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Endzeit666

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Hey, so apparently the demand for a tutorial is high, so i figured i'll do something about it. So far
i have not managed to add custom locators to a mesh, but i will keep this thread updated.

This tutorial is just a write-up of what i have done so far, pretty much.
I'm not gonna go into any specific technical skills when it comes to photoshop or modeling for now.

These are the steps:

1. Installing the Maya exporter and the Photoshop plugins
2. Modeling
3. Texturing
4. Exporting
5. Creating the text files for the ship
6. Adding locators to your ship (not available yet)
7. Done!

1. Go to the wiki page

http://www.stellariswiki.com/Maya_exporter

2. Model
Model your ship. I personally use Blender, but pretty much any software will do, as long as you can export .fbx files.
I should mention that this will be a very simple model, that means i won't add any custom animation or skeletons to the ship.

Model your ship, seperate it in to sections, e.g. check out mammalian destroyers in-game.
If you wish you can add a visible frame that stick to every section.
But as mentioned in the "HOW_TO_MAKE_NEW_SHIPS.txt" in .../Stellaris/Common they are mostly invisble.

PuzGkLb.jpg


Unwrap your models.
Make sure your pivot point is centered on the 0,0,0 axis and front of the ship is pointing towards the +z axis
Export your model as a .fbx file so we can load it into Maya.

3. Texturing
Not much to say here. I have used the 5 basic maps diffuse, specular, normal, metal and gloss.
I dont know how the additional maps work, so i left them out for now.
Make sure your textures are flat, so that every layer is one map and NOT in a folder.
Export said layers with the script.

iuUFuAK.jpg


4. Exporting

Now we assemble everything in Maya.
Your model might be a bit to big when importing, so just scale it down.

YxZ31i4.jpg


We need to create a simple shader in Hypershade.
The 3 .dds files are put in their respective input.

BtpR7MR.jpg


I have exported every section seperately, that means that i added the shader to the file i wanted to export.
After that i reassigned the standard lambert shader to the model again and repeated this whole process with the
next section.

Make sure you have proper naming conventions. The Frame must be named like this in the your_model.asset file:
<gfx_culture>_<ship_size_name>_entity
example: "mammalian_01_corvette_entity"
Your section doesn't necessarily need that as long as it has the same structure, although i haven't tested that yet.
But if you call your exported file "mammalian_01_corvette.mesh" your section should ideally be like this "mammalian_01_corvette_s1.mesh"

4XexA1X.jpg


The wiki page sums this up at the bottom of the article.

http://www.stellariswiki.com/Maya_exporter

You should be able to spawn the exported models in Stellaris now.
To make sure that your sections are identified as sections you need to replace the section meshes in this file (file depends on ship class)

.../common/section_templates/corvette.txt

If you want to create your own graphical culture, you need to edit these text files

.../Common/graphical_culture/00_grapical_culture.txt
.../Common/species_classes/00_species_classes.txt

If anything is not clear or i missed something, feel free to tell me. So far this is just a really rudimentary write-up anyway.
 
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I'm also wondering how locators are added... @ pdx dev team could you just upload an example model that shows us how things should be set up for a model that will end up being a successful import? Would be very helpful, and couldn't be so hard...
 
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I was able to get 1 model into Stellaris. It wasn't flyable, as I hadn't gotten that far yet, but when I imported another model and tried to load it up ingame, it flashes a box at my cursor for a second and then disappears. Any help would be greatful.
 
I'm also wondering how locators are added... @ pdx dev team could you just upload an example model that shows us how things should be set up for a model that will end up being a successful import? Would be very helpful, and couldn't be so hard...

I figured it out I believe. under the create menu (I think, Im not at my PC), there is a create locator. Just name it what you need.
 
Several days I stuck on a problem of camera.

I created my own frame (myship_frame.mesh) and once in the game, depending on the position of my camera, my ship is displayed or not. Same when I zoom or dezoom. I know it comes from my frame, but I do not understand. I used all the right locators and nothing.

You have an idea ?
 
Several days I stuck on a problem of camera.

I created my own frame (myship_frame.mesh) and once in the game, depending on the position of my camera, my ship is displayed or not. Same when I zoom or dezoom. I know it comes from my frame, but I do not understand. I used all the right locators and nothing.

