Collisions

[Avenger20A]

I need some help with Collisions.

 

When ever I make something in 3d max and put it in oblivion the collisions never work, you can see the object but you can't collide with it when I don't use the rigid modifier. But when I do use the rigid modifier than I can't see or collide with the object.

 

Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong.

[chris 07]

How are you getting it ingame? You are using nifskope i hope...

[LHammonds]

I don't know about 3ds max but I do know that Blender and Blender NIF Scripts can make collision objects just fine. The most recent release even has full mopps support.

 

Try exporting to NIF, then import into Blender, make your collision and then export from Blender.

 

Here is a collision "how-to" tutorial I made regarding step-for-step instructions for Blender and weapon collisions.

 

LHammonds

[Vagrant0]

I need some help with Collisions.

 

When ever I make something in 3d max and put it in oblivion the collisions never work, you can see the object but you can't collide with it when I don't use the rigid modifier. But when I do use the rigid modifier than I can't see or collide with the object.

 

Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong.

First, you need a collision mesh (not the mesh you see) for anything to have collision properties. Essentially, for every object you need a collision mesh and a normal mesh (2 meshes). The collision mesh should have the same rough proportions as your normal mesh, but be as simple as possible. I usually make my collision meshes by just combining rectangular solids, and moving around points, or using lofts wherever I can in order to keep the geometry as simple as possible. Your collision mesh needs to all be all one object. Although you can have multiple collision objects, it requires a few more steps which may only confuse you at this point. Have both of your meshes visible, and export. When you export, make sure you have collision mesh checked. Before using it in game, you should look at the .nif file in nifscope. Under "Render" make sure "draw havok" is checked. You should see both your mesh and a red wireframe which represents the collision mesh.

 

The plugin for 3dsmax is over a year old, and doesn't do everything you'd think it does. Collisions are the one thing it doesn't do well. The material properties of the mesh don't get exported properly, you can't make arrows stick into wood (atleast as far as I've noticed), and occasionally things get botched up durring export. If your collision mesh seems to have segments which are in the wrong place, you'll need to pack the collision mesh (right click on one of the havok blocks), but make sure that you change the material properties first since these seem to get packed with the mesh. Sometimes either the collision mesh or the normal mesh won't export. When this happens you will need to group the collision mesh as its own group with the same exact name as the object in max. So if the collision mesh is names "Box07" you will need to name the group "Box07", for the normal mesh, If things are in the wrong place, you'll need to "reset xform" before exporting.

 

It's a real pain in the ass if you aren't used to working with max, and even then it occasionally gives you problems. If you aren't set in your ways, you may even want to considder using blender instead. You don't have to steal it, and it has alot more support as far as the .nif format goes.

[Avenger20A]

Thanks. It works when I have a second mesh. Will this be problematic if I use really highpoly meshes?

 

Thanks Again!

[Vagrant0]

Thanks. It works when I have a second mesh. Will this be problematic if I use really highpoly meshes?

 

Thanks Again!

Yes. The more polygons anything has, the more it affects performance. With collision meshes this is even more true since the geometry is being handled by the videocard, whenever it is loaded, and is handled by the processor whenever anything comes in contact with it. The more sufaces it has, the more processing is needed to detect what is intersecting those surfaces.