Starcraft 2 Custom Models

2jzo2jzo Join Date: 2012-11-22 Member: 172833Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Porting over models</div>I'm just going to document my process since it'll be easier for me to come back and see what I've done and what I can do.

Mostly doing this for myself as no one seems to be interested in taking the challenge of porting over models from SC2. I've found a few models I want to use and have decompiled them and set them up to be ported.

So far I'm going to experiement with the marine as it's the easiest to do. Skeleton and joints are the same for the animation so it shouldn't be too hard.

I'm a tad rusty since it's been a while since I've done any of this. Did this back in the ESF days. (a halflife 1 dragonball z mod).

I will be using Milkshape 3D to take screenshots to give you guys a general idea of what model I will be using. I might use my own textures and uvmaps, but so far I'm impressed with the textures these models came with so might stick with them.

I will be using 3DS Max 2010 for most of the porting for player models and weapon models.

If anyone can help me or wants to take part in porting the models over, I would appreciate all the help I can get! Just post here if you're experienced in Texture, Modelling, Animation, etc.


My project will include:
Terran Marine
Marine Rifle (lmg rifle)
Terran Ghost
Ghost Gauss Rifle (shotgun)
Hydralisk (Fade)
Ultralisk (Onos)
Zerling (Skulk)
Drone (Gorge)
Mutalisk (Lerk)
Siege Tank (ARC)
SCV (MAC)

Possibles:
Spine crawler/spore crawler
Roach
Viking (MAC?)
*If I think of more I will edit and add


Thanks for looking.
All credit goes to Blizzard for the models.
If there are legal issues concerning the porting of these models for 3rd party use I will not be releasing it to the public and they will be for private use, but I don't see why there would be an issue with using models for a custom model replacement.

Comments

  • 2jzo2jzo Join Date: 2012-11-22 Member: 172833Members
    edited November 2012
    Anyway here are pictures of the models for the marine I will be using decompiled and in milkshape 3d ready to be tested for port.

    Blue marine:
    <img src="http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y487/2jzo/Natural%20Selection%202%20Custom%20Model%20Ports/BlueMarine.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

    Here is an example of the different textures available for me to use:

    Jim Raynor:
    <img src="http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y487/2jzo/Natural%20Selection%202%20Custom%20Model%20Ports/raynormarine.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

    Camo marine:
    <img src="http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y487/2jzo/Natural%20Selection%202%20Custom%20Model%20Ports/marinecamo.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

    Gold marine:
    <img src="http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y487/2jzo/Natural%20Selection%202%20Custom%20Model%20Ports/marinegold.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

    Sylnok marine:
    <img src="http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y487/2jzo/Natural%20Selection%202%20Custom%20Model%20Ports/sylnok.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

    UED (white) marine:
    <img src="http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y487/2jzo/Natural%20Selection%202%20Custom%20Model%20Ports/uedmarine.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

    There are also, Tychus, red, green, purple, etc, etc ,etc ,etc
    I can also mix and match blast shields (helmet visors) and such.
    Since it's almost Thanksgiving I was just seeing how the bone structure for each model lined up with the NS2 marine. So far, so good. I'll be doing this slowly and in no rush.
  • 2jzo2jzo Join Date: 2012-11-22 Member: 172833Members
    edited November 2012
    Before I went to sleep I wanted to see the zergling model in 3D to see what I would be working with. Did this real quick just to give you guys an idea on what to expect.

    Surprisingly, it looks like it'll be a nice port without much modification

    Zergling (Skulk):
    <img src="http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y487/2jzo/Natural%20Selection%202%20Custom%20Model%20Ports/zergling.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
  • 2jzo2jzo Join Date: 2012-11-22 Member: 172833Members
    edited November 2012
    Here is the Hydralisk model I will be porting:

    <img src="http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y487/2jzo/Natural%20Selection%202%20Custom%20Model%20Ports/hydralisk.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

    I'm going to retexture this one as the one it came with had a blend in it that screwed everything up. So I did a quick photoshop of the spec uvmap it came with to try and get some color in it.

