BAT4Blender

[Samu64d 335]

Any news on this? 

[memo 1,439]

17 hours ago, Samu64d said:

Any news on this? 

No. Personally, I neither have access to GMAX nor 3ds Max, so there is not much I can do, for the time being. But that shouldn't stop anyone from giving this a try and maybe providing some feedback regarding what works and what doesn't, so that maybe we can make some progress towards pre-calibrated lighting settings. The current version of BAT4Blender should already produce usable results, especially for simple models like props without nightlights.

[Samu64d 335]

On 04/10/2024 at 10:38 PM, memo said:

No. Personally, I neither have access to GMAX nor 3ds Max, so there is not much I can do, for the time being. But that shouldn't stop anyone from giving this a try and maybe providing some feedback regarding what works and what doesn't, so that maybe we can make some progress towards pre-calibrated lighting settings. The current version of BAT4Blender should already produce usable results, especially for simple models like props without nightlights.

Thanks

[Barroco Hispano 26,671]

Can BAT4Blender work with blender 4.2.2 LTS? 

I've been playing around with the "Sky Texture" of version 3.6 but it's not possible to get an approximate result since it's not possible to control the color of the sky. Version 4.2.2 includes an addon that allows a little more control (Horizon & Sky Color).

https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/4.1//addons/lighting/dynamic_sky.html

In Chaos Corona (3dsmax) I got this result (The closest to Mental Ray that I have been able to achieve so far). Maybe I can use the same colors in Blender and get the same result.

[memo 1,439]

8 hours ago, Barroco Hispano said:

Can BAT4Blender work with blender 4.2.2 LTS? 

Currently, Blender 4.x is not supported. In principle, support can be added. Just a few calls to the Blender API need to be adjusted.

The problem is that Blender 4.x does not run on my machine (presumably due to a lack of RAM) which prevents me from making these changes. If anyone else would like to look into it, I'd be happy to accept a pull request and incorporate the changes necessary to make the plugin work with Blender 3.6 and 4.x.

[memo 1,439]

@Barroco Hispano @Fargo I've implemented support for Blender 4.2+ and updated the .zip file on page 1. @Ulisse Wolf has successfully run some tests with it using Blender 4.3 which was released yesterday. (As I have an incompatible OpenGL on my machine, I'm limited in what I can test myself with Blender 4 using software rendering.)

 

BAT4Blender doesn't currently generate an XML file on export. Question: Should it? Does the XML file contain important information used by other tools?

 

As for nightlights, in principle it's possible to configure the lighting for night scenes manually and export the night render separately. Afterwards, just re-IID the night textures and merge the SC4Model with the SC4Model of the day rendering.

[Tyberius06 12,184]

3 hours ago, memo said:

BAT4Blender doesn't currently generate an XML file on export. Question: Should it? Does the XML file contain important information used by other tools?

Hi memo!

Wow! This development sounds pretty exciting! Thanks for that!

The XML file within the *sc4model file is absolutely essential for Maxis PIM. Without that Maxis PIM won't see the model, so neither props nor building exemplars can be made out of the model. SC4 PIM-X (X-Tool) will see the model without the XML property, but only the model GI ID will show up (that's technicall how we see the original Maxis models too). The XML property should contain the model name and dimensions and the TGI of the model like this:

Quote

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<SC4PLUGINDESC Name="ShenzhenNorthStation_N1" ResKey="0x5ad0e817-0xd41bba47-0x00030000" Version="2" BATVersion="0x00001073" Quality="3">
<DIMENSIONS Width="203.067" Height="35.838" Depth="233.479">
</DIMENSIONS>
</SC4PLUGINDESC>

So for PIM-X it's very usefull, for Maxis PIM it is a must have.

[SC42001 31]

How does Fshgen work? I downloaded the file, put the commands in cmd, but Fshgen isn't recognized as an internal or external command, operable program, or batch file. There's a .jar file in the folder, but it's not opening for me. I extracted the files. In blender, I'm not sure what to after selecting files for Fshgen, or if I even know what files to select.

