Anyone can/has already made a SPAS-12 model?

[gameragodzilla]

Hi, so I've never played Ghost Recon back in childhood as I was too young and stupid to play tactical shooters properly. However, I rediscovered this gem about a year ago and been having a blast playing this. Now one thing I always wanted to implement into this game was a SPAS-12, as I own one in real life and it's one of my favorite guns in my collection. I managed to find a SPAS-12 model here: https://www.ghostrecon.net/files2/index.php?act=view&id=117 and I've been using it quite well. It's a nice model, and since I'm already familiar with how to mod game logic, I was able to add it into the game, make it part of a kit, and then run around shooting Ruskies in the face with 12 gauge buckshot.

However, I would like to see if there are any models that have higher res textures or more detail, as this mod does date back to 2005. I especially would like to add detail to the top of the gun, as the heat shield has vent holes at the top as well as the sides. I also would like to add two sides to the gun, as the texture just depicts one side so there's two low res ejection ports on the gun. I have attempted to do this myself but whenever I tried installing a legacy version of 3DS Max (5 to be specific), I keep getting a "cdilla.dll" error. Looking online seems to indicate that's because such an old version of 3DS Max is no longer compatible with Windows 11. Attempting to use the plugins on a more modern trial of 3DS Max also failed. I'm a bit at my wits end here and honestly, I have never done any modeling or texture work myself before so it'd be a long learning curve even if I did figure it out.

So I'm asking now for anyone in this community if they can or have already done something like this? The weapon model textures look really nice in the Heroes Unleashed mod and I'd like something similar to that for a SPAS-12. I have found other mods with SPAS-12s as well, but I specifically want the version with the folding stock unfolded. The other two I found had either the SPAS-12 with the fixed stock or the SPAS-12 with the stock folded over it. At this point, I've exhausted everything I can think of doing myself so I'm reaching out for help.

Also, I only need the .qob and .rsb file. So long as the .qob is complete with a proper ejection, muzzle flash and holster point, that's all I need. I already implemented all the game logic and kits needed to get the gun working, so I just want an updated model and texture. Really, I mostly just need an upgraded texture file. The model itself, while low poly, is still perfectly serviceable.

 

Thanks everyone!

[Eisenhauer]

look at the video maybe that helps, for me it runs 3DS Max5 on Windows10 https://www.ghostrecon.net/forums/index.php?/topic/61899-video-tutorial-series/&do=findComment&comment=621248

Edited March 16, 2022 by Eisenhauer

[gameragodzilla]

5 minutes ago, Eisenhauer said:

look at the video maybe that helps, for me it runs 3DS Max5 on Windows10 https://www.ghostrecon.net/forums/index.php?/topic/61899-video-tutorial-series/&do=findComment&comment=621248

I’m at work right now but I’ll check it out when I’m home.

Thanks!

Also, do you know of any other mods that already have a SPAS-12 model? A lot of mods linked here go to Gamefront/Filefront and the links are long dead. 404 errors are everywhere.

[Eisenhauer]

have a look at the mod TANGO_GRINDA_V1 or Operation Stabilise there is something like this inside https://www.ghostrecon.net/files2/index.php?act=view&id=13

Edited March 16, 2022 by Eisenhauer

[gameragodzilla]

12 hours ago, Eisenhauer said:

have a look at the mod TANGO_GRINDA_V1 or Operation Stabilise there is something like this inside https://www.ghostrecon.net/files2/index.php?act=view&id=13

Oh wow! Thanks for this! This is the kind of stuff I'm looking for! Operation Stabilise definitely has a really nice SPAS-12 model, though I would like also to include the front and rear sight as well as a more accurate top vent holes. I may try tweaking it in 3DS Max 5 if I can somehow get that working.

I don't know what the mod TANGO_GRINDA_V1 is, unless they use the same model and textures. Also, I'm assuming I'm using all the textures properly as I did see a "shell" qob file and wasn't sure what exactly it was.

EDIT:

15 hours ago, Eisenhauer said:

look at the video maybe that helps, for me it runs 3DS Max5 on Windows10 https://www.ghostrecon.net/forums/index.php?/topic/61899-video-tutorial-series/&do=findComment&comment=621248

I was finally able to get 3DS Max 5 working now, but now I'm not sure how to import a .qob file to edit it.

EDIT 2: Using the 010 Editor conversion scripts, I was able to change the .qob files for both SPAS-12 models to .obj, and I was able to add the iron sights from one model to the other, more detailed one. However, I have no idea how to texture it properly or make UV maps to do so, and I don't know how to export it back into .qob and .rsb files. I'm so close to what I fully want, I just need to take that other detailed model, add some iron sights and fix the top of the heat shield, and I'm golden. Gah!

