Mesh replacement - a query

[EatChildren]

Mesh replacement - a query

Hey everyone. This is a little less REDkit related (though could end up being), and more asset related. Specifically, the replacement of mesh, and why it doesn't seem to work. But texture replacements do.

Let me give an example. This mod aims to fix the neon colour grass, and appears to do so by replacing the default grass texture with the proper tone. It works by simply extracting to:

CookedPC/ environment_levels/vegetation/grass/textures/grass_henselt_01.xbm

The new xbm extracted with the right directory into the CookedPC folder takes priority over the pack0 version, ergo allow you to alter the texture. Browsing the Witcher 2 mod nexus, a lot of mods work like this. Texture recolours, stats altering items, and so on; they all extract in a series of folders into CookedPC, and replace the defaults normally loaded from pack0.

So, my question is: why does this not work with replacement mesh?

Say I take a mesh extracted by REDkit (or even Gibbed's RED tools) and place it in the right directories in CookedPC. Instead of replacing the mesh, it erases it completely. So, for example, if I take:

environment_levels/vegetation/grass/weeds/weed_high_05.w2mesh

And place it in CookedPC, exactly as people do with the textures, it completely erases that mesh from the game. That asset will no longer display at all.

Perhaps it is an engine issue, but I was wondering why this happens? Why the game simply refuses to load in identical assets from the CookedPC directory if they're meshes, but loads them in just fine if they're textures (like .xbm). And, if this is the case, is there a way around it? Is it possible to take a mesh and use it to replace an existing mesh?

 

[adridu59]

Isn't there a layer of compression on meshes of cooked content?

Just a wild guess because I tried to extract cooked meshes and couldn't open them in REDkit.

 

[shak-otay]

Isn't there a layer of compression on meshes of cooked content?

Looks like they are using triangle strips for the meshes in pack0.dzip. While geralt__head_h1.w2mesh for example from data folder has standard 3 indices triangles (faces).

 

[EatChildren]

Yep, there's definitely a difference between Gibbed extracted pack0 meshes and those that appear extracted by REDkit. The former are smaller, and won't boot in REDkit at all (crashes the software). Yet bizarrely, you can place them in the right directory in CookedPC and they'll still appear in the game, unlike doing the same thing with the mesh from REDkit.

It's quite annoying, and I wish I understood why this is. All I want to do is something as simple as tweak the variables for, say, weed_high_05.w2mesh, and have all assets in the game used the tweaked version (just as people texture tweak). But the game won't load REDkit assets when placed in a CookedPC directory, unless I'm supposed to cook them or something :/. It's like the game just isn't compatible with REDkit extracted assets...yet IS compatible with Gibbed extracted...but REDkit isn't compatible with those. And so on.

 

[adridu59]

Place your modified asset on a custom level, cook then extract it and replace it on The Witcher 2 folder.

 

[Ajunta_Pall316]

Place your modified asset on a custom level, cook then extract it and replace it on The Witcher 2 folder.

Would anyone mind directing me to a tutorial on how to do this? I've been racking my brain on this same issue for hours now. Redkit loads what I want it to do, but when I put those files in the directory as I had done with mods, it loads the default meshes instead. It is seriously pissing me off. What kind of toolkit doesn't work in the game? This is pathetic. I would really appreciate some help. Thank you in advance.

 

[FallChildren]

I'm searching for a way to solve an issue EatChildren stumbled upon during his flora and fauna mod. With the .w2mesh files cooked they would work properly, well most of them. What I don't understand and want to find a way to solve is that some .w2mesh files are not overwritten in game with the edited.
For example "weed_high_03.w2mesh" if you place it in the right directory in the cookedpc folder it won't be overridden. Of course not with the uncooked version but also not with the cooked one. I also tried to replace it with a mesh that is normally functioning but nothing happens.

So what I think is: The weed_high_03.w2mesh files isn't used directly (like the armor .w2mesh files where you have to cook the .w2ent file of the armor for the mesh to be replaced)

But where does the game get the mesh then? I haven't found a .w2ent file or anything similar in the data directory or in pack0.dzip. But I have found out that in RedKit if you load l02-port.w2w you can see that under "craftsmen-district" -> "vegetation" you'll find foliagesystem6 and it's based on the foliagesystem.w2ent template with all the foliage meshes inside. Cooking the vegetation.w2l and put in the right directory in the cookedpc folder leads to nothing sadly.

So this is the point where my ideas run out. I'd really like to get the ""missing" .w2mesh files in EatChildren's mod to work. Maybe someone knows something about this things. Any help is appreciated

FallChildren