Elex Mesh Tools

Elex Mesh Tools - 1. 2

A bundle of python scripts used to convert Elex 1 Skinned Mesh files (.elexskn) to obj format and then back again to be used in game.

:: FEATURES ::

• Full Wavefront OBJ compliance including vertices, faces, normals, vertex textures (UV data) and materials

• Capable of handling increasing and decreasing vertex counts and face counts

• Includes 3 Blender 4.x add-ons and 2 direct conversion scripts

:: GENERAL ::

• These scripts are purpose built to handle specific conversion and modding workflows.  Please follow the specific steps below before experimenting with other workflows.

:: RECOMMENDED  ::

- Intel DDS plugin for Photoshop

:: KNOWN ISSUES ::

• I have not reverse engineered the elexskn bone/armature format yet.  Any Skinned Meshes converted to Blender will only contain blend indices and weights stored in vertex groups, but no accompanying bone definitions.  This is why a reference elexskn file is needed to repopulate the bone definitions in the newly modified elexskn file before adding back to Elex.

:: INSTRUCTIONS ::

Getting started

1) Extract the zip file in a folder

2) Launch Blender 4.x and open the add-ons mmenu

3) Drag and drop the Blender add-on tw_elex_blender_tools.zip into the window, finish installing the add-on

4) Use elexresman.exe to extract any desired .elexskn file from the SkinnedMesh folder inside an Elex 1 pak file

5) Place the .elexskn file in the extracted folder from step 1.

Converting to OBJ

1) Drag and drop the .elexskn file onto the python script "elexskn_to_obj.py"

a) A new OBJ file should be created with an accompanying sidecar CSV file that contains all of the non-OBJ spec data (blend indices and weights)

2) In Blender, utilize the new custom OBJ import add-on under the File->Import menu "OBJ with Blend Data (.obj)"

3) Select the newly created OBJ file from step 1a.

a) Blender will import the Mesh along with the original (custom) Elex Normal vectors.  These will look strange in Blender due to the difference in Genome and Blender (one is left handed and one is right handed).

b) Usually, it is best to reset the custom normal vectors by switching to Edit mode and using Mesh->Normals->Reset Vectors

4) Switch to Object Mode and select Object->Shade Smooth

5) Add any desired Materials to the Mesh (the slots and names should be pre-populated, just need to be linked)

Note: You will need the original .elexskn file later when converting back, so keep it in the folder.

Edit the Mesh

1) Move vertices and faces around as desired and then save the project in the .blend file format.

2) If you want to add additional vertices or faces to increase resolution, you need to ensure that any new faces do not inadvertently create quad faces.  Genome only supports tri faces, so you need to select any quads and right-click and select Triangulate Faces.

a) Switch back to Object Mode, then Utilize the new custom OBJ export add-on under the File->Export menu "Export OBJ + Normals/Tangents/Blend Data"

b) Choose a new name for the obj file (that will eventually effect the elexskn file name).  Due to a bug in the Genome mod process, the names must be fairly long (more than 10 characters) to avoid strange issues when packing the pak file.

3) If you want to remove vertices or faces you must track the vertices that you are removing.

a) To do this, select all the vertices to delete at once, then use the custom add-on under the Mesh menu "Export Selected Verts to CSV".  The project must have been saved as a blend file at least once.  This add-on will save a "selected_verts.csv" file in the same folder as the blend file.  This delta file is needed during conversion as the original reference elexskn file has vertex reference data that needs to be cleaned-up when the new elexskn file is generated.

b) After using the add-on to store the selected vertices, click the "Del" key and then select "Vertices".

b) Switch back to Object Mode, then utilize the new custom OBJ export add-on under the File->Export menu "Export OBJ + Normals/Tangents/Blend Data"

c) Choose a ne