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Would it be possible to make a program that converts TPM models in 3DS format? I know it's possible, but the question is whether anybody has the know-how and the time to make it. I know 3DS is a bad file format, but there are still modding communities that use that format and GMax can't export to 3DS directly. I also, know that I could import the modelin a Trespasser level and then export it as a 3DS from there, but that's a lot of steps just for converting TMP to 3DS.

Wow, I never started so many sentences with "I know" in one paragraph before.

It would also be great if it could convert both ways and in OBJ, but I really only need TPM to 3DS.

Thanks.

EDIT: I just tried importing to a Trespasser level then exporting to 3DS, but it didn't work. The model is only vertexes, no triangles, so it exported nothing.

Whoa, what's going on there? How did the TPM's model(s) look in TresEd? Details would help, as much as you can give..

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->Tres2020 Starter Kit

"Well, as long as you're under there, you can check the breakers," Thorne said. ... "There's a box right behind the front bumper. Over on the left."
"I see it." [said Sarah]
...
"The box is in backward. Flip all the switches the other way. Are you dry?"
"No, Doc. I'm soaking wet, lying in the damn mud."
~Michael Crichton

The "model" I was trying to export is only vertexes, that's normal, but in TresEd, it's completely invisible, I had to use the search tool to select it.
When I export the model in either 3DS or TPM the verts are not exported, it's an empty model file.
Either GeomAdd doesn't import correctly or TresEd doesn't export correctly. My guess: it's TresEd. If the model has no faces it's normal for it to be invisible.

Not a dinosaur right?
It sounds very familiar to what I once encountered, i had a model, it mesh was called 'F15' I exported but in tresed it was not visible, the object existed just not the mesh. I renamed it to something different and it worked. Turned out it was the naming of it, because it was visible after.

Just tested right now with an object called F15, imported, invisible, changed it to J15, it was visible. Maybe your mesh might be encountering a similar thing don't know if its ever been mentioned anywhere.

No, it's not a dinosaur, it's a model for an other game. It's actually a pair of goggles.
But yeah, like I said it's normal for it to be invisible, it's even invisible in GMax unless you turn on vertex edit mode. I really doubt that's the problem but I'll still try it.

Yes, in TresEd, anything starting with an uppercase F is invisible by default...

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You beat me to it. What really happens is somehow GeomAdd imports it in such a way that TresEd will only display it (and object which starts with "F") when you enable the "Other (misc)" category in Visiblity. This is surely from the observation that invisible physics mostly start with F in retail Trespasser. This happened to me with the Nublar fences in EastDock (or at first in NedryLand). IIRC, I fixed the problem by exporting the models and reimporting them, replacing the meshes. You'll see they are totally visible in ED/NedryLand in TresEd. No need to rename them. Of course, after that experience, I generally try to avoid beginning object names with F, just to avoid the hassle..



And uh, with a vertex-only mesh, you know those values about vertices?
Verts:
<not shown>
Verts used: 100%
Verts reused: 0%
..etc. I'm just going to guess that somehow, if the a value of no vertices used or reused is encountered, there's some kind of default switch which assumes that there is no mesh at all, like the GeomAdd interpretation of Diffuse = 0.0 to mean no texture..

_________________
->Tres2020 Starter Kit

"Well, as long as you're under there, you can check the breakers," Thorne said. ... "There's a box right behind the front bumper. Over on the left."
"I see it." [said Sarah]
...
"The box is in backward. Flip all the switches the other way. Are you dry?"
"No, Doc. I'm soaking wet, lying in the damn mud."
~Michael Crichton