Know a Free 3D Modeling Program I Could Use?? Thread

I'm a new and unknown Mod Developer out there in the world, currently making a mod for Command and Conquer Generals: Zero Hour, which uses the SAGE engine. Since I'm not having very good luck finding people who are willing to help me, and I have all the free time in the world, I decided to learn how to do these things myself.

Right now, as the forum title said, I'm looking for a free, and hopefully simple-to-use, 3D Modeling program that supports the SAGE engine that several C&C games use. If you know a good program, then please don't mind sharing it's name and a link to a site/page I can download it from in the comment section below or in a private message to myself.

-- ShogunAssassin50

Blender is by far the best free program.

Blender is great but you need to find probably an export plugin for blender to have files that can be used in the SAGE engine

if its for a mod then get a free educational license of max or maya.
Being a max user, I had to learnt maya and xsi at some point in my carreer and loved both, also had to learn blender a few months ago and I F&*^*& hate it.

.. or gmax/renx combo if you want to be able to follow tutorials and such , keep your eyes open for killkanzes tutorial for adding in your own tank and go from there , sage modding isnt especially supported in blender nor indeed are many others supported your best bet for sage is 3ds max , or its free discontinued counterparts gmax / renx ...which can be found easly but lack extended functionality.
You should perhaps log into skype once in a while..

Try my page: Freegameslist.weebly.com
But could you at least tell us what model formats are accepted in SAGE?
Also if anyone knows of any 3D modelling tools I should add to my page that are FREE, please PM me.

Edited by: TenaciousXL

The file format sage uses depends on if its sage 1 or 2 ... and the shaders can be either game dependent or entirely new/write your own.(HLSL)
For Sage 1 its .W3D and requires WWskin for Sage 2 its .W3x and again uses WWskin which is essentially a left over intergral function for sage made by its prior developer westwood.
The reason i recommend either 3ds max or gmax however is mainly due to the existing tutorials around for them of which there are too few and woefully difficult to find .. still its a start and better then guessing , the modelling application this time is determined by the engine although you may find a w3d exporter for other applications however given the fact gmax is free and will support the plugin for skinning ... its the most obvious choice for mod making in sage.. I do recommend you merely import a model you made elsewhere (in your 3d app of choice ..dont forget to uv map it)simply export it as a .obj and import that to gmax or 3ds max... to then export as either _SKL.w3d for bone data /animations or _skn.w3d for object data (note theres more to this check tutorials in some groups pages c&c paradise is a good one for sage)