Tutorial: How to modify existing mods

[Plopilpy]

Mkay, I need to share this with ya dinks because it's important.




Making mods is hard. You know what's harder but pays off? Modifying existing mods.






Why might this be important? Well, you could rip models from Dustin Guest's movie to slap their textures onto an existing 3dmm actor.






To start, let's talk about getting the files out of a pre-existing mod file. One which was already released as a vxp.







There are 2 methods for getting the data files out of a mod:

Method 1: Download the mod, and use the "Save As" menu in Windows Explorer. Select "All Files" at the bottom dropdown box, and save it as a zip. Now extract the 3 files using Windows Explorer or your unzipping program of choice.


Method 2: Download 7-zip or WinRAR and open the vxp with it. Since vxp's are just fancy zip files, you can open them in any file unzipping programs. Now click "Copy" in 7zip, or click "Extract" in WinRAR, and type in the directory where you want to save the files.

Congrats, you've gotten past step one. There's still the next step.




Now that you've gotten these files, get 3dmmpencil. Use this to open the "3cn" file out of one of the files which you extracted in step 1. This is where the juicy data is. The 3cn files hold the 3D model, the texture, and all kinds of good bits and bobs. Once it's opened, you can extract any of the files out of here with 3dmmpencil. Just highlight which file you want, and click "Export". Done!








Remember, you need to use BMDL2OBJ to convert the BMDL model file which you extracted into an OBJ for use in a modelling program. If you don't need to convert it, feel free to read the other threads on how to import files and re-ID them.









That's basically all you need to know. However, there's a burning question which you all may ask:

Originally Posted by You

How do I get a vxp file out of a movie?

It's simple. If you just need a single mod which you just got from watching a movie, enable the cached mod in the v3dmm manager and place the prop in Misty City or whatever blank scene that you want. Now open the movie in the unzipping program, and it'll just show the mod's files. Extract, done.

If you wanna get multiple mods from a movie, go into AppData on your C: drive, and look under one of the folders there for 3dmm expansions.


To extract the files for any of these things from the AppData folder, follow the first steps again.





Hope this helps ya guys!

[Plopilpy]

This was actually a problem for 3dmmers a few years ago, where Internet Explorer would save mods as zip files. It's now a benefit for making mods.