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WoW Ripping Tutorial - Creature/

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 76
Joined
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Messages
20,488
Not sure if this helps or not but I'm gonna link this post from another threadt here: click.

Not sure about external sites for links. Wouldn't uploading those programs in your pastebin (of Hiveworkshop) and linking them be better?

Don't panic it's easy , just delete these lines so the file need to start start with MD20 ALWAYS!
Why?
When you open them , you have to delete the first 7 Bytes of the Anim , just select them and hit the DEL button. Save it and do it for every Anim File of the model you want to rip.
What do these things actually do? Why are they required?
 
Another note: After converting model be sure to export textures AGAIN otherwise alpha channels will be messed up. And sometimes models have wrong normals cause of mdlvis , you can select right ones with mdlvis and if it has none , try importing it with neodex and export again with option fix normals checked (it mostly works).

First 7 bytes thing is because converter was not updated to Legion 7.3 and the new 'headers' are added to those bytes in patch 7.3

Also note that this is for fully ripping a model with all it's animations you can preview all of them and then delete unneeded ones and rename animations as you wish when you make the model ready for your map
 
Level 16
Joined
Jan 18, 2009
Messages
267
Not sure if this helps or not but I'm gonna link this post from another threadt here: click.

Not sure about external sites for links. Wouldn't uploading those programs in your pastebin (of Hiveworkshop) and linking them be better?


Why?

What do these things actually do? Why are they required?


The link you provided with tutorials is outdated, they won't work anymore.

Second , i will move the downloads into pastebin as soon is possible.

And Last , if you don't delete them, when you convert the model and open it in MDLVIS the animations are going to be bugged and the model is going to be out of use. The converter was programmed to convert models with MD20 at start, but blizzard updated their m2 models and now you have to delete the first 7 bytes.
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 76
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
20,488
The link you provided with tutorials is outdated, they won't work anymore.
:(
And Last , if you don't delete them, when you convert the model and open it in MDLVIS the animations are going to be bugged and the model is going to be out of use. The converter was programmed to convert models with MD20 at start, but blizzard updated their m2 models and now you have to delete the first 7 bytes.
So, that doesn't affect the models at all? That's awesome, that they still work.
 
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So, that doesn't affect the models at all? That's awesome, that they still work.

Yes it is just a recently added header to .anim files just think like model's are not called as 'Warcraft III' model but as 'Warcraft III Reforged' model, if you keep the added 'reforged' converter could not understand it well and messes up animations but if you delete it they are all fine
 

Archian

Site Director
Level 66
Joined
Jan 1, 2006
Messages
3,153
Great work! I'll invite more people here so they can leave feedback.

My suggestions so far:

  • Use the word "export" instead of "ripping".
  • Don't link to other sites for downloads. The images and tools used should be on the Hive. Simply upload it to our pastebin (and make them last 'forever') and link to it. We don't want broken links in the future etc.

    These 3 link to other sites:
  • Use SPOILER tags for the images.

    EXAMPLE

  • The formatting could be improved a bit e.g. use headlines.
  • You should also explain how to add attachment points :)
@PurgeandFire @FerSZ @General Frank

If you want i can make a video too!

Please do :)

Another note: After converting model be sure to export textures AGAIN otherwise alpha channels will be messed up.
This should probably be in the tutorial :)
 
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Level 16
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Messages
267
Archian , i didnt added the jm2 converter and casc explorer because these programs are always updated by their creators , so i believe is going to be better if i let them like this , also today i'm traveling all day so i won't be able to update the tutorial , But after i reach my destination i will update it the best i can , but please i need feedback , i want peoples to try it .
 
Level 14
Joined
Nov 13, 2017
Messages
733
@Power
Hello, I just read the tutorial and it looks very good. Anyways, I followed this and an error when 40-50% of CDN index building loads...

full


Any troubleshooting advice here? Maybe someone else might experience this problem.
 

Chaosy

Tutorial Reviewer
Level 41
Joined
Jun 9, 2011
Messages
13,249
Images are indeed broken.

But, more importantly I think there are too many of them.
For example, I do not think we need a picture how to right click somewhere.
But if you insist, put it in a hidden tag.

Because I feel like the format of:

1 line of text > image > 1 line of text

is a bit annoying to read to be honest
 
Level 7
Joined
Dec 19, 2014
Messages
300
Well, you don't need it but it is better if you have WoW cause Cascexplorer's online feature is abit fucked up
Ok thanks. But i think there are already all good WoW models ripped and available. So i have decided to import all already useable WoW models. I can highly recommend the map 'Human Error' (here on Hive) for that matter. You can export the models from that map.
 
