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change hard coded color in mdl files?

Cees Donker

Cees Donker

SOH-CM-2024
Hello guys,

I vaguely remember there was a utility that enabled the user to change hard coded color in mdl files. Does anyone remember this and know what I mean?

:isadizzy:

Cees
 
Milton,
Can you provide a bit of instruction on how to use MDLMat? I've wanted to use it to change some colors of untextured parts but I have no idea how to find the parts to change the colors, or how to find the colors if not the parts.
 
I have not used the program but it seems intuitively obvious.

See attached. Help is in bottom right quadrant.

Just browse to your model using the ? button, browse the lines for the color you want (check all to see what else is there or if there are multiples of the same one).

Once selected, the color shows top right.

Use color selector to change, then use the << arrows to load the new color into the Diffuse/Ambient/ect slot(s).

Then save.

Hope this helps.
 
There is no easy way to tie a particular material to a particular part of the mdl. The materials list is at the start of each LOD (along with the texture list) and the drawing code that follows will call up different materials and textures as appropriate but there is no way to tell by looking at the code which particular bit of the model is currently being drawn (just another block of triangle coordinates).
The same material will usually be applied to many different parts of the model so any changes to the material will affect every part that uses it. This is not usually a problem as it is only the one or two bits that aren`t covered by textures that you need to change for visual effect.

If you can`t work out which to change (say if they are all the same colour) then change one at a time to a bright green or something any fly the model to see if the exposed part has changed colour. Obviously use a copy of the mdl for this testing (or keep a copy of the original safe). Once identified go back to a fresh copy of the original mdl and just change that entry to the colour you really want.

Note that each LOD has its own materials list so you will have to make similar changes in each LOD if you don`t want the old colour to appear at distance.

Normally it is the Diffuse colour you will need to change to fix untextured parts.
 
Thank you Martin for that explanation. As a modeler, I guess I take these things for granted, but it helps to have the "inside" rest of the story. :)
 
I usually make a blank texture folder for the aircraft then change the color of suspect parts to bright primary colors. Kind of a PITA, but it's the best method that I have found so far. Sometimes;with luck, I find that offending external payloads,etc. can be rendered invisible without affecting other visible parts. You don't get the 'ghost effect' that you sometimes see when using alpha texture. I guess that I am just parroting Martin after re-reading his post.
 
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