Alright, I've been trying to get this right for about two years now with no solution:

Right now I am trying to scale up the AVChinook model by importing it into RenX using Coolfile's import tool. I preserve the bones by selecting all of them and checking ExportTransform in the W3D Tools.

Next step is to reapply the propeller texture to maintain the texture's alpha channel in-game which is where everything begins to fail.

The propeller texture I use is the basic AVComanche_p.tga texture as intended.

I follow Sleipnir's guide:



I also make sure both the DDS and TGA version of the same texture are placed in the texture directory in my Zero Hour folder.

Every. Damn. Time. It fails to work and in-game and in the W3D viewer, the propellers of the Chinook no longer has the transparency it needs and the whole thing ends up looking like large black triangles spinning around the chopper.

Things I Tried:

1) Created a new material with the correct settings and applied the texture by clicking Assign Material to Selection

2) Dragged the same newly created material from the Material Navigator onto the propellers.

3) Dragged the DDS version of AVComanche_p from the Material Navigator's File System tab directly onto the propellers.

What the hell am I doing incorrectly?

Am I supposed to be using the DDS or TGA texture?

Am I dragging the wrong thing onto the model from the Navigator?

Am I supposed to be dragging anything at all?

As far as I remember, you must use TGA files only, DDS format doesn't work with gmax/RenX.

Also, if you create a new material, the settings must be ALPHA BLEND. Then check the "display" button is pressed and then use assign material to selection with the blades selected and no other object. Once you have done that it should be applied. Do not drag and drop anything else onto that object once done or it will create a new material. (Unless you drag/drop from the material selector.)
Another thing, have you opened the TGA or DDS file and verified that the alpha channel is actually there? Also make sure that you export as a 32-bit TARGA (.tga) with the alpha channel intact. If you use DDS, there are settings on the export menu that comes up where you must select "EXPLICIT ALPHA". Do not select "1-bit Alpha" as this will only read Black&White and not varying shades. Of course, don't select "no alpha".
In Photoshop, the TGA settings should automatically export all channels, including alpha.

So, it might either be that you have applied the material incorrectly before export, or you are using DDS files in you material, or somehow the texture file does not have alpha channel.


Hope this helps.


EDIT: I just noticed in your picture that the texture selected is avstarlift.tga. Shouldn't it be "avcomanche_p.tga" if you are intending to use the comanche blade texture?

Making a new material, changing the blend mode to "alpha blend", and assigning the new material to the propellers should be enough.

Can we see a screenshot of your actual settings? (It looks like you just got the pic from the tutorial which doesn't really help)

EDIT: Also what Colt said, RenX can't use .dds only .tga



well he's using an ingame texture so it should be there

The settings I used were from Sleipnir's site.

Here are mine:



More or less the same.

This is after the application:



I have tried using both the regular export and export with standard materials which I know doesn't preserve the Alpha.

Also another problem I just noticed:

After exporting, the propeller animation becomes choppy as opposed to smooth. One of the frame is missing or something.

Here's a comparison of the first frame of the old and new Chinook's animation.



Notice the new chinook's blades are off-center at frame 0

What should I do?

You can go into animate mode and move them back to where they should be.

Well you really can't see the transparency work in RenX you have to export it and view it in w3d viewer.

Also about the animation, when you import a model it sets the start time to 1 ( probably because infantry animations start at 1) where it should be 0. Simply change the start time to 0 and it should work.

Oh perfect. Everything is finally starting to work out after some few more tries. Not sure what happened but its all good now. Thank you everyone.