3D Studio Max BAT Version 2 Released !!

[Sarg 4]

Ok, now I'm getting Code 6 errors in that same model... This is really puzzling! I could render it without any problems yesterday, and today I haven't been able to render it at all!

Are those two problems of BatForMax or is it just my bad luck striking again?

Everything fixed when I downloaded the new script... I should try to update things before whinning...

The grey lines problem is still there, though. They are actually transparent (in the lot editor they show grey because the background is grey) and they seem to appear randomly in the building, at different rotations but always at zoom level 5 (not at 6).

[meng881124 2]

hey Sarg are you using 3ds max 5, 6 or 7. I cant seem to get it to work on mine and it keep giving me Code=6 after it finish render zoom5

thx

[CycleDogg 130]

meng: the new script (on the previous page) should fix that problem.

sarg:  in 3dsmax, go to   Customize -> Preferences -> Rendering   and make sure the checkbox labelled Don't anti-alias against background is checked.
I get lines like that too in the Reader (even for the Maxis buildings).  But not in the game, and I don't think in the Lot Editor either.

[meng881124 2]

so i downloaded the script and the error became code=130, error generating fsh/model file. now what do i do? I checked over my steps with the one in the instructions all seems correct, is there anything else i need to download?

Edit: I figured out the problem. Since the BAT i installed was a fresh copy, it was zoomed out at long distance. After i un-check the conver unit box it creates a huge LOD relative to the game. That seem to be causing the problem. After i zoomed in before i imported the LOD in bat the problem went away.

[PixelPuncher 0]

So I'm curious how many people on this board are able to afford a $3500 program? Are you guys getting it somewhere cheap? If so let me know because right now I'd have to save for 5 years to purchase the program. It would be great to have the program I just can't fork out that much for it. Thanks

[couchpotato 8]

I use an educational version which is about $650 if you don't have a prior version.   

[AgentUhOh7 10]

So... How do I get this to work? I don't feel like going through the 6 pages I haven't read yet trying to piece together how to get 3dsmax to do BAT.

I was slightly disappointed to discover that the BAT plugin doesn't automatically work on 3dsmax. I had assumed that 3dsmax was at least gmax, and then some. It's actually quite ironic that 3dsmax is so much more powerful and awesome, and yet it can't do something this simple. Maybe that was intentional... to prevent 3dsmax piracy. I dunno.

Is there any way that this could be used to make animated props/buildings? I've heard that that'll probably be something doable in SimCity 5, and that, with Photoshop and much effort, it might be done with SC4.

[Pooty 228]

Yeah, I don't get where to go in order to find this file. Can someone post it up somewhere? Im getting 3ds Max soon and I want to be able to render into gmax!

[CycleDogg 130]

Click on Modding Files (on the left) and then scroll down to Program Files section.  The program is called BAT for Max V2.  Download that, and download the new script on the previous page of this thread (which fixes some bugs).  There are instructions included with these downloads which you'll have to follow carefully in order to get it to work.

[rp2005 165]

Here's an observation about the efficiency of a BAT for Max export.

The export sequence is:

z5 south - day - night - white (shape?)

z5 east - day - night - white

This would be OK if it wasn't for the fact that between the night and 'white' renders all the textures are stripped from every object, the white render happens and then all the textures are put back on again.

In the case of more complex object this means that the program spends far more time playing with textures than it actually does rendering.

Is there anyway to increase the speed of this texture replacement (by grouping objects or some other means)? 

Or failing that, does anyone have the knowledge to be able to change the code so that the export does all the textured renders (day and night) and then strips the textures for the white renders (the texture strip/replace only happens once rather than for every direction and zoom level)? 

 

[Djohaal 121]

A way to save render time is to make the perspective camera point to a blank area, when rendering (at least on the old script) 3dsmax would randomly do a perspective render, by placing the cam on a blank area, that render will take no time to render...

[rp2005 165]

Date: 3/6/2005 8:36:39 AM Author: J.O. A way to save render time is to make the perspective camera point to a blank area, when rendering (at least on the old script) 3dsmax would randomly do a perspective render, by placing the cam on a blank area, that render will take no time to render...

