Guild of Writers

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

 

In the 3ds Max Plugin, exporting is a simple matter of using "Plasma Export...". This tutorial will help you export your Ages to both MO:UL and TPotS.

Prerequisites

You'll need to have built an Age with Max and a working TPotS/MO:UL installation depending on the intended destination for your Age to test the success of your export.

Tutorials

For basic information on exporting your Ages, you'll need to have read the Getting Started guide.

• Max:Getting Started

Exporting to MO:UL

You first have to copy the .age, .fni and .prp files of your Age to your MO:UL dat directory. You now need to use your favorite program to encrypt the .age, such as PlasmaCrypt.

If you use PlasmaCrypt from the libHSPlasma suite of tools, navigate to the directory containing PlasmaCrypt.exe from the Command Prompt (use "cd directory" to navigate) and type the following:

PlasmaCrypt.exe xtea YourFile.age

Where YourFile.age is the name of your .age file.

You can now place your files on an Open Source shard which will host your Age and distribute it automatically to your clients. Such a process is beyond the scope of this tutorial.

Exporting to Uru:CC

Directly using an Age exported with Max with any of the old versions of Uru will result with in your inability to link to that Age. This is because the plugin currently exports only for use with the current version of Uru Live, MO:UL. However, a tool exists to convert these Ages to a version that can be used by offline Uru: Drizzle.

To convert your MO:UL Age files to Uru:CC files using Drizzle:

1. Start Drizzle.
2. Navigate to Advanced->Manual Conversion->Moul.
3. Set the "Output folder" to your TPotS/CC/Alcugs folder.
4. For each PRP file that 3ds Max created, select the PRP file under "Process a single file" and click "start...". Repeat this for each file.

Troubleshooting

You might run into the following issues while exporting your Age.

"Object has suspicious UVW coordinates."

The plugin is complaining about an object's UVW coordinates, which it does not like, mainly because you do not have some form of UV modifier on the object. This is extremely common if you have imported a model from another program, such as Blender.

You can ignore this warning. Click "No" to abort, and your object should look fine.

"Responder has no node attached to it."

This error is caused when you have created a responder and have added states to it, but did not define what object.

You cannot ignore this warning. A common example would be that you have created something that is animated and have set a responder to play the animation. Later on, you change the object and reassign the same responder to it again. The solution is to go into the "Component Utils" tab for that object and reassign the object (node) for it.

It appears I am skipping a frame or something very much like that.

This error is caused by an object's animation or material animation with a time frame exceeding what your time bar is currently set at (it might seem like this shouldn't matter, but the plugin gets upset nonetheless).

Example: you have an object animated for a full minute, which is equivalent to 1800 frames. Later on, you added another object that only animates for three seconds, so you changed your time bar so that only 100 frames are shown, to make some form of adjustment, and then you left the time bar at this point. Upon exporting, you will run into this error.

The solution is simply to change your time bar's setting to either be at the maximum animation you have in your Age, or beyond.

I get an "unknown error" or plConvert error when exporting an Age with physics.

This occurs when PhysX isn't installed. Make sure you have installed the appropriate version; the installer is available under MO:UL's main folder.

I get an "unknown error" or plConvert error when exporting an Age.

This error can basically mean anything from not having all your Subworld children on the same PageInfo to simply trying to use a Plasma Component in a way that it was not meant to be used. This error is extremely general and doesn't point to a specific cause; pinpointing the exact problematic element is akin to searching for a needle in a haystack.

The best solution is preventive in nature: whenever you make a significant addition to your Age (such as an elevator), make sure you export it right afterwards to check if everything works.