    This one will probably be a pain in the arse as the hydralisk has so many details to cover. I hope someone can help me with this one.
    I'm probably going to end up making custom animations for the tail end since they will definitely not work with the current Fade animations.
    *sigh*

    Anyway, that's all folks! Happy Thanksgiving!
  • goblingoblin Join Date: 2004-09-05 Member: 31412Members
    sweet. Nice job so far
  • ZaggyZaggy NullPointerException The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-12-10 Member: 24214Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Onos, Subnautica Playtester
    Those look very nice, looking forward to the mod!
  • Evil_IceEvil_Ice Join Date: 2004-07-09 Member: 29827Members, Squad Five Blue
    Two things to be really careful of doing this:

    1) Watch your triangle counts, you appear to be porting the cinematic models and not the ingame models. I know the ingame models were intended for an RTS so they were low poly enough to appear in large numbers, but the cinematic models were a bit for FPS appearances in dynamic situations.

    2) Watch out for copyright bull######! No lie, I like SC2 as much as anyone else that loves the marine vs alien RTS theme, but you're talking activision-blizzard, this isn't some kind and considerate indi developer looking for any chance to improve their publicity.
  • NasderoNasdero Join Date: 2008-11-11 Member: 65423Members
    you have to watch out for:


    1. if someone istalls the mod he needs to play on special severs, that support it

    2. you cant play on public standart sever cuz the hitboxes will be the ones for the onos skulk and so on, would look wierd shoting the alien in the had but not hiting at all

    3. the model you have should be bone rigged, of thiose are PURE 3D moddels Good luck and have fun adjusting them for animation capability with bones takes a few month at least!

    4. poly counts! there is a limit for ns2 objects

    5. balance,!?! im pretty shure you want them to use the SC2 weapons and alien melee attacks the ones from ns wouldnt really fit for it and it needs to be balanced tough.

    never the less i like and support your idea! we need mods like this! but if you want to pull it trough look for help!!! for 1 alone this task might be to BIG

    last:

    if you really pull this off ill draw my hat for you KUDOS
  • WhiteDevilWhiteDevil Join Date: 2012-09-16 Member: 159559Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    I see no point in this. Since you know how to operate things in 3ds max I suggest you try realizing how much time and effort it is to make one of those models you're ripping out of SC2. So please respect the work of others and don't ###### around with them.

    Make some of your own instead.
  • 2jzo2jzo Join Date: 2012-11-22 Member: 172833Members
    edited November 2012
    I'm not making this thread to make a point to someone I don't know or care about. This isn't a thread about making my own 3d models, because I don't have the time to sit at home and create a quality 3D model for multiple different characters nor do I have the attention span to do so. I'm doing this for myself on my free time and documenting it, because I want to do what I want that makes myself happy. SC2 allowed me to export their models. I didn't hack their files to get the model.

    If you're NOT interested in what I'm doing here then please do not post here; this isn't the thread for you.
  • 2jzo2jzo Join Date: 2012-11-22 Member: 172833Members
    edited November 2012
    Since NS2 is 3DS Max 2009 friendly, I asked my friend to lend me his software for this and he'll be getting it to me after the weekend so I can start porting following the tutorials posted by the devs.
    I've been reducing polygons that aren't needed as they get heavy around the joint areas in the original models. So I'll do a little more research to see what the polygon limit is and adjust accordingly.

    I guess if it ends up being a low poly model, I'll have to make up for it with awesome textures. I hate uvmapping...... -_-

    :)
  • NasderoNasdero Join Date: 2008-11-11 Member: 65423Members
    well i stay curuios about this one here ;-)
  • DestroidDestroid Join Date: 2011-10-25 Member: 129240Members
    How about a mash up mod. Marines can be Frontiersmen, Colonial Marines, Space Marines, and Terran Marines (from NS, Aliens, 40k and Starcraft), while aliens can do Kharaa, Aliens, Tyranids, and Zerg.
  • NecrosisNecrosis The Loquacious Sage Join Date: 2003-08-03 Member: 18828Members, Constellation
    I will be interested to see how this works in terms of hitboxes and suchlike. That, to me, is the real challenge. The SC mod for NS1 struggled with this, mind you the less said about NS1's hitboxes vs models conflicts the better.