Also, for some reason, the Stabilise mod's SPAS-12 is textured and working in game, but not when I try to view the model fully with Noesis. I don't know why.

 

EDIT 3: BAH! I tried finding a previously done model online with the UVmaps and everything already mapped out, and I managed to get that model into 3DS Max 5, export it, use .rsb textures, and even confirmed the model existed in Noesis, but it would not show up in game at all. It is a modern model, so probably very high poly for the standards of Ghost Recon, but now I'm wondering if the problem is due to the polycount (and if so, what's the limit) or was it due to me putting the helper points improperly? Gah! Why is modeling so hard?

Edited March 17, 2022 by gameragodzilla

[Eisenhauer]

Watch the videos of Pz3, he gives many tips on how to do it https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoATSkD0bPFvXXYJaFxfvpQ  

and here the files of TANGO_GRINDA_V1  https://1drv.ms/u/s!ApzlKSRK7h6Rg0yiukNuxrQmCQUL?e=NVLQBI

[gameragodzilla]

7 hours ago, Eisenhauer said:

Watch the videos of Pz3, he gives many tips on how to do it https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoATSkD0bPFvXXYJaFxfvpQ  

and here the files of TANGO_GRINDA_V1  https://1drv.ms/u/s!ApzlKSRK7h6Rg0yiukNuxrQmCQUL?e=NVLQBI

Thanks for the files. Meanwhile, this one is missing one of the ejection ports and there's no heat shield vent holes at the top. Gah, I've looked everywhere for tutorials on how to update .qob files directly and break down UV maps, and I can't seem to find them. I thought I fixed the issue by simply downloading a free, already mapped model off the internet, but then it doesn't show up in the game itself. Argh, I don't know what's going on.

EDIT: Awesome! The tutorial helped. Turns out the other weapons I used to scale the SPAS-12 was way too small. I used the other scaled model instead and it finally showed up in-game. The orientation of some of the stuff is still off so I'll have to tweak it, but I managed to get this model showing up in game. It's a very high res model, but given I'm running a high end PC in 2022, it should be fine.

EDIT 2: Alright! I got the new model working! It's a whopping 1,012KB in size, but I managed to get it working in game.

Here are two screenshots I'm using with the Rambo mod.

Well, I still don't know how to make UV maps myself, but it seems like now I can take any existing model off the internet and be able to convert it into something useable by Ghost Recon. The only problem was the scaling for the reference models I was using was off. After I used the UMP40 reference, I managed to get it working in game. Whew, thanks for all the help, guys! I think I now know how to add other gun models too, now. 

Edited March 17, 2022 by gameragodzilla

[Eisenhauer]

Excellent great that it works

[gameragodzilla]

2 hours ago, Eisenhauer said:

Excellent great that it works

So it seems like there isn't a polycount limit on weapon models in Ghost Recon?

Also, I clearly did something very wrong with the unit scaling for the original reference models. Does anyone know what the original scaling was for them? The sole reason I couldn't see my SPAS-12 model was because it was too small. Also, here's another screenshot of Rambo firing the SPAS-12. I may still do some tweaking here or there on hand placements and weapon size, but for now, I'm happy.

 

EDIT: btw, has anyone ever made a Sam Fisher player model? Given how much of a headache merely adding a weapon model was, I don't want to even attempt a character model at the moment if at all possible. Probably Sam Fisher's model from Splinter Cell 1 or Pandora Tomorrow would best fit Ghost Recon's aesthetics. I'd like to replace Sarah Grey with him as the stealthy Specialist.

EDIT 2: At this point, I'd like to release this small SPAS-12 port job as a mod on this site. I gave credit to everyone who's work I pulled from, but the sound effect I'm currently using for this mod personally is the shotgun sound from Halo: CE, as that game sampled a SPAS-12. I wonder what's the legality of using sound effects like that, as it is an old game and I got all the sound files easily off a sound resource site.

Edited March 17, 2022 by gameragodzilla

[Zeealex]

Ghost Recon/DirectX 8 has a 16 bit vertex index buffer which means the max number of vertices per model is theoretically 65,535. However I think the engine has a hard limit of how many vertices can be in a frame at any given time

RE: Sam Fisher model, let me see if there's an Xbox file structure around, and if it uses the same Xqob format on the Xbox version as the GR2 models, if so I wrote a converter for that.

[gameragodzilla]

17 hours ago, Zeealex said:

Ghost Recon/DirectX 8 has a 16 bit vertex index buffer which means the max number of vertices per model is theoretically 65,535. However I think the engine has a hard limit of how many vertices can be in a frame at any given time

RE: Sam Fisher model, let me see if there's an Xbox file structure around, and if it uses the same Xqob format on the Xbox version as the GR2 models, if so I wrote a converter for that.

https://www.models-resource.com/pc_computer/tomclancyssplintercell/model/23578/

I actually found a place that had the Splinter Cell 1 Sam Fisher model already made into .obj. I just don't know how to turn that into a working .chr file.

