Need help converting OBJ to MDX (Warcraft 3 Reforged)

[MistTteR]

Hello!

I am creating a Warcraft 3 Reforged custom map inspired by games like Crossout, but focused more on progression and development.

In this map, players build their own tanks or robots in single-player mode using modular parts (cubes, weapons, wheels, etc.).
Then in multiplayer, players can load their saved vehicles and hire or use them in battles against other players.

For this system I need to import many custom models.
They are simple OBJ meshes without animations.

I need help converting OBJ models into MDX format compatible with Warcraft 3 Reforged, or advice about the correct and stable workflow.

Thank you!

 

[Retera]

I haven't tried it in a few years but a while back I used the Sean Rowens OBJ loader from GitHub and dumped that code into Retera Model Studio, and then made it that if we open an OBJ format file it converts while loading into the standard format for Retera Model Studio which means that "Save as" to an MDX works fine and creates a Warcraft 3 model. I forget if it might be necessary to add an empty do-nothing "Stand" animation to make the game play nicely with the file.

Some people don't like Retera Model Studio because:

• it is written in Java
• sometimes I am a character and post my opinions online
• it depends on Reforged game data which frequently breaks whenever Microsoft Activision changes the game data storage format (although it runs fine if you feed it a 2005 version of War3 from a CD, and models made in that compatibility mode still load fine on Reforged)
• the fanmade fork of the program which is available on Discord and GitHub called "Twilac's Retera's Model Studio" handles from scratch models & PBR shading controls and customization for Reforged mode better

If you fall into that camp of not wanting to use Retera Model Studio, there are some pretty good scripts for doing Reforged models in other programs. (In general, I do not have experience using those other programs and have been living in open source / linuxy land lately, so this list is in no particular order):

• Twilac's Blender import/export stuff: GitHub - tw1lac/mdl-exporter at 3.4
• Taylor Mouse's 3DS Max import/export stuff: GitHub - TaylorMouse/warcraft_III_reforged_tools
  • it looks like there might be an improved fork of this on Hive here
• In the winter of 2024-2025, the new team at Microsoft started updating Reforged and leaked a huge amount of their internal build tools and programs on accident. Among them, the Maya exporter is included at this link: https://www.hiveworkshop.com/threads/reforged-art-tools-for-maya-2018-official.357426/
  • These build tools are not supported. The folks at Activision / Microsoft kept them secret from the modding community for whatever reason, and we only have them due to a fat fingered game update from an employee who probably got fired. This is extremely unlike the Blizzard handling of the game; the tools used to make the Frozen Throne game art were published in 2005 on the old classic Battlenet website along with a PDF guidebook of how to use them -- those original tools were export-only scripts for a version of 3DS Max that predated the Autodesk takeover of Discreet. They still exist but I'm guessing you don't have a Windows XP computer with Discreet 3DS Max 4.9 -- but if you do, obviously it would be totally capable of opening an OBJ and then exporting an MDX in the format that still works fine on Reforged even in modern times. Reforged has to be backwards compatible with old art to support 20 years of custom maps