#2
23rd Feb 2020 at 9:00 PM
Last edited by simmer22 : 25th Feb 2020 at
4:47 PM.
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Looks like wrongly assigned bones, which is a problem with the auto tools that transfer bone weights when you convert 3t2/4t2. They don't quite seem to handle the areas around arms and legs, and tend to get these areas mixed up a little because they're too close together.
Mark one of the bad vertices, go to the Joints menu in Milkshape, click "show", check if there are any joints that shouldn't be on the list (left knee assigned for the right knee, or similar), then you may have to either set that joint to 0, or remove it by selecting the dropdown boxes and setting the numbers. Make sure the weights add up to 100.
It may be a good idea to import in an ingame mesh that looks similar, so you can copy the weights (mark on this mesh, click "show", mark vertex on your mesh, click "assign") and use the weight colors (tick "draw vertices with bone colors") as a guide. If any colors look very different from the maxis mesh, there's most likely a problem in that area.
Also make sure the comments for the mesh are proper (make sure the "NumSkinWgts" is set to 3). If it is lower or missing, it doesn't blend the joint assignments properly.
I sometimes use the ANIM mode to check if the assignments work properly (you can rotate the bones and see if there are any problem areas without having to go in and out of the game), but make sure you've saved any progress first. The ANIM mode can occasionally cause problems with the mesh, so it's not a good idea to save that mesh for export. I'll often do all the fixes and testing, and then export/import the mesh into a new file with an untouched skeleton, just to be on the safe side.
There may be other ways to fix it, but this is what I do, anyway...
EDIT: Added a comparison picture of roughly how a mesh would look like if the NumSkinWgts is (or was at some point) set to the wrong number, or if there are issues in the mesh that need to be fixed after conversion. It has to do with translation issues (not sure how many levels of joint assignments the auto converter takes into account, but it seems to be about 2 instead of 4, and does occasionally leave out some areas, which is why I'm not too big a fan of the auto converters) - the colors show if you click the "draw vertices with bone colors" under the Joints tab in Milkshape. With the colors, selected vertices don't show up red, so it's best to not have it on unless you're doing anything with the joint assignments.