m3d file editing

[mongoose]

Both for m3d model files and mos(in this case) files which are opened with a hex editor, normally I can change a dds file name IF the same length is maintained. How do I deal with a case where I have a given dds file which is longer (or I assume shorter)?

[gecko]

I'd like to know if there is a way to change the length of a texture name too. What I do is make a copy of the texture I need and rename it to something with the right number of characters so I can edit the m3d to call for it.

[mongoose]

Sort of what I thought!

[mongoose]

So... how to make a mos file? I have mos editor but have no idea.

[BorekS]

ideal way is to open (import) any existing .mos file with the MOSEditor. when success, just load (replace) into this open set your own .dds skin, edit the needed layered object content (bulet hole position and size... etc.) and export it as a new .mos file.

the .mos file name must match the texture .dds name, to work ingame, eg.
"myairplane_skin1_t.dds" plus "myairplane_skin1_t.mos"

each skin .dds should have its own .mos file. if the (multi)skins are made wisely, which means same name skin letter count (eg. "myairplane_skin1_t.dds", "myairplane_skin2_t.dds", "myairplane_skin3_t.dds" etc.), you can clone the basic .mos file and hexedit for the current skin name instead of open the Mosaic Editor again and again.

the .mos layer content like the damage bullet holes or so, are called from the CFS3 library, but you can make and import there your own stuff.

this whole .mos feature is designed for airplanes which use one skin .dds file. it will not work if your skin is devided into two or more skin related files (eg. fuselage plus wings). however, you can solve this problem partly with emmitter effect logic. needs to have the gmax 3d source. this way solved gecko the Komet damage profile, if I good rememeber.

[mongoose]

So my first problem seems to be that my MOS editor won't load the t.dds or damage file when I import a selected mos file? Maybe I have to play around with it more.

BTW, thanks Borek for a good explanation.

[gecko]

You will have to show the mos editor where to look for all the textures the mos calls for.

[mongoose]

You will have to show the mos editor where to look for all the textures the mos calls for.

Explain. I ask it to import an existing *_t.mos file which is associated with an existing *_t.dds file and damage file. Are you also referring to all the bullet hole dds files as those I can see but no ac texture file.

BTW what is the relationship between an xmf file and a dds file; how to move or create one from another?

[gecko]

Under options, click the directories option. This is where you add folders where the mos editor will look for textures - this includes bullet holes and other damage textures, noseart and code letters if you're using them, and the main aircraft texture. For simplicity I just copied the bullet holes and other shared textures into a single folder and put that folder inside the Mosaic Editor folder and then created a new folder for each aircraft project I'm working on in the same place to hold the textures specific to that project. I then added those folders to the directories in the mos editor.

xmf and dds have nothing to do with each other. Did you mean xmf and mos? The xmf is basically the source file for the mos. Save as xmf while you're working on it, then export to mos when you're ready to test. You can also import an existing mos (feel free to use any of mine) to see how they are set up and make whatever changes are needed to adapt it to whatever your project is.

[mongoose]

Funny! I was about to edit my post re directory options which I just saw in the help files! You are clearer though. Thanks! I suppose my reworked mos file should then include the longer new texture file names in the hex edit file?

[mongoose]

OK I added the following to the dirctories and I still can't load the texture dds files?

[mongoose]

So I can load some aircraft's mos and dds files so am I correct in assuming that if I can't load some aircraft dds files then there is an incorrect relationship between the mos file's call for a texture.dds file and the actual aircraft's texture dds file name?

[Frosty]

Your question isn't that clear to me (you can't load any textures or are they not visible in the editor? What's the error displayed?) but if they are not visible, you can always go to the individual layers' tabs and select (or reload) textures using the fields and buttons found there (see 'Color' and 'Alpha' tabs and then 'File'). There's also the 'reload' button (F5, if I am not mistaken) after setting the directories according to Daniel's instructions and I think F7 makes all layers visible/unvisible.

Hope you get things to work as desired!

(My Win7 x64 won't run the .mos Editor - even after trying all the fixes found on the web - so can't help you much further at the moment)

[ndicki]

Send it to me, James - I'll have a go when I get a spare minute.

