Mod geo for floors/walls to up res

[Zombiewells 7]

Just wanted to know where to find wall/floor meshes so I up res, add pipes, etc. I feel like hitting some of the old environments would add a ton. I have made a new door, and added geo to char meshes, but cant seem to find environments floor panels, wall, etc to mess around with. Using Kotor Tools and MDLEdit

[DarthParametric 3,782]

6 hours ago, Zombiewells said:

floor panels, wall, etc

Sounds like you are expecting a modular or tile-based system like Dragon Age Origins or Neverwinter Nights. KOTOR doesn't use either of those systems for its levels. It uses a room-based system, where each "room" (be it an actual indoor room or an arbitrary outdoor chunk) is a complete model. Said room model will be comprised of numerous meshes, split by diffuse and lightmap texture, plus walkmeshes, lights, emitters, etc. Due to the way walkmesh room linking works, you'll want to load entire level layouts (LYT) into KMax or KBlender to work on a given room.

[Zombiewells 7]

Thank you and makes sense! I suppose now I would ask how to get the LYT in to Max. I see the importer in the KOTORMAX but it only brings in nodes ( Example: mgf_ebonhawk.lyt, (1KB)). I assume its trying to point towards other files. What files do I need to extract, and in what dir/file structures do I need to have them in? Sorry I know this question has been asked before. 

[DarthParametric 3,782]

Extract the LYT and VIS. Extract the MDL/MDXs and their matching WOKs. Decompile the models to ASCII with MDLEdit (if using KMax - KBlender can load the binary models directly). Put the files in a folder together. In order to have KMax actually import the models when loading a LYT, you need to tick the "With Models" checkbox and add in the filename filter so it can find them. In the case of MDLEdit, that will be "-mdledit":

For example, in the case of the Endar Spire Command Deck layout, m01aa.lyt, the first room model is "M01aa_01a" but the filename for the ASCII model (when decompiled with MDLEdit) is "m01aa_01a-mdledit.mdl.ascii", so you need to enter that suffix so that KMax knows to exclude it.

By the way, if you haven't already you will want to extract all the textures from the game (extract the TPCs and use TPCView to batch convert them to TGAs). Then in Max go to Customize -> Configure User Paths -> External Files and click the Add button to pop up a browser to select the folder where the textures are. Now KMax can automatically load the textures when loading a model.

[Zombiewells 7]

I keep running into max errors, I tried to find solves online and followed some other steps/versions of the same steps you have above, but no luck. Just wondering if I am doing something wrong here.

 

Also just running through the mods, mod set up, youtube mod vids and all that. Just wondering why I am not seeing geo up res mods. Adding more verts to char, environment, props. It mostly looks like up res/modded textures. I am sure, and know of teams that have tried to port it, other passion projects. Just curious why theres not a version of KOTOR with updated meshes.

Also thank you for your time and help!

Edited July 20, 2023 by Zombiewells
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[DarthParametric 3,782]

The error could be an issue with Max, although it would be more helpful if you showed the actual error message. I recall there were some material issues due to changes under the hood in more recent versions. @JCarter426 can you expound on that and provide your fix?

6 hours ago, Zombiewells said:

Just curious why theres not a version of KOTOR with updated meshes.

Because it's a lot of work. In particular, once you start altering area meshes then you have to rebake all new lightmaps, and that's a bastard of a job. Add to that that the tools to handle area models fully have really only been around for the last five years or so, long past the peak of the game's modding activity.

[JCarter426 1,214]

I posted my fix in the KOTORmax bug reporting thread.

[Zombiewells 7]

Alright!!! Everything seems to be working so far. I have the lvl, all the textures in, and can edit geo, (did a quick test on the chairs first room) This is amazing! I'll poke back if I run into anything/have anything to show as I dig in  thank you DathParametric and thank you JCarter426. It was just that, the phy mats in the new max. Huge thanks again! I know its never easy showing people the ropes and just wanted to say that I appreciate all the responses, your both awesome!