Zones and portals in 3dsmax?

[djmj]

Hi, i used Maya for PainKiller levels, Zones and portals are working. Using 3dsmax8 works except if i try to export zones or portals. ase2mpk just do nothing, no errors or some log i could read. If i try to use the -l <suffix> to tell the converter my shadow map files, doesnt work, iam forced to use the _L_000 to get it work, that is the default without the -l suffix. I dont like Mental ray in Maya6, tried to export From Maya7 using epics actorx, then ase2mpk, ase2mpk couldnt read my ase file though........

In maya Zones couild be namned like "Zone1_something"..."Portal_etc"... That doesnt work in Max. There are no docs about this either :(

If someone figured this out, please let me know......
Thanks in advance...
Cheers
Johan saethao

BTW I tried to use fbx to export from 3dsmax8 into Maya6. FBX doesnt support multiple UV channels. I wanted to bake shadows using VRay, looks better and it´s ten times faster...

[PeTjA]

Im not good in modelling in Maya or 3dsmax. I would try to PM Varus or Jaspos (they using this forum too), they made new maps for singleply. Links to there pages:

Varus: http://www.hall-of-pain-666.de.vu/
Jaspos: http://www.planetunreal.com/jaspos/painkiller/

or PM them in this forum

Varus: http://dreamcatcherinteractive.com/forums/member.php?find=lastposter&t=25974
Jaspos: http://dreamcatcherinteractive.com/forums/member.php?find=lastposter&t=24091

[Jaspos]

As long as you have zone in the max object name it should export as a zone ok ( Pain Engine - MPK Substrings.pdf ). You might check that you have a map applied to the zone object, else it won't export. Any texture will do.

When doing render to texture for light maps, try checking the "render to files only" checkbox. You may need to click the " Clear Shell Materials " tab to clear changes that max does when you render without the "render to files only" checked. Check that mapping co-ordinates are set to channel 2.

[djmj]

Thanks....I will try to export Zones once again. Portals should be convex, thats a solid box. Other engines using concave, like a plane or something as a portal. In the docs about portal and zones it said convex shape though.

Thanks for the tip, i will try to export from 3dsmax again.

Maybe i will ask for a screen of two rooms inside each zone, connected with portals. But i will try my hardest to figure this out.

Yesterday when i exported a new test level from Maya6, the editor chrashed before importing the level. Maybe i doing something wrong with zones and portals.........

Thanks man.
Johan SaeThao

[djmj]

My bad Jaspos, i never read "Pain Engine - MPK Substrings.pdf ". Just the info i was looking for :) But in the other docs "Pain Engine - Zones and Portals.pdf" They only talking about convex shapes, regarding portals. The portal should be concave like it says in "Pain Engine - MPK Substrings.pdf ".

Thanks once again Jaspos.......

BestRegards
Johan SaeThao

[Jaspos]

'Portals should be convex, thats a solid box."
No. Portals should be convex, but a flat 2D shape.
Pain Engine - MPK Substrings.pdf
- "portal" = portal (object must be a 2d plane oriented along x, y or z axis of
the world)

[djmj]

And if others have problem.

I forget to assign mtrl for zones and portals. They must have mtrl...
Now everything works like a dream. Testing other sub strings, cool :)

Would be nice to have a script, push a button "after selecting an object" automatically baking lightingmaps and assign the proper texture file in the ambient slot. One of my must do, or try to do things....

Cheers
Johan SaeThao

[Jaspos]

"I forget to assign mtrl for zones and portals. They must have mtrl... "
Indeed...Like I said. "You might check that you have a map applied to the zone object, else it won't export. Any texture will do."

"Would be nice to have a script, push a button "after selecting an object" automatically baking lightingmaps and assign the proper texture file in the ambient slot."
The macro recorder doesn't seem to record actions using the render to texture dialogue so you will prolly need to create a plugin to do this if you can. I find it best to use the nvidia dds plugins to view dds textures in a normal window and drag and drop them from your levels texture folder onto the max object or selected poly's. Max assigns the material and id and you just need to render and export as needed. I also recommend using Blur Scripts. There are a few very useful scripts in there to aid editing, like the get material script which takes materials from the scene or object and puts them in the materail editor.