[memo 1,439]

@SC42001 In the "Post-Processing" panel, select the path to the "fshgen.bat" file if you are on Windows. See for example the picture from this post. This requires Java to be installed.

If that doesn't work, you can try running fshgen commands manually in CMD.exe. For that, open CMD.exe inside the folder to which you extracted fshgen, for example by typing "cmd" in the address bar of the Windows Explorer window for that folder. Then execute fshgen commands. For example:

.\fshgen --help

 

[SC42001 31]

On 2025-01-05 at 11:37 AM, memo said:

@SC42001 In the "Post-Processing" panel, select the path to the "fshgen.bat" file if you are on Windows. See for example the picture from this post. This requires Java to be installed.

If that doesn't work, you can try running fshgen commands manually in CMD.exe. For that, open CMD.exe inside the folder to which you extracted fshgen, for example by typing "cmd" in the address bar of the Windows Explorer window for that folder. Then execute fshgen commands. For example:

.\fshgen --help

 

The import commands still give me the "fshgen not recognized" message. .\fshgen --help gives me the same message. I'm new to commands, the BAT4Blender tool, and jar. But I did get a ton of png files and obj files with a box in them after the render (the render also ended with this error: OSError [WinError 193] %1 is not a valid Win32 application) I installed Vista 8, but the jar file still won't open.

[Ulisse Wolf 4,401]

27 minutes ago, SC42001 said:

The import commands still give me the "fshgen not recognized" message. .\fshgen --help gives me the same message. I'm new to commands, the BAT4Blender tool, and jar. But I did get a ton of png files and obj files with a box in them after the render (the render also ended with this error: OSError [WinError 193] %1 is not a valid Win32 application) I installed Vista 8, but the jar file still won't open.

Are you using a 64-bit CPU?

[SC42001 31]

2 hours ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

Are you using a 64-bit CPU?

Yes

[smf_16 1,834]

Are you running the command from inside the the folder where fshgen is saved? You typically get this message on Windows when you run a command outside the directory of that command, and the command cannot be dound in your PATH either.

I suggest adding the folder where you saved fshgen to your PATH environment variable so that it's available everywhere. Yiu can run the command where fshgen to verify whether it can be found or not.

[atsf189 460]

11 hours ago, SC42001 said:

The import commands still give me the "fshgen not recognized" message.

I have Fishgen in the documents Folder on Win 11 and it works with Blender 3.6

Are you Running CMD and Blender as an Administrator?

[SC42001 31]

10 hours ago, atsf189 said:

I have Fishgen in the documents Folder on Win 11 and it works with Blender 3.6

Are you Running CMD and Blender as an Administrator?

I have done that, yes

[rare_guava 157]

On 1/7/2025 at 2:28 PM, SC42001 said:

I have done that, yes

I'm having a similar issue. I keep getting Error: Unable to access jarfile {path to fshgen}. I have java installed, am running command prompt as administrator, and believe I have the PATH configured correctly as well. Not sure what I could be missing.

[memo 1,439]

@mookle12345 It looks like you've downloaded the source code of the repository itself. Download the compiled files instead, from the latest fshgen release, currently "fshgen-0.2.0.zip".

[rare_guava 157]

37 minutes ago, memo said:

@mookle12345 It looks like you've downloaded the source code of the repository itself. Download the compiled files instead, from the latest fshgen release, currently "fshgen-0.2.0.zip".

I am so dumb.

That fixed it--it's all working well for blender 4.3.2 on mac.

Thank you!

[TheMurderousCricket 5,046]

Hi,

First of, I'm sorry if my knowledge about the project is fragmentary.

For some time now I've been toying with the idea of creating my own BATs but I didn't want to learn another tool (that being Gmax).

I do feel quite comfortable with Blender though, so I truly like the idea that I could use it to finally make custom buildings!

Could you tell me how advanced this project is? For example, are there any limitations as far as the poly count of the objects is concerned?

I have three nice houses which I detailed down to roof tiles.  Is Blender 2 BAT able to handle such sophisticated and detailed shapes?

