[NOT AN ISSUE] FOR MODDERS

[Methuselas]

First off, hats off to Alariq for getting this great game to run on newer systems! (Glad to know you're okay!)

For those wanting to mod. I've already done tests and yes, it's possible. You don't need to use the paks that come with the Win build. If you want to start modding the way we did 20 years ago, just download Alariq's srcdata-master. Delete the pak files in the data directory (they're actually not needed - MC2 will read all the stuff without them) and copy the following directories, in their entirety, from the srcdata-master to the data folder:

art
cameras
effects
missions
multiplayer
objects
terrain
textures
tgl

If you do this, you can hand-edit the csv files for mechs and vehicles, modify the ase files for mechs and vehicles, if you want to update the models, animations or make new mechs for the game. Use Max for best results. Maya can IMPORT (not export) ASE, but that's it. Don't increase the tgas beyond 128px, it will crash MC2 (they actually look gorgeous.) Also, since we don't have an editor, nor a way to hook IN new Mechs, don't bother making mechs that didn't come with vanilla MC2. You can create variants of all the mechs currently in the game. I did test one of my old vanilla missions from way back in the day and I was surprised, but it worked, so if you've got the original disc, you can use that editor, until someone gets one built.

Thanks again, Alariq. This is, by far, my favorite BT game. If anyone can get the video working and can code it for mp4 or something, let me know and I'll convert all the original Mechwarrior videos and Carver V campaign videos from Bik to a new format. If anyone can get FBX working, let me know and I'll start converting the BattleTech game mechs over to MC2.

Cheers!

[Methuselas]

Here are all the Mech animations in FBX format. Micro$oft used Max 3.0 when they created these, but I only have 5, so I created a virtual machine to install it and exported these as FBX 6.0. They're raw data rips, so you won't find any wonky animations, like you would get with using any of the newer versions of Max. Ensure that you keep FPS to 30, if you import these into another modeling application, so it won't break the ini files that come with each mech. (The gestures in the ini correlate to the animations and you'll have to manually change the start and end keyframe if you do. I have a list somewhere of what each gesture is, but I'll have to dig it up). Do not change the keyframes. Like I said, they're just rips of the original ASE files, converted to a more modern format, so MC2 is dependent on where they are in the timeline. If someone sets up MC2 to use FBX, I'll run these all through Trax Editor in Maya, to put all the anims to start at Keyframe 0. I simply did this, as I prefer animating in Maya, instead of Max.

https://mega.nz/file/FVdXWSYK#GZIeqVcMy3L1bryqzDTS_jXgLgjtu4cjfdRe72NL9NY

When the time comes, if anyone wants a proper walkthrough on how to create new Mechs using these animations, just holler and I'll write one up. It's not that hard. They're not using bones (which would be nice, but I never got the bones to not appear in game, except once and I forgot how to do it), but instead uses locators (I forget the Max names, but they're just dummy bones.)

[Methuselas]

Here are all the vanilla videos converted to mp4 format. Ripped directly from the original CD at the same resolution, with no AI enhancement. They're the same naming-scheme, so any stalwart programmer who wishes support mp4, should be able to use these plug and play.

https://mega.nz/file/UQs01JZS#RKxwNrlGO6syj-IYrt2IDhBbT4MuHcYHSljhGYRnLQs

Cheers, all! Let's get to modding!

[alariq]

I've downloaded videos but no commitments to add them in for now, due to obvious reasons