Thanks.  I'll give that a try.

Edit:  That made no difference, so I don't think it's related to what's in the viewport. 

Pity, because for the project I'm working on at the moment a z5 render is taking 30s.  Multiply that up by the number of views and you get 3x4x5 = 60x30s = 30mins.  The actual export is taking 5hrs, most of which isn't render time it's texture remove; texture add.

Does anyone else see this or is it just me?  I haven't noticed it on smaller buildings.  The difference on this one is number of components and a very simple custom LOD (T-shaped).

Edit2:  OK, I'm updating this so that the info is there if anyone hits the same problem.  It looks like the problem is texture related.  First I ditched the custom LOD and went back to a simple box with no success.

I then decided to delete my textures.  I've now reached one (a basic shiny black for my guttering and downpipes) and on deletion I'm seeing the same problem as when the export tries to remove the textures.  I'm expecting to get back to normal export times once this texture is eliminated.

 

 

 

[Brenda_Xne 46]

I was wondering if somebody had this issue with 3DS Max before. I did the night lighting of the building and it looks like this:



I used several onmi lights with a 1 multiplier and an inverse square decay that starts at 7m

Since I got this result I changed the multiplier to .1 and set the decay to 2m and got this:



Does anybody knows why this happens?

Hope there were a way to preview the night lights in 3D max without having to render the whole thing >>

[ZeramZeram 2]

PixelPuncher, this is testament to the resources we have available here on Simtropolis... that being the people. I am absolutely in awe of the people working for us and the volume produced on a daily basis. The reason so many people have access to 3DS MAX is that many of the artists are professionals who use the software on a daily basis. Actually, $3500 is not a lot to spend when you think about a workstation costing $3000-5000 or more with certain hardware configurations. MAX is actually considered a cheap 3D program primarily used for second tier applications like commercials and games!

Adobe Photoshop + Illustrator is $1000 and there are over a million legitimate copies of each out there. The educational version of MAX is actually only $350 by the way (at least it was when I was in school). It is almost unusuable though as it puts a huge watermark on most images.

 

I'd have to assume that everyone else are teh mad haxxors and simply acquire MAX through the usual questionable routes...

 

Brenda, that is one of the weirdest renders I have ever seen. It almost looks like something I'd expect from a negative multiplier... maybe the multiplier you set is too close to zero.

[CycleDogg 130]

rp2005:
The extra time is not because of adding/removing textures.  (That should be pretty much instant).  It is the image post-processing for the night lighting.  It's a pixel-by-pixel thing, so if your building is large, it could take a while . . .
Night lighting via night window textures requires the most image processing, but all night lighting requires some.

Brenda:
Keep your multipliers above 0.5 (more or less).
What you are seeing in-game is not your actual night rendering.  What you are seeing is the night-lit portion of your building composited (by the game) onto a darkened daytime view of the building.  If your night lighting is too dim, it will appear to darken the building rather than light it.

[Brenda_Xne 46]

Thank you so much ^^

the night lights are working fine now ^^

[Shadow Assassin 336]

I'm having a problem with trying to render a building... The LODs render fine, but when I attempt to render with the LODs, 3dsMax reports that the SC4Model does not exist, despite the LOD rendering without any problems...

--
And, how do I do nightlights - that is, loading the night map (do I create ordinary lights in 3dsmax or not?)

[Shadow Assassin 336]

Alright, what the hell do I have to do to get some help around here? I've been waiting patiently for a reply to my problem for the last two weeks! To recap:

When I attempt to render the 3ds model, after creating the LODs in question, THE SC4 MODEL is claimed not to exist, even with correct path names, and that sorta thing. It still happens even when I create a completely new scene. Again, how do I fix this?

