Nexus Skirmisher

Nexus Modding => Modding Tools => Topic started by: Arparso on November 07, 2015, 14:55:05

Title: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: Arparso on November 07, 2015, 14:55:05
A while ago I did a fresh Windows 10 install and since then I can't run Nexus' model / texture converter. As soon as I try to start it, it displays an application error dialog and tells me, that the application could not be started (also giving the error code 0xc0000142).

Does that sound familiar to anyone? I remember having trouble starting the converter back on Windows 7 as well, but I don't remember the actual error message and how I eventually got it to run.

Without the converter, I cannot bring in new assets or make changes to old ones... kind of kills Nexus modding for me :(
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: The Old Dragon on November 11, 2015, 00:13:07
Hi Arparso,

I'm in exactly the same spot. I can't get either the game or the converter to run in Windows 10, yet I can create and run mod missions without any problems  ???

In event viewer, it seems to indicate that the ntdll.dll file is faulty. Here's the entry if it helps...

Quote
Faulting application name: converter.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x2a425e19
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 10.0.10240.16430, time stamp: 0x55c599e1
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00055635
Faulting process ID: 0x1ec4
Faulting application start time: 0x01d11c0959f6ee8d
Faulting application path: B:\Program Files (x86)\Nexus - The Jupiter Incident\mod_tools\converter.exe
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
Report ID: 2ae397bf-199f-4f2b-84b7-1b52648b5765
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

Update: 16/11/2015
Went back to Windows 8.1 over the weekend and now Nexus (the actual game) runs - Hurrah.
Unfortunately, the converter still will not. Now the event viewer is pointing the finger at the 'lwolib.dll' and saying it's faulty. Tried replacing it with a different one but no joy.

At this rate, I'm thinking of finding an older machine to run the converter. Didn't have any luck with a VM.


Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: The Old Dragon on November 23, 2015, 22:52:48
Hi Arparso,

Quick update. I copied the mod_tools folder from my laptop (windows 8) where the converter doesn't work and took it into work. The pc's there are all windows 7 and the converter works perfect. So it's got to be the differences between the two OS's causing the problem.

Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: Arparso on November 25, 2015, 09:25:56
Yeah, but what exactly is missing or different in Win10, that the converter just keeps crashing? :(

I mean, I could just run an older OS in a VM, but that seems like overkill just to get that one tool to run... and I'd need another OS license.
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: fleenots on December 01, 2015, 22:22:05
Hi
Has anyone manage to find a workround for this problem?
Thanks
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: The Old Dragon on December 02, 2015, 21:37:14
Hi there Fleenots,

I don't think there's any hope for the converter on windows 8 and above, our only options will probably involve using previous versions of windows :(

Arparso, with regards to having to get another OS license, I think I've found a way around that one (legal as far as I know, despite how the link reads :) ). Check out this link...

http://lifehacker.com/5965889/how-to-run-windows-xp-for-free-in-windows-8?trending_test_two_c&utm_expid=66866090-68.hhyw_lmCRuCTCg0I2RHHtw.3&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.uk (http://lifehacker.com/5965889/how-to-run-windows-xp-for-free-in-windows-8?trending_test_two_c&utm_expid=66866090-68.hhyw_lmCRuCTCg0I2RHHtw.3&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.uk)

I've got it set up now, unfortunately the problem has changed a little...
The converter now starts and as far as the task manager is concerned, it's running. But from my point of view, the converter simply fails to appear. If anyone's got any idea's, please share.

Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: GeoModder on December 08, 2015, 23:58:58
I recently re-installed the game again (on Windows Vista), and the converter doesn't seem to work too.
Does anyone know if there was a special action/trick needed to let it work on this OS?
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: The Old Dragon on December 09, 2015, 22:41:10
Hi there Geo,

Do you get any kind of error message or does it just 'fail to appear'?

I'm assuming you've tried the old tricks of running as admin & setting the compatability...?
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: GeoModder on December 10, 2015, 23:41:30
Hi as well, Old Dragon.  :)

It simply doesn't appear. And yes, I checked on the compatability. Most of the time admin is disabled at my machine, so it shouldn't have been active back in the days when the converter still worked.
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: The Old Dragon on December 13, 2015, 00:57:03
Been searching the web for an answer to this one since I discovered the converter was being awkward, have you tried doing a 'clean boot'? It seems to work for some people, here's a guide I found...

