[Tutorial] The complete guide to decompiling and recompiling models!

[Bob Ross]

im trying to make team-specific skins for the DH but obviously theres only one model. will this let me have team specific weapon models?

[Psy]

I think it's possible. You'd have to look at the QC files for weapons with team-specific skins such as the Blutsauger.

[Drick96]

I'm trying to make a seemingly simple little mod. What it is isn't really that important, but it will never work unless I can get the model I decompiled to recompile properly.

I decompiled engineer_animations.mdl (the one in the same folder as engineer_arms.mdl, in c_items), I didn't make ANY modifications but recompiling got me some error about not being able to find the bone "bip_hand_R".

So, according to something I saw someplace else, I added
$bonemerge "bip_hand_R"
$bonemerge "bip_hand_L"
Right after $modelname in mdldecompiler.qc.

The model recompiled successfully. However... In-game all of the engineer's viewmodels are invisible (except, strangely, the wrench.) also, when I reload with the pistol it pops up on the bottom of the screen, still a little messed up however.

Also, I checked back in GUIstudioMDL, and there were some warnings I didnt notice before when recompiling:

"WARNING: *animation name* : bounding box out of range : -131024 -130533 -114643 : -9999 -9999 -9999"

It does this for EVERY file that is included in the recompile.

I can probably get my little experiment to work if I can just recompile this properly without any modifications, so if you can help then I'd appreciate it.



(Also, when I decompiled engineer_animations.mdl I got this error, even though it still went through:
"Hacked EXE! Vphysics.dll won't be loaded (stops crashes)"
Since I'm dealing with the engineer's viewmodel hands I wouldn't think that physics matter, so I didn't think much of it. Also, I'm using a hacked version of mdldecompiler specifically for TF2 because the regular one doesn't seem to ever load this file in particular. (I've loaded different models with it))

[Mick-a-nator]

It probably all originates from that warning during the decompile. Where have you placed mdldecompiler and are you sure you HEX edited the mdl correctly?

[Drick96]

Oh pfft *taps head* with all the experimenting I forgot the simple step of changing that 0 to a ,

Okay, I did that. Now the original Mdldecompilier works but crashes after it seems to finish. All the files are there It doesnt seem to finish the .qc however because it appears that line 101 is missing or corrupt or something, so it won't recompile.
Now, using the hacked version again, it doesn't even get THAT far. it makes a lone .qc that turns out to be blank then crashes.

So it seems adding the comma broke it even more :/

Also, mdldecompilier (original) and the hacked version are both in "source sdk base/bin" because in "source sdk/bin" and "source sdk/bin/orange box/bin" I get that Q appendslash or whatever error. GUIStudioMDL is in "Source sdk/bin".

[Mick-a-nator]

I have it in "sourcesdk\bin\ep1\bin" (then shortcut it to desktop) and that works fine. The only thing with it is, it occasionally crashes when trying to decompile a model for the first time (ie, just after you selected a new/different model), but just open it up again and it should work. If that doesn't work, try "reinstalling" it.

EDIT: This

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psy

TIP: Place GUIStudioMDL in the 'sourcesdk/bin/orangebox/bin/' folder and MDLDecompiler in the 'sourcesdk/bin/ep1/bin' folder and create shortcuts for both of them on the desktop so they're easier to get to.

[Drick96]

Okay, I re-downloaded mdldecompiler, put it in the ep1 bin, re-extracted engineer_animations.mdl, hex-edited it from "IDST0" to "IDST,", and it still crashes. It seems that everything comes out okay except for the .qc which is missing about 20 lines compared to the decompile of "IDST0" with the hacked version. I tred splicing in the missing lines to the "IDST," version from the "IDST0" version. When I try to recompile that one I still get the ERROR: cannot find bone bip_hand_R for bbox. I put those Bonemerges in again and the WARNINGS come again. I just came full circle

[Drick96]

I think I've got it almost figured out. A tutorial helped me fix the bounding box error, but the viewmodels are twisted wrong. I might be able to fix it though.

EDIT: I've got it ^^ sorry for wasting space on this thread. Also thanks Mick for trying to help

[Bad Vlad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Ross

im trying to make team-specific skins for the DH but obviously theres only one model. will this let me have team specific weapon models?

You can have team-specific skins, but you'll need to recompile the model and make that a part of your skin. The skins are referred to within the model, apparantly.

[Mick-a-nator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drick96

Also thanks Mick for trying to help

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