see a normal camo texture? Please post a screenshot.
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