I don't want to override the route paths

[Zahadoom]

Ok, so I made a "Mountain Orc" skin for the Grunt. Went in the game, changed the route path in the import manager, the skin worked and it ended happily ever after.

The basic skinning, import/export isn't my problem. I want to use the Grunt model for multiple units but what I have learned so far is that I cannot change the "required textures" that are associated with the model.

Is there any way around this? I want to use the same model for multiple units, but I want them all to have different skins.

 

[The General]

http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/...-282/how-make-one-model-use-many-skins-11119/ this tutorial will teach you how to change the required textures

 

[Zahadoom]

Thank you very much. I knew there had to be a thread with this info. This will help a lot. Thanks again.

Edit:

I laughed at myself when I read the tutorial. I tried the exact same thing only I never converted .mdx to .mdl. I tried editing the model's texture path "units/orc/grunt/gunt.blp" and replacing it with my path in notepad. I was trying to pull a SWBF2 re-skin on the model. I had the theory right though. Once more, thank you.

 

[The General]

well as soon as i read this tutorial i started step by step and i replaced the paths of many textures its easy and you do need to use the converter to convert your model to mdl so you can read it in notepad then replace the path with your skin name and finally reconvert it back to mdx and your welcome

 

[Zahadoom]

How should the path look for my new skin when I put it in the MDL document? I noticed that all the other paths that the game originally uses are just "units/***" or "texture/***". But those refer to the MPQ files that contain all of the textures. I tried the method in the tutorials but my model keeps coming up invisible in the World Editor. When I open the model in the Warcraft 3 Model Viewer the guy is red, without any skin. I checked the "required textures" and it did not read the new path I put in. So, where should I put the skin.blp file?

Edit:

Whenever I load the editor, with the .mdx file set as a unit's model file, I get the message: "Cannot Load ***"

 

[The General]

first use this tool http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/tools-560/warcraft-iii-viewer-62878/ then find the grunt export it on your desktop then use this tool http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/tools-560/war3fileconverter-v2-1-a-62882/ select the exported grunt and convert it to mdl then save it on your desktop open it with notepad and look for the textures then edit the first texture you see to a path you want to use then save and exit then convert it with the converter back to mdx import the mdx and the skin in your map and finally change the skin path to the path you set for the model

 

[Zahadoom]

I fixed it! Now everything runs perfectly. Here's what I did, step by step (for any future reference).

1. Opened up Grunt.mdx in Warcraft 3 Viewer
2. Exported Grunt.mdx to "My Mods\Mountain Orc" (it is important that the folder that contains the mdx file and the textures (.bld) is in the Warcraft III folder in Program files)
3. Exported the Grunts .bld textures to "My Mods\Mountain Orc"
4. Converted .blp to .tga, edited the skin and saved it. Then converted it back to .blp in the Warcraft 3 Viewer.
5. Opened the Grunt.mdx in "...\Mountain Orc" with MDX Pather and changed the route path for the original skin to the route path for my new skin. (It is also very important that the skin and the model file are in the same folder if you use the MDX Pather)
6. Imported the new model file into World Edit (no need to change the route path). In the editor you can see your new skin, but in order for the unit to appear in the game you must import the skin as well... which is step 7
7. Imported the skin and changed the route path to that of it's origin (That way the model file reads the same route path as the game).
8. Save the map, restart the World Editor, test the map. It all worked perfectly.

(Ps. I hate going to threads where the person says "I fixed it!" and you're like "I have the same problem" and then they don't elaborate on what they did. Plus the method I used is somewhat different than the tutorials, seeing as they never specified where to put the folders. It only seemed reasonable that they should remain in the "Program Files\Warcraft III" folder because I try to save a map with an imported model/skin that is from outside the Warcraft III folder (and I have specified the route path) I get an error message. From what I learned today, the game automatically puts "Program Files\Warcraft III" on the route path of a file if it is a custom route path).

My troubles may have been due to that fact that I'm working on Windows 7.

 

[The General]

i never really had a problem using the tutorial

 

[Adiktuz]

You can also easily do it on Magos model editor... open the model, import the texture then make the materials use the new texture and save the model as a new one...

 

[Zahadoom]

There's a million ways to do it. But thanks for bringing up the Magros model editor. I saw it a long time ago and didn't remember its name. That'd actually be very useful for the star wars RPG I've brainstormed in the back of my head for the longest time. Since it supports Milkshape 3D as an importer I could used mod models from SWJK2 or SW Jedi Academy. But that would be a long time in the future. Not my area of expertise.

Either way, I'm comfortable with my current method. But, yeah, that is a very useful program.