Search

[Scrotty]

After a lot of trial and error with modding TF2 I finally got it but now I've encountered another odd issue, I made some obvious edits to the Phlogistinator to verify it worked in-game. However, the weapon was disappearing from a distance? Did I do something wrong with the smd exporter? I know one would easily start to question why I blame WW for this, but I tested it with blender's plugin as well but didn't encounter this issue.

The compiler program could also be called into question I suppose, though I don't know of any incompatibilities. I use Crowbar (A tool meant to replace all of the other source compilers/decompilers, also a trillion times easier to use).
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/CrowbarTool

As far as showing what I mean, if necessary I could provide a video or the .vpk files. It's visible close up but disappears from a distance.

[func_Mathias]

Only thing I can think of is that it might be missing lod models (level of detail), which is lower quality versions of the model it switches to when it's further away.
It's also very easy to use the model compiler in Wall Worm as long as you set the right paths, try that too.
Other than that I'm clueless, good luck.

[Scrotty]

Wtf...wtf?? Spot on, func_Mathias! I just tested low graphics settings in-game and it vanished! How in the world did that happen?...it wasn't reported in the compiler..now I'm even more confused, lol.

Also, WW can compile? Whaaaat? How?

[func_Mathias]

Yeah thought so, what you should be doing is looking at some of the tutorials Shawn (WW author) has made on youtube.
Heres one I found quickly on LOD's, but should also show just a little bit on model compiling. Make Source LOD Models
Go looking on his youtube channel for other topics or go to www.dev.wallworm.com/ for writen documentation on most topics.

Wall Worm can also compile levels for source that are built in max, just so you know :)

[wallworm]

I know one would easily start to question why I blame WW for this...

I have years of experience doing this. Bugs do appear and WW isn't always right... but the fact is that 99% of the issues that people generally have can be lumped into one or more of these categories: 1) Inexperience in Source; 2) Inexperience in Max; 3) Inexperience with WW. Making no claims about you in particular, just responding to your quote. 99% of the time someone sends me a file to investigate, and the solutions to the problem is staring right at my face... but it's because I have a unique set of experiences on it and generally know automatically what to look for, etc. Very often people come to me saying that WW broke something... and I screen share and watch their steps and it becomes quite clear that they are new to Source or Max or WW. Nothing is wrong with being new to something... but if something doesn't work as you expect you cannot assume it is a problem with the application.

When there actually is an issue in exporting models, I'm the first who would want to know and fix it. But I export dozens of models a week (animated, with/without LODs, hulled/not hulled, static, physics... etc). I know all of those things work as expected.

The best advice overall is to learn the WW pipeline if you plan on using WW. That means changing your whole approach to making models for Source from traditional setups. And to soak up all the technical aspects of Source. The more you understand the under-the-hood, the better your mileage will be. Except for complex props (characters or ones with fancy effects) you should never have to open a text editor or external compiler... you should just export/compile from inside Max and then enjoy it in-game. Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation floating around the internet on how to use Max/WW.