[kaimai 1,041]

I could be wrong but it seems like it's possible to produce good results apart from the current lack of nightlighting—@Fargo seems to be working on the most ambitious Blender models at the moment. 

 

[thawking 28]

hello all!

last i checked in on this project it was still kind of a pipe dream, so it's really exciting to see how far it's progressed. i'd love to help if i can—i am not a coder in any shape or form, but i do know my way around Blender pretty well, and i used it several years back to model a few buildings that i then exported to 3ds Max and to the game via Bat4Max. I don't have a 3ds Max license any more, so the idea of being able to use Blender from start to finish is really exciting.

i have a few buildings that i've worked on now and then for fun, really, and they're in a state where they're prob ready to be rendered, so if anyone would like to use them to test the existing Bat4Blender functionality, they're most welcome to do so. I also have Blender running on both macOS and Windows 10, so if cross-platform testing is required, i could certainly help with that. i can also help with tips for using Blender for anyone unfamiliar w the software, and i'm v much open to ideas w/r/t other things i could do!

fwiw, here are the WIP buildings i have kicking around

[Koonam 519]

Hi, I'm trying to use a BAT4Blender because Gmax is such an old program and I've had a lot of bugs and rendering texture errors. (And I'm really tired of them.) I downloaded the BAT4Blender but I don't know how to install it. Is there a thread or link with how to install it? 

+ Is it possible to create a .CS4Model file applicable to SimCity 4 with that BAT4Blender?

+ And is it not possible to make Darknite BAT on BAT4Blender?

[atsf189 460]

9 hours ago, Koonam said:

Is there a thread or link with how to install it?

If you go to page 1 of this thread near the top memo explains to me how to install it.

I have used it on Blender 3.6 and 4.2+. These are the only versions it works on as far as i know.

[Koonam 519]

8 hours ago, atsf189 said:

If you go to page 1 of this thread near the top memo explains to me how to install it.

I have used it on Blender 3.6 and 4.2+. These are the only versions it works on as far as i know.

Thank you so much atsf189!  👍👍👍

[kaimai 1,041]

Ok quick question: what does this mean/what am I doing wrong? This error comes up whenever hitting the "Render all zooms & rotations" button (I can do preview renders with no issues).

[memo 1,439]

@kaimai Thanks for the report. This should be fixed by this patch, addressing a breaking change in Blender 4.4. Let me know if there are any other problems. Be sure to include the affected Blender version and any other relevant info.

[kaimai 1,041]

That seems to have run into additional problems.

Blender 4.4.1, Mac OS 11.7.6. From my memory, I think exporting worked on Blender 4.3.x so I'll try downgrading back to that for comparison.

 

edit: No, same error ("cannot open file") in 4.3. Everything still works in 4.2 though.

  Edited June 16, 2025 by kaimai  

[Koonam 519]

Hello, I succeeded to install BAT4Blender and previewed my BAT. But as you can see, there's something wrong with them.

The upper part of building is gone and the light and shadows are not correct...?

Did I miss something? T^T

[Fargo 542]

4 hours ago, Koonam said:

Hello, I succeeded to install BAT4Blender and previewed my BAT. But as you can see, there's something wrong with them.

The upper part of building is gone and the light and shadows are not correct...?

Did I miss something? T^T

By default the camera is set too low for very tall models. Go into the object properties of the b4b_cam and under delta transform you can change the location of the camera by height Z. Increase it until the camera object clears the top of your model. In the case of my model of 311 Wacker 80m was sufficient.

As for the shadows, go into the render settings and under the film tab, find exposure. It's set to 1 by default which causes sun-facing objects to appear washed out and shadows to appear almost pitch black. I think .5 or a little less is good for day scenes. Also make sure you are using the Cycles render, not Eevee.

[kaimai 1,041]

I think it's also worth copying over the rest of the scene and render settings you use, at least for the time being—I did, and light/shadows definitely look more realistic, though I still haven't figured out how to texture.