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/929135 (https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/929135)

When I get a moment, I aim to try it in my VM, just been too busy of late.
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: Sargoth on December 13, 2015, 16:12:06
Official word from Nordic Game seems to be no support for mod tools (at the moment anyway). Do we have the skill to break these tools down and reprogram them? Or make new? Is it worth it?
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: Arparso on December 13, 2015, 20:13:09
In principle, writing a custom converter wouldn't be that complicated: the stock model/texture converter isn't all that fancy, too, and - except for the issues with modern OS's - works pretty well, right?

The crux will be file formats: in order to make a useful converter, we need to completely understand the file formats Nexus uses for its textures and models. Actually just for the models - I already reverse-engineered the texture file format before and should have my docs about it somewhere on my HDD.

Yeah, but the models. I know enough about that format to extract a Nexus model, even including animations and stuff... but there are still large sections of the file format that I just don't understand yet. Writing a converter before fully understanding the target file format will be ... pretty hard, I guess.

Maybe someone knows the original programmers, who designed that file format for Mithis, and could persuade them to help us fill in the blanks, if they still remember the details? Or just someone with a talent for reverse-engineering 3d data? ;)
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: Sargoth on December 13, 2015, 21:27:02
Plenty of old devs in the facebook group. Might even get help from Vincent. Will post a post.
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: Sargoth on December 14, 2015, 11:25:38
An update. The lead coder on Nexus came forward and released the source code for the converter. Hopefully that should give us enough insight to make a new one. ;)

On a side note, how are people feeling about trying to update Nexus assets? To do a community graphic enhancement?
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: GeoModder on December 14, 2015, 15:12:30
An update. The lead coder on Nexus came forward and released the source code for the converter. Hopefully that should give us enough insight to make a new one. ;)

Wow. 8)

On a side note, how are people feeling about trying to update Nexus assets? To do a community graphic enhancement?

Only Nexus assets? ;)
I would love to see/import new planet textures, surplus old earth meshes, and textures for those for a couple other corporations like AeroSpace and Orbital ingame. 
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: Sargoth on December 14, 2015, 15:35:48
I'd love to give Pluto a face over 8)
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: GeoModder on December 14, 2015, 18:16:14
Not to mention Charon, Vesta, and Ceres. ;D
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: Arparso on December 14, 2015, 18:45:37
I'm not an artist, so wouldn't have much to contribute to a graphics overhaul. :(

But great news about that converter source code - I should be able to produce something usable based on that. Now I just need some more free time...
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: The Old Dragon on December 14, 2015, 20:47:19
Great news there Sargoth, I'd love to help out where I can. Modelling is more my area - textures are so so. Passable but probably fall quite short of what's in game at the moment.
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: Arparso on January 13, 2016, 12:26:28
Is anyone still running the old converter and could post a screenshot of it? I'd just like to have a look at the options that were available and how they were called and I can't do that right now on my current OS.
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: Sargoth on January 13, 2016, 15:10:32
Poke TheOldDragon. He had it working at his job ;)
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: CmdrKoenig on January 21, 2016, 10:23:18
Hi all,

I've investigated the converter issue and found that the problem was in fact in lwolib.dll.
Here is a fixed version:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lklyh7issokz2nm/lwolib.dll?dl=1 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/lklyh7issokz2nm/lwolib.dll?dl=1)
Just replace the old one, and the Converter will work.

Regarding converter.exe itself, I haven't got any source code version of it (it was written in Delphi and we (mis)handled it separately).
So it cannot be improved at the moment.

