It is possible to mod Shenmue like GTA?

[Siion]

I know both C++ and can do 3D Modelling of any kind except characters, sadly though there have been way to many projects and moddb pages setup and teams organized that simply after 1-2 month get forgotten about.

It's easy to be a leader and say we need this, and do this, please get it done but do nothing yourself, so I've stopped joining any form of recruit group and decided to do my own stuff, though I dont mind helping out on something that could have potential, just dont expect me to be commited.

My own project uses Unreal Engine 3 though because GMod is god awful.

[Master Kyodai]

Imho the mt5 extractor is THE key component in the raise and fall of all mods. I mean come on, if you don't have the character models and scenes how much fun will any mod be? I really tried to rebuild some scenes and it's just way too much stuff. I don't think anything amazing will ever develop untill the mt5 extractor is working at least 99% perfect and allowing export of all main scenes. Just my 2 cent.

[dotsona]

I agree with Master Kyodai, the model extractor is key to anything related to Shenmue Modding. The worst part is knowing the extractor is near completion and has so much potential yet it is unfinished. *Sighs*

[Oppy]

Pardon my ignorance. But cant all the models in shenmue II be extracted by the capture method with the nulldc plug in? the mt5 extractor is only needed for shenmue 1 isnt it?

[Master Kyodai]

The capture method is suffering from low poly count and backface culling. Also that method is extremely bad for capturing a scene as it will only capture stuff in the view and leave out stuff on sides not directly in the camera view.

[wude]

the 3dxripper methode is great for capturing characters and small stuff, but it's verry hard to capture buildings ,and then you have the dds conversion problem .

[dotsona]

Another big problem with the capturing method is that its hard to rig the models since they come out in different poses. However, using the extractor method, the models will most likely come out in T-POS making the rigging process much easier and less stressful.

[Oppy]

ahh k. understand. I have never tried any model ripping. But i am interested in making some animated videos with 3d studio max. will that be possible if the model extractor is complete?

[dotsona]

Yeah, once the extractor is complete you will be able to do anything you want with the models. (Comics, animations, renders, putting characters in games like gmod, half life etc) Technically speaking we could do that with Shenmue 2 right now. 3D Ripper does a decent job extracting Shenmue 2 models. The only problem is the models are kinda hard to rig since they are in different poses. We have had a member rig ryo and it came out pretty good (he also did a short animation that turned out nice) So it is possible. Just kinda inconvenient.

[Siion]

Also the fact that every texture is at horrible resolution and to make anything look good you'd have to redo the texture.

Infact if you've got a couple years of 3D Modelling Experience it's EXTREMELY more convient and easier to remodell anything from the Shenmue world than it is to sit and wait around for a program to do it, then face the challenges of fixing its 3d exports.

I have done all the models for WorkersPier and beverly hills in a weekend. Will take 1 day generating UV maps for someone to photoshop, its all kinda easy.

Thats speaking environment, but with characters I imagine its not so hard, i have many friends who do character 3d and it takes them a good week and they come up with some extremely nice stuff which I take and animate.

Rigging is AWFULLY easy, in 3ds max or cinema 4d, or maya w/e they all pretty much use same methods, but its extremely easy even if the model is in 500 parts, (though would be retarded), just combine the model to 1 if makes it easier than map the UV's per poly segement, point being animation rigging is extremely easy, the hard part is making life like animations with it. Oh and putting it into an eingie is easy, i dont know about half life or anything but putting animations from 3ds max into UDK is a few clicks as it has its own plugins.

It seems to me that a lot of people jsut want to rely on tools to do the job for them, and then you get the extracted material and its in no state to be used in any engine.

[dotsona]

^^ I disagree that the models look bad because of the texture resolution. You should check out some of the older ripping threads, the rips came out quite good. I think re modeling all of the characters would take alot of time, I honestly think the model extractor could do it in way less time (considering its 80% done now) Plus the modding community isnt big enough to get that many 3d modelers together to recreate all of those assets. I also think a good rig isnt easy, a crappy one maybe, but I suppose that depends on the skill of the designer. You also have to take into consideration rigging the eyes and mouth to add facial expressions, and additionally adding a rig to a badly formed model can be a pain. Its much easier when the model is in T-POS.

Here are some rips I did awhile back using 3d ripper:






I think the quality of these models is quite good. If we can rig these models we would be able to create animations, comics etc. We really just need help with the rigging part. We have a list of characters that need to be rigged on the forums somewhere. If you can help us with that part then maybe we can get something done here

[Master Kyodai]

Also the fact that every texture is at horrible resolution and to make anything look good you'd have to redo the texture.

Infact if you've got a couple years of 3D Modelling Experience it's EXTREMELY more convient and easier to remodell anything from the Shenmue world than it is to sit and wait around for a program to do it, then face the challenges of fixing its 3d exports.

I have done all the models for WorkersPier and beverly hills in a weekend. Will take 1 day generating UV maps for someone to photoshop, its all kinda easy.

Thats speaking environment, but with characters I imagine its not so hard, i have many friends who do character 3d and it takes them a good week and they come up with some extremely nice stuff which I take and animate.

Rigging is AWFULLY easy, in 3ds max or cinema 4d, or maya w/e they all pretty much use same methods, but its extremely easy even if the model is in 500 parts, (though would be retarded), just combine the model to 1 if makes it easier than map the UV's per poly segement, point being animation rigging is extremely easy, the hard part is making life like animations with it. Oh and putting it into an eingie is easy, i dont know about half life or anything but putting animations from 3ds max into UDK is a few clicks as it has its own plugins.

It seems to me that a lot of people jsut want to rely on tools to do the job for them, and then you get the extracted material and its in no state to be used in any engine.

I would like to see the Workers pier scene. If you're that good and fast why not share some models with us?

[Oppy]

^ second that.

I tryed to model the hazuki household /dojo from the outside, back when i was in high school. ended up giving up after a few days.

[wude]

i made an awful one too ,last summer , it was so bad that it collapsed when i finished it.