    If all this is going to be only for a custom server then do whatever floats your boat, of course.
  • whoppaXXLwhoppaXXL Join Date: 2006-11-03 Member: 58298Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Please go on. Especially with the sc soundtrack the mod should be a blast. Also be safe from blizzdrones. They eat u alive.
  • GlissGliss Join Date: 2003-03-23 Member: 14800Members, Constellation, NS2 Map Tester
    edited November 2012
    half chub thinking about muta lerk.
  • Captain VentrisCaptain Ventris Join Date: 2012-09-27 Member: 160871Members
    Make shotguns a rolled up pile of lawsuits to best transfer them into Starcraft terms. :P

    Seriously though, wasn't it only a matter of time? I'll be looking forward to how this goes.
  • swalkswalk Say hello to my little friend. Join Date: 2011-01-20 Member: 78384Members, Squad Five Blue
    ESF was so awesome :D
  • 2jzo2jzo Join Date: 2012-11-22 Member: 172833Members
    edited December 2012
    I got the marine in-game but there was some serious clipping issues at the legs. I guess I can't use the NS2 animations :(
    Working on making custom ones to work for the thick armor this model has -_-
  • Crumbling EgoCrumbling Ego Join Date: 2012-10-30 Member: 164692Members
    So, how goes ze project?
    Best of luck either way :D.
  • Evil_IceEvil_Ice Join Date: 2004-07-09 Member: 29827Members, Squad Five Blue
    Ya know despite my best advise to go with something more original, and my best efforts to bite my lip and tongue, I can't help but call out your lies on this one. I don't know why I'm even doing this other than some malicious venting in an effort to relieve some personal stress, but I've known for a long time, with very experienced first-hand knowledge, that none of this was going to happen, and you were fishing for compliments.

    For starters, Milkshape 3D, although a great STARTER application for getting into the world of 3d, offers no advanced IK or rigging options for the kinds of animations that would be required for the likes of a modern day organic character animation set. It's great you were able to decompile and view a bunch of SC2 cinematic meshes into a format you could view in milkshape, but that's about as far as your train could get, end of story.

    What actually pissed me off upon reading this, other than outside influence, is that you would even go so far as to claim that you "got the marine in-game, but it had clipping issues with the legs". This is a bold faced lie. As the only person outside of UWE that has compiled and completed ANY custom character models for the game, I know for a damned fact that this is still currently impossible to do, as the marine source animations have not yet been released to the public, and there is no way you could have weighed/assigned a SC marine to a nonexistant source file for recompilation, especially considering that he default NS2 source files are all in max 2009 format, being utterly useless to the likes of a milkshape user.

    It is unfortunate that you have deceived others on these forums for this long, and it is apparent in your abandonment and disregard for the progress of this ridiculous idea.

    For all those hopeful of this thread's progress do not expect any, as no progress had ever occurred. No models were ever compared to any "default" NS2 models, and nothing was ever compiled for ingame use. In fact the very idea that you couldn't come up with a better damned excuse to give up on this notion than "the legs had clipping" is down right insulting to those of us that actually do possess the skill and knowledge to accomplish even greater feats for far less of an expectation of exaltation. ######. You.


    Please, no longer bump this thead, let it die with as it should have done in it's initial stages of disappointment and deceit.


    For good measure: it is still not possible to make any custom marine character models, until UWE finishes releasing the full character model source. It was only in the most recent patch that ANY custom characters were possible (only the fade and gorge, and I took advantage of this in compiling the NS1 style Fade) and the Marine is the most complex of which, with the most animations, and will probably be the LAST character model to be released to actual artists that don't have the need to lie to people they don't even know about something the are incapable of doing.

    Thread closed...
  • nSidianSidia Join Date: 2012-08-15 Member: 155651Members
    <!--quoteo(post=2063919:date=Jan 20 2013, 02:38 PM:name=Evil_Ice)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Evil_Ice @ Jan 20 2013, 02:38 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2063919"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Ya know despite my best advise to go with something more original, and my best efforts to bite my lip and tongue, I can't help but call out your lies on this one. I don't know why I'm even doing this other than some malicious venting in an effort to relieve some personal stress, but I've known for a long time, with very experienced first-hand knowledge, that none of this was going to happen, and you were fishing for compliments.

    For starters, Milkshape 3D, although a great STARTER application for getting into the world of 3d, offers no advanced IK or rigging options for the kinds of animations that would be required for the likes of a modern day organic character animation set. It's great you were able to decompile and view a bunch of SC2 cinematic meshes into a format you could view in milkshape, but that's about as far as your train could get, end of story.

