XPS... How is it as a modding tool?

General discussion and questions about XNALara go here.

Moderators: ObscureMemories, Runa, Love2Raid

Post Reply
User avatar
thePWA
Porter
Posts: 2416
Joined: Sun Aug 19, 2012 2:27 pm
Custom Rank: JOSHAUAGES v2.0
Location: Earth circa 1999
Contact:

XPS... How is it as a modding tool?

Post by thePWA »

So I got to sit down and play with extracting and porting REORC models but hey, military-type models need guns right? Zip over to dA and gamebanana and grabbed a few weapons and rigged them for xnalara. Got a workflow planned and rolling but boy it takes almost half a day to rig a weapon-holding BELTWAY. Tried to see if XPS can make it faster but then I tried to export a gun-holding model I get a "Could not export mesh. Index was outside the bounds of the array." .

So I guess my question is, can XPS be used as a modding tool like blender?
Stop! Waitaminute! Fill mah cup with some liquor in it!
User avatar
iheartibuki
Moderator
Posts: 6552
Joined: Sun Aug 19, 2012 9:59 am
Custom Rank: Fappy Bird
Location: The Land of the Free
Contact:

Re: XPS... How is it as a modding tool?

Post by iheartibuki »

Aydean on dA has tutorials on how to mod on XPS, but they're for mashing different hairstyles and bodies. I'm sure you can apply this to guns. I personally have never used it and have only seen Frankenstein-type work on dA since people don't bother cleaning the mod up in Blender afterwards. ;P
"TheyÔÇÖre not only moron but also Galapagosian Lolita Complexed Chicken."

User avatar
Love2Raid
Moderator
Posts: 6103
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 6:10 am
Custom Rank: w

Re: XPS... How is it as a modding tool?

Post by Love2Raid »

From what I know, you can remove mesh parts and attach mesh parts (also with bones), rename bones and maybe some other things that I don't know about. Since you can't really edit the meshes, it's definitely not a replacement for Blender but just an easy alternative I guess (for simple mesh-mods). I don't really know how it works since I haven't used it in that way, yet.
User avatar
thePWA
Porter
Posts: 2416
Joined: Sun Aug 19, 2012 2:27 pm
Custom Rank: JOSHAUAGES v2.0
Location: Earth circa 1999
Contact:

Re: XPS... How is it as a modding tool?

Post by thePWA »

iheartibuki wrote:Aydean on dA has tutorials on how to mod on XPS, but they're for mashing different hairstyles and bodies. I'm sure you can apply this to guns. I personally have never used it and have only seen Frankenstein-type work on dA since people don't bother cleaning the mod up in Blender afterwards. ;P
I noticed. I actually prefer mesh-modding with blender. :D

Love2Raid wrote:From what I know, you can remove mesh parts and attach mesh parts (also with bones), rename bones and maybe some other things that I don't know about. Since you can't really edit the meshes, it's definitely not a replacement for Blender but just an easy alternative I guess (for simple mesh-mods). I don't really know how it works since I haven't used it in that way, yet.
So basically what happens in XPS stays in XPS :D

Oh well I guess it's still blender for me.
Stop! Waitaminute! Fill mah cup with some liquor in it!
User avatar
Love2Raid
Moderator
Posts: 6103
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 6:10 am
Custom Rank: w

Re: XPS... How is it as a modding tool?

Post by Love2Raid »

Lol. XD
Blender has not let me down yet, haha. Sure, there have been errors, loads of errors, but I have always managed to solve them so far (with or without help). There is usually some more information in that black log window, about what is wrong, why it won't export correctly. For example if there are missing bones, it will tell you which bones are missing. Or if you accidentally didn't assign textures to 'UV' for a mesh, it will tell you that as well, and so forth. Don't give up yet! :D
User avatar
iheartibuki
Moderator
Posts: 6552
Joined: Sun Aug 19, 2012 9:59 am
Custom Rank: Fappy Bird
Location: The Land of the Free
Contact:

Re: XPS... How is it as a modding tool?

Post by iheartibuki »

thePWA wrote:I noticed. I actually prefer mesh-modding with blender. :D
Yep, me too. :) If you have the patience, dexterity and maybe hyperlexia (lol) then Blender can do you wonders. It can be intimidating at first, but once you get used to it, it's actually very fun to use. :D
"TheyÔÇÖre not only moron but also Galapagosian Lolita Complexed Chicken."

ProtocolX27
Porter
Posts: 3518
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:13 pm
Custom Rank: Skynet Status
Location: Cyberspace
Contact:

Re: XPS... How is it as a modding tool?

Post by ProtocolX27 »

iheartibuki wrote:
thePWA wrote:I noticed. I actually prefer mesh-modding with blender. :D
Yep, me too. :) If you have the patience, dexterity and maybe hyperlexia (lol) then Blender can do you wonders. It can be intimidating at first, but once you get used to it, it's actually very fun to use. :D

Definitely agree on this. It took me a while to get past the clunky, bare bones interface and learn the basic tools, but after that things went smoothly. I at least feel 'fluent' with most of the basics now.
User avatar
Runa
Moderator
Posts: 1804
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 5:41 am
Location: Milan, Italy

Re: XPS... How is it as a modding tool?

Post by Runa »

I used XPS for mods before starting to learn how to do them in 3DS Max. It's not that bad, good for people who don't know a thing about modding in 3D programs like 3DS and blender. However, like Love2Raid said, it's not a very good replacement. In XPS you can hide mesh parts, attach new meshes, renaming bones and things like that... but you can't, for example, edit or remove certain "vertices" and this could be a problem... considering that models are all different and the parts you want to use might have additional things that you don't need/want but can't remove in any way. For example, let's say you want to attach a head to a new body... but this head comes with a full neck and collar and it looks definitely bad and wrong after the combination. In blender or 3DS you can actually edit that part, deleting useless skin and all.

Also, in XPS placing the meshes into the right place and with the right size could be long and annoying... at least for someone like me who has no patience at all.
"Some steps need to be taken alone. It's the only way to really figure out where you need to go and who you need to be."
Post Reply