You have an idea ?

Reported the same problem in https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/found-no-material-to-add.931668/page-3 wondering it myself aswell :p Funny thing it works fine in the ship builder.
 
So has anyone actually been able to get there ship models to be used in game yet...I have gotten them to load using the spawnentity command but havent been able to get them used in game.
 
Thanks for the help, though I might postpone my stuff until there's a little more information out. I'm currently working on this but it has been one of the biggest pains because of the way they set up their files. I had done it with homeworld 2 first but the files are completed messed up once I get them into the program.
 

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  • ss+(2016-05-26+at+11.21.56).jpg
    ss+(2016-05-26+at+11.21.56).jpg
    129,1 KB · Views: 488
Hey, so apparently the demand for a tutorial is high, so i figured i'll do something about it. So far
i have not managed to add custom locators to a mesh, but i will keep this thread updated.

This tutorial is just a write-up of what i have done so far, pretty much.
I'm not gonna go into any specific technical skills when it comes to photoshop or modeling for now.

These are the steps:

1. Installing the Maya exporter and the Photoshop plugins
2. Modeling
3. Texturing
4. Exporting
5. Creating the text files for the ship
6. Adding locators to your ship (not available yet)
7. Done!

1. Go to the wiki page

http://www.stellariswiki.com/Maya_exporter

2. Model
Model your ship. I personally use Blender, but pretty much any software will do, as long as you can export .fbx files.
I should mention that this will be a very simple model, that means i won't add any custom animation or skeletons to the ship.

Model your ship, seperate it in to sections, e.g. check out mammalian destroyers in-game.
If you wish you can add a visible frame that stick to every section.
But as mentioned in the "HOW_TO_MAKE_NEW_SHIPS.txt" in .../Stellaris/Common they are mostly invisble.

PuzGkLb.jpg


Unwrap your models.
Make sure your pivot point is centered on the 0,0,0 axis and front of the ship is pointing towards the +z axis
Export your model as a .fbx file so we can load it into Maya.

3. Texturing
Not much to say here. I have used the 5 basic maps diffuse, specular, normal, metal and gloss.
I dont know how the additional maps work, so i left them out for now.
Make sure your textures are flat, so that every layer is one map and NOT in a folder.
Export said layers with the script.

iuUFuAK.jpg


4. Exporting

Now we assemble everything in Maya.
Your model might be a bit to big when importing, so just scale it down.

YxZ31i4.jpg


We need to create a simple shader in Hypershade.
The 3 .dds files are put in their respective input.

BtpR7MR.jpg


I have exported every section seperately, that means that i added the shader to the file i wanted to export.
After that i reassigned the standard lambert shader to the model again and repeated this whole process with the
next section.

Make sure you have proper naming conventions. The Frame must be named like this in the your_model.asset file:
<gfx_culture>_<ship_size_name>_entity
example: "mammalian_01_corvette_entity"
Your section doesn't necessarily need that as long as it has the same structure, although i haven't tested that yet.
But if you call your exported file "mammalian_01_corvette.mesh" your section should ideally be like this "mammalian_01_corvette_s1.mesh"

4XexA1X.jpg


The wiki page sums this up at the bottom of the article.

http://www.stellariswiki.com/Maya_exporter

You should be able to spawn the exported models in Stellaris now.
To make sure that your sections are identified as sections you need to replace the section meshes in this file (file depends on ship class)

.../common/section_templates/corvette.txt

If you want to create your own graphical culture, you need to edit these text files

.../Common/graphical_culture/00_grapical_culture.txt
.../Common/species_classes/00_species_classes.txt

If anything is not clear or i missed something, feel free to tell me. So far this is just a really rudimentary write-up anyway.

Anyone got a universal translator? I've never used Maya, only Blender and I have no clue what the fucking this guy is doing, the blender part I know, everything else after that is beyond me.
 
Well finally after 2 weeks of trying this my models have finally loaded so now im on track.. well everything is working but the trails are alittle off center along with the glowing area underneath the ships.
 
I've been messing around with this a bit. Fairly straight forward once you figure it out. What I've been doing is making a single ship section that has the ship model and the other sections reference an empty mesh.

So far, the problem I've come across is the turrets. Without going through the problem of making my own species ship type just yet, the turrets show up as massive compared to the ships.

