Gmax...Diary of a Madman...

[Guest odog]

They're coming to take me away!!! ha,ha...ho,ho...he,he...Its been 24 hours since I first saw it, It began slowly at first, but soon I was in its grasp and there was nowhere to run...if your weak of stomach...please, turn your head...:-eek !!!ERROR:Invalid Character in file!!! :-eekWhat did I do? I tried the standard solutions, nothing, still not exporting, I tried everything I could think of, alas...nothing. Every time I apply a texture, I get the error, remove the texture and it would export.apply a different texture...error...error...ERROR!!!Just when I was about to throw this model onto the heap of previous victims, I found it...hidden, but in plain sight. I click on the hammer and there it was UVW Remove, a glimmer of hope!I removed all the Materials and UVW co-ords. I even removed all the textures from the library.Now Ive got a clean slate to work with, Ive beaten it...or have I?I apply some textures and export...ERROR! Why Me!!!OK, You want to play like that, huh? Here's where I totally lost my sanity. How I figured this out I dont know, its all a little foggy right now, but following is a step by step on how I slayed the beast.After removal of the Mats and UVWs I converted to Epoly.Select the polys for texture application--this is critical-- Detach polys as Object_whateverSelect Object, select polysapply Material and UVWsgroup all convert to Epoly (dont know if this does much, my equivilant to knocking on wood)Name exteriorClone name interiorNow I go back and covert both Interior and Exterior to Epoly seperately.EXPORT! EXPORT! EXPORT! Its working :-)I hold myself responsible for creating this error, Im concluding that this will happen to you if you apply multiple textures and UVW maps to a part, my part being the DVC. I feel safer now, Ive applied some textures and exported 5 times without incident, but I know its out there...somewhere...

[Guest FelixFFDS]

You may also want to glance at this post in the FFDS TIPS Section:"AVOIDING THE DREADED GMAX "SCALE" ERRORS IN UNGROUPING/GROUPING" byu Dennis Simanaitishttp://www.freeflightdesign.com/tips/gmaxSCALE.htm Felix/FFDSPegasus Aviation Design

[Guest odog]

Of course, FFDS is always the first place I go!But this is a particularly sinster error that occurs even if you dont group or have an interior.FFDS tips section is great, but I was unable to find anything that worked for me.The avoiding Scale Errors tip has helped me many times.

[Guest]

>Name exterior >Clone name interior >Now I go back and covert both Interior and Exterior to Epoly >seperately. Not that this applies to your 'texture madness' specifically, but why don't you save yourself a whole bunch of time (and headaches) by installing MiddleMan and MDLCommander?MiddleMan "intercepts" the GMax output stream and allows you to apply semi-permanent preferences (Has Lightmap, Has Nightmap, etc.), then hands control over to MdlCommander which will - among many other things! - create the [interior] for you automatically!This way, you don't have to bother with grouping, cloning, etc...Once the model is finished and completely debugged, then you can take the time to be more selective in what to include in the [interior] group before compiling the .mdl file... :)

[Guest odog]

Hi,I use middleman, and last night I was looking at mdlcommander...I must have missed the info about auto creating the interior model....hmmm.You dont get those export errors when you use it?I would love to forget the last 24hrs!Im fine now, and off to get mdlcommander.thanks Fr.

[Guest odog]

Incredible!Thanks Father Bill! It didnt work on the first couple of tries, I kept getting the same error. I grouped the entire model and converted to editable poly, then exported...no errors! :-)I havent read the docs yet so I just cloned the same old way I was doing it and exported just fine.Ahhh...feels like a 5ton weight just got lifted off my head.thank you again. Here's some pics, nothing permanent here.

[Guest]

>I havent read the docs yet so I just cloned the same old way >I was doing it and exported just fine. >>Ahhh...feels like a 5ton weight just got lifted off my head. >>thank you again. Here's some pics, nothing permanent here. Thank Doc Moriarty! MDLCommander is remarkably easy to use (I haven't read the docs either... :)One of the nicest things though is that you can select your preferences and then save them...Checking off the little box that will autogenerate the [interior] is all that you have to do! It can't get much easier... ;)