[eddiem 2]

Date: 4/11/2005 8:19:34 AM Author: Shadow_Assassin Alright, what the hell do I have to do to get some help around here? I've been waiting patiently for a reply to my problem for the last two weeks! To recap: When I attempt to render the 3ds model, after creating the LODs in question, THE SC4 MODEL is claimed not to exist, even with correct path names, and that sorta thing. It still happens even when I create a completely new scene. Again, how do I fix this?

quote>

A couple of things which I've come across:
1\ Recheck the path.
2\ SC4 Model must have a name
My_House-0x5ad0e817_0x8f59f70d_0x50000.SC4Model
NOT
-0x5ad0e817_0x8f59f70d_0x50000.SC4Model
3\ I am sure spaces in name cause problems, not sure about that though.
Eddie.

[Shadow Assassin 336]

All of them are correct. But it still doesn't render...

[CycleDogg 130]

Check your BATFORMAX.ini file to see if your SC4 plugin path  (SC4PluginPath=) is correct.  The path needs to be the same directory your SC4Model file is in.  For example:

SC4PluginPath=C:\Documents and Settings\Shadow_Assassin\My Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\

(must have the \ at the end.)

If that doesn't work, what are the exact contents of your SC4Model Name textbox?

As far as the night lighting, you can create nightlights or assign night window textures (via the Parameters menu.)  Don't worry about the night library will not be used message.  That doesn't affect textured night windows.

[Shadow Assassin 336]

The path is okay.

Here's the LOD in question...
LODsSAM-0x5ad0e817_0xaeacad04_0x130000

[Shadow Assassin 336]

Sorry for double posting, but I can't attach images to edited posts...

There should be a file attached to the bottom of this post. It's an image, and it shows an image of deltree.exe, as well as the BAT directory. Am I missing anything from there?

[Shadow Assassin 336]

Damnit, I thought it got accepted.
Sorry. Here we go. (hopefully)

[CycleDogg 130]

Date: 4/12/2005 5:41:45 AM Author: Shadow_Assassin The path is okay. Here's the LOD in question... LODsSAM-0x5ad0e817_0xaeacad04_0x130000

 

You need to include the .SC4Model at the end or it will give you an error message saying the file doesn't exist (or something like that)

[Shadow Assassin 336]

Thank you so much, CycleDogg... it finally did it!
--
edit: Rather than double post: I've run into another problem. It involves the model looking like four black, red, green and blue textures. I know this has something to do with a TGI, but I've tried this several times, and it still doesn't work...

Raphael mentioned something about a Texture Fix, where can I get that?

[rustawilliams 0]

I have only just started using this program but I dont seem to be able to change the rendered model into a .SC4Model. Once the render is done I press FSH Batch Build and the MS-DOS window comes up and I cant see anything it does, but when I press DAT FSH Insert, it says that this is done after the FSH Batch Build after Exporting.

I tried doing it manually but when I try to do the FSH Batch Build manually by double clicking the MS-DOS program named after the LOD SC4Model, the MS-DOS goes really fast and when I stop it it says it cant find the input file in the Output File folder.

Can anyone help me with this problem and how do you change the fshtool's settings?

Thanks to anyone that helps,
rusta

EDIT: I am using 3DSMAX 7 with a 3DSBAT a few months old. If I try to run CMD manually it says parameters are missing.

[CycleDogg 130]

The only thing I can think of is to check your BATFORMAX.ini and 3dsmax.ini files very carefully against the installation instructions.

[Shadow Assassin 336]

Eh, I'm having the same problem as rustawilliams...

Any ideas? And now, please, please, reply, it's frustrating to see that no-one's come up with a solution, even after two weeks... which is usually sufficient time.

[g-funk 1]

@ shadow_assasin
the problem with the colored squares got treated some pages before


and i'm running against a wall atm. had to reinstall my max and now i get always this error when starting it.

Welcome to MAXScript.

-- Error occurred in FnTB2FileInOnce()
-- Frame:
-- filename:
-- filePath: D:\Programme\3dsmax6\
-- guard: undefined
-- Error occurred during fileIn in
>> MAXScript Auto-load Script Error - D:\Programme\3dsmax6\Scripts\Startup\CPTB2Startup.ms Exception: -- Runtime error: fileIn: can't open file - D:\Programme\3dsmax6\

quote>

the 3 directory paths u need (temp, output & plugin) are correct. the plgucfg line in the 3dmax.ini is also ok.
i hope someone can show me the door