Hey all, I've been working on a mod for a number of years on and off and I've recently come across some models from Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops that I'd like to use in Half-Life 2. I understand how to make skins but modelling is something I'm totally new to. I've downloaded blender and imported the .OBJ file that I want to put in Half-life 2 but I understand that this model probably isn't going to behave how I want it to. I probably need to make a 'skeleton' for it, right? So that it functions like, let's say, a citizen's model/ragdoll would. Not really looking to do custom animations, I'd just like to use the models even if they look crappy, my mod isn't super serious anyways. Is there an easy way for 'skeletonizing' a model and then exporting it for use in Half-life 2? I don't know if there's tools or resources out there that could make this process less painless but I don't know the first thing about modelling or blender, and I'm not sure how I'd go about making this model usable in half-life 2. I've installed blender and the source engine export tool, but my knowledge stops there. Does anyone have any thoughts or where to point me in the right direction? Any help is appreciated, thanks!
What I'd recommend is learning how to work with Blender. If you *did* know how to work with Blender, you're going to need to have the actual rig, which you can grab from the Source SDK, then you're gonna need to either weight paint or manually assign the bones to the vertices. There is however an easier way, but the results are really bad, for that, all you need to do is grab the rig, and then parent the model to the rig using "Automatic Weights". Again, the best possible thing to start with is to get familiar with how Blender works, there are plenty of tutorials out there you could follow and learn from, but I'm gonna throw in a tiny tutorial for the easiest option I mentioned. Step 1. Import "ragdoll.smd" or "male_06_reference.smd" from the Source SDK. Step 2. Delete the imported mesh while keeping the armature. Step 3. Select your mesh. Step 4. Shift+Click on the armature. Step 5. Press Ctrl+P and select "With Automatic Weights" under "Armature Deform". Step 6. Hope that it works. Then you just need to export the model (for help on that, check Blender Source Tools's documentation).
Hey that sounds great, I'll try that! Thank you! It may not be perfect but my mod is gonna be janky anyways so it might just work out!