[ADVANCED] Tutorial: Custom HAIR and CAP models

[/VUX/*]

Reposted from (http://schtserv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=97254) I am the original author of that post though.

This tutorial is recommended for people experienced with PSOBB modding.

Overview

-Recently I discovered that it is possible to create legit .NJ (PSO USES THIS FILE FOR ITS MODELS) files with old SEGA dev tools. Yes, this means custom models in PSO. This guide will teach you how to create .NJ files from .OBJ files and also how to use your own textures on the custom .NJ files. Examples below.

Things to note (Important, read)

-Don't attempt this if you're not confident.

-This tutorial uses Windows PC.

-This process is complicated and tedious.

-This is only tested with PSOBB.

-This is directed towards people who have experience with 3D modelling.

-I do not know everything about these tools and I am still experimenting with them myself, so some aspects of this process are not perfect.

-I am not entirely sure if this will work on your system but hopefully a few other people can get it to work and we can iron this process out a bit.

-You cannot use this process to modify many objects in PSO, you can only modify HAIR and CAP models to my knowledge.

-Contrary to what I just said, it might be an idea to mess around with replacing BODY or HEAD files as I have not experimented very much with it. Also I have not tried replacing any enemy models or scenery models as they are actually very different to the HAIR and CAP models.

-Lastly I have only tested this method with RAmar models.

What you will need (Compulsory)

-Windows 98 (I am running it via virtual machine) (Feel free to try other OSes)

-A copy of 3DS MAX R2.5

-Sega Dreamcast Katana SDK r9

-VMT (http://psodev.free.fr/)

What you will need (Recommended)

-A modern 3D software of your choice, I recommend Blender 3D since it's free and is actually very good. (http://www.blender.org/)

-OBJ 2 MAX 2.5 (http://www.maxplugins.de/max2.php?page=3&range=Import%20/%20Export&sort=Author)

-ExMldNet (http://kryslin.silvite.com/exmldnet.html)

-Schthack model view (http://schtserv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=12799)

-Virtual Machine (for Windows 98)

Setup

Firstly, make a backup of your PSOBB "data" directory and if you took the recommended route, install Blender 3D so it's ready to go.

O.K. install Windows 98 to install 3DS Max R2.5. Since it is ancient software it will not install correctly on modern computers unless you use Virutal Machine. Once you have installed that you will need to extract these files from the Sega Dreamcast Katana SDK r9:

-SEGA Dreamcast Katana SDK r9\Utl\Gfx\Conv\3DS2Ninja

-SEGA Dreamcast Katana SDK r9\Utl\Gfx\Conv\Chunk\njaconv.exe

The files from the first folder listed are a plug-in for 3DS Max R2.5, the plug-in allows you to export files as .NJ .NJA .NJM etc. Place these files into the "plug-in" folder within the 3DS MAX install files. You might want to double check this works before reading on.

Next put the OBJ 2 MAX 2.5 plug-in into the same folder as 3DS2ninja. This is needed to import .OBJ files into 3DS Max R2.5.

Also maybe create some folders on your main computer to store things, I have one called NJ and another called NJA. BMP and OBJ may also be good folders to make.

So, everything is setup?

Open up Blender 3D and create an object. Keep in mind that this is going back into a 15+ year old game, so don't be too extreme, I think the limit is around 10KB per .NJ. UV map the object but just make sure the texture file is no bigger than 128x128px (Once again this could be experimented with). Export your creation as an .OBJ file and save your texture as a .BMP. I will not provide a tutorial for this as you can learn it elsewhere. You can also do this stuff in 3DS MAX but it's a pain in the ass.

Tip: When creating your object it may be a good idea to convert the char model you're working on (plXbdyXX.nj, PSOBB data directory) using ExMldNet, it will convert .NJ to .OBJ and you can use it as a size, location and rotation reference .

Copy your .OBJ and .BMP over to Windows 98 and open 3DS MAX. Drag your .OBJ into 3DS MAX and make sure "rotate model" is ticked, this will keep the shape rotation from Blender 3D. In 3DS MAX go to "Tools > Material Editor" A box will open. Scroll down to the "Maps" tab and enable "Diffuse". Change the diffuse map to a bitmap and then locate/apply your .BMP image by clicking on that big empty block. After your .BMP image appears in the Material Editor, drag that material onto your object. If you are not confident, render it to ensure your image is mapped. Finally, export your .OBJ as an .NSC file. Make sure you write out ".NSC" or it won't work. When the exporter comes up, tick the "Strip" box and the "ASCII" box. This will produce an .NJA file in your Meshes (3DS MAX directory) folder.

Importation

For this example I will use plDhai00.nj and plDcap00.nj these are RAmar model files, you can check which models are which using Schthack model view.

Open .CMD. And locate the file njaconv.exe that you extracted earlier. Drag this file into .CMD and it should come up like this,

C:\"Users\etc\etc\njaconv.exe"

Type -bin,

C:\"Users\etc\etc\njaconv.exe" -bin

And finally drag your .NJA file into the CMD window,

C:\"Users\etc\etc\njaconv.exe" -bin "Users\etc\etc\MyObject.nja"

Hit enter. The bin command tells it to create an .NJ file or basic chunk model. An .NJ file will appear in the same folder as your .NJA file. Copy it over into the PSOBB "data" directory, rename it to any plDhai00.nj or plDcap00.nj (these are RAmar models) file and it will be imported.

(It's possible this step could be removed since the export plug-in can create .NJ files, but they do not seem to work with PSOBB, someone else can confirm this if they want)

What about the texture I made for my object?

Open up PSOBB and head to the dressing room, apply the hairstyle or hat that you replaced to your character and make sure that all colour sliders are set to full (white hair). Right now your char will look kind of funny, I am telling you to do this so you can find out which texture you need to replace. The .NJ points to a texture in the .AFS file, but it seems to choose one at random. (Your custom object will NOT show in the dressing room, so make sure you go to a ship to check out the texture)

Open up VMT.exe and find the corresponding .AFS file for the character you're modding (for example RAmar is plDtex.afs). Next find the texture which was displaying on your custom model and import your .BMP over it, make sure you tick BB format. Save the .AFS file as BB format and that is it, you're done!

Reload PSOBB and you should have a custom model with its own texture!

Thanks to kryslin, schthack, lee and habware for their PSO/MAX tools and helpful information about the web.

I mainly wrote this tutorial so this trick could be archived, I'm not sure anyone will use it. But yeah, here it is.

Edited June 8, 2015 by /VUX/*

[Grimoire Greys]

How informative, thanks for sharing this information with us. Quite recently I was wondering if it might be possible to edit or possibly create whole new models in-game. This looks like a foot in the threshold for that kind of thing to come into being.

[Mayte]

:x i want to try this x ty

[chuk]

Maybe we should look into modelling completely new items for the game with this technique.

[/VUX/*]

Maybe we should look into modelling completely new items for the game with this technique.

This doesn't work as almost all other .NJ files are different formats. .NJ files with the header "NJCM" will work with this method, but .NJ files with the header "NJTL" will not.

This is the closest I have gotten to editing scenery models. https://youtu.be/dAQ5aHkwZ1U?t=4m22s