This is an unofficial utility and is not supported in any way by Gray Matter Interactive or id Software. Please do not contact them with any questions about this script.
This is a gmax utility script for importing Return to Castle Wolfenstein MDC models. The MDC file format is an extended version of Quake 3's MD3 model file format used by Castle Wolfenstein. MDC models are used in Castle Wolfenstein for mapobjects, player heads, player accessories (eg. belts, hats, sunglasses), weapons, pickups and for scenery in the cutscenes. Check out the notes for more information on Wolfenstein's file formats.
Features include:If you want to have the script ready every time you use gmax, follow these steps:
rtcw-mdc.ms
into your gmax\scripts\startup
directory.c:\gmax
, then copy the
script into c:\gmax\scripts\startup
\scripts
directory is recommended.
To run the script manually, follow these steps:
rtcw-mdc.ms
) using the dialog.
If you've followed either of these methods you should now see the "RtCW MDC Import" rollout in the Utilities panel containing the importer's interface. You're ready to roll...
The interface of the importer should look something like the picture on the left.
The first thing to notice is the "Set Game Data Path" button. The game data path is where the importer
can find the game directory structure so it can load any textures it may need. The easiest way to create
this data structure is to unzip your PK3 files (which are just .ZIP files with a different
extension) found in yourReturn to Castle Wolfenstein\Main\
directory. Before you panic, I should point out that the data path is in fact optional!
You won't need to unzip gigabytes of PK3's in order to get the importer to work! Phew. You can just
unzip the models you are interested in together with their textures into one directory and the importer
will work off that without needing to look at the game data path. If you're going to look at lots of
models it might be better to organize them into their proper directories, though.
For convenience, users with plenty of disk space may prefer to unzip all the game models from
the PK3 /models/
directory. Some models may need the odd texture from the PK3 /textures/
directory, but I suggest extracting only the textures you need when necessary. The default game data path
is c:\program files\Return to Castle Wolfenstein\Main\Data
, so
you can extract what you need from the PK3 files into this directory and use that without having to keep setting
the game data path each time you run gmax.
Before I delve into the topic of tags, I'll mention the most important part - the "Import MDC..." button. Click this and you'll pop up a dialog where you can select the .MDC model you wish to import. Click "OK" and off you go. Models that contain a lot of animations will take some time, but you should see a progress bar ticking away in the gmax status bar to reassure you.
Tags (attachment points for other models) can be either be
/models/weapons2/v_knife_hand.mdc
. This
file contains nothing but tags, so you should see a group of 2 little triangles.v_knife_barrel.mdc
and v_knife.mdc
in any order.weapon.cfg
in the same directory
as the model files and you can see which frames correspond to the drop, attack, switch animations.
The final option is a simple one. If you're annoyed by the message telling you to locate a 'missing' texture (ie. one that the importer can't find because it's not in the current directory or game data path), just uncheck "Prompt for missing textures". Once this is unchecked the importer will keep quiet, and just import the geometry untextured.
That's all, I think -- have fun!
The MDC file format differs from MD3 in only a few places. Tags are stored using ZXY rotations instead of a full matrix, animations are delta compressed (base frames and delta frames) and tag names are in a separate list. You can find more detailed information about the MDC format on The MDC File site on Planet Wolfenstein.
The other major file format used by RtCW is MDS. This is used solely for player models and contains information used by the skeletal animation system. Instead of storing per frame vertex data, MDS stores keyframes for each bone that makes up the player model's skeleton. The animated skeleton is then used to smoothly deform a single base player mesh into the correct pose for each frame. .
Code by Chris Cookson
v1.1a animation and tag attachment tweaks by Hewster.
People I'd like to thank:
Copyright (c) Chris Cookson, 2001-2002