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Neverblender v1
Submitted by:
Submitted by Symmetric on 2014-01-10 14:18.
Last modified:
2018-02-28 10:50
This Blender add-on enables support for the MDL file format used by NWN. Neverblender requires blender 2.69.
Neverblender for other Blender versions
Installation:
Go to File => User Preferences and select AddOns. Click on the "Install From File..." button at the bottom and select the neverblender_1.2X.zip. Check the small checkbox on the right to enable neverblender. It's located under the import-export category. Make sure to click "Save User Settings". If you update from an older version you may need to restart blender.
Files:
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 neverblender_1.29.zip (785) | 38.38 KB |
| minimapgen_1.26.zip (284) | 63.08 KB |
| Old versions for blender 2.61 - 2.68 (347) | 441.73 KB |
this is the best thing since sliced bread.
Thank you for making this available.
Great tool, I already watch a bunch of videos to get familar with blender UI and setup and found out to create a nice workflow between blender and nwmax. I especial like blenders ability to paint to object and make texture maps for us. :) I be updating the tutorial sticky to some cool blender videos I found.
Hey ShadM!
Check out blenders ability to bake Ambient Occlusion into the texture, too :-)
Basically, you take a mapped object, tell it to bake the AO and it adds shadowing/brightening from nearby faces... directly to the texture map!
A *nice* way to add some depth and punch to an otherwise flat texture :-)
Thank you for updating this tool. Very nice.
I did get one traceback when I tried to import a model:
location: <unknown location>:-1
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "J:\Program Files (x86)\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.69\scripts\addons\neverblender\__init__.py", line 314, in execute
return nvb_importmdl.load(self, context, **keywords)
File "J:\Program Files (x86)\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.69\scripts\addons\neverblender\nvb_importmdl.py", line 2406, in load
load_mdl()
File "J:\Program Files (x86)\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.69\scripts\addons\neverblender\nvb_importmdl.py", line 2336, in load_mdl
mdl_classification = get_mdl_classification()
File "J:\Program Files (x86)\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.69\scripts\addons\neverblender\nvb_importmdl.py", line 86, in get_mdl_classification
printf('WARNING: Invalid Classification')
NameError: global name 'printf' is not defined
I think there might also be something a little wonky with the way it imports a few of the objects. An example is Zwerkules' swan bath from the August 2010 CCC. The interior of the bath was broken broken up into a series of diagonal surfaces.
Thanks again.
Thanks for the bug report. I uploaded a new version, the issues should be fixed now.
that's great! you can see my work with blender at deviantart. still under contruction!
thank you!
Hello! I'm the lazy sob who didn't keep updating NeverBlender in bloody long darn ages. Sorry, things happened and then thing got confusing and everything kept changing and I wasn't very good at it. =)
I'm very happy to see that NeverBlender was reborn, and you've apparently even vastly surpassed the original feature set. Thank you so much!
-wwwwolf
Hi,
Great work. Love neverblender very much. :)
I do have a problem report though: Sometimes, parented meshes are exported with wrong scaling or positioning in relation to the parent. They appear "offset" when viewed in the toolset/game, but correct in blender. Since I'm a pretty newb in blender, I don't know if it's a issue with the scripts or some setting I'm missing.
Exporting to .mdl and reimporting the .mdl shows the offsets then as they appear in the game too. Fixing them in that reimported .blend and then exporting again makes everything pretty.
I can send you a .blend file that demonstrates this if you want. :)
Thanks again for all the work you've put into this, both of you.
n
Hallo Sym,
Danke für die Erweiterung von Blender, besonders das MiniMapTool hat mir schon einiges an Arbeit erspart ;-)
Gruß Dun!
Hello Symmetric,
Thanks for this extension of Blender, additionally the MiniMapTool had saved me much time ;-)
Greetz Dunahan!
Updated to v1.10
General
Emitters
Fantastic!
I could use some help, so I'm posting my comment also here:
I'm using Neverblender 1.10 and Blender 2.74. Import for tiles works fine, but I can't create .wok for new ones, nor can I create functioning lightsources.
Every time I try to load walkmesh materials, I get this error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.74\scripts\addons\neverblender\nvb\ops.py", line 25, in execute
for i in range(len(nvb_presets.wok_materials)):
NameError: name 'nvb_presets' is not defined
location: <unknown location>:-1
Appending walkmesh materials from other models didn't solve the problem.
BTW - I did check and recheck file "parenting" (parent - "empty" mdl Rootdummy, Tile), Aurora mesh properties (set to aab Walkmesh) Seems o.k. and exports mdl but doesn't export wok.
What am I doing wrong?
The issue with the walkmeshes was a bug, sorry about that. I fixed it and uploaded a new version 1.11.
About the lightsources, they have to be named in a specific way. For main lights depending on the tilename (let's say abc01_x02_y03): abc01_x02_y03ml1, abc01_x02_y03ml2 (i.e. append "ml1" or "ml2" to the tilename).
I've never finished the tutorial or automated the process. It's on my list though.
It works fine now. Thanks a lot, Symmetric. Tutorial could be useful, of course.
Updated to v1.21
The Neverblender 1.21b download only contains a nvb folder and '__init__.py'. Is that correct? The earlier release had several more Python script files.
