4 replies to this topic

[Anthus]

This has been a thing for a while now, and I'm finally giving it a try. Since I'm fairly certain no one else here cares has done this kind of thing, I'll keep this fairly short. Basically, you need a certain plugin for either PJ64, or 1964, which allows you to rip models, and textures that are currently loaded into the N64's memory in that given frame. This "scene" then must be opened with a program like Blender, or Milkshape3D (both of which have the file format plugins for the .wrl format). You'll need to manipulate the model slightly, as for some reason, the N64 stores models with mirrored X/Y axis, and sometimes generates junk material/ texture files. From these programs, you can export the model as pretty much any 3D format you want (.obj, and .3ds are the most common). You can select, or delete stuff you don't want, and isolate a certain enemy, or character model, or rip entire stages.

 

I haven't ripped anything note worthy, or anything that hasn't been seen before, but I will likely post some of the more complex stuff I plan to rip, if I ever do. Even though the steps sound easy, you still have to play through the levels, and loading zones to get everything. This will take quite some time for a game Like Rayman 2, and especially for either of the N64 Zeldas. I'm pretty much obsessed with 3D models, and I plan on ripping the entire maps from the N64 Zeldas. A few of them have been ripped already, but to my knowledge, no one has ripped all the maps, and put them in one package.

 

There's really no reason to do this other than boredom, and curiosity. Plus, I guess someone around here has to get an asset package ready for that 3DZC, you know, whenever.

[kurt91]

The thing that's always surprised me is that nobody's tried something like ripping a track from Mario Kart 64, and putting it in a Super Mario 64 hack as a secret stage or something. I mean, set it up where you grab a Shiny Shell and time the player in one lap around the track for a Star. Or make it an area to search for Red Coins. Hell, I'm pretty sure that Royal Raceway would work as an expanded hub area. One time, I thought I was taking a shortcut, and ended up near the castle. Use it as a larger "outside the castle" area and reward players who take the time to realize that it's been expanded with the two aforementioned Star ideas.

 

I'd try it myself, but I have absolutely no skill in working with 3D models, as much as I've tried. My college courses are eventually going to go into 3D modelling, so I might give it another shot sometime down the line.

[Shane]

There's this that I was pointed to. Does this help?

[Anthus]

The thing that's always surprised me is that nobody's tried something like ripping a track from Mario Kart 64, and putting it in a Super Mario 64 hack as a secret stage or something. I mean, set it up where you grab a Shiny Shell and time the player in one lap around the track for a Star. Or make it an area to search for Red Coins. Hell, I'm pretty sure that Royal Raceway would work as an expanded hub area. One time, I thought I was taking a shortcut, and ended up near the castle. Use it as a larger "outside the castle" area and reward players who take the time to realize that it's been expanded with the two aforementioned Star ideas.

 

I'd try it myself, but I have absolutely no skill in working with 3D models, as much as I've tried. My college courses are eventually going to go into 3D modelling, so I might give it another shot sometime down the line.

 

That is a neat idea, and I have two guesses as to why no one has done it. One, no one has thought of it yet, or two, the tracks in Mario Kart might be too big (both in area, and in poly count) to load all at once. With SM64, the entire level is loaded at once, unless there is an "inside" part (Like Tall Tall Mountain, or Shifting Sandland) then that is loaded separately. I suspect that the courses in MK64 use loading zones, and that the entire track is not all rendered at once, but I am actually not sure. Either way though, I'd like to take a shell through Bowser's Castle.

 

There's this that I was pointed to. Does this help?

 

Ah, yes, I love that site. I have already downloaded every model they have though for OoT.

 

I am thinking of submitting dungeon rips, and the missing overworld areas as I am personally more interested in 'levels' than characters at this time. It's funny though, that people have ripped so many characters, cause in my experience, characters and objects are trickier to isolate, and get the textures right.

[kurt91]

That is a neat idea, and I have two guesses as to why no one has done it. One, no one has thought of it yet, or two, the tracks in Mario Kart might be too big (both in area, and in poly count) to load all at once. With SM64, the entire level is loaded at once, unless there is an "inside" part (Like Tall Tall Mountain, or Shifting Sandland) then that is loaded separately. I suspect that the courses in MK64 use loading zones, and that the entire track is not all rendered at once, but I am actually not sure. Either way though, I'd like to take a shell through Bowser's Castle.

 

I'm not entirely sure of the details to it, but there's a patch that's commonly used for SM64 hacks that drastically increases the size of levels that can be made. If I recall correctly, the only drawback to it is that it's more difficult to add objects (moving things like those flipping checkerboard elevator platforms, for example) because they tend to glitch out. However, I only heard of that drawback way back when the patch first came out, so it may have been fixed. Either way, I don't think that a Mario Kart track has too many moving parts and it should be usable.

 

No, I think that a good part of the reason is that for a very long time, Mario Kart tracks were done in this weird format that took an insanely long time to crack. Much much longer than SM64 hacking has been around, and that's probably why there doesn't seem to be any custom MK64 tracks. Still, the format has been figured out, and you would think that it would be easier to rip the model once and use it in something easier than the other way around, so you would think that it would have been done by now.