MDLOps vs newer tools?

[redrob41]

As many of the long time members here will know, I had been using MDLOps 7a2 with GMax in 3DS Max, and Taina's Replacer for the longest time. For the past 6 months or so I have switched to MDLOps 1.0.2, KotorMax in 3DS Max and have been enjoying the successes. I like how it allows me to fix more than just xyz coordinates and uvw maps; now I can also fix vertex welds, bone weights, and smooth groups. I was merrily working on more of my 4x Upscale+ mods, and recently started doing PC heads. But, I ran into a snag with PMHC04, PMHH01, and others in TSL. Some of them come out looking like this:

Spoiler

PMHC04 on the left is mangled. PMHC03 on the right works great.

When I did the PMHC04 above, all I did was use MDLOps 1.0.2 to make the mdl.ascii file, renamed it, ran it back through MDLOps 1.0.2 to make the bin.mdl & mdx (with "Head model fix link to neck_g" checked) then renamed files and moved to Override folder. I had previously worked on it with much more extensive edits, but every time it would be messed up in-game.

PMHC03 on the other hand, I had loaded the ascii into KotorMax and made many changes to it. I broke some of the vertices and welded others; I modified the uvw map and the smooth groups. This was all to get rid of the stretched triangle that went from the back of the head to the base of the flat top bangs. After exporting it, I recompiled to binary and dropped them in the override. This one worked really well. I wish they all went like this.

I'm just wondering if there is a setting or something that MDLOps needs, or if I need to hex edit the binary mdl or text edit the ascii mdl or something else? I found out that if the file path and file name is too long, that it can cause problems with read/write in MDLOps, but I don't think that is the issue here.

I haven't tried MDLedit yet, is there any tutorials for it? Are there future compatibility issues for re-modding the resultant mdl?

I figure that this issue will also affect every head model that I tried to fix a long time ago (TSL Head Model Fixes) since the three mangled heads I've gotten so far coincide with it. I'd really like to be able to fix those head models for good.

I've attached three of the ascii models, just in case someone wants to take a peek.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

PMHC04-kotormax-Export5-FixUVWsmooth.mdl.ascii PMHH01-kotormax-Export1-FixUVW.mdl.ascii pfhc03-kotormax-Export2-FixUVW.mdl.ascii

[DarthParametric]

Try these: TSL_PMHC04_Test.zip

Imported your ASCII into KMax, re-exported, loaded into MDLEdit and saved as binary. Loaded the binary into KBlender, looked fine, exported as new binary.

[redrob41]

36 minutes ago, DarthParametric said:

Try these: TSL_PMHC04_Test.zip

Imported your ASCII into KMax, re-exported, loaded into MDLEdit and saved as binary. Loaded the binary into KBlender, looked fine, exported as new binary.

Thanks for the effort, but they don't seem to work any better in-game than mine. Hmmm. My ascii looks just fine in 3DS Max; it seems that it is only after compiling it to binary that the problems start.

Spoiler

Files from MDLEdit folder.

Spoiler

Files from KBlender folder.