Exporting to MDL with MilkShape? Created 18 years ago2006-06-27 02:41:44 UTC by Biax

Hey, I'm working on some models, and I want to export to .mdl format. The only option is .smd format. So I fiddled a bit, exported a .smd, generated a .qc and tried to get the right values in there, and compile it, but I really have no solid idea of what I'm doing.
Could anyone give me an idea, or point me to a tutorial or something? I'd appreciate it. :

I really have no idea about modeling, but there's some tutorial here on TWHL, and I think it might have what you're looking for... Maybe.

Decompile an existing mdl model. And then place your model over the other model and delete the other model. Assign your new model to a joint and then export it as smd. Compile now =)

I dont seem to be able to decompile either. I tried decompiling the zombie model and nothing happened...no files created??

Decompiling should work, really.

Anyway, here's a typical .qc file with some additional comments, I hope that explains all you need to know.
As for .smd files, there are two types of em: one contains the mesh data, the actual model shape, the other contains animation data. A model should always have at least one animation, even when it'll never moves - the animation then simply is just pretty empty. You'll be given the choice between mesh and animation .smd when exporting, so that shouldn't be a problem. Ok, onto the .qc file:

[quote]// output model name, smd and texture pathnames
$modelname "C:SIERRAHalf-Lifevalvemodelsoutputmodelname.mdl"
$cd "smd_directorysubdir"
$cdtexture "skins_directorysubdir"

// dunno what this was for exactly...
$cliptotextures

// just in case you want to scale up the model
// scaling up the skeleton in Milkshape would mess up all animations
$scale 1.0

// attachments, only usefull if you've got custom code that uses these
$attachment 0 "bone_name1" 20.000000 2.000000 5.000000
$attachment 1 "bone_name2" 20.000000 2.000000 5.000000

// bone controllers, these can be directly controlled by the gamecode
// think of facing upwards/downwards
$controller 0 "bone_name" XR -30 30
$controller 1 "bone_name1" XR -30 30

// hit boxes, again only really for models used by gamecode
$hbox 0 "bone_name" -4.690000 -4.440000 -6.750000 4.000000 5.560000 6.750000

// the smd filename that contains the mesh
$bodygroup body
{

studio "mesh_smd"

}

// sequences, first the sequence name, then the sequence smd filename, then some engine-specific info
// like speed and gamecode tags (for example, ACT_IDLE will be used as an idle animation,
// ACT_IDLE 1 and ACT_IDLE 4 will be used randomly, where ACT_IDLE 4 has a lower use frequency I believe)
$sequence anim_name "anim_smd" loop fps 14 ACT_IDLE 2
$sequence idle "idle" loop fps 14 ACT_IDLE 1
$sequence deep_idle "deep_idle" loop fps 12 ACT_IDLE 4 [/quote]

So essentially, a model that will only be used as a static detail would have a .qc file like this:

[quote]
$modelname "C:SIERRAHalf-Lifevalvemodelsoutputmodelname.mdl"
$cd "smd_directorysubdir"
$cdtexture "skins_directorysubdir"

$cliptotextures

$scale 1.0

$bodygroup body
{

studio "mesh_smd"

}

$sequence anim_name "anim_smd" loop fps 14 ACT_IDLE
[/quote]

Oh, I didnt have any keyframes set in the animation. I set that. This is the error message I get when I try to compile:

"grabbing blood mod/clawHammer(ref).smd
grabbing blood mod/hammer_seq.smd
********** ERROR **********
blood mod/ist2_802833_hammer_with_characte not found"

Can you post the content of your .qc file, as well as describing what files exactly you exported, and with what options?

EDIT: How do you compile? Using the built-in-Milkshape compiler, I assume?