This is an invaluable repository of source files for Vampire the Masquerade Redemption. This is intended to be used with VtmR's Maya 2.5 NOD exporter.
Note while you can use Milkshape to export VtmR models, you cannot export animations using it. Meaning you currently must use Maya 2.5 for animation purposes.
Maya models
Included are:
The 3 dark age models and 4 modern day models
There are 4 types of skeletons used for all the MP characters. Christof, Serena, Erik, and Samuel.
Head models of all the characters 4 main characters included.
Hand and claw models for each skeleton type.
1 handed, 2 handed, pole weapons, 2 handed guns for each skeleton type.
All MP character animations should be applicable to these skeletons.
Make sure the proper MOTIONSET tags (.NMS) are assigned to the right skeleton in the template or the animations will not look correct in the game.
To make new models make sure you do the following things in Maya.
- Freeze tranformations and delete history when done modeling. You need clean transformation on all the meshes so the NOD exporter exports your model correctly.
- If your model is collapsing into strange dimesions, check your LOD parameters in the NOD viewer. If the wrong edge collapses, go into the Texture view, pick the edge you do not want to collapse, and go the edit menu and go to cut texture. This will prevent edge from collapsing.
- The NOD Exporter supports geometry directly parented to the skeletal joint and rigged binding attachements. Smooth binging is not supported.
- If polygons are missing when viewing your model in NODview, make sure you check the normals of the missing polygons are facing out. Also check if the missing polygons are triaglulated. Quadrilaterals are not supported by the engine.
Creating claws for your model
. For the hand and claw models to work the mesh for the fists need to be named properly. Fist_R for the right fist, Fist_L for the left fist (with the shape name Fist_Rshape and Fist_Lshape, respectively). If there is an approriate claw model for the model the fists will disapear and the claws or hands will be drawn in its place. Currently the hand models are only used for cinematic cutscenes since the characters can carry 2 handed weapons.
Adding new weapons to characters
- When creating a model, align the new weapon mesh at the same heading and position as a similar, existing weapon.
- Parent the weapon mesh to the weapon joint.
- Export the attached weapon as "weaponname_X". X is the skeletal ID number (0, 1, 3 or 4)
- Repeat these steps on all four skeletal types.
- When creating a template for the new weapon in the NOTeditor, make sure the WEAPON_MODEL tag is "weaponname"
Adding new head models
- There are 5 skeletal types for the head model. They use motionsets ChristofDaHead.nms, SerenaHead.nms, WilhemDAHead.nms, ErikHead.nms and SamuelHead.nms.
- Each head model uses a different scale factor. When exporting a head model, use the -scale switch in the NOD exporter with the following values:
Erik = 1.00
Christof = 1.05
Samuel = 1.05
Serena = 1.25
Wilhem = 1.25
- Export the head model as the same name as the full player model, but with the letter H appended to the end of the file name. In the player template, assign this name to the tag ACTOR_HEADMODEL.
- You have the option to create a 2D player head model that replaces the 3D head on slower systems. To create a 2D portrait, create a 128 x 128 x 24-bit .tga file of your character and copy it to the folder UI\Materials.
- When creating a new player template, head model skeletons and player model skeletons do not have to match one another. For example, HeavyG uses the "Erik" player skeleton (player_ID_1.nms). But HeavyG's head model uses the "Christof" head skeleton (ChristofDaHead.nms)