LOD Exporter for Blender

[jack33]

With this tool it is possible to add the legs of the pilot to a cockpit?

[krfrge]

Mue,

I greatly appreciate this tool.

Swambast / KJakker - Very raw preliminary work on an mortarpit. The pit I made (like I said, very raw) while the mortar was pulled from a 3D online site.

[ChristianRG]

Hello, I recently downloaded and installed the addon to blender both 2.79 and 2.80 and they both don't show up on the addon section.

Any solutions?

[mue]

6 hours ago, ChristianRG said:

Hello, I recently downloaded and installed the addon to blender both 2.79 and 2.80 and they both don't show up on the addon section.

Any solutions?

The LOD exporter isn't compatible with blender 2.80. They made a lot of API changes in 2.80. I haven't found the time yet to update the LOD exporter for the newest blender version.
But the exporter should work in 2.79. You run the exporter via File->Export->Strike Fighters 2 LOD. In the User Preferences->Add-ons section the plugin is listed under Supported Level = Testing!

[ChristianRG]

On 12/18/2019 at 5:54 AM, mue said:

The LOD exporter isn't compatible with blender 2.80. They made a lot of API changes in 2.80. I haven't found the time yet to update the LOD exporter for the newest blender version.
But the exporter should work in 2.79. You run the exporter via File->Export->Strike Fighters 2 LOD. In the User Preferences->Add-ons section the plugin is listed under Supported Level = Testing!

I can't seem to able to enable the plugin, even with the 2.79. It just doesn't detect the plugin even tho the file is in the aforementioned directory. Is it because I run it on the x64 version instead of the x86 version?

[Nyghtfall]

Here's a quick installation guide:

1. Start Blender

2. In the Menutab go to "File", then "User Preferences", then "Add-Ons".

3. In the "Add-On"-Window click on "Install Add-On from File..." on the bottom and select the Add-On-File "io_export_sf2_lod.py"

4. Select Support-Level "Testing" and you should see "Import-Export: Strike Fighters 2 LOD Exporter". Check it

5. In the Menutab under "File"->"Export" you should see "Strike Fighters 2 LOD (.lod)". That's it.

[ChristianRG]

3 hours ago, Nyghtfall said:

Here's a quick installation guide:

1. Start Blender

2. In the Menutab go to "File", then "User Preferences", then "Add-Ons".

3. In the "Add-On"-Window click on "Install Add-On from File..." on the bottom and select the Add-On-File "io_export_sf2_lod.py"

4. Select Support-Level "Testing" and you should see "Import-Export: Strike Fighters 2 LOD Exporter". Check it

5. In the Menutab under "File"->"Export" you should see "Strike Fighters 2 LOD (.lod)". That's it.

It works now thanks.

So this only works for exporting and not importing?

[Nyghtfall]

Exactly. You can export anything to a LOD, but you cannot import a LOD into Blender (or 3DMax or whatever)

[mue]

I love this community! @Nyghtfall Thank you for giving user support

[franconinja14]

hi mues, great job, how can i cast shadows in the game? what configuration need the marial?, thanks

[+russouk2004]

game adds shadows of any model added

[mue]

10 hours ago, franconinja14 said:

hi mues, great job, how can i cast shadows in the game? what configuration need the marial?, thanks

Transparency of the material must be disabled.

From the lod_exporter_readme.txt:

Quote

-Transparency (if transparency is enabled, then the object doesn't cast and doesn't catch shadow. if transparency is disabled, then the object cast and catch shadow.

And maybe you have to add something like

[Shadow]
CastShadow=TRUE
ShadowCastDist=500
MaxVisibleDistance=500

to the object' .ini file.

Edited August 24, 2020 by mue
added info about ini file

[hercomandan]

oh mue! thanks for the plugin, great job, i cant wait the blender 2.8 version of the exporter

see the full aircraft exported with blender

[snowburn]

49 minutes ago, hercomandan said:

oh mue! thanks for the plugin, great job, i cant wait the blender 2.8 version of the exporter

see the full aircraft exported with blender

it looks amazing!! can't wait to fly that bird.

[anunk47]

Just learn about Blender and Virtual 3D Modeling couple days ago.. I Haven't create anything yet.. just slowly learning about  it.
For now, what I can do is scavenging free 3d model, import, export, basic blender tools, what tools for what, put the result in SF Mod, trial and error.. etc.. time consuming and head-scratching.. but its fun! 
Thanks Mr. Mue for this Gem, and Mr.Nyghtfall, who patiently tutoring me. 

[toot]

Can anyone help me? I've made a simple plane just so i can test out how to get all the rudder and stuff working, but when i load it into lod viewer i get this: 

the circle in the middle is the fuselage, but for some reason everything else is just a weird cube. 

iirc this was done correctly but maybe this is why its glitched?

 

[mue]

Apply Scale to all objects before exporting the model.

[+Stephen1918]

I've enjoyed working with all of Mue's utilities and have found them extremely helpful.

I have a question about the LOD exporter for Blender - When I was working with 3DS Max, the exporter made LODs that worked in both SF1 and SF2. Now that I'm working with Blender, the exporter makes LODs that only work with SF2. My question is: what is the difference between the LODs for 1 and 2 and is it possible to convert down to 1?

[+Wrench]

what is it .... ansi (sf1) and unicode (sf2), if i remember correctly. SF2 reads both, sf1 only reads ansi, again, iirc

[+gerwin]

23 hours ago, Stephen1918 said:

I've enjoyed working with all of Mue's utilities and have found them extremely helpful.

I have a question about the LOD exporter for Blender - When I was working with 3DS Max, the exporter made LODs that worked in both SF1 and SF2. Now that I'm working with Blender, the exporter makes LODs that only work with SF2. My question is: what is the difference between the LODs for 1 and 2 and is it possible to convert down to 1?

There are 9 known version of LODs. It goes v0 to v8. 

Last official 3DSmax exporter makes v5 ones. v8 came with SF2 North Atlantic

Wings over Israel expansion 2010 (not SF2) can use up to v4. IIRC.

You can check the version of a LOD file with a hex-editor. v0 has no "LOD" header and starts right off with the number of nodes at byte 1. All other versions have their version-number in the 8th byte of the file.

I do not use Blender much, so I don't know about the specifics there.

 

[toot]

How would you guys rig the control surfaces of aircraft? I've seen some videos that rig it with empty plain axis's but i'm not sure if thats actually how its done

[+daddyairplanes]

2 hours ago, toot said:

How would you guys rig the control surfaces of aircraft? I've seen some videos that rig it with empty plain axis's but i'm not sure if thats actually how its done

this might be better asked as a seperate  question, not on a thread for a game dev tool