[mongoose]

Well 2 things.
1. I do know the particular mos file I was calling for had texture dds names which didn't in fact match the aircraft texture dds name as I had imported the mos file from another aircraft and had trouble because the new aircraft texture dds name was longer and therfore I couoldn't actually change the dds texture name correctly in the mos file when hex editing it. UInderstandable.
2. It seems the list of sites in the mos editor directory list may have to be more specific and include the actual aircraft texture folder? Yes?

Now if I do open a mos file successfully for another similar aircraft but want to change the base (aircraft texture t.dds, how do I go about it and how later can I save the mos file under the new mos file name WITH the (in this case longer) new texture t.dds name?

@ Nigel. Thanks but hopefully I can learn how to do this. If not I will avail myself of your offer.

@ Joost. Thanks some things to consider.

[hairyspin]

...this whole .mos feature is designed for airplanes which use one skin .dds file. it will not work if your skin is devided into two or more skin related files (eg. fuselage plus wings).

Strictly speaking, the .mos file works only with one .dds texture. A model can have one texture for the wings and fuse with its corresponding .mos file and another for all the fiddly bits, wheel wells etc and the .mos file will still work with the wings and fuse. I did that with the Tempest II.

I suggest asking Nigel how to work with the MOS Editor; he built mine for me.

[BorekS]

yeah, I didnt wrote it right, sorry - I meant the Komet has two main body (skin) standalone dds textures, one for fuselage only + the second one for the wings.

[Foute Man]

i'm actually the cause of james's confusion

the original question by me was: what values do i need to fill in to get a new texure to fit into the mosfile

i've made a lot of standaones of the stock ju88a. texturenames are not ideal for filerenaming, so i made a new set m3d file for the ju88a with longer texturenames in gmax. but you cannot add longer texturenames to the mosfile via hexediting. this needs to be done with the mos editor. this is something i haven't done before

so i loaded a copy of the stock ju88a mosfile, removed the noseart tag and letter tags, changed the damagetexture and loaded the new textures. so far so good, but damage textures pop up very small in the middle of the screen and the new textures are out of frame. exported the mosfile and viewed the aircraft in the m3d viewer, aircraft looked awfull and mismapped. removed the mosfile and viewed the m3d file again in the m3d viewer and textures showed perfect.

so the question is simple, what values do i need to fill in for 1024 textures (scaling and offset) and 2048 textures.

guess some mosfiles won't load in the mosfile editor because of hexediting???????

[mongoose]

So how do you load new base textures?

I'm also still having trouble importing some mos files even with directories being quite specific. one reason I seem to have discovered is that the *_t.dds in the t.mos file may have nothing to do with the associated *_t,dds textures in the current aircraft. This is an issue if in fact the texture dds called for in the mos file isn't in that particular install.

[Foute Man]

So how do you load new base textures?

I'm also still having trouble importing some mos files even with directories being quite specific. one reason I seem to have discovered is that the *_t.dds in the t.mos file may have nothing to do with the associated *_t,dds textures in the current aircraft. This is an issue if in fact the texture dds called for in the mos file isn't in that particular install.

i think i figured it out, actually very simple (and very blond thinking by me other day )

in case of the ju88a, make a copy of the stock ju88a mosfile.
1- open the moseditor
2 - choose the option import mosfile. import the copy of the ju88a and ignore the filemissing errors
3 - there are two floating menus, click on the layers menu, again click on base
4 - go to the layers properties menu (the other floating menu) and click on the color tab
5 - upper entry is labeled file, click on the filebrowser button and choose your new texture ( = bob_ju88a1_b3+eh_10.dds).
6 - when the new texture is loaded, you'll see it's to large to fit in. now go to the lower entries in the color tab
7 - leave the translation settings for what they are (256 x 256) and change the scaling settings to 512 x 512
8 - go to the layers menu and select the damage alpha entry (you'll see by selecting that layer you'll make it visible (red eyes checkmark in the left columm)
9 - go to the color tab again, select the new damagetexture via the filebrowser. once loaded set the scaling to 512 x 512. when done, uncheck the layer
10 - in the layers menu, delete the noseart layer, color layer and letter layer
11 - export the mosfile to the new texure folder and name it bob_ju88a1_b3+bh_10.mos

this should do the trick, but again i'm not the expert

i noticed mosfiles that had their noseart, color and letter tags removed via hexediting cannot be imported in the moseditor at all