Level 21
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Messages
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No problem at all, m2's have animations but if you add .anim files this is kinda saying 'hey we added more animations in a later patch and m2's limitations were not enough to handle 100 animations so we added a .anim file'
Thanks for the info, but now I have another problem.
And Just hit ENTER.
After the convert is finished youre going to see the results.
What results am I supposed to see?
Open the m2 model with mdlvis
I tried two different versions of MdlVis, but neither can open m2 files.
mdlviserror-jpg.311433
 

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Level 21
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I don't think so; maybe the jm2converter.jar doesn't work.
commandprompt-jpg.311440


?

The crab mob. I know it's already ripped and uploaded on Warcraft Underground; I just wanted to try this out myself.

Erm this one you tried is a really old model it might be cause of it, I'll try myself now to find out what is wrong

Edit: It worked to me did the model have everything exported, .skin and .m2 and .blps?
 
Yes, I exported all files from the Crab folder.

can you try this one, it worked for me if it is not working it is probably because of jmconverter(corrupted or something)

edit: also do not delete m2 header of this, this one is an old model it has the right header
 

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Level 10
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Messages
592
Which model was it?

It is a wicker golem model. The strange thing is that it works in Retera's model studio with animations and everything, but nowhere else. I have attached the file, would be really glad if you could tell me how to fix it so I can deal with if it happens next time.

Retera's studio:
upload_2019-10-5_12-17-58.png
Magos (error message with mdl, with mdx it jsut shuts off):
upload_2019-10-5_12-19-42.png
 

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It is a wicker golem model. The strange thing is that it works in Retera's model studio with animations and everything, but nowhere else. I have attached the file, would be really glad if you could tell me how to fix it so I can deal with if it happens next time.

Retera's studio:
Magos (error message with mdl, with mdx it jsut shuts off):

I got this thing already but I'll fix it for you now, it is probably about animated textures and paths that's why it gives that error,

here you go but you need to export and convert fresh textures because they were broken also the fixing this issue is pretty simple, open the model with mdlvis optimize it save it as mdl, open and optimize it again after that magos will be able to open it you'll need to change the particles, they use replaceable ID 0 because of something Blizzard changed recently, I used a dust texture instead of it, edit them as you wish change colors sizes etc.

@deepstrasz Your suggestion would be a pretty cool addition and lifesaver to be honest since nearly each patch m2 format gets changes by Blizzard, Retera can actively update the tool too.
 

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Level 10
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Nov 23, 2006
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592
I got this thing already but I'll fix it for you now, it is probably about animated textures and paths that's why it gives that error,

here you go but you need to export and convert fresh textures because they were broken also the fixing this issue is pretty simple, open the model with mdlvis optimize it save it as mdl, open and optimize it again after that magos will be able to open it you'll need to change the particles, they use replaceable ID 0 because of something Blizzard changed recently, I used a dust texture instead of it, edit them as you wish change colors sizes etc.

@deepstrasz Your suggestion would be a pretty cool addition and lifesaver to be honest since nearly each patch m2 format gets changes by Blizzard, Retera can actively update the tool too.

Thanks a lot for fixing the model!

"open the model with mdlvis optimize it save it as mdl, open and optimize it again after that magos will be able to open it"

I have just tried to do that (open mdx in Mdlvis -> optimize -> save as mdl -> optimize -> save) but magos still gives the same error. Is there any other step?
 
Thanks a lot for fixing the model!

"open the model with mdlvis optimize it save it as mdl, open and optimize it again after that magos will be able to open it"

I have just tried to do that (open mdx in Mdlvis -> optimize -> save as mdl -> optimize -> save) but magos still gives the same error. Is there any other step?

After saving as mdl close it, open it again and optimzie again that did it for me also check the linearize animations option too when optimizing.
 
Level 1
Joined
Nov 25, 2019
Messages
1
Greetings,

First, thanks a lot for the tutorial, it works wonders.
Yet I have a question : as the pictures are missing, I can't properly go through this step :

Select them all and open them with 010 Editor!
When you open them , you have to delete the first 7 Bytes of the Anim

I can't figure how a byte is actually depicted i.e. is a byte here a whole line, or just one doublet, or whatever ?
For now I can rip all models that don't have .anim files nevertheless it would be awesome to be able to rip the others.

Thank you in advance
 
Level 14
Joined
Nov 13, 2017
Messages
733
Greetings,

First, thanks a lot for the tutorial, it works wonders.
Yet I have a question : as the pictures are missing, I can't properly go through this step :



I can't figure how a byte is actually depicted i.e. is a byte here a whole line, or just one doublet, or whatever ?
For now I can rip all models that don't have .anim files nevertheless it would be awesome to be able to rip the others.

Thank you in advance
Use powerful text editor and open the .m2 model file and delete the first 7 characters/space. The file should start with something like MD20 instead of MD21.
 
Guys i'm for vacation in Germany , i will fix it when i get back , for the moment i don't have time. Sorry you have to wait a little . Also i need some feedback from you guys , i need you to try the tutorial.

Yeah, looks like you then forgot about it for over two years. You really should fix those tutorial images so people can follow along better. Or is there a video tutorial on YouTube?
 
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