Hello all!

I’ve got several questions about compiling character models. First I’ll give you an overview of the stuff I use/got:

- Source SDK
- Half Life 2 - Orange Box
- mdldecompiler
- GCFScape
- XSI Mod Tool
- VTFEdit
- GUIStudioMDL

With these tools I should be able to extract a character (models and textures) from the game packages (GCFScape), decompile it (mdldecompiler), modify textures(VTFEdit, GIMP), let the *.smd files point to these new textures (XSI) and recompile the model (GUIStudioMDL).

These steps work pretty well, but I have some problems with placing the new textures in the SteamApps folder, so the model can actually find them. When I use the Source SDK model viewer, I get the nice black and purple checkered stuff.[B] Which folder should I create/use to make the new textures available to the game (and do I have to do anything else)?[/B]

Another question concerning this toppic (which is a little more advanced I guess) is:
[B]If I changed the model (.smd files) in XSI (i.e. Removed Eli’s leg-prothesis (i.e. his fake leg)), how do I recompile the model properly (for all i care it can use the normal walking behavior, it’s not gonna walk anyway :wink:)?[/B]

Thanks in advance for any solutions!

I’m just getting started on tackling this stuff, but I think I can help you. 

For your first problem:  When you decompile the model, make note of the directory structure.  Which game are you modding for?  If it’s Ep2, you need to create some new directories.  When I extracted my content, it created this structure:
C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\EXTRACTED\ep2\materials\models\Eli

So, go into C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\(username)\half-life 2 episode two\ep2\ You need to create a materials directory (unless there’s one already).  Then you need to create a models\Eli folder under that.  So you’re final structure should look C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\(username)\half-life 2 episode two\ep2\materials\models\Eli.  Copy the extracted vtf and vmt files into your new directory.  (I use Photoshop instead of GIMP, so I’m not sure how it’s different).  Open the vtf file in GIMP.  Modify it (change the hue or something, so you can see the difference).  Save it as same name. 

Opened up eli_sheet.vmt file in notepad.
“VertexLitGeneric”
{
// Original shader: VertexLitTexture
// Original shader: VertexLitTexture
“$basetexture” “models/eli/eli_sheet”
“$bumpmap” “models/eli/eli_sheet_normal”
“$halflambert” 1
“$nodecal” “1”
“$phong” “1”
“$phongboost” “4”
“$phongexponenttexture” “models/eli/eli_sheet_phong”
“$phongalbedotint” “1”
“$phongfresnelranges” “[.1 .5 1]”
}

Comment out a bunch of stuff to see if it loads your new texture:
“VertexLitGeneric”
{
// Original shader: VertexLitTexture
// Original shader: VertexLitTexture
“$basetexture” “models/eli/eli_sheet”
// “$bumpmap” “models/eli/eli_sheet_normal”
// “$halflambert” 1
// “$nodecal” “1”
// “$phong” “1”
// “$phongboost” “4”
// “$phongexponenttexture” “models/eli/eli_sheet_phong”
// “$phongalbedotint” “1”
// “$phongfresnelranges” “[.1 .5 1]”
}

If you open the model in the model viewer, it should show your new texture (no need to recompile model).

If you want to reference a different texture with a different name, you need to modify the vmt file as well as the qc file and recompile.  The thing to look for in the qc file is:

//location of the material file
$cdmaterials “models/(whatever directory)/”

TIP:  Whenever you have a texture for a model, it needs to go in a subfolder ‘models’ under /materials/.  So it need to be something like materials/models/mymodel/ directory.

Hope that answers question 1.  Second problem is more advanced…

For part 2, I’d try taking a look at some of the other threads I created - primarily the TUTORIALS threads.  That should give you an idea on how to get a character to use existing animations.  (I’ve just started to get a handle on this...)

Thanks for the replies! I made the directory structure like you said, but I haven’t seen it working yet. This is because I don’t want to change the textures on the original model, since I have several deviations of the same model.

After trying to recompile the models I wanted to use (which obviously failed), I started a search on the internet. This resulted in the following:
The decompiler I used (Cannonfodder’s mdldecompiler) can only work with mdl’s of version 44, but The Orange Box contains models of version 48. This resulted in a few .smd files which I could import in XSI, but some errors creep into the files, which prevent the recompilation.

Is there a proper working decompiler for .mdl v48 out there?