New Doors Tutorial

By: Sithspecter
First of all, making a door with animations is not for beginners. It requires a
proficient modeler and some .2da editing. If you need general tutorials on how to
model, check in the tutorial section.
Well, first of all, what you need:
GMax- You have to have GMax because the Nwmax for 3DS max does not
export animations.
Nwmax v 8.1
MDLOps v. 6.0 Alpha
KotOR tool
K-GFF
Alright, lets get down to business!

Step One: Create Your Door.

First, you will need to model your door. Keep in mind that you have to animate
every mesh, and this is tedious, so you need to keep the object count low (under
10) unless you want to spend hours doing this. Also, I discovered that its best
just to use planar mapping.
Here is the door that I am doing for this tutorial:

I have included the Gmax file for this in my .zip, with an imported door. You can
just delete my door, or follow this tutorial with it for experience. I have also
included a finished door full with animations. If you decide to use my door as a
start this is what it should look like when finished.

Step Two: Import KotOR Door.

Now you need to import a door from KotOR. Ive worked with only the Taris Door
02, but you can experiment around with others. Extract the .mdl, the .mdx, and
the .dwks. There are three .dwks, and youre going to need all of them.

Remember, you need to extract all three of these! It would be best to create a
new folder somewhere named door or something to put all of these in. These
are under BIFs/models.bif/Door Walkmesh.
Next, fire up MDLOps 6.1 Alpha. Make sure that the extract animations button IS
checked. Convert the door into a ASCII. Next, import the ASCII into Gmax with
Nwmax. Make sure you import Model+Animations!

Step 3: Set Up Animations.

Now, with the KotOR door fully imported into Gmax, you need to look at it. Drag
the animation bar across and watch. The door should open and close a number
of times. These are different umm animation stages that the game uses. I dont
know what theyre all for, but if you dont use them, your door is not going to
work. If you click on a main door piece, you will see that a lot of key frames are
highlighted.

On the Taris 02 door, the sequence for animations is:

frames 9&10=closed (include)
frame 14= closed/start opening
frame 16= partly open (include)
frame 15= start opening
frame 20= finish opening
frame 21= closed
frame 29= closed (include)
frame 30= open
frame 31= start closing
frame 34= include
frame 40= closed
frame 41= include
49-51= include
59= include
frame 60= open
frame 61= closed
69=include
70=include
74=include
frame 76=include
frame 80= finish opening
frame 81= closed
89=include
frame 90= open
frame 91= start opening
94=include
frame 100= finish opening/closed

101=include
109=include
frame 110= open
frame 111= closed
Warning!: If you import a different door, the sequence will very likely be different!
So dont blame me if you import another door using this tutorial and it doesnt
work. If you do import another door, just find out what the animation sequence is.
It shouldnt be too hard to follow.
When I say include, I mean just make sure that the frame is highlighted. You can
make the frame highlighted by simply moving the door up 1 cm, and then back
down 1 cm. Keep the imported door in your file for now so you can check and be
sure that your door is on the exact same time sequence. If its too hard to use the
imported door to check your animations, pull up GMax again and put it a little
lower so you can see the animation sequence.

After you do each part, youd probably better check it to be sure that the
sequence is exactly the same. If its not, it needs to be fixed, and I cannot stress
this enough. Just a reminder, you have to do every single mesh! Grouping or
linking doesnt work, believe me, I have tried it! Once all your animations are
finished AND checked, move on to the next step! Youre past the hard part!

Step Four: Get Your Model Ready For Export.

Now with your animations done, the grueling part is over. Save your model,
TWICE! Save each as a different filename, I have learned from bitter experience
that if you do something wrong with the ResetXForm, or such, you will lose all
your valuable animations!
Now, you have your door plus the imported door. You can delete the following
items: HubA166 and HubA168, but LEAVE the following: trans, lookathook,
DOR_LTS02, and ignore_Ngon01. These are necessary to your door working!

Delete whats in red, and keep whats in green. Ignore the rest, because that is
your door.
Next, select all the parts of your door, just the geometry, not the dummies, and hit
ResetXForm with Safe Pivots ON. After that, apply Aurora TriMesh. Select
everything, and hit fast linker. Then, click on your Aurora Base. Take the three
letters, LTS, and change them to something different. Do not change the whole
name! You have to name all of your .dkws with the same three letter prefix! Im
naming mine LSL, for Sleheyron. Now your model is ready to export. Hit the
Export Model+Anim. If you dont, then your door will not open.

Make sure that you click Export Model+Anim! And, leave Sanity Checks on!
When a message pops up about the anim root and the aurora base, click YES!

This message will pop up NINE times for different animations! Click yes every
time! This assigns all of the animations, so it is imperative! Save in a
DIFFERENT file name after you export, because changing after you have
already exported can cause complications
Now, pull up MDLOps v 6.0 Alpha. Find your model where you exported it to and
convert it to KotOR model format, .mdl and .mdx. Make sure that the file names
are the same as your aurora base! Im using DOR_LSL_02, your name should be
very similar. Next, find your .dwks, all three of them. They need to have the same
prefix as your door model, LSL, or whatever youre using.

These need to be named dor_(your three letter prefix)020, dor_(your three letter
prefix)021, and dor_(your three letter prefix)022. Now, drop all five (model files
and .dwks) into your override folder. Hang in there! Were almost done!

Step Five: Getting Your Door In Game.

Pull up the KotOR tool. Under the .2da section, there is a .2da named
genericdoors.2da. Open it.

Find line 20 labeled TarisDoor2. If youre using a different door as a template,

find it.

(If you just want to do a quick check to see what your door looks like, or replace
all the existing planet doors, just rename the model name from one of the
existing lines and go to or warp to that planet in-game.)
Copy and paste into a new line. The new line should be Row Labeled as 65.
Change the model name to your model name, and set the strref to -1. You can
name this row whatever you like. If you want a different sound, change the
number under soundapptype.
Save the .2da to your override.
Alright, lastly, you need to create your .utd. Open up the .utd from the door you
were using as a template. Change the fields to fit whatever you want and save it.
Next, open up the .utd with K-GFF. Change the line labeled Generic Type which
the number is 20 if your using the Taris 02 door, to 65 or whatever number you
labeled your line in the .2da. Now, save it.
Well, that should get your door to where you can put it in the game. Just put it in
your custom module, or replace existing doors in the game.
Well, hope you enjoyed it and found this tutorial useful.
If you have any problems, PM me at Lucas Forums.
~Sithspecter