Max:Installing

Revision as of 06:40, 28 October 2024 by Jʹkla (Talk | contribs) (→‎Downloading)

(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Disambig gray.png

This is a tutorial page.Versions available: PyPRP; 3ds Max; Korman.
 

The Cyan Worlds Plasma Plugin is used within 3ds Max to create Ages. Installing it is a simple affair.

Prerequisites

You will need either 3ds Max 7 or 3ds Max 8 for the plugin to work correctly. Trial versions are available on the Internet; the full versions must be purchased. Also make sure you have the latest service packs for your version:

Downloading

[J'Kla][With thanks to Emor for a gramatical revision] Heads up:

The CYAN plugin above only works for 3DS Max versions 7 and 8 but versions for nearly all of the later releases have been created.

They can be found in the github repository:

https://github.com/H-uru/Plasma/releases/tag/last-successful

In searching for options less expensive than Autodesk retail, I found this website:

https://nextdigitalkey.com/product/autodesk-3ds-max

They sell discontinued retail licences of many brand-name software as Digital downloads.

I bought a copy of 3DS Max 2022, US Price $64.

It installed properly and appears to authenticate with Autodesk.

[/J'Kla]

The plugin can be downloaded from Cyan as a ZIP file.

ADVANCED: Source code for the H'uru fork of the plugin is available from github. Compiling the source is beyond the scope of this tutorial.

Installing

You can now begin the actual installation of the plugin.

  1. Copy all the .dll files that exist in the base directory of your Myst Online: Uru Live Again folder to the base directory of your 3ds Max installation.
  2. Download and extract the plugin. Copy over the MaxPlasmaLights.dlo and PlasmaMax.gup files to your Max version's plugins folder.
  3. Once this is done, boot up 3ds Max. If all goes well, it will crash out. Once it crashes, go to your Max installation's plugcfg file and open up the newly-created PlasmaMAX2.ini in a text editor like Notepad.
  4. You need to replace the entire text with something that will actually work, like the sample below.
  5. Replace PathToYourOutputDirectory with a real folder. This is where Max will export your files, and where you need to place your files for Max to read them!
  6. Start up Max again. If all goes well, you should launch up and a dropdown menu saying "Plasma" will exist on the top bar.

The Max plugin is now installed. If you are experiencing difficulties, you might find it helpful to watch The Magician's Video Tutorial.

Note: the above video tutorial was made before it was confirmed that the plugin worked with 3ds Max 8. Do not get discouraged by the video when it indicates that only version 7 can be used. Both versions work well.

PlasmaMax2.ini Sample

What follows is a sample configuration for your PlasmaMax2.ini. Customize it as required for your installation. 

[Menu]
Version=10
[SceneViewer]
Directory=PathToYourOutputDirectory
[Export]
X=411
Y=322
Dir=