Sorry for the late answer, didn't see your post. The other files are all be in the nvb folder.
I originally wanted to organize it like a python module, but blenders addon system doesn't quite allow that - it would have made the installation more complicated.
Thanks, that seems to work. Overall I'm seeing a significant improvement in the number of NWN models I can open, so that's great! However, there are still a few models that abort with an error during import. For example, in the latest Project Q set, the following models failed to load: pbt_p01.mdl, plc_t11.mdl, paf_z14.mdl, and pms_x01.mdl. (There may be more; I only checked a few dozen.) Hope this helps.
Ah yes, thanks. I'll have a look at those models.
i get an error when i try to install the plugin in any version of blender. in the latest it wont even let me make it active, and errors out. in the 2.49b version it doesnt even show as an option in the import export. is there something different i have to do to install it in either one? my primary use for this would be to import Kotor models and then edit them and export all in blender, but it doesnt look like it will work in either version of blender to even attempt installing the script. the latest linux blender version is 2.74 and that is what i have.
Argh. I'm so sorry. I've uploaded the wrong version with old init files.
I've uploaded the correct version now (1.23a). This time time I've installed the package before uploading to be sure it's the right one. Again, I'm sorry.
I'm not sure if it works with Kotor models though. I don't know if they are any different from NWNs model files and never tested it.
im just guessing it might since nwnmax was the max equivalent i used before. if i can import and export the correct format then maybe it will work. i will check it out and try
it does import the kotor models just fine. i already converted them to the ascii-mdl format before and they work in blender just fine using this plugin. i was able to manipulate them and even edit them. not sure about export yet, but im not that far yet. i saved all the ones i was working on in blend format. will post updates here when i figure it out.
the model format is the same for NWN and for kotor, so it should work either way. however i did encounter one problem with a player made model, it was different enough that neverblender did not recognize the ascii-mdl as valid and errored out, so what i guess is that neverblender may need an option to force import of geometry only. the problem was the player made dummy object was not what neverbelnder expected, so it didnt match up to the vanilla models, and that was enough to restrict it from importing.
how i fixed that was to use a very old import script that forced the import in blender 2.49b and i was able to then open it in blender 2.74. but the old script also imported along with the player made dummy object, a bajillion materials on that one model, and also failed to import the UVs correctly or the texture info. i have not had that issue with vanilla game models just this one player made model. so yeah, having an option to import geometry only in the correct orientatin and coordinates would be a cool function to add. also thinking that adding a material cleaner to the script may help in some cases, or forcing a default game material for objects as an option prior to import.
I tried loading 1.26 and Neverblender has just stopped working. It shows up in the User Preferences... and I have it selected, but it does not appear in the Import or Export menu. I tried reloading the Factory Defaults and reloading the scripts, but no luck. I confirmed that J:\Program Files (x86)\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.73\scripts\addons/neverblender exists.
Ed.: Ah, I see now: you renamed it to "Aurora". Well that was confusing.
Using NeverBlender 1.28 for Blender 2.73. When creating empty object, there is no Aurora properties in data panel.
Just for the record, I ran into a couple of "features" while importing models from a tileset:
The net result meant I had to manually edit the model files before they could be safely imported in toto. After removing all of the trimesh nodes with a NULL bitmap and changing the names of duplicates, the Neverblender import filter worked properly and I got the complete model.
P.S. The 'node trimesh' entries with a NULL bitmap were shadow boxes.
The first bug should be fixed now. At least can't replicate it.
The second however is something I've been fighting with since the beginning. Object names have to be unique in blender. Mdls can have mutliple objects with the same name and still work.
Naming conflicts could be resolved, as long as the names are at the very least unique for each parent. But the big problem are animations. I can't just go and change object names because that might mess up mdls with supermodels. If there are multiple objects with the same name in the mdl file, it's a matter of luck if they can be imported. Not much I can do about it sadly.
If there are parts with duplicate names, wouldn't that mix up the animation anyway?
I'm not sure about that. NWN seems to rely on the order of the objects in the mdl. I don't really know what can be changed and what has to stay the same.
For example: I've had issues with old neverblender versions where I simply exported the objects as they were ordered in blender, i.e. by name. It completely messed up animations in models with supermodels. Right now I save the order during import and restore it during export.
I don't know how gmax/3dsmax order objects, but gmax preserves the order in which the objects were imported.
This is great :) please keep updating and improving on this amazing Blender Addon!
I'm currently using Blender 2.78
Thank you so much for this.
How can I export model with smooth shading?
Under Aurora Mesh Properties there is a Smoothgroup setting, with the following options:
Thanks for the new versions. I hope to test them soon (RL allowing
)
I used the older minimap generator before and installed version 2.0 today. It works fine, except I get 32x32 map icons even if I set the size to 64. The log file says that the mini map size is 64, so that got read in correctly from the ini-file.
Sorry about that. Actually every option from the ini was ignored too. I've fixed it and uploaded a new version.
Thanks for the updates
This addon is awesome; getting to work in Blender makes it incredibly easy to make and map complex shapes.
Thank you kindly for this, Symmetric. It's being put to good use.