Working on a remake of my old multiplayer map that I released almost 25 years ago.
This is the rest of the stream that got split when I briefly lost connection to Twitch or something (not actually sure what happened).
In this stream, I figure out a process for importing prefabbed modules or modules from other maps for use in custom maps without the use of a 25 year old version of 3D Studio Max. When grabbing sections of other maps, we'll instead use a 13 year old piece of modeling software, MilkShape 3D.
If grabbing a module from a pre-existing map, the process goes like this:
Make a copy of the RIF, renaming it whatever idc
Open the copy in CCAMain, delete every module except the ones you want to keep
Exit CCAMain (this is important) and open the RIF in Inteng
If you need to delete polies from the module(s), you can do so at this point
Export the map as an ASC
Open MilkShape 3D and import the ASC file, then export it to 3DS
Open Blender and import the 3DS file in a new blend, it'll come with a Hudson object
Select all of the objects (modules, Hudson...) and scale them in so that the Hudson is the same size as the one in your custom map
Leave the rotation of the object alone, but position it so that it's centered in the blend file
You can see this process in practice with the Predator Ship at the 3:06:00 mark (as well as what happens when you forget to scale the Hudson lmao)
If you're making a model from scratch, you need only model it like you would a map file.
Once you have your prefab model, follow the same process you would for any map: export to 3DS, import it with CCAMain and create a new rif. Save the rif in the shape_rifs folder for good measure. IMPORTANT: MAKE SURE TO CHANGE THE "RIF" extension to "rif" OTHERWISE MODCOPY2 WILL NOT WORK. For some reason Modcopy2 only reads the lowercase extension; the file path and name do not have to be lowercase though.
If it's a module you ripped from another RIF, it will need to be retextured. To make this easier, use Modcopy2 from the official tools download. Make sure to set the tolerance to something like -t500 or however much to make sure that everything gets textured, and to have -o set so that you can always make sure everything gets copied. Or you can do it all manually. Either way, you'll need to open the map up in Inteng to make sure everything looks right. Once you've done that, it's good to go.
At this point, if you wanted to change the rotation of the module you can do so; just make sure to update the object in CCAMain after you re-export it from Blender. While you can rotate it in Inteng, we want those rotations available to us in Blender.
You can see this whole process starting at 3:32:55
At this point, the files you'll want to keep are the rif file and the blend file. The rif will act as your texture and UV source, and the blend file will act as your mesh source. Together they make up your mapping prefab.
Once your new prefab is set up, follow this process to get it into your map:
Append the model to your map's blend file; position it where you like but LEAVE IT IN THE DEFAULT ROTATIONS (It might be more reliable to just leave it in the default position too, don't worry, you'll move it later)
Export your map as 3DS and back up your rif file.
Open CCAMain and add the new modules using Edit - Object - Add. You'll get a prompt offering object options.
Add any textures needed. Save and quit CCAMain.
Use Modcopy2 to copy the texture data from your prefab rif.
Open the map in Inteng and verify the textures are set correctly.
Go back to Blender and reposition and rotate the module as you see fit. When you update the module's shape in CCAMain it will maintain the texture and UV data.
It seems more far complex than it actually is. It's only a little complicated, but really easy at the same time once you know what to do.
I finish the stream by re-doing the APC in the map now that I know better how to work with Modcopy2.