The modding pack has some special files for maya to insert kumquat materials, but I can show you how to bypass that later on by inserting XML data (Havok XML) straight into the exported 3d file.

They actually never released a file with a model bound to a skeleton, but I can make one up for you if you'd like. Otherwise, you can just use Physique or Skin in 3ds max to make your own.

For weapons and shields, you can use this method https://forums.elementalgame.com/399409 to create your own 3d files (you'll need to re-align them obviously).

Armour is trickier, because some parts of the armourpieces are bound to the default skeleton. I have no way to import a fully bound model from the game into 3ds max or maya. For the parts that aren't skinned you can use the same method as above, but for those that are skinned or should be skinned you'll need to bind them to the skeleton obviously.

In the game's XML those files look different in their implementation, ex skinned

ex un-skinned

DsRaider, skinning is also a "technical" term when working with 3d models. Each 3d model ("mesh") needs to be bound/skinned to a skeleton in order to be animated.

Omnimmotus I'm working on exporting a working skeleton to 3ds max at the moment.

Thank you, Heavenfall! I cannot express how grateful I am for your help, and for going out of your way to set that up for me. I'm not used to communities being so helpful and responsive, haha. I'll work with what you've given me as I have time, and if I run into any other questions or issues, I'll ask for your advice.

Thank you again, and keep up the great work on helping the community and developing Stormworld.

I'm shocked that there's any limit to people taking an interest, haha. Sometimes I think people don't realize the sheer amount of potential in Fallen Enchantress, as well as the Elemental series as a whole. It got off to a rough start, but could very well become one of the finest game series of all time.

You know, this may seem sad, but you know what the best way to grow the Fallen Enchantress armor and clothing modding community would be? Make a nude mode for the women and provide fairly simple tutorials on how to make your own armor and clothing to go with it. The modding community at the Oblivion, Fallout and Skyrim Nexuses will flock over to the Fallen Enchantress Nexus to make all different kinds of crazy (and adult-only) clothing and armor.

The percentage of mods on those three Nexuses that are adult-only, especially female clothing and armor, is shockingly high. Then again, if it's what they like and makes them enjoy the game more, not sure anyone can say it's "wrong" per se. At least they objectify the men as well as the women.  I support equal opportunity objectification.

Speaking of which, it might be nice to have the default Sovereign models (both male and female) with their actual ingame skin weights and skeleton as a modding resource. (If it's possible to extract those skin weights, or get them from the very kind art team at Stardock.)

While many/most pieces of armor don't need to fit the exact skin weights, (assuming they need skin weights on multiple bones at all) clothing and some other things would need to match the originals to not have gaps between parts. For example, if the hands and feet are changed to be flippers and have webbing (like mermen), they need to be able to attach to the rest of the body properly without gaps by having the same vertices and weights at the connection with the torso/legs as the original hands/feet.

By the way, if you imported anything to the game yet you probably already noticed that the texture is flipped 180 degrees vertically. If so, you've probably used <Texture_All> for the textures in the game's XML. The kumquat engine has like 15 materials with different properties though (I mentioned those above). They all have special characteristics such as where they inherit the background colour, or eyes opening and closing. The DLL is only for maya but I can show you how to insert the kumquat material classes into a Havok XML mesh when you feel like learning.

Since it's a shoulderpiece I would recommend not skinning it at all. That's by far the easiest. In that case, all you want to do is create it, then export it and tweak it until it looks positioned similarly to an existing shoulderpiece in the Havok Preview Tool.

Nice. Well, if you got the skeleton importing right you are halfway there.

Here's a file I used recently https://dl.dropbox.com/u/32649007/TR_MO_KamiGuard_idle.max

It should give you a good idea of the settings required in the exporter. The Transform scene and the Create Skeletons need to be altered, obviously. In particular the Transform Scene needs to have the right transform matrix found in the original file.

Omnimmotus I missed the part where you asked for a mesh. I'll post it here, but if you have maya can i send it using that instead? The conversion process is far from perfect to get it to max.Then you can convert it how you want it for max.

Well, there's Blender which is free. There's a tutorial in the information sticky how to import from blender to havok (non-animated meshes). Other than that, you'd be breaking new ground as every 3d program has its own little quirks, pros and cons.

Then there's maya 2010 and 3ds max 2010 which I use, and they cost what they cost.

Either way would work, or both. I have access to both Max and Maya. Having the Maya files might be best so I can try multiple routes to conversion, and always go back to the clean and functional source. If you've any idea what route might be best to take in converting between programs under these circumstances, I'd appreciate any advice.

The companies making software like 3DS Max make their software easier to acquire for students, as you're likely to stick with (and buy later versions) of the software you learn with.

Besides that, being employed at the right place can help, but that's obviously pretty limited in openings. Having friends who own the software can help as they may be willing to share it with you. Not sure about the legality of that, but it's fairly harmless so long as you are only using it for hobby purposes, or buy the software at a later date, probably a more recent version.

And then, of course, there's software piracy. My feelings on that are somewhat neutral: most of the people pirating it lack the money to buy it, are only going to be using it for non-profit hobby purposes, and may buy the product at a later date if they become more serious. But piracy is a topic we will avoid. If you want the software, buy it or acquire it through things like student promotions.

Also, as Heavenfall pointed out, Blender serves as a free alternative. I learned on 3DS Max, though, so it's the only program I really feel comfortable using.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/32649007/shadowfemale.mb

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/32649007/golembody2.mb