Question Auto-Link button in Gmax/RenX

[Kobus]

Can anybody please tell me what the auto-link button in Gmax/RenX looks like? People will in their explanations put thousands of other pictures with the names of those buttons that the program display in any case when you hover the cursor over the button and then they will go on to mention the cursed auto-link button, but ironically they fail to show what it looks like. This is frustrating beyond anyone's comprehension. This is the most awful thing that has ever happened to me!

[Raap]

Hey there,

I'm not sure what auto-linking is but the link button is right below the "tools" menu button (under the menu, not inside it). This link button is the one you use in W3D related rigging tasks. There is also Bind to Spacewarp but this one is reserved exclusively for WWskin (infantry rigging).

Worth noting is that we do not use RenX/Gmax anymore, W3DHub artists use 3DS Max 8 and 3DS Max 2017 (this last one very recently gained W3D support).

[triattack]

I moved the topic to the right forum I hope people are able to help you.

[TeamWolf]

[Kobus]

TeamWolf thank you so much, blush yes there it is right in front of me. How can I not have seen it? It is like I am far sighted. I actually saw it right after I asked, I felt so silly. It is sometimes just that like explanations such as these here https://www.cnclabs.com/modding/generals/infantry-modeling-tutorial it honestly feels to a guy such as me completely new to this that the person explaining it skipped steps in the explanation, like you want him or her to mention left clicks as well and not only right clicks, because some buttons only show once you've clicked somewhere. So if you did not click there first, the button doesn't show, but the person did not mention that step of clicking at that field and just talks about a certain button and you don't see it. Later you get so tired then it is there right in front of you eventually from you clicking everywhere, but you just don't see it. You will not believe how as an amateur, no complete beginner all this (the rest) and then actually searching for a button drains of your physical and mental energy away, it is like Yuri mind-controlling you. triattack sorry about me placing this at the wrong place, I just placed it out of desperation and frustration. Raap, can 3DS Max 8 and 3DS Max 2017 be used to make modifications for Command & Conquer Generals and Command & Conquer Generals Zero Hour? Are they easier to use than Gmax and Renx? Are they free? If not, do you perhaps know where can I find a decent PDF document on how Gmax / Renx works? Sorry if it seems like I am asking silly questions, I am like in a total complete beginner starting off of the ground. Is it it for example impossible with Gmax / Renx to produce new infantry, vehicles and buildings from scratch, but yet in such a way that they will blend in with the existing ones of their respective sides? Let's say you take the weather control device that America, Korea, France, Germany and Britain has in Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 and recreate it in terms of the USA side of Command & Conquer Generals. Is it possible to have such a structure "translated" to Command and Conquer Generals and have it blend in with the particular USA side by having it's textures match those of the other buildings of the USA side? Then also the weather storm itself that the super weapon creates, how difficult is it going to be to be to have such a weather storm in Command and Conquer Generals and have it look and be realistic in terms of Command and Conquer Generals? Can you still have the particle cannon and it's ability along with it? Will it be possible to create that weather storm so that it looks realistic like the particle cannon's strike, almost as if it is an alternate to it? I take Command and Conquer Generals as an example, because to me as a complete beginner it feels as if it is going to be the closest that I am going to be able to "understand" in terms of graphics and that my creative juices (of which I do not have much) will allow me to understand. At least it seems as if it is going to be "easier" than with Command and Conquer 3 (Tiberium Wars) & 4 (Tiberian Twilight) and Command and Conquer Red Alert 3. It is just that Command and Conquer Red Alert 2 was the first Command and Conquer game that I actually started playing in 2001 and fate just had it so that even though I played Command and Conquer 2 (Tiberian Sun) in 2004 eventually for the first time even after hearing of it in 1999, Command and Conquer Red Alert 2 was that one of the two that I could not get away from. To me there is something special about Command and Conquer Red Alert 2, what I don't know though. So much that I can't go to bed without thinking what a version of Command and Conquer Renegade is going to be like where the commando you're controlling is Tanya (that one of Command and Conquer Red Alert 2), with her running around that very same buildings in Command and Conquer Red Alert 2. However you can't bark at someone: "Make it, make it!" and I completely respect that Command and Conquer Renegade was about GDI vs Nod and wouldn't want it to be any different, because I can clearly see that Command and Conquer Red Alert 2 comes from Command and Conquer 2 (Tiberian Sun) when you look at the rules.ini and rulesmd.ini files. Me at least, to me it feels even more so than with Command and Conquer Red Alert (1996) coming from the very original Command and Conquer (Tiberium Dawn) of 1995. Yet then you see people making a version of Renegade that is based on Emperor: Battle for Dune and you as a Command and Conquer Red Alert 2 player wonder: "What would a Command and Conquer Red Alert 2 kind of Command and Conquer Renegade look like?" In front of your PC your body and brain wants to give in and crash of being tired, then to look for a button along with that isn't fun and it is going to be there right in front of you and you are not going to see it, at least not a far sighted guy such as me. Go to bed and you can't sleep either, you keep thinking what so and so will look like and you just want to be creative. Obviously what I have said here is nearly impossible, especially for one's such as me ... but I cannot help but wonder what some of these things will look like and how they must look like and be so that they are realistic and almost a 100% blend in to the existing things. But you get so tired (physically and mentally), especially if you are a beginner and especially if the hours just pass you by like minutes and you just cannot get away from your PC, you want to fall over backwards like Eli did.

Edited February 25, 2019 by Kobus
Addressed wrong individual

[Raap]

Woha friend, use some text formatting next time! Walls of text are unreadable!

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Raap, can 3DS Max 8 and 3DS Max 2017 be used to make modifications for Command & Conquer Generals and Command & Conquer Generals Zero Hour? Are they easier to use than Gmax and Renx? Are they free?

General/ZH can use Max8 using the tools EA provided for BFME. Up until recently this is what we also used here. Max8 is not free however, you'd have to look into how you obtain this yourself... Note that Autodesk no longer sells Max8 so you'd have to get yourself a copy via alternative means.

Max2017 tools do not support Generals/ZH.

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Is it it for example impossible with Gmax / Renx to produce new infantry, vehicles and buildings from scratch, but yet in such a way that they will blend in with the existing ones of their respective sides?

Gmax, RenX, Max8, or any software like it can be used to create completely new art assets, that is the purpose of this software. But to make them match existing art assets, this is up to you as the artist. You know what you want your units to look like, correct? It is your job to create units that look the way you want them to look. The software does not do this automatically for you.

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Let's say you take the weather control device that America, Korea, France, Germany and Britain has in Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 and recreate it in terms of the USA side of Command & Conquer Generals. Is it possible to have such a structure "translated" to Command and Conquer Generals and have it blend in with the particular USA side by having it's textures match those of the other buildings of the USA side?

There is no way to convert RA2 voxel art into 3D models that would work in an engine like the one used for Generals/ZH. As I said above, if you want to create a Weather Control Device for Gen/ZH you would need to, from scratch, model and texture it in the 3D software.

Not to lose hope though. This could be a great way for you to learn modelling. Take a picture of the RA2 Weather Control Device and then based on that picture, try remaking it in Gmax/RenX. Please note that, unless I am mistaken however, you will need Max8 in order to install the W3D plugin so that you can export the model for Generals/ZH usage. Unfortunately I cannot help you with this process because I never created anything for Generals/ZH and do not know the exact pipeline for it.

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 "What would a Command and Conquer Red Alert 2 kind of Command and Conquer Renegade look like?"

It would look like Apocalypse Rising;