Topic: MilkShape Problem

[GotAFarmYet?]

Everytime I Export a ship from milkshape the ship gets brighter, all the shadows is removed. Ho w do I prevent Milkshape from doing this?

-GAFY?

[Red_Green]

Do you mean going from the .3ds file to .mod format? Want to clarify sice there are different files it can export to. I do not recall running into this. I know I have exported to a mod file and then not been able to load the mod file because no texture was assigned.

If I had to guess, it might have something to do with specular or emmisive settings under the material tab. Maybe try playing around with the slider bar. How many texture maps are assigned to the model? Another possiblity is milk seems to have a mlimit to total number of groups you have. About 50 or so. Sometimes when I get close to that amount or have a lot of polies 12k+ a few errors start to happen.

Thats all I can think of at the moment. Good luck sorting it out. Remember to keep your stick on the ice.

Edit- I forgot to ask, do you have a light map assigned? If not then the specual settings wouldn't apply. How are you viewing it in the window? As smooth shaded or as textured?

[GotAFarmYet?]

The way it goes, and it happens with every model, is this.

Take a *.mod file for SFC 2 and import that ship.
Saving it as a 3ds or not makes no difference.
Export that *.mod file as *2.mod (so I can compare and see if I made errors)

Looki at that *2.mod file in the taldren viewer
the difference is that the *2 is noticable brighter that *.mod, now if *2.mod can get back into MS (and it not always does) I can make other versions from that one and it gets no brighter. So you are correct it is a setting some where because it does it to every file I import and export.

Will play with thise sliders and see what happens.

[Red_Green]

Are you using the latest milk plugins. Earlier versions had some issues with importing texters in mod format. Check Chumbalum site (Sp?) Not sure of address but a googe search should turn it up. I do think that as long as the textures are not looking totaling screwed up that all you might need to do is reassign the light map. Under materials the light map is the second tabe marked none in the example I posted since no model was loaded. When you import try removing the lightmap where the orange highlighted tab is, then reassign it. If need be try sliding the specular and emiisve pointers to the oppsite end. I seem to remember that milk would reverse the spec and emmisve settings when importing some mod files. So just resetting the spec and emissive might do it.

[GotAFarmYet?]

Pretty much the page I see

Using MilkShape 1.7.7a

Using the Assimilation Software plugins release 4

Will play with the ship later tonight to see if it works or not don't have the time right now but in the pic you have 2 sliders the one on the right controls brightness on the main texture what does the slider on the left do?

[Red_Green]

The left slider contols both the ambient and specualr settings. If you want to adjust specular you click that tab and move the slider below. If you select AMbient you use the same slider below specular but since ambient is selected this is what would be adjusted.

The right slider adjusts both diffuse and emmissve. Only one at a time obviously depending on which tab is depressed. I have found that diffuse and ambient have little effect. The important ones are specular and emmissive. If the slider for these settings is off it can do what you describe is happening with the entire ship being too bright. Just play around with all 4 and see what happens. I think this will probably sort out the issue you have. Try it with a no light map and then assign a light map and adjust the sliders. If the light map is adjusted correctly it with appear translucent in milk with the lit up parts enhanced. If its set wrong either the entire ship is black or too light. Be sure to use texture view to be able to see what effect the sliders have.

[Red_Green]

Forgot to mention this. This part is more IMPORTANT. I think I have the same issue as you, only i rarely import mod files so forgot about it. What certain versions of milk did was they switch the lightmap color from white to black or visa vera. Uploaded another pic to show that you need to click specular and then a color chart pops up. The color selected is hightling by a dotted square. You don't actually want a color. You either use black or white. So if your messed up mod file has black selected try white or visa versa. I have not assigned lightmaps in a while and would need to export and check in game to be sure wether to use white on both specular and emmisive or if its black on one and white on the other.

I put arrows where you would either select black or white. I am 98% sure this is exactly where your problem is.

Again try this on specular AND emmisve both. Don't need not worry about ambient or diffuse worry. 

[intermech]

When you import a *.mod into milkshape, it automatically has an emissive color of white. To make it look normal again, choose black for emissive. Now, when you export into *.mod format, "ambient," "specularity," "difuse," and "emissive" settings are all lost because the *.mod format does not support those features and the game has other ways of doing those. So, when you re-import it, the assimsolft plugin chooses these settings. You just have to go back and change them.

[Red_Green]

When you import a *.mod into milkshape, it automatically has an emissive color of white. To make it look normal again, choose black for emissive. Now, when you export into *.mod format, "ambient," "specularity," "difuse," and "emissive" settings are all lost because the *.mod format does not support those features and the game has other ways of doing those. So, when you re-import it, the assimsolft plugin chooses these settings. You just have to go back and change them.

What he said.... there you go. I thought it was a bug but that clears it up and makes it sound so much simpler than my 20 page disertation. 
I wasn't sure how to explain it. But I had pictures

[GotAFarmYet?]

Works to a point still not the same coming out as going in. It could just be I need to play with it more to fully learn and understand what is going on.

-GAFY?

[Terradyhne]

could be a mesh problem, never had such a problem but i model my ships in Milkshape and than using LithUnwrap and its optimize Tool to eliminate duplicate and bad polys and vertexes