Split mesh to use separate textures, now it's invisible

[Ashton Scorpius 110]

So, I decided to try re-working a Darth Sion wearable robes mod I started a while back. Originally, I'd gone into GIMP and combined PMBAM and N_SionA textures so that the model could have one unique texture. I'd been borrowing bare male chest textures from this mod for testing purposes. This mod was never released because I have no artistic ability of my own and didn't intend on stealing the author's work.

I thought that maybe it would be better in the meantime to have the model use the pre-existing textures. In order to do this, I used KOTORmax to split the torso into two separate meshes. I linked the new mesh (lower torso) to the OdysseyBase and to the best of my ability added bones and removed unnecessary bones from the upper torso mesh. When I exported a model that was successfully able to be converted back to binary (via MDLedit), this was the result, both the upper and lower torso meshes appearing invisible:

Spoiler

The meshes are set to render and I checked to make sure no normals were inverted, so I'm not sure where I went wrong. There's nothing wrong with the shadows' animations so I assume it's not a bone thing. I found this topic where someone who had a similar invisibility issue, but that was for an area model and had to do with lightmapping. The ascii model I imported into gmax was exported out of Blender so I don't know if that had anything to do with it either.

 

[JCarter426 1,193]

38 minutes ago, Ashton Scorpius said:

I linked the new mesh (lower torso) to the OdysseyBase and to the best of my ability

Did you use the Fast Linker in KOTORMax/KOTORBlender, or just your modeling program's link tool?

[Ashton Scorpius 110]

4 minutes ago, JCarter426 said:

Did you use the Fast Linker in KOTORMax/KOTORBlender, or just your modeling program's link tool?

I used gmax's link tool. Does that cause issues like mine?

[JCarter426 1,193]

It might, or at least it did in the past.

[Ashton Scorpius 110]

@JCarter426 So I just tried using KOTORmax's fast link tool instead. Didn't change anything.

[JCarter426 1,193]

Hmm, if you import the ASCII you exported back into Gmax, are the torso meshes there at all?

If not, that means they either still weren't linked properly or failed to export for some other reason.

[Ashton Scorpius 110]

3 minutes ago, JCarter426 said:

Hmm, if you import the ASCII you exported back into Gmax, are the torso meshes there at all?

They're still there.

[JCarter426 1,193]

Hmm, that is odd. They're definitely linked and exporting, but obviously something is wrong.

What about loading animations onto the model in Gmax? It's possible the meshes are there, but the skin data is messed up and sending them off into an unseen part of the area.

[Ashton Scorpius 110]

5 minutes ago, JCarter426 said:

What about loading animations onto the model in Gmax? It's possible the meshes are there, but the skin data is messed up and sending them off into an unseen part of the area.

How does one load animations?

[JCarter426 1,193]

Select the Odyssey Base, then in the KOTORMax MDL Loading panel, select Import Anims Only and browse for a model that has animations. S_Male02 has most of them; I've attached an ASCII for it.

s_male02-mdledit.mdl.ascii

[Ashton Scorpius 110]

@JCarter426 Thanks for attaching that ascii. The torso skins aren't moving with the animations.

Edit: After removing and adding bones again, the skin now shows up and animates, so that's progress. Detached from the arms, though.

[JCarter426 1,193]

Sounds like the skin modifier got messed up at some point. If it were 3ds Max I'd try a skin wrap using the original model, but I'm not sure if Gmax has that option.

[DarthParametric 3,706]

No, GMax lacks Skin Wrap. And in Max you are better off using SkinUtilities if you trying to remap weights to a modified version of the same mesh. Far more accurate.

In any event, if you are trying to split a mesh without destroying the skin then the way to do it is, starting with the original single mesh, select all the polys you wish to either keep or split off (whichever is easier), then make a copy of the mesh (make sure it's an actual unique copy and not a clone). Now on one mesh delete the selected polys, and on the other invert the selection and delete. Now you have your mesh split with the original skin weights intact.