[Zeealex]

Aye, that's where I'm at too, Pz gave me a great starting point and I need to experiment, see how far I get. 

 

If I get something I'll letcha know!

[gameragodzilla]

1 hour ago, Zeealex said:

Aye, that's where I'm at too, Pz gave me a great starting point and I need to experiment, see how far I get. 

 

If I get something I'll letcha know!

If you could somehow get that Sam Fisher model working, I'd be very grateful. The headache I got trying merely to port a SPAS-12 model showed me that I'm not capable of doing this correctly. But hopefully the starting model helps. It does work in 3DS Max 5.

[5Kurz]

On 19/03/2022 at 15:35, Zeealex said:

Aye, that's where I'm at too, Pz gave me a great starting point and I need to experiment, see how far I get. 

 

 

Same here (thanks Pz), expect I'm only looking at vehicles.  I did look for web archived Piggyson and El Oso tutorials (after seeing many references in this forum), best I could find is this:

https://web.archive.org/web/20040402043846/http://www.piggyson.com/gr/index.html

I don't think the referenced files were archived, they may well be available here, or someone has them.

[gameragodzilla]

On 24/03/2022 at 19:05, 5Kurz said:

 

Same here (thanks Pz), expect I'm only looking at vehicles.  I did look for web archived Piggyson and El Oso tutorials (after seeing many references in this forum), best I could find is this:

https://web.archive.org/web/20040402043846/http://www.piggyson.com/gr/index.html

I don't think the referenced files were archived, they may well be available here, or someone has them.

I ended up using the reference files made by the video tutorial which worked, but I don't know if those same video tutorials exist for character models as I've been unable to get anywhere with it. All I have is the Sam Fisher .obj file that I want to make into a working character.

[5Kurz]

33 minutes ago, gameragodzilla said:

I ended up using the reference files made by the video tutorial which worked, but I don't know if those same video tutorials exist for character models as I've been unable to get anywhere with it. All I have is the Sam Fisher .obj file that I want to make into a working character.

The link is an archived copy of Piggyson's tutorial - Piggyson is Joseph Drust, who (IIRC) worked on OGR characters at RSE, so I can't think of a better source for what you are wanting to do.  

It's a shame that this, and El Oso's tutorials were not archived here, I suspect a lot of knowledge may have been lost.

[gameragodzilla]

23 minutes ago, 5Kurz said:

The link is an archived copy of Piggyson's tutorial - Piggyson is Joseph Drust, who (IIRC) worked on OGR characters at RSE, so I can't think of a better source for what you are wanting to do.  

It's a shame that this, and El Oso's tutorials were not archived here, I suspect a lot of knowledge may have been lost.

Yeah a lot of old files and mods were hosted on Gamefront or other file hosting sites that now just give 404 errors. I never got into Ghost Recon (and certainly not modding) until recently so a lot of that stuff I never had an opportunity to use.

Sucks. I also wonder if someone has an archive somewhere to make it work as right now I’m just stuck.

[pz3]

The bones Drust uses are the same I sent to Zee (I think). You can grab them here.

 

*edit* I went ahead and uploaded most everything else I have. Feel free to post any cached/archived tutorials so I can save them. I might convert them over to pdf later. Anything helps even without files. Especially the missing helicopter and boat rigging ones.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ds3rovslt9b97yr/AAD14jcj63r93Sb2pvattZYra?dl=0

Edited April 6, 2022 by pz3

[gameragodzilla]

On 05/04/2022 at 23:01, pz3 said:

The bones Drust uses are the same I sent to Zee (I think). You can grab them here.

 

*edit* I went ahead and uploaded most everything else I have. Feel free to post any cached/archived tutorials so I can save them. I might convert them over to pdf later. Anything helps even without files. Especially the missing helicopter and boat rigging ones.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ds3rovslt9b97yr/AAD14jcj63r93Sb2pvattZYra?dl=0

Huh, thanks for this. This seems very useful. Now I just need to figure out how to actually add the Sam Fisher model to the bones properly. Gah.

How far have you been able to get there?

EDIT: Attempting to attach the bones from GhostReconBones.max to my SamFisherA.obj file, but the tutorial (https://www.ghostrecon.net/html/recon-chr.htm) tells me to scroll down to "Attach List" when I select GhostReconBones, but I don't see it. How far were you able to get?

Edited April 7, 2022 by gameragodzilla

[pz3]

Im not doing it right now. Working on other things.

[gameragodzilla]

2 hours ago, pz3 said:

Im not doing it right now. Working on other things.

Alright. If you ever get back to it, let me know what you figure out. I'm now just stuck on this step.