Need Help in retrieving existing interchanges to GMAX/so on

[Running Naked in the Snow 2]

what if I wanted to modify an existing interchange in SC4 to something else, how do I extract the said interchange from SC4 to 3dMax or GMAX?

Im thinking of something simple-- an road going over the highway with onramps with only one road approach; what i had in mind was to remove the other side of the road approach.

Using, theoritically, the T texture from common ground-based one way roads with an road terminiating would help replace the texture of the intersection where the road ends...

Im not sure if im clear, but I m interesting in modelling such a intersection. Help, of course, is needed in guiding me where to find the interchanges.

Thank you in advance

[Shadow Assassin 336]

First, you'll have to use ilive's reader.

Then open SimCity_1.dat, and search for the S3D files that the interchange uses. You'll have to extract several, in fact.

Sorry I can't help too much, as it's been a while since I last did it - but hopefully one of the NAM people can provide a better explanation than me.

[Tropod 144]

Date: 6/27/2005 11:55:52 PM
Author:Running Naked in the Snow
what if I wanted to modify an existing interchange in SC4 to something else, how do I extract the said interchange from SC4 to 3dMax or GMAX?
Im thinking of something simple-- an road going over the highway with onramps with only one road approach; what i had in mind was to remove the other side of the road approach.
Using, theoritically, the 'T' texture from common ground-based one way roads with an road terminiating would help replace the texture of the intersection where the road 'ends'...
Im not sure if im clear, but I m interesting in modelling such a intersection. Help, of course, is needed in guiding me where to find the interchanges.
Thank you in advance

quote>


Well, it depends I guess.
Interchange-Base items typically, but not always, involve two different sets of Models & Textures. One is for the Preview Model of the interchange, & the other is the actual interchange files itself which usually comprise of dozens of files (i.e. models, exemplars, paths etc) depending on how big the interchange item is. You could possibly extract just the Preview Model for use in Gmax/3DMax, instead of having to extract all the files (this does not change how Interchanges are put together in game though).

I'm a little rusty as it's been ages since I've touched Gmax or done this process, but here goes.......
1. Basically; with the Reader, locate the Model file, right click on the Model file & Save Decoded File.
2. In Gmax use the Import (or maybe it's the Merge function) & select the extracted file. There should be a pop-up asking what parts of the model you want to import. Select all of it except CAMERA & the LODS. And I think that should be about it (I don't have 3Dmax so I couldn't tell you, but I dare say it'd be similar in principle).

Now if you wanted the Textures to go along with it, well you would need to locate the FSH (Textures), extract them in the same fashion as the model (but give them a .FSH extension), & use FshMan to convert the FSH > BMP.

If you intend on doing anything Interchange Related at all, a good place to start would be the Interchange Tutorial Thread .

[Running Naked in the Snow 2]

Well, I got to this point, which is an achievement considering I know nothing about this. I located the file, with its (apparently) 11 layers of modelling. I am not sure if this is the preview model or not, since it doesnt have an label that screams PREVIEW MODEL!...

But I have to ask this-- What file extension should I save the decoded preview so it is able to import/merge in Gmax? I tried 3ds, GMAX, to no avail.

Thank you for your help, Tropod and Shadow, I really do appreciate that.

[Tropod 144]

right, seems my initial instructions were a tad off. Told ya I was rusty .....
Within the Reader, on the model file itself on the right hand side there are 2 buttons with functions;
S3D Functions
Add S3D

Click on the S3D Functions button & export it that way (Reader will automatically assign an extention). Then with Gmax use the Import function & import the *.s3d file. When importing, Gmax may complain about with a pop-up (Assertion Failed). If this happens, just click retry & ignore the error, this is just related to textures I believe, but it should still import without them.
If successfully imported you may notice that the model is, well, sidewards. This is quite normal.

[Running Naked in the Snow 2]

thank you. That worked.

Now, onto to the hard part...