Is it possible to export buildings to tweak in Blender

[Handyman 793]

Is it possible to export buildings from gmax in a file format compatible with Blender? I would like to be able to adjust the buildings from their current perspective to something a little more real world.

[rsc204 21,869]

When you say export from gMax, you are talking about having the files to open projects there, not pre-rendered assets like .sc4Model files?

If so then yes, you can export in the .3DS file format, but this isn't a default option and requires some custom scripts:

Gmax script for 3DS export.zip

I believe these were hosted on SC4D's forums, but most likely suffering from the issue with attachments since the forum upgrade, so I'll upload them here unless anyone objects to such.

[Handyman 793]

@rsc204 Thanks for the quick reply. I guess this won't be an option for me, because I was hoping to access some of the more recognizable Maxis buildings.

[rsc204 21,869]

17 minutes ago, Handyman said:

I guess this won't be an option for me, because I was hoping to access some of the more recognizable Maxis buildings.

SimCity 4 BATs are not 3D models, the reason they are so efficient is a combination of the use of a 2D Isometric view and pre-rendered assets, in other words the game just needs to 'wallpaper' textures not actually render them in the game engine. But this also means that the models as distributed do not contain the necessary information to open them in a 3D modelling application, so unless you can access the files used to create it, your options to edit them are very limited.

A small selection of models are fully 3D, for example Automata and some transit network models, in which case you'd be free to export them from Reader in 3DS format.

[Handyman 793]

Thanks again for the help. Kind of expected it wasn't going to work with the buildings. As for the Automata, I have found some vehicles sliced up in a Maxis dat file. I extracted an old red truck and was able to piece it together, with Gimp, in the perspective I wanted, with no distortion. The houses don't survive the process very well without a lot of distortion.

I guess I may have to go with plan b and recreate what I can in Gimp. I have already built a nice little barn and a bunch of ground textures.

[rsc204 21,869]

7 hours ago, Handyman said:

I have already built a nice little barn and a bunch of ground textures.

Hopefully those ground textures are just Lot Editor textures, making them as models rarely makes sense and is much more time consuming.

But making models, if you keep the geometry simple, may not be as hard as you think, I find the texturing way more difficult. In fact, if you stick with SC4 BAT, it actually is much easier than 3DS Max, because the lower quality renders (although perfectly acceptable),  are vastly more forgiving, so they don't have to be all that perfect.

Maybe you should take a run through the tutorial here, if you only spend 10-15m reading through it, I think you'll have an idea of whether or not this is something you could reasonably do yourself. Frankly as one of the few who's edited a couple of existing BATs, that is way harder and more time consuming than making simple BAT's. Provided you stick to small props without very complex shapes, the actual modelling itself really isn't all that time-consuming once you've a feel for things.

[Handyman 793]

@rsc204 Thanks once again. I did take a look at the tutorial and it does seem like something I might eventually absorb. I don't have time to read the entire thing right now, so I was wonder if you could reveal the end of the story for me. At the end of the process when I render the image can it be normal perspective or must it be in game perspective?

I should explain a little more about what I am working on as it is not exactly game focused. I recently posted a picture in "Oddities' that is an export from a rather large Gimp file. This file, currently over 100 layers, is what I refer to as my Desktop SimCity Game. I have always wanted to get my SC4 cities to be more intimate, as in 'closer to the ground' and more control over placement and appearance. Even tho I don't play SC4 anymore it is, after all these years, a part of me and I wanted to draw it into my current activities.

Link to Picture

So the barn and textures I referred to are actually layers that I created not actual game content.

[rsc204 21,869]

34 minutes ago, Handyman said:

At the end of the process when I render the image can it be normal perspective or must it be in game perspective?

Ah, sorry I hadn't caught that.

Just as I mentioned before with the SC4 BATs, anything rendered using this process will naturally be 2.5D Isometric views and trying to muddle with that, well it makes no sense whatsoever if you want a normal 3D model, which it sounds like you do.

So that being the case, my first question is what to you intend to do with said model/(s) when you have them? In other words, what application do you have in mind for the finished model to appear in?

If you are looking to make normal 3D models, there are two major benefits, firstly you wouldn't be limited to an antiquated piece of software like gMax, which is kinda the only way to make the isometric models SC4 needs. Instead you could use pretty much any 3D modeller, the core concepts to make models are much the same. So either use the scripts I attached before with gMax and ignore the SC4 BAT addon (it's just scripts for gMax), or go to Blender and use something modern that can export 3DS models without fuss. But at some point, that model has to go somewhere to be 'used' or displayed, if the plan is to use SC4 at this point, that could work but it's forcing a square peg into a round hole and doesn't really make sense. The second benefit is that plenty of ready to use 3D models exist that can be imported into something like Blender, then you'd simply need to adjust sizes and textures perhaps, so you could probably just download some free models somewhere instead of making them yourself. A quick google search would help you find those.

[Handyman 793]

22 hours ago, rsc204 said:

So that being the case, my first question is what to you intend to do with said model/(s) when you have them? In other words, what application do you have in mind for the finished model to appear in?

Short backstory: For years I have been making my own desktop wallpaper, this usually involved one of my wife,s landscape photos or something I found on Nasa's website. I would then add personal touches (objects, family and friends, etc.). Recently I wondered if I could extract some landscape from the game, that way I could create my own landscape and add extracts from photos as props. Maybe I could even get some of the buildings or mmp's to work out. It turns out that a lot of mmp's work very well with little or no 'perspective modifications' and the automata slices are pretty easily assembled into various angles but the buildings are very difficult to change. Even if I slice them up, when I run them through the 'perspective modifications'  process (involves a combination of Gimp tools) they come out very distorted.

So, as I mentioned above, the picture I posted is just a many layered Gimp.xcf file that I can continually modify as long as I maintain the layered file. This is why I refer to it as my Desktop SimCity Game. Just like in game I can alter it anytime but unlike in game I have a greater degree of control over placement and, because I am working in Gimp, I can alter the appearance of any prop "in game" so to speak. The file in it's current state took about 110 hours including the learning curve and I have started work on a couple different terrains.

Ultimately I just want to be able to take a normal 3D model, change camera and light angles and render/export as a .png file. I have gmax and Blender installed but very little ability to use them. I didn't think about searching for free models, thank you for that, though I still want to include some recognizable game buildings so I will try to refine my modification process.

Thanks again for the suggestions, I will check out the free models.