HEXEN II community work and discussion

[Spike]

the mdl format does kinda suck. all 3 of them.
I do otherwise understand seven's sentiment.
are there really no true hexen2 engines that do support md3?

[talisa]

@JD
if you look closely at the exported model you can see exactly what i said in my last post why i dont want to make my items as mdl

all of the decorations got completely messed-up by the imprecision of vertex-positions of the mdl model-format....
just look at how it ended up looking when converted to an mdl, it looks absolutely horrible

also, the transparency of the gem is completely gone cuz of the fact
all the textures of all parts have to be combined into a single non-transparent texture

.

i have noesis myself and know it can convert any model into an mdl,
but the limits of the mdl file-format would mean my models would get ruined,
as you can very clearly tell on the one you converted

[JDSTONE]

PSST... JUST USE NOESIS...

https://anonfiles.com/file/78949fa35...ac7e66b6bfde71

HEAR IS YOU LAST MODEL AS A MDL SKIN AND ALL...

[talisa]

these models are several thousands of polys, and the polycount limit of mdl is just to low for them.
id have to remove a lot of detail from them to be able to export them as mdl.

also, the imprecision of position of vertexes with mdl is not sufficient for these detailed models.
converting them to mdl would mean the models wont look the same cuz of vertexes being moved by the conversion.

lastly, these items all consist out of multiple models exported into a single md3 to be able to use multiple textures. this is a feature mdl does not support.

the only item which has a low enough polycount to be able to be mdl is the quartz-flask, but this item consists out of multiple models as well,
which was neccesary to be able to have transparency on the glass and the liquid without getting alpha-sorting problems.

.

so cuz of these reasons converting these mdl is not possible cuz the items wont be able to look the same.

and it would require a whole lot of effort and time to re-work the other items which dont have transparency
to be able to use a single texture instead of multiple and lower their polycount to a low enough amount to be able to export them as mdl.

im not willing to sacrifice all the detail id have to remove from my models, and to have to spend a ton of hours
reworking these models to be able to re-export them as MDL just for compatibility with other engines which only support mdl

so im sorry but i wont re-work these items to meet the low limits of the mdl format.

[Seven]

That looks really nice.

Are you aware, that also several other Hexen2 engines besides FTE support replacement models ?

You can surely convert a .md3 model (if this is what you uploaded) into a regular .mdl model so that all Hexen2 replacement model supporting engines can use it.

The positive side effect:
All replacement supporting Hexen2 engines (including FTE) will be able to use it.
And you will not notice any difference (.md3 compared to .mdl) of small models like these in-game.

The H2 engines I know share the same subfolder structure/naming for replacement content, so ...

Best regards.

[talisa]

made a hi-poly replacement model for the amulet of protection

just like the other models i made its for use in fteQW

DOWNLOAD AMULET OF PROTECTION


personally i though the original model was quite bleh,
so i designed a new amulet from scratch inspired by the two brooches i posted here

so its quite different from the original model, but i hope you all will like in anyway


instructions for usage: same as for the other models i made

to use it drop the pk3 into the 'data1' folder,
and in 'texture options' make sure the 'load replacements' option is enabled

[Spike]

#define MF_SPECIAL_TRANS 32768
is some sort of 4-bit palette index combined with a 4-bit alpha value.
I have absolutely no idea how to convert to that format though.
easiest way is to use that flag (to ensure you get the right blending modes, hexedit it?) and to then just use some replacement texture with full 32bit precision (8 per channel - including alpha channel, anyway).

[Mathuzzz]

Seven; szo; Korax; spike,
earlier this year I was trying to figure out partial transparency on model skins, but ended only with models entirely translucent. I thought it was not possible, however when you look on Death (hub 2 boss), he does have partial transparent texture, so it must be possible, however I havenīt figure out how to accomplish that.

[Mathuzzz]

I wanted to ask Quark users, how do you import new textures? I know how to create texture add-on and everything, but how to import textures so they properly work and display in the game? I wanted to use some Heretic 2 textures, tried it with one, but got strange parsing brush error.

EDIT:
Ok, got it solved! there was problem with texture names...

[Amran]

Came across the files for the v220 map converter I had released in this topic some time back, and decided to give it a bit of an update.

Its primary purpose is to allow for level building using Valve's Hammer Editor by converting a maps format to that of Quake1, Quake2, Quake3, and variant engine types (including HexenII). It also has the ability to run compilers with user specified arguments on the converted file, and then launch it in its respective game (keeping the process of building levels with Hammer as simple as clicking a button). Check out the documentation for a full writeup of what else it can do.

Also released with this tool are updated versions of the HexenII and Quake1 FGDs, and full in-editor model support for each (over 300 models, including all point entities). Useful even without MapConv.

MapConv and the other downloads are available here:
220 Map Converter

[talisa]

thanx ardamax

[ArDaMaX]

looks awesome, soon when i get another sata data cable in the mail going to hook up another harddrive and should have room for this treat




edit: Yw Yea looks much cooler than Stock Hexen II imo

[talisa]

ho ho ho.... it's santa talisa, with a lil' present for the hexen2 community!


made a hi-poly crossbow as replacement for the assassin's crossbow for use with FTEQW!

it also includes the arrows fired, but i wasnt able to make a pic of them cuz they fly so fast
but its the exact same arrow thats also on top of the hud-crossbow

.

as you mightve noticed, its not based on the original crossbow,
but instead its a mix between these two real crossbows: THIS ONE and THIS ONE

DOWNLOAD IT HERE!

merry Xmas to the hexen2 community!
hope y'all will enjoy my gift!

.

lemme know what you think of it

[talisa]

@TR2N
that question has no one answer, it all depends on your preferences which engine and such you should use.
if you want the most fancy id recommend to try FTEQW, which supports replacement textures and models and RT-lights like darkplaces

and check out the stuff on inkub0's site: Hexen 2 Texture Pack

and i myself have made glossmaps for some of the textures for use with FTEQW:
HeXen2 gloss-maps 0.1
rtex011 + rtex021 gloss

inkub0 has also made RT-lights for the first couple maps, but im afraid i cant find them. they're supposed to be somewhere in this thread but i cant seem to find them.
so you'd have to search for those yourself

[TR2N]

Hi guys,

very interesting thread! I have Hexen2 in euro box and it could be nice to play this game again - after so many years. Can someone point me, what i should use (Engine, Textures). Sorry that i ask, but this thread is a hell to read through!