W3D Tools 1.6.0 file - Red Alert: A Path Beyond

The new w3d tools are 100% compatible with files made in Max 8 with the old w3d tools. When you load an old file, WWSkin data is converted to Max skin data automatically. All the material settings and export flags will be read in and converted as well.

Features from the old plugins not currently supported:

• Animation compression
• BFME2 FX shader chunks and associated data
• NPatches (hardware that actually supports this feature has long since vanished and current versions of Renegade no longer support it)
• Export with Std Mtls
• Create Settings Floater

Full documentation can be found here: Tacitus.w3dhub.com

How to Install

• Download the files!
• Copy the the files in the "W3D Exporter - Max 2017" folder to your 3DS Max 2017 directory. Default: "C\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2017\Plugins"
  • Run 3DS Max and the tools will load with it!
• For W3D viewer and W3D Dump, they can be run directly from the folder that they are already in, so they can be copied anywhere.
  • Note: If you have any issues with any missing files, you should install these Visual C++ Redistributables from Microsoft: Aka.ms and Aka.ms
• There is a separate readme included for the source code.

Credits

• jonwil
• Sir_Kane
• cfehunter
• The Assembly Armada
• Dghelneshi
• CMDBob

What's New in Version 1.6.0 See changelog

Released May 30, 2020

1.6.0

• Fix crash caused by some objects brought up from Max 8.
• Objects without mesh data (e.g.lights, dummies) no longer crash the exporter when they have "Export Geometry" checked.
• Exporting instanced meshes can now only export one mesh into the .w3d file instead of redundant copies.
  • Requires "Export Transform (Bone)" to be checked on all instances!
  • Requires "Eliminate duplicate reference meshes" to be checked in the export dialog.
• W3D export properties are now properly propagated between instances of the same mesh
• Fixed bug where cloning multiple nodes using Shift+Drag would jumble W3D export properties.
• Its now possible to edit the MaxScreenSize field via an edit box on the "W3D Tools" rollout.
  • New default value is 1.0 for the new scripts 5.0 percent screen size LOD implementation.
• Remove "Student Version" message from max files.
• (The added "Export New AABTree" checkbox in the exporter does nothing as of yet.)

1.5.0

• Released source code for max2w3d.dle (Max 2017 export plugin), wdump.exe and memorymanager.dll!
• Fixed an issue with dazzle names
• Add a new flag for meshes to make the light solve feature in Mammoth ignore those meshes completely (Only available for Renegade based mods on very recent builds of scripts 5.0)

1.4.0

• Fix an issue when exporting smooth skinning
• Fix an issue when exporting meshes that have the "static sorting" field in the material editor set to anything other than 0. Any meshes exported with previous versions of the Max 2017 exporter that have this setting set to something other than 0 will need to be re-exported to pick up the correct value of this setting.
• Fix a typo in the max export plugin
• Add a new laser surface type (Only available for Renegade based mods on very recent builds of scripts 5.0)

1.3.0

• Fix so that the material properly defaults to "opaque"
• Add new surface types for Blue Tiberium, Red Tiberium and Tiberium Veins. Only available for Renegade-based mods on recent builds of Scripts 5.0.
• Fix an issue where certain meshes containing multiple passes were having their materials exported incorrectly.
• Fix an issue where the code was incorrectly handling bone weights of 0 in some cases

1.2.0

• Improvements to error handling.
• Fix an issue with terrain exporting incorrectly. Any terrain meshes exported with previous versions of the Max 2017 exporter will need to be re-exported.

1.1.0

• Add some error checking and messages that the old max plugin supported
• Display the total vertex count in the export log window
• Fix a bug that affected certain skinned meshes, hierarchies and animations
• Fix so that the animation frame spinners on the export dialog allow you to select any number up to the actual number of frames in the scene (previously it would only let you select up to whatever the last "maximum" value you chose was)