    What actually pissed me off upon reading this, other than outside influence, is that you would even go so far as to claim that you "got the marine in-game, but it had clipping issues with the legs". This is a bold faced lie. As the only person outside of UWE that has compiled and completed ANY custom character models for the game, I know for a damned fact that this is still currently impossible to do, as the marine source animations have not yet been released to the public, and there is no way you could have weighed/assigned a SC marine to a nonexistant source file for recompilation, especially considering that he default NS2 source files are all in max 2009 format, being utterly useless to the likes of a milkshape user.

    It is unfortunate that you have deceived others on these forums for this long, and it is apparent in your abandonment and disregard for the progress of this ridiculous idea.

    For all those hopeful of this thread's progress do not expect any, as no progress had ever occurred. No models were ever compared to any "default" NS2 models, and nothing was ever compiled for ingame use. In fact the very idea that you couldn't come up with a better damned excuse to give up on this notion than "the legs had clipping" is down right insulting to those of us that actually do possess the skill and knowledge to accomplish even greater feats for far less of an expectation of exaltation. ######. You.


    Please, no longer bump this thead, let it die with as it should have done in it's initial stages of disappointment and deceit.


    For good measure: it is still not possible to make any custom marine character models, until UWE finishes releasing the full character model source. It was only in the most recent patch that ANY custom characters were possible (only the fade and gorge, and I took advantage of this in compiling the NS1 style Fade) and the Marine is the most complex of which, with the most animations, and will probably be the LAST character model to be released to actual artists that don't have the need to lie to people they don't even know about something the are incapable of doing.

    Thread closed...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    You sound like a little ######! Don't make posts like this. If you really wanna cry at someone about modding do it in a pm.
  • Evil_IceEvil_Ice Join Date: 2004-07-09 Member: 29827Members, Squad Five Blue
    <!--quoteo(post=2064034:date=Jan 20 2013, 11:49 PM:name=nSidia)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (nSidia @ Jan 20 2013, 11:49 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2064034"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->You sound like a little ######! Don't make posts like this. If you really wanna cry at someone about modding do it in a pm.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    And you sir have made yourself out to be an immediate hypocrite.

    Sure, I probably blew that post out of proportion in an attempt to vent some unrelated stress, but my point was not to the original author, as my attempts to communicate with him in a civil fashion were already a failure.

    This is a post to everyone else to not bump this thread, and to dismiss any notions of optimism that this may be in progress, at least not by this person, at this time, and without the permission of Activision-Blizzard. Just asking for a world of disappointment.
  • deathshrouddeathshroud Join Date: 2010-04-10 Member: 71291Members
    edited January 2013
    since you dont seem to care about the morale side or what people think i will jsut say that i am looking forward to seeing how the implementation turns out and i imagine animating will be a headache.

    when zombie panic source originally released i spent a bit of time converting the test maps supplied with the editor for use in the mod, ravenholm and a few others. This was met with mixed opinions some thanked me for giving them more maps to play and others disliked it because it wasnt my own work and the maps ecplipsed some of the custom maps that were released at the time. So i understand what its like to do something like this but i wouldnt do it with anything that i dont have permission to use. I later went on to make my own custom map for the mod.
    <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8LLY_XK17c" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8LLY_XK17c</a>
  • ZEROibisZEROibis Join Date: 2009-10-30 Member: 69176Members, Constellation
    Did anyone read what Evil_Ice actually wrote...
  • deathshrouddeathshroud Join Date: 2010-04-10 Member: 71291Members
    edited January 2013
    i read a little of it and i agree with ihm, having used milkshape 3d in the past to attempt to make my own 3d model for quake 2 quite a while ago, it was obviously apparent that milkshape was functional but limited in its usage and was basically only good for learning the basics and viewing models. Im sure you could actually create good 3d models using the program but it would be eaiser with something like 3d studio max or maya.

    im certainly no modeler and having attempted my own models in the past i understand how hard rigging and animating is, i redid the dog like parasyter creature in quake2 to stand on 2 legs and process of going through every frame and reanimating it was unbelievably time consuming and tedious and in the end i gave up.

    To rig and animate such a complex and diffferent model that would not adapt to a rig from another exiting model in my understanding would be a momentous task so i understand why ice is callig him out as a liar.
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