Beginner need help with Genesis3d actor model

[tomato]

Hi,

I am somewhat new to the 3D modeling. But I tried out some programs like RF, TrueSpace and some other. Well, now I have an animated actor (Genesis3d .act) file, and I want to have it as an .3ds or .obj or maybe as a .x file, so that I can use it as an object in my own project. I want to modify this model later in TrueSpace and use it in an level of Unity or UDK.

I was looking for months to find an suitable way to convert this actor file to one of those formats, but I didn't found any tool that would convert an animated actor to something else. I only found a viewer for static actor files. So, now I have registered here and hope someone can give me a hint or point to a tool that could do this job. For the beginning the wireframe would be good enough for me.

greetings,
Tom

[Juutis]

MilkShape 3D has a wide selection of import and export options. You can use it to decompile the actor, import the .bdy and .mot files and then export to whatever format you want. MilkShape costs USD 35 or EUR 25, but it has a 30-day trial period.

I believe you can also use Equity to decompile the actor.

Welcome to the forums.

[tomato]

Hi Juutis,

thank you for answering. I already tried both and every time when I start to convert or load an animated actor file both of the programs crashes with an unhandeld exception error. Also when decompiling a static actor file with Milkshape and load the body file the program crashes too. I've exported the actor files out of an game, so I believe it's a modified actor file, and there for won't be a standard program to read the files. I looked through the file with an Hex-Editor, the header seams to be like the same as any static actor file, but at some points it has differences. I don't know if this are header or model data and I can't sort this out. Is there anywhere an explanation of the actor file format on the net? Maybe that would help to give me an idea of the header and other information on the file. I am also looking to download the Genesis Actor Studio, but didn't found it. I only found the Genesis 3D World Editor 2.0 and the Genesis SDK, but there is no Actor Studio inside. I hoped that this tool would be able to convert my files into a better format. Can you tell me where I can find it?

[bernie]

Milkshape is buggy reading actor bdy files they usually crash. Export the model from Equity as an ms3d file then you can load that into Milkshape you will find the animations in the Milkshape folder that equity creates. You can also export from Equity as 3ds file or obj file and export the animations separately. Bear in mind that the 3ds file format does not support animation neither does the obj file format.

[tomato]

Milkshape is buggy reading actor bdy files they usually crash. Export the model from Equity as an ms3d file then you can load that into Milkshape you will find the animations in the Milkshape folder that equity creates. You can also export from Equity as 3ds file or obj file and export the animations separately. Bear in mind that the 3ds file format does not support animation neither does the obj file format.

Hi Bernie,

well, sorry to say that but it don't worked, cause when loading an animated or not animated .act file into Equity will crash the program. So I can't export anyway. Milkshape lets me decompile an static .act file but crashes when loading the .bdy file. Decompiling an animated .act file with Milkshape will also crash the program. Thats too bad.

[bernie]

You need the latest version of Equity NOT the one that comes with RF.
Download Equity 6.1.1_B
from http://www.filefront.com/user/hgtterry

[tomato]

You need the latest version of Equity NOT the one that comes with RF.
Download Equity 6.1.1_B
from http://www.filefront.com/user/hgtterry

That's the version I already tried.

Edit:
BTW I can load .act files into both programs that are not out of the game where I got my .act files from.

[bernie]

It looks as though its an act file that is not from RF it could be from jet3d, that program also uses genesis engine but the act files are modified and cannot be used by RF.

[Allanon]

If you open the ACT file in a word processor and the first 4 characters are VF00 then it is a Genesis3d ACT file, if the characters are VFHH then it is a Jet3d ACT file. Other characters might indicate it's a beta version of Genesis3d 2.0.

[tomato]

If you open the ACT file in a word processor and the first 4 characters are VF00 then it is a Genesis3d ACT file, if the characters are VFHH then it is a Jet3d ACT file. Other characters might indicate it's a beta version of Genesis3d 2.0.

Hi Allanon,

my files starts with VF00 in the first bytes.

[paradoxnj]

Post the name of the act file you are trying to view.

To use the ACT file in a modelling program, you must decompile it first. Use Milkshape 3D and select Tools | Decompile Genesis ACT. This will give you a BDY file and several MOT files (if the model is animated). The BDY and MOT files should then be imported to Equity.

[Allanon]

Since you are having trouble with Milkshape I would suggest trying Reality Factory VFS Exporter (RFvfs.exe) to get the BDY and MOT files from the ACT file. The ACT file is just a VFS that contains the BDY and MOT files. Be sure to place the .bdy and .mot file extensions on the filenames when exporting.

[tomato]

Since you are having trouble with Milkshape I would suggest trying Reality Factory VFS Exporter (RFvfs.exe) to get the BDY and MOT files from the ACT file. The ACT file is just a VFS that contains the BDY and MOT files. Be sure to place the .bdy and .mot file extensions on the filenames when exporting.

Oh, that was a good idea, I never realized the tools folder. I tried out the RFvfs tool, but had no success. I could export a .bdy file and I thought the "0" under the motion folder means to be one of the motions of that actor and I stored it as a .mot file. Well, that works but when I try to load the .bdy file into LithUnwrap it tells me about an error while loading the file. I then tried to build a new actor from the .bdy data into Equity but the program crashed when I was loading the new .act file.

I made some research on the game where I got the actor file of, and I found some forum posts by the developers that says, that they made there own engine out of Genesis3D and something self-made. I think that they don't rely changed the data format of the actors, but may be they add some lines or some extra information. I just only have to know how the actor / body format is build. If anyone got more ideas or know how I can sort out the actor / body model data from the file please let me know. Anyway, thank you all for answering and trying to help.

[Allanon]

Does the ACT file render in the ActView.exe application? Also you might try using the geBodyFix.exe application, I'm not sure what it fixes but it might help.

[tomato]

Sorry, I had no time the last view days to look into the forum. Well, the ACT files won't load in Actview, the program gives an Error message "could not load <filename>". I can't say if geBodyFix.exe will do anything to my files, I browsed up a bdy file and then clicked on the "Ok" button, but nothing happens. The file wasn't touch, no idea what this tool could do. But anyway, thanks for the tip.