Installing Max plugins

MichaelWhiteley

British Rail!
Hey, I decided to install the Max 9 plugins today. I downloaded the installer on my Pc. I went through the installtion set up. I pressed install...It started installing, in the installtion note box it said "Unable to find 3Dsmax". It got me thinking. Anyway I found them in the Auran folder.

I went to the Auran directory and coped the 'Jetexporter' folder, the 'meshweights' and 'jetexporter' across into the plugin directory.

Now for some reason I load up 3Dsmax9 and I get unable to load the Jetexporter.dle and Meshweights.dlm files.

Anyone got any ideas on what to do?

Cheers,
Mike
 
Hey, I decided to install the Max 9 plugins today. I downloaded the installer on my Pc. I went through the installtion set up. I pressed install...It started installing, in the installtion note box it said "Unable to find 3Dsmax". It got me thinking. Anyway I found them in the Auran folder.

I went to the Auran directory and coped the 'Jetexporter' folder, the 'meshweights' and 'jetexporter' across into the plugin directory.

Now for some reason I load up 3Dsmax9 and I get unable to load the Jetexporter.dle and Meshweights.dlm files.

Anyone got any ideas on what to do?

Cheers,
Mike
This is what I wrote in the TrainzDev forum to the same question from you:


Are you sure you do have the right Max exporter? The zip file you d/load from DevWiki/Downloads as a MaxExporter Zip file for Max9 does not have a meshweight.dlm file included, just the Jetexporter.dle file of 438272 bytes large.

I had no problem just copying this file into Max's9 plugin directory on my recent trial Max9 version (that since expired) and that is all you will need to do too. It looks like you have one of the old AURAN JetExporters, which needed to be installed by clicking on the install exe. These old JetExporters were around when TRS04 was ruling the roost.

I am still using my trusty Max5 version as that version does everything I need to do for my creating urge. Just check out in DevWiki/Downloads for the Max Exporters.

EDIT:
I forgot to add this ReadMe file from the JetExporter Zip as you will either have to update or install some other files as said below :

Unzip or extract the exporters archive to your Desktop or other handy location.
Locate the exporter version to match your version of 3DS Max.
Copy the exporter .DLE file to your 3DS Max plugins folder.

For example. If 3DS Max is installed in

C:program FilesAutodesk3ds Max 2008

Copy 'JetExporter.dle' into the plugin folder so it ends up:

C:program FilesAutodesk3ds Max 2008pluginsJetExporter.dle

(*) You will also need up-to-date Microsoft Run Time Libraries for the exporter to load and run correctly.
Although run time libraries ship with your operating system, they are usually out of date. There is never any harm in updating your libraries, as the installer will simply add the files you are missing. If you don't have a compatible library version installed, the software will not run and you will likely see an ambiguous message like "This application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect."

What are Run Time Libraries?
Have you noticed that when you run different Windows applications, they often look similar, with familiar buttons, menus and dialog boxes? That is because they share bits of program in libraries, usually packaged as .DLL files. As time passes, newer versions of these shared libraries are distributed, with the latest version shipping with your operating system at that time. Anyway, you need them, and if you don't have them they are freely available for download from Microsoft:

Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86) (~2.6 M
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=200B2FD9- AE1A-4A14-984D-389C36F85647&displaylang=en

Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package (x86) (~22.4 M
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0856EACB- 4362-4B0D-8EDD-AAB15C5E04F5&displaylang=en

Follow the instructions on the web page, but you typically just download the .exe file and run it to update your system.

To test the exporter:

Start 3D Studio (it should load without unusual error messages)
Click File -> Export
Save as type, drop down and select Trainz format (*.IM, *.KIN)
If an error occurs while loading 3D Studio, or the Trainz format save type is not present in the Export dialog, carefully read the installation instructions again and repeat the process. If you have copied the files to the wrong location, carefully check that the file names match those of the Trainz Exporter before deleting those files.


Cheers

VinnyBarb
 
Cheers mate! I've got it sorted now I must have downloaded the wrong file by mistake! I think I have a lesson learnt here! Thanks for taking your time in writing detailed instructions! :)

I just have the problem with specular! For some reason its not appling to the asset. I have changed the Jet exporter file so that defaultmaterialcolor is 0. But I export the asset and still no specular lighting?

In the material, the Ambient, diffuse and specular is set at pure white. The specular level is 65 and glossiness at 10. The material name is Main.m.tbumptex and I'm working in Ts2009. Anyone any ideas? :)

Cheers,
Mike
 
Michael

Re your specular problem. Do a forum search for 'tufftuff', you'll get four hits, read them all but especially the third. Your problem is probably the pure white ambient and diffuse which should be a darker colour.

Peter
 
Cheers mate! I've got it sorted now I must have downloaded the wrong file by mistake! I think I have a lesson learnt here! Thanks for taking your time in writing detailed instructions! :)

I just have the problem with specular! For some reason its not appling to the asset. I have changed the Jet exporter file so that defaultmaterialcolor is 0. But I export the asset and still no specular lighting?

In the material, the Ambient, diffuse and specular is set at pure white. The specular level is 65 and glossiness at 10. The material name is Main.m.tbumptex and I'm working in Ts2009. Anyone any ideas? :)

Cheers,
Mike

There is NO need to change any "materialcolor to 0" or any other number, you use the 3DS Max plugin as is copyied into it. The setting you quote refers to the OLD plugin you have. The new plugin IS different and you might still have the old plugin menu in your 3DS Max when you installed that one. There should not be ANYTHING else from AURAN in your 3DS Max plugin folder other than the JetExporter.dle, no extra folders of it or such should be there.

The DevWiki has info of all the various 3DS Max settings including specular with pictures of the 3DS Max Material Editor settings. Do a search for these and study them. As Peter above points out, it is the specular settings colour in your "Blinn Basic Settings" in 3DS Max that governs the amount of specular shown. The more gray/whiter the colour there is, the more specular will be shown in game, pure black has no specular at all.

But all other settings as per the pictures from the DevWiki need to be right too or things could get wobbly as one wrong setting might cancel another. Plus it is important to use the right nomenclature (name) for the texture used as is shown in the DevWiki.

It took me a long time to get all info needed of the various settings in 3DS Max together as the DevWiki is a pain in the proverbial to search in.

Cheers

VinnyBarb
 
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