Nintendo64 Mapping in Source

[Moltard2]

Hello everyone, 2 years ago I wrote a guide explaining step by step how to rip Nintendo64 models using an emulator and converting them to the .mdl format of Source. I only posted it on a community forum which is now merged with gflclan.com

I did some project of N64 mapping back in 2016, one of them was for CS:S Zombie Escape and would have been a replica of the Ikana area from Zelda Majora's Mask.
I struggled a lot with it (ikana valley with all those complex shapes oof), and at some point I got bored of it and stopped working on it, as I didn't build it in a clean way (built in 1 unit).

I did release a bhop map using the Stone Tower I built

bhop_Zelda_Stone_Tower

In June of this year, I started some project of Zelda OOT Mapping, and I decided to rewrote the N64 guide because of all the stuffs I found out while doing it and because the first guide was incomplete.

https://gflclan.com/forums/topic/31611-ripping-n64-models-to-source-v2/

The guide is adapted to people who have no experience with 3d modelling. Everything is done through Milkshape, which might be outdated but is working fine and is easier to use than Blender.

Beware that not every game can be ripped.

The following games will work fine:
Mario64, Zelda OOT, Zelda MM, Castlevania64, Banjo Kazooie

The following games will not work at all:
Toy Story 2
Rayman 2 (game is completly distorded when the plugin is loaded)

Some games can be loaded but the ripped model you get is unusable or different from what is actually in game.

_____

I then wrote another guide to explain how to build replica of N64 areas in Hammer

https://gflclan.com/forums/topic/31612-building-a-n64-map-in-source-engine/

tl;dr, basically using a reference model added in hammer (as prop_static) and building brushes around it.
I also explain few tricks to not get invalid solids when building.

_____

In the past months, I wrote a python program to help me with ripping N64 models.

https://gflclan.com/forums/topic/32565-n64-mapping-tool/

The first goal was to convert the .wrl file (you get from the ripping plugin) into .obj
Thus skipping the part of my guide requiring Blender to import the .wrl file

My second goal was to add a way to automatically remove all created materials of the model because pretty often they were wrongly applied.
Originally, I had to 'manually' do it (using an autoclicker to click the Delete button)

And my final goal was to make the tool automatically texture a model completly.
This was possible because of the names of the 'objects' contain the texture name.

Doing it manually could take me 1 or 2 hour if there were +50 differents texture on the model.
The tool take 1 second to do it.

I added others smaller options, which are 'scaling the model', 'reverse the vertex order' (something needed depending of the game you rip), 'merge groups using the same texture' and 'sort groups by name' (alphabetically)

I then looked for a way to have a GUI for that tool, so I used C# (with WPF) and the plugin IronPython to load all the python script I made (cause I was obviously not gonna try to rewrite everything in C#).

Since then, I added 3 more options:
Copy used textures, which copy all the texture used by a model into a folder you specify
Mirror Picture which is useful cause in N64 they used pretty often half the size of a picture to save space.
Bmp to png, which will take the 2 bmp files you get for a texture and give you the transparent picture (_a.bmp = the alpha of the texture and _c.bmp = the texture)

_____

I hope it will motivate some people to do some N64 maps.

[ficool2]

The .wrl method is bad for SM64, it rips the model from the camera perspective (results in missing geometry and oddly angled model)

[Statua]

I honestly think the best way to go about this is to use the level rips as a guide and then rebuild the area with hd textures and assets to make a 2018 version od the level that people will still recognize and enjoy. Having the 20+ year old textures and geometry just makes it a brief nostalgia burst for some people.

[Tin Can]

You'll also have really terrible lighting most of the time, usually depending on the size of the model

[DrVincentWolf]

Amazing, have a diamond!

I am going to try this out, doubt I’ll be able to make it work though...

[ficool2]

You can get away with the lighting by using vertex coloring ontop of a Unlit shader (you still need to place lights so non-static props get lit properly), although it needs different setup depending on whether you use a model or brush.

Yes, vertex coloring is possible in Source, see the Valve wiki page for the Modulate shader (can't link on mobile for some reason). The only concern is the filesize - since the vertex coloring is baked into a high-res texture, it can eat up file size quickly

I used this on my Mariokart DS ports and it makes the maps look colorful and great, I might write a guide on how to do this

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/111014/7e60df5f-4ce6-4987-97f1-5774bcc85410/IMG_1976.JPG

[Moltard2]

ye it's true, that's why in the 'Build n64 map' guide, I dont tell people to make using the whole area as a model, but rebuilding with brushes around it.

for example, here are all the models I used as reference for the Stone Tower temple:

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/385257/c9cd894c-7991-48ca-a0d5-f5b7565a51c8/stonetowerpmodelsref.JPG

I keep them untextured cause I only need them as reference

And here is the temple built with brushes:

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/385257/18570157-d780-48a6-91e2-0feb20b90c32/stonetowerbrushbuild.JPG

It will obviously be well optimised and lighting will be correct.

I like building in Hammer the most, which is why I prefer to rebuild everything than rip many models.

But obviously, there are some models that I simply rip because they are used more than once in the map.

For examples, switches:

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/385257/1d79f28a-5a3b-416d-bb07-2434be5a2e77/image.png

true, some games give a model that is not easily useable.
Banjo Kazooie ripped models origin points is always the location of Banjo, and not everything is rendered depending where you are, but you can anyway rip from multiple point of view to get everything you need.