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[snah]

So, i'm having a lovely time using Wall Worm! So powerful and even though ive been using Hammer for over 5 years already finding this tool far easier.

My only problem so far has been after getting all the HL2 materials into my material library in Max and applying a few of them to some objects, then applying a UVW Map modifier and adjusting the values until I am happy with the look. I then collapse the modifier tree back down into an Editable Poly and export the VMF, then if i open the map in Hammer or run it in the game the textures are all 8 times too big. So if they looked like they would be a texture scale of 0.25 in Hammer when inside 3DS Max, after exporting they end up being a texture scale of 2. >:(

Am i doing something wrong? Please help.

[wallworm]

Well there are a couple things to keep in mind.

1) The UVW translations/orientations and scale can be affected by both the texture transforms and the per-face UVW. WW will accommodate both.

2) The Material Library generator in WW does not yet calculate a material's texturetransforms for imported VMT/VTFs... so if your imported VMT material is transformed/scaled incorrectly, this is why. I intend to fix this in the future but haven't gotten around to it yet.

In the event of #2 being a problem, simply change the Material name in Max and re-export the VMT as a new VMT (it will re-use the textures) and see if that new material displays properly.

If this is happening with materials you create from scratch, please send me a sample scene with the problem.

PS. TIP: Collapsing the stack is not required for your geometry... one thing I often do is instance a single UVW map across many objects (say a whole building) so that I can manipulate the UVW of all objects at once by just modifying that one UVW modifier. I keep the modifier alive as long as I think I might want to edit all that at once.

[snah]

Hi Shawn,

Thanks for the quick response! I dont think it is #1 because i havent touched the texture transforms at all and only applied UVW modifier to achieve the results i want. I dont quite understand how it would be #2. I am using default HL2 materials and textures and none of them have any properties inside their VMTs that would cause them to change size in engine i dont think. Would you take a look at my scene file? That would be so helpful thank you!

[wallworm]

OK... I see the problem. I'll explain it in a few minutes.

[wallworm]

OK... first things first... what version of Max are you using? If using Max 2013/2014, I am certain of the problem. If using Max 2012 and older with the VTF plugin... then I'm not sure the problem.

[wallworm]

OK I discovered the problem. I see the file you posted is for an older version of Max... and I had sped up the exporter last year by removing calculations for VTF files since there is no VTF plugin for Max 2013-2014. I'll explain in more detail and load a fix in a few.

[snah]

Hey Shawn,

Thanks for you time man, really, really appreciate it. So I am using Max 2011 for this project because I am using quite a few plugins that will only work with this version. Is there a fix for this problem with Max 2011? That would be amazing.

[wallworm]

OK... you can download the latest version. You can then export correctly in 2011 with VTF bitmaps on your textures. For anyone reading this... the VTF bitmaps inside Max are not supported in 3ds Max 2013 - 2014!

[wallworm]

PS... what plugins do you still need in Max that aren't available in 2014? Almost all plugins (except Wunderboy and Cannonfodder) that I've ever used have been updated or are still compatible. And WW now has native SMD importers and exporters. I'm just curious... because 2014 is definitely the best version of Max that's ever been released!