Is there a way to hide them on a per-ship basis? My plan eventually is to make a species ship type and have the turrets reference blank meshes too. It's a little more simple that way, if you ask me.
 

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  • 20160530231356_1.jpg
    20160530231356_1.jpg
    208,9 KB · Views: 460
Hey guys I just got maya and photoshop and I have been following the installation guide on the wikipage but there is one thing that I dont really understand.
On the wiki page it says :
Your game directory will have to be manually assigned before the exporter can be used. By default, the file where this has to be is “C:/Users/YOUR_USER/Documents/Paradox Interactive/PdxExporter/settings/clausewitz.txt”.
  • Below to [Terra], edit "s 1" so it points to the root directory of the game folder (X:/Steam/steamapps/common/Stellaris)
  • Edit "target_exe s 1" to be pointing at the exe file (X:/Steam/steamapps/common/Stellaris/stellaris.exe)
  • (optional) You can change [Terra] to [Stellaris].
    • If you did not find this file in the given default directory, you can copy it from the "Clausewitz Maya Exporter" directory (default C:/Users/YOUR_USER/pdx_exporter/) into the right place (C:/Users/YOUR_USER/Documents/Paradox Interactive/PdxExporter/settings/)
And in the actual txt file it looks like this:
animation s 1 "planet_rotation"
material s 10 "PdxMeshShip" "PdxMeshTerra" "PdxMeshPlanet" "PdxMeshStar" "PdxMeshAtmosphere" "PdxMeshClouds" "PdxMeshFleetTypeIndicator" "PdxMeshAlphaAdditive" "PdxMeshTextureAtlas" "PdxMeshAlphaBlend"
path s 1 "X:/project/project_terra/game"
target_exe s 1 "X:/project/project_terra/game/stellaris_RD.exe"

I dont understand what part I am to replace with the game directory paths "X:/Steam/steamapps/common/Stellaris" and second one "X:/Steam/steamapps/common/Stellaris/stellaris.exe"

Would appreciate any help :)
 
Here's what mine looks like:

Code:
[Stellaris]
    animation s 1 "planet_rotation"
    material s 10 "PdxMeshShip" "PdxMeshTerra" "PdxMeshPlanet" "PdxMeshStar" "PdxMeshAtmosphere" "PdxMeshClouds" "PdxMeshFleetTypeIndicator" "PdxMeshAlphaAdditive" "PdxMeshTextureAtlas" "PdxMeshAlphaBlend"
    path s 1 "(Path to Stellaris install)"
    target_exe s 1 "(Path to Stellaris install)/stellaris.exe"
 
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I've been messing around with this a bit. Fairly straight forward once you figure it out. What I've been doing is making a single ship section that has the ship model and the other sections reference an empty mesh.

So far, the problem I've come across is the turrets. Without going through the problem of making my own species ship type just yet, the turrets show up as massive compared to the ships.

Is there a way to hide them on a per-ship basis? My plan eventually is to make a species ship type and have the turrets reference blank meshes too. It's a little more simple that way, if you ask me.
Turrets from what I gathered are restricted on a per-ship culture basis not a per-ship individual basis unfortunately. Invisible turrets are possible though.
You'll have to make a new species class and graphical culture if you want to restrict turrets to that ship culture.
Jmx5Nmt.jpg
 
Thanks for the tutorial, really appreciated.

I can't get the exporter to work, though. It makes Maya hang to the point where I need to terminate the process in the task manager.

I must say, a sample .mb file with a model that exports correctly would be helpful.

Edit: From another thread:

Well, if anyone is wondering, it's a polycount issue. Seems like 64k triangles is a tad too many. And yes, I'm no 3D modeller. D:
It would be nice to know an upper limit. Or is it dependent on the system specs?
 
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So I'm gunna go ahead and necro this post in the hopes of some assistance. I've been trapped at the part where you export the textures from photoshop. The exporter runs through the diffuse, normal, and specular page but it doesn't actually export the files anywhere. I've tried just dumping them on the desktop and nothing happens. Photoshop will say it is finished with the export but.. nada.. What am I doing wrong? Did I miss a step?
 
It would be helpful to get the poly budget that PDX used in their ship designs. I.E. How many for vettes, destroyers, etc.