UNIBASTARD.DLU is a plug-in for 3D Studio Max v3.1 that allows users to export 3D models and animations to a custom format that is used by the Armadillo Terrain Editor and Motocross Madness 2.

Installation: Copy the Unibastard.dlu file into your 3DSMax3_1\Plugins folder and restart Max. The plug-in is accessed via the utility panel.

Copy the msvcrtd.dll file into your \windows\system folder

Usage:

-Model your object use as few polygons as possible. Try to keep the bulk of your models under 250 polygons. Most of the cars in MCM2 are around 150 polys. If you put to many polys on-screen at once in the game, you will kill the frame rate on most peoples computers. This is really important when modelling and placing objects in Armadillo.

-Use only 1 texture per model, and make sure all your faces are using material ID 1. Use the Material modifier if necessary to ensure that all faces use ID 1.

-Textures must be square, and power of 2 size. That means: 32x32, 64x64, 128x128, or 256x256. Always use the smallest map possible. If you plan on modelling a collection of objects likely to be used together (like a bunch of road signs), plan carefully so you can fit everything into a single texture map. Using a single map not only conserves memory usage, but it helps your 3d card render faster. Everytime a 3d card has to switch out the texture it is using when rendering, it stalls the render for a short while.

-Textures must be 24-bit Targa files. You can create transparent areas in the texture by using pure purple (RGB:255,255,0) for key color transparency. If you decide to use key color, you MUST hand edit the .slt files to add a single line entry. See the keycolor example at the bottom of this file...

-Before exporting a model, you must Reset Xform, and collapse the stack.

-You models should ideally be at (0,0,0) pointed down the Y axis. For example: when looking at your model from the Top viewport, the front of the model is facing the top of the screen.

-Click on the utility panel and run the Unibastard plug-in. Click the "Export SLT" button to write out an .slt file containing your 3D model.

-Copy your .slt file, and it's texture map (.tga) file into the ...\TrackEditor\UserModels folder.

-You can create the clip art that shows up in the editor by creating a 133x103 targa file named the same as your .slt file with "_art" added to the filename. For example:

You make a car named: Mustang.slt. Name your clip art Mustang_art.tga and place it in the UserModels folder along with your .slt and .tga file for the model.

-In the editor, you can access your custom model by selcting the "Custom" item in the Object Groups drop-down list box.

-After placing and editing all you objects, you are almost ready to bundle your track and distribute it for use in MCM2. But first you need to process all your texture maps using the MakeCMP utility, and add them to your project. For information on using the MakeCMP utility, see the MakeCMP ReadMe.txt file.

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KeyColor example.
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-Included with the UniBastard plug-in is a sample file:
	- the max file containing the 3d model: IronMountain_02ReadyForExport.max
	- the resulting .slt file: IronMountainSample.slt
	- the 256x256 24-bit texture map (with keycolor 255,255,0): IronMountainSign.tga
	- the 133x103 24-bit clip art for display in the editor: IronMountainSample_art.tga

-To enable the use of keycolor in an .slt file you must add the following line:

ColorKey=48,48,48

-The line goes in the [Material - 0] section immediately after the reference to your texture map. For example:

[Material - 0]
TextureMap=IronMountainSign.tga
ColorKey=48,48,48

-The RGB value: 48,48,48 is not the value used for keycolor. This value is the color that MCM2 replaces your purple key color with at run-time to keep purple fuzzy edges showing up in the lower mip-maps for the texture. All the lower mip-maps are automatically generated by MCM2 at load time. For example, if you made an object with some green grass in the texture, and you are using key color for transparency, you will probably want the ColorKey=r,g,b value to be something closer to the color of your grass... ColorKey=0,128,0 (mid-green). I chose ColorKey=48,48,48 in the IronMountain sign example because the keycolor is surrounded by dark grey steel bars in the texture map.



