ClearDuplicateVerts in Empty Mesh(?)

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pixel_knight
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Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2017 3:13 am

ClearDuplicateVerts in Empty Mesh(?)

Post by pixel_knight » Thu Dec 28, 2017 9:41 pm

While trying to import a custom character into overgrowth, I got an error saying something like

"ClearDuplicateVerts in empty mesh"

The error message pointed to my character object but I didn't find anything wrong with it. I made sure to clear any duplicate vertices(didn't find any) and I matched up the skeleton and the mesh correctly. I searched up what an empty mesh was afterward but that didn't really help either because there is no empty mesh present in the blend file.

At this point, I'm kind of stuck on what to do. The character that I made isn't completely finished, but I thought I would be able to test it in its current state at least. If anything, I can try and finish up the mesh and the textures and then try again.

merlyn
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Re: ClearDuplicateVerts in Empty Mesh(?)

Post by merlyn » Fri Dec 29, 2017 7:05 pm

I'm not an expert, so I am just guessing at fixes here.

Did you triangulate the mesh?

Did you export one and only one object? You can look through the .obj file to try to figure this out - it is a (roughly) human-readable text format.

pixel_knight
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Re: ClearDuplicateVerts in Empty Mesh(?)

Post by pixel_knight » Sun Dec 31, 2017 5:09 pm

merlyn wrote:I'm not an expert, so I am just guessing at fixes here.

Did you triangulate the mesh?

Did you export one and only one object? You can look through the .obj file to try to figure this out - it is a (roughly) human-readable text format.
Yeah, I made sure to triangulate the mesh and I also made sure to export the mesh as "selection only". When opening it in blender, it just shows the mesh...

Actually, while I was writing this, I found that the .obj file only shows the vertex points... that might be the problem. I'm going to try and fix that, and I'll come back with the results.

I'll link the .obj file that I was using if it helps
Attachments
new_rabbit_2.obj
.obj file with only vertex points(?) showing
(142.9 KiB) Downloaded 55 times

pixel_knight
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2017 3:13 am

Re: ClearDuplicateVerts in Empty Mesh(?)

Post by pixel_knight » Sun Dec 31, 2017 5:27 pm

Alright, so I fixed the mesh so that the faces and edges were also included. However, now a different error shows up.

It says, "Skeleton file and model file have different vertex counts." I tried to fix this by re-linking the skeleton with the mesh within blender, but that didn't seem to work. My guess is that it has something to do with the weight painting(?) but that's about it.

I'll attach the new .obj file that contains the full mesh if it helps.
Attachments
new_rabbit_3.obj
full mesh
(521.73 KiB) Downloaded 59 times

merlyn
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Re: ClearDuplicateVerts in Empty Mesh(?)

Post by merlyn » Sun Dec 31, 2017 5:41 pm

pixel_knight wrote:Alright, so I fixed the mesh so that the faces and edges were also included. However, now a different error shows up.

It says, "Skeleton file and model file have different vertex counts." I tried to fix this by re-linking the skeleton with the mesh within blender, but that didn't seem to work. My guess is that it has something to do with the weight painting(?) but that's about it.

I'll attach the new .obj file that contains the full mesh if it helps.
I recommend looking at this post: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=24827

There's some sort of default vertex weight painting thing you're going to have to do to get this to work (and then can tweak to get the vertex contributions per-bone to be perfect). I haven't done that before, but hopefully that post will help you.

Edit: Looking through that tutorial, it also looks like you're going to have to re-export the skeleton after the weight painting is done. Skeletons can't be reused with different geometry, because the vertex count will be off for the weight paint. (I think)

pixel_knight
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Re: ClearDuplicateVerts in Empty Mesh(?)

Post by pixel_knight » Fri Jan 05, 2018 4:00 pm

merlyn wrote: I recommend looking at this post: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=24827

There's some sort of default vertex weight painting thing you're going to have to do to get this to work (and then can tweak to get the vertex contributions per-bone to be perfect). I haven't done that before, but hopefully that post will help you.

Edit: Looking through that tutorial, it also looks like you're going to have to re-export the skeleton after the weight painting is done. Skeletons can't be reused with different geometry, because the vertex count will be off for the weight paint. (I think)
Ok, so I went through the weight paint process and I am pretty sure that I did it right, however, I'm still getting the "skeleton file and model file have different vertex counts" error.

I tried re-exporting it and re-linking it and tried messing with the export options in blender but nothings worked yet.

After trying to find the vertex counts for the skeleton file and the model file in blender, I did find that they had different vertex counts. The model has 4,000 somthin vertexes while the skeleton only has around 300 vertexes. The problem is that I don't know how to fix this :(
Attachments
skeleton vert count.png
skeleton vert count.png (4.69 KiB) Viewed 2519 times
model vert count.png
model vert count.png (6.37 KiB) Viewed 2519 times

merlyn
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Re: ClearDuplicateVerts in Empty Mesh(?)

Post by merlyn » Fri Jan 05, 2018 5:23 pm

The skeleton is supposed to have fewer vertices, that's not actually the problem. I believe the error message just sucks, and it's the weight painting in the exported skeleton file that the vertex count is mismatched on. Not 100% sure, but 80% sure :)

Make sure you've edited the character XML file to point at the right thing (if applicable), and make sure you clear the game's cache, too, in case some temp files were created that aren't working correctly.

BTW, if you want a bit faster help with all this, you could consider joining the Discord and talking in #modding - http://discord.gg/wolfire - you might also be able to get more attention from people who *actually* know how to do this, instead of just me.

pixel_knight
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Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2017 3:13 am

Re: ClearDuplicateVerts in Empty Mesh(?)

Post by pixel_knight » Sat Feb 03, 2018 4:00 pm

btw, since I keep getting the error with the skeleton and stuff, does it matter which skeleton I am using? I keep finding that the skeleton's I've used have all been different. Some have rings and other control mechanisms, some are just plain bones, and some have floating pieces and pieces that hug the ground. Which one should I be using?

merlyn
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Re: ClearDuplicateVerts in Empty Mesh(?)

Post by merlyn » Mon Feb 05, 2018 3:33 pm

pixel_knight wrote:btw, since I keep getting the error with the skeleton and stuff, does it matter which skeleton I am using? I keep finding that the skeleton's I've used have all been different. Some have rings and other control mechanisms, some are just plain bones, and some have floating pieces and pieces that hug the ground. Which one should I be using?
No idea, but someone else should be able to answer that.

I do know that the model has to *match* the skeleton, and the model doesn't have any data about the skeleton. You'll probably need to redo the weight painting and re-export the skeleton when creating a new model.

Edit:
Some idea now after I talked to a couple people.

You have the option to use a few different skeletons, as a base to copy from and create your own skeleton. I'm not sure why you'd pick one over another (besides similarity to the model you're making, or presence/lack of a tail, etc) - maybe someone else can chime in on that.

You'll have to copy an existing one and change the bone lengths to match up to the joints in your model. As I mentioned before, you'll also have to do weight painting on it, and reexport it again. You can't re-use skeletons between models (without copying them, weight painting them, and exporting them as a new skeleton that matches your model).

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