Sequenced Textures on Custom Models

[Cirevam]

Currently I am very close to putting animated (internally known as "sequenced")  textures on custom models. I've exported an existing model to LW5 via Lightwave 9, which creates a valid model without sequenced texture data. I was able to insert that data back into the file while keeping the file valid and readable by LRR. Unfortunately, the texture does not animate. Lightwave recognizes it as a sequenced texture, so I suspect there's a control byte in the file that tells the game to animate it.

 

I need someone used to this sort of sleuthing to help me figure out what's missing. I have included two files at the bottom of this post. SteamThing.lwo is my edited file, and SteamThing_orig.lwo is the original. The edited file should be placed in Data\World\Shared and it shows up on the Tool Store. Please help me analyze these files. The file data, as far as I know, is as follows:

 

FORM = Header data
PNTS = Vertex data
SRFS = Surface (texture) name
POLS = Polygon data
SURF = Surface name again?
COLR = Diffuse channel for the surface
FLAG = ?
LUMI = Luminosity data (probably maps, effects)
VLUM = Luminosity value
CTEX = Surface UV data
TIMG = File path of image
IMSQ = Image sequence data
TWRP = ?
TFLG = ?
TSIZ = ?
TCTR = Possibly number of frames before looping the texture sequence, which happens automatically anyways
TAAS = ?
TCLR = Diffuse channel again?

I took IMSQ, TWRP, TFLG, TSIZ, and TCTR from the original file and added them immediately after TIMG. Lightwave reads this data properly, as shown below. LRR displays the model and the first frame of the texture, but it does not animate. Interestingly, it only seems to show the steam on the back of the Tool Store. There is more steam at the teleportation landing pad, but it's invisible to me.

 

 

I will supply additional files if you need them.

 

http://oresome.rockraidersunited.com/download/429

http://oresome.rockraidersunited.com/download/430

[Yellowkey]

Okay, I know this is a late response. Your Texturename must end in " (sequence)". Have a look at the format specificaton http://web.archive.org/web/20050222164514/http://tihlde.org/~torbjorv/aquarium2/resources/lwo.txt. (This is the same document I used for creating CrystalCore)

[Cirevam]

I tried hex editing the file name to end in (sequence) but it doesn't seem to have done anything. The game loads the model but not the texture. Opening it in Lightwave shows that adding (sequence) to the end of the file name, as is shown in the original file, makes it part of the file path instead of an additional property. Maybe that happened because I made a new texture with a name 11 characters longer than intended and used those extra characters to put the (sequence) text there. But how does it work in the original if it appears to be doing the same thing?

 

Excerpt from my file:

TIMG JE:\LEGO Media\Lego Rock Raiders\Data\World\Shared\ssss0000.bmp (sequence) TALP   TAAS ?€  TOPC ?€  

 

Excerpt from the original:

TIMG ,Z:\Lego\Data\Shared\ssss0001.bmp (sequence) IMSQ      TWRP   TFLG  d

 

Every version of Lightwave I've tried (8, 9, 10) arranges the model parameters differently, and each file is valid in-game. I'm starting to think that there's a plugin issue, since opening the original file and exporting it to Lightwave 5, without touching anything, makes a valid file but without the sequence data. Reopening it shows that the image is a Still and not a Sequence.

[Yellowkey]

Mh, I manually edited your steamthing.lwo file and added the " (sequence)" text to your file and it seems to work. I've also fixed the size fields in the file. (Download the file)

Here's a screenshot of my hexeditor showing all the bytes I changes/added.

 

[Cirevam]

I confirmed that your file worked, which is great news! So all you did was change the size fields (red, yellow, and blue) and added the (sequence) text? I will create a brand new test file and see if I can replicate your results.

[Cirevam]

I finally got around to doing this and I would like to let you know that it works! Adding 0x0B to FORM, SURF, and TIMG and adding " (sequence)" to the texture path in my test model made the textures move.

 

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