But maybe Arparso is building a much shinier one anyway.
Regarding that here are the updated version of the conversion codes I shared before.
The difference is that they are guaranteed to represent the actual released file formats.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gq2ceeop9800lei/NexusConvert.rar?dl=1 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/gq2ceeop9800lei/NexusConvert.rar?dl=1)

BUT:
I've also included a slice of lwolib.cpp in which you can see all the entry points of lwolib.dll.
Therefore you don't necessarily have to bother with compiling the sources, just simple use the DLL.
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: Sargoth on January 21, 2016, 15:43:10
Thanks! ;)

But we got the source code for the converter and I believe Arparso is hard at work on making a new one. ;D

Edit: Throws an error (cannot open project file), but it works. Still think you should finish yours, Arparso.
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: GeoModder on January 21, 2016, 22:41:24
It seems to work! ;D
Had an old .png file on my desttop, and resaving it as a .bmp made it recognizable for the converter.
Converted it last noon, but couldn't find the file. Lo and behold, I just opened my C:\ folder and apparantly the converter threw it there.
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: The Old Dragon on January 22, 2016, 00:41:27
CmdrKoenig, thank you so much for getting this up and running again, works just like old times  :D

Sargoth, don't worry about the initial 'cannot open project file' error, it's always done that to me.

Had a few issues with my laptop since my last post, which kept me away.
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: Arparso on January 24, 2016, 15:35:33
Ah, nice to see the old converter working again :)

Yeah, I've started to develop a new and shiny converter, but I fear "Elite: Dangerous" and work has slowed me down the last few weeks. Good to know that the old converter is working again, so people don't have to wait for me to start modding.

While we're at it: any feature requests for the new custom converter? The current plan is to support everything the old one did, make the UI more intuitive and add a few new features:
(1) direct support for normal maps, not just bump maps
(2) support for 3d file formats other than just Lightwave, e.g. 3DS Max, Maya, Blender, etc.
(3) support for more texture file formats, including .bmp, .png or .jpg

For (2) I'll need some files to test the converter against. So if anyone is able to provide me with a fully rigged sample model in any common 3d format other than Lightwave, I'd greatly appreciate it. The hard thing will be to support all the game parameters attached to the model such as #blink#, #boosters#, #slot n#, etc. Not sure how easy it is to replicate these parameters in other modeling applications and how best to extract that info in the converter.
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: The Old Dragon on January 24, 2016, 16:18:11
Hi Arparso,

Sounds good, at this point, the only things that come to mind are for me are...

1) Removing the source and destination roots from the top half of the converter as (at least for me) these are covered by the Destination Directory and source file boxes.

2) Would it be possible to improve the 'Damage Overlay' effect? Maybe it's just my modelling, but I've noticed that the game appears to apply the effect with a single poly by poly approach , which tends to leave some very disjointed scorch marks :(

I can't help with models I'm afraid as I learned and stayed with lightwave, though I have asked an old friend to send some of his if he's willing.
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: GeoModder on January 24, 2016, 18:52:18
3) sounds marvelous. No need to save a texture in 3 different formats before I can convert it.

And a more intuitive way of where the converted files are dropped would be highest on my list, but that's more or less what Dragon already requested.
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: Sargoth on January 24, 2016, 20:03:31
And a more intuitive way of where the converted files are dropped would be highest on my list, but that's more or less what Dragon already requested.

That's already in the converter  ;)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20010147/Untitled-1.png)
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: The Old Dragon on January 24, 2016, 21:30:15
Sincere apologies for going slightly off topic here...

But with regard to Arparso's MeshConv tool, exactly what is the .MTL file it creates for? If opened in notepad++ it gives what I believe is a list of textures used but I've no idea about the bit that appears to be coordinates?

Can anyone enlighten me?
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: GeoModder on January 24, 2016, 22:13:57
And a more intuitive way of where the converted files are dropped would be highest on my list, but that's more or less what Dragon already requested.

That's already in the converter  ;)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20010147/Untitled-1.png)

Yes, but it's not intuitive. I mean, I need to type the whole pathway there. We're in the choosing boxes era nowadays, Sargoth. ;)
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: Sargoth on January 24, 2016, 22:16:59
HA! I found just copying and pasting the destination works wonders. Now if it would only save the destination location for the work file. Then we'd be golden ;)
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: The Old Dragon on January 24, 2016, 22:33:47
Create a project and it'll remember.  ;)
Title: Re: Issue running Nexus' model / texture converter
Post by: Sargoth on January 25, 2016, 02:22:06
Turns out I forgot to save the project file with that info ;D I could have saved so much time haha :-[