Adding transparency to laser model.

How to create models in XSI and other 3D applications and make them work in Battlefront 1 & 2. Post models, tips for application usage and share anything XSI, 3DMax, SketchUp, etc.

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commanderawesome
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Adding transparency to laser model.

Post by commanderawesome »

Alright, I'm trying to convert a blaster shot model someone made for Empire at War. (Not from the stock game) But I can't get the transparency to show up, so it looks like this (sorry about the loadscreen):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwA6zIbyKCA
I tried hex-editing additive transparency using this tutorial, but to no effect. The model is just a bunch of planes and a texture.
Link to original, unconverted model:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/old-republic- ... ee-release

To converted the model using this method:
AceMastermind wrote:Free and legal
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Re: Adding transparency to laser model.

Post by AceMastermind »

Anything transparent in SWBF requires a transparency type flag in the material (except cloth) and a texture with an alpha channel.
If there is more than one material in the msh file, you may need to flag them as well.
You could do this all in Mod Tool using ZETools prior to export, no need to hex edit anything.

ZE Tools > .MSH Tools > Manage Materials... > [select a material] > ZEify > ZeroEngine_Flags
Move the 'Transparency' slider to 2 (double-sided) and tick 'Additive Transparency'

I would clean up the model a bit in XSI by deleting the useless duplicate polygons occupying the same space. The texture needs some work too, the alpha channel is all white and covering the whole thing, black is completely transparent and white is completely visible in SWBF. You want to be able to see some color from the texture in-game without all the surrounding black from the RGB channels.
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Re: Adding transparency to laser model.

Post by commanderawesome »

AceMastermind wrote:The texture needs some work too, the alpha channel is all white and covering the whole thing, black is completely transparent and white is completely visible in SWBF. You want to be able to see some color from the texture in-game without all the surrounding black from the RGB channels.
How do I do that in gimp?
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Re: Adding transparency to laser model.

Post by AceMastermind »

I don't know, I use Photoshop. This texture should help get you started, I just copied the red channel into the alpha.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/7xfcf ... er_Red.zip
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