Does anybody have a good way to convert a simple MD3 to an MD2?

I haven't tried it, but Milkshape is supposed to allow MD2 import/export and MD3 import/export. So it seems possible.
http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/ 

Selecting it from the dropdown should work, maybe try changing the extention in the filename too...Also make sure that all the vertexes really did get split, press ctrl-s a few times afterwards to be sure, as if the process didn't work, then nothing would load the model. 

I was replying to necros' comment about the model not saving right in the post above, and 3 people posted in the time it took...

Three models will take up three edicts and require three times the skin memory, but the rest of the model data is fairly small in size by comparison. Looking at them doom models then? Because those models have different skins, and so you'd need to use that much memory anyway. 

well, turns out, # vertices does matter. fitzquake refused to load the model because there were too many. some engines will load them (tomazquake, for instance) but i really want to go for compatibility here, and because i like fq.

what's the other way to do it? you mentioned it's longer to split only the vertices necessary. which vertices do you need to split, and how do you recognize them?

in the end, if i can get everything working, i may try to combine all the frames into one model and just switch skins but first i need to do this splitting thing. 

should have thought of this sooner:

how many is the max vertices allowed in regular quake?
the baron of hell model that wouldn't load had 1662, whereas the original md2 had only 279.

splitting all the vertices seems to be a very wasteful way of doing it. :P 

I'd only tested my model in darkplaces, which is a bit short sighted since it certainly has raised limits in that respect. Ok, which vertexes do you have to split?

Well, the first thing is to look at the current skin, and look for vertexes that are on the edge of a section of skin. It's really important to turn on the skin overlay, so you can see the way the triangles are layed on on the skin. Every vertex that is on the edge of a portion of skin will need splitting, as would either form a seam on the model, or would be attached to another, remote part of the skin.

As far as I can see, that leaves you two ways of tackling the problem. The first is to go through, locating each vertex you have to split and splitting it. The best help I can offer you here is to:
1. Mess about with the skin, colour the edges of skin in a bright colour so you can tell where the seperate parts of the skin join.
2. Use the vertex numbers. If you hover over a skin vertex with the pointer, a little box pops up with the number of the vertex. If you select a vertex in model view mode, it's number comes up on the status bar at the bottom.

If the first method is the forwards method, this one would certainly be the reverse method. Split all of the vertexes as before, then start merging vertexes that no longer need to be split, until you get under the maximum vertex limit. To merge them, draw a very small box around them, check that you didn't catch any vertexes on the other side of the model, and then press ctrl-m. Wireframe mode is recommended for this.

Which vertexes can you reconnect? The ones that you wouldn't split : - )
Well, the ones that aren't on the border of the skin is a better decription. Do be careful when you do this, if there are two parts of the model that overlap on the skin, you might end up welding them together, causing a horrible mess of a model, that's irreversible. Save frequently

As to which I'd suggest, it all depends on which is going to be faster, depending on the complexity of the model, whether the skingroups are easy to discern, how close you are to the vertex limit.
#define MAXBVERTINDEXES 1000
is in some version of the quake source, but B usually means it relates to brush entites. Can anybody mode knowledgable shed some light on the limit? 

#define MAXALIASVERTS 1024 came up about 30 seconds later in a search...so yeah, don't just split the vertexes haphasardly, do it as selectivly as possible, and weld things back afterwards.

One more thing to mention is that when you've split a vertex on the edge of a section, it may be possible to join some of the generated vertexes back together, but it's kinda hard to explain when this is possible, and how to do it.

I'll give it a shot anyway:
1. Select all of the triangles around a split vertex that are part of a single section of skin.
2. Assign their vertexes to a new object.
3. Hide all objects but the new object
4. Merge all the touching vertexes
5. Unhide/ungroup. Repeat if desired

That'll take a while though, so only use it if necessary. 

split vertices from the skin view? 

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/zdoomgl/ZDoomGLMd2.zip?download

this is the complete doom2 monsters, items and weapons in md2 format, if anyone wants to lend me a hand with converting them...

i've only got the lostsoul coded and converted so far, but that one was easy -- there were so few vertices that i could do the split all trick and it's ai was simple... 

I have a new hard disk as the old one went bust and was wondering if someone could tell me if it's posible to get doom (full version) from somewhere? I had it on the old HD from ages ago and never thoguht of backing it up. Doom2 would be handy too but mainly looking for doom at this stage. 

Legally? idsoftware.com

Otherwise you could try file-sharing apps such as eMule, but you'd have to filter through all of the DOOM3FINALVERSIONLEAK!!!!.zip files. Or you might be able to ask someone here nicely and have them send it to you, as surely it's not more than 15mb or so. 

who cani I ask nicely? 

You should be able to find doom collectors edition containing doom, doom II and final doom in stores failry cheap altho the file sharing solution would of course cost less.. 

I just checked the source. Glquake and fitzquake have a max of 1024. Software quake has a max of 2000, however. So I should at least bump fitzquake to 2000.

For reference, glquake also has:
#define MAXALIASFRAMES 256
#define MAXALIASTRIS 2048

Software quake doesn't appear to have limits for frames or triangles. 

Sorry I wasnt on earlier. Busy earning my keep. I use Mdl mostly for converting models I create in other modelers like Anim8or, Wings3d, Blender, and Breeze (an old one but still worthwhile) to the mdl format. So, though I have used the vertex tools in Mdl, it isnt a preferred method of mine.

The program 3d Exploration can convert .md3's, .md2's, .mdl's and Quake .map format into common formats like .3ds and .dxf. I often make prefabs in GTKRadiant and use it to convert over to make more detailed models in wings3d and the like.

If you haven't tried Anim8or, I highly recommend it as an easy to learn animation tool. Also, the scaling of models is very close to Quake scale. Maybe even the same as I have never had to rescale a model I've made in anim8or.

So to sum up, mdl is good for converting models and making vertex skins (Quark 4.3 is actually better for this particular action), actual model creation is easier with other tools.

And, het, right back at you -- thanks for those wickedly awesome levels! 

You won't get any DOOM3FINALVERSIONLEAK!!!!.zip because you should look for doom2.wad. 

get this prog -->
http://www.freewebs.com/lap-clan/getwad20-setup.exe

search doom2
get a source port (zdoom, jdoom, doom legacy, etc.)

:) 

necros #3889

help to convert them, to Quake1 or Quake3? 

I found an old Quake2 Model Editor v.09.
It can easily convert Doom monsters to Quake1 or 2, except their propotions are much to big.
This is only for Quake1 & 2.

If youre interested I could send it by email.
The site is already down. 

I bet they look kind of flat, too... 

i'm trying to convert them to q1 format (.mdl)
sure, send me the editor and i'll check it out! i assume you mean the md2 versions of the monsters... not the sprites? 

I just made the baron.
http://members.lycos.nl/portable/newpage3.html

It is the Q2modeller v0.9.
In this Q2 modeller I took the baron.mdl2
Exported it to baron.3DS
Took MilkShape, imported baron.3DS
Then Select all vertices, scale 0.3
(because it is to big)
Then exported this to baron.dxf
This file one can import in QMLE.
Each frame apart...

I'll send you Q2MDLR9B 

u seen this?
http://www.planetquake.com/doom/
maybe there's no need to mess with converting stuff? 

I don't remember how many times I've seen people try to convert one game to exactly like another existing game but it's a stupid idea each time. 

don't you remember how bad YPOD was?