Exporting from Blender to 3ds Max with Collision for Starfield

From Blender

  1. Build your mesh in Blender, and create the collision out of primitives, parent the collisions to the visible mesh
    Mesh Hierarchy in Blender w/ Collision
    Mesh Hierarchy in Blender w/ Collision
    Mesh in Blender w/ Collision
    Mesh in Blender w/o Collision
  2. Export as FBX, set scale to 1.0 if you're using cm in Blender, ensure Up is Z up and Forward is Y Forward
    Blender Export Settings for 3ds Max
  3. Import the fbx into 3ds Max 2021, if your units in max are set to cm, select automatic, otherwise adjust Units under Advanced Options
  4. Open the Bethesda FBX Export tool, and create a new export for your mesh
    5. Example of an FBX Export
  5. Link the visible mesh you imported from Blender under the newly created empty in 3ds Max. Make sure to keep the collisions linked to the visible mesh, not the empty.
    Mesh + Collision Hierarchy in 3ds Max

Assigning Material

  1. Open the Compact Material Editor in 3ds Max 1. Hit M and in the menu bar navigate to Modes --> Compact Material Editor
  2. Click one of the empty/default materials, give it a name and next to the name field click Physical Material and select BSBlinnLayeredMaterial
    3. Material Editor in 3ds Max
  3. Scroll to the bottom of the material where it says Please choose a .mat file by clicking on ... button and click on ...
  4. Navigate to your material in the Data folder of Starfield and click Open
    5. .mat Path in 3ds Max
  5. Now drag the material from the Material Editor onto your visible mesh. It may be easier to hide the collisions during this step
    6. Applying the Material in 3ds Max
  6. This will tell the exporter to tell write to the exported FBX where the .mat file is located

Building Collisions

  1. Now we need to add some Havok data to our visible mesh and its collisions
  2. Select the visible model and collision then Havok Content Tools --> Physics --> Create Rigid Body with Proxy(s)
  3. Ensure the scaling and origin for the visible model are correct
  4. Ensure there's a Rigid Body modifier on the visible model and a Havok Shape on the collision
  5. Reset XForms for both the visible model and collision
  6. The modifiers should look like this:
    7. Modifier on Visible Mesh
    Modifier on Collision Mesh

Collision Material

Lastly we need to apply the collision material to the collisions. This will tell the game what bullet holes will look like, and how it sounds when impacted.

  1. First we'll need to reconfigure the Utilities to show Collision Groups
    1. Set Total Buttons to 9 (or if its not 8 already, just add one)
    2. Click Utilities and Edit button sets
      3. Configuring ButtonSets
    3. Under BGS Utility drag Collision Group to the empty utility, name the new set something specific and click Save then click OK
      4. Adding the CollisionGroup
    4. Open the Collision Group utility
    5. Select your collision mesh you wish to apply the material to and set the material under Default Material and the Object Type
      6. Collision Group Settings
  2. Click Apply To Selected
    3. View of the Mesh/Collision in CreationKit
 Date: July 20, 2024
 Tags:  starfield mods tutorials
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