Latest revision as of 05:43, 14 April 2011

Currently, the 3D Studio MAX plugin that generates ages for MOULagain is only available for Version 7 - and only as a binary, no source code.

Obtaining the plugin

To download the plugin binaries, click the link below:

• MOULaPlugins871.zip

FAQ

This section addresses common questions about the 3DS Max Plugin

Where can I get 3D Studio Max 7?

NOTICE: THE GUILD OF WRITERS DOES NOT TOLERATE PIRACY.  
POST ONLY LINKS TO LEGITIMATE SITES OR THEY WILL BE REMOVED!

It seemed that a 30-day trial version of version 7 was available in the book, "3ds max 7 Bible". However, the CD only contains a link to Autodesk's website, which gives you a trial version of 3DS Max 2010.

• Source: Metabasalt's post on MOUL forums

Currently, there is no way to obtain a legitimate non-trial copy of 3D Studio Max 7 or 8. It is possible, however, to find trial editions of both of these versions via the internet.

How do I test my ages?

Currently there is no means to upload your age into MOULagain.

However, you can convert your age to URU:CC format using Drizzle, then test your age in offline URU or Alcugs shards.

• Refer to the "Converting to Uru" section in Dustin's Quick Tutorial.

Is the plugin compatible with newer versions of 3DSMax?

For 3DSMax v8: Appears to work the same as in v7. All the resolved errors for v7 so far occur again in v8 and are resolved in the same way. Still no ADM.

For 3DSMax v9: Immediate crashout (something about "unsupported features")

For 3DSMax 2008/v10: It has not yet been tested.

For 3DSMax 2009/v11: No. You will get the following error:

Error code: 127 - The specified procedure could not be found. 

For 3DSMax 2010/v12: Tested in 3DS Max 2010, it has the same error code as 2009 version.

Troubleshooting

If you are experiencing problems with the plugin, check this section for solutions.

I get an error upon startup about DLLs

If you get the following error on startup:

Loading DLLs 
DLL <C:\3dsmax7\plugins\PlasmaMax.gup> failed to initialize. 
Error code: 126 - The specified module could not be found. 

It is looking for some of the .dlls that it needs. They should be in the main directory of where you installed MOULagain (binkw32.dll, Nx*.dll, OpenAL32.dll, PhysXLoader.dll and maybe others). Copy these .dll files to 3dsmax's main folder, selecting "no" if it asks you to overwrite the msvc* dlls.

I get an Application Error

If 3DS Max produces the following error message:

Application Error 
An Error has Occurred and the Application Will Now Close

There is a file in the \3dsmax\plugcfg called PlasmaMAX2.ini, which you must modify to look like this:

[Menu] 
Version=10 
[SceneViewer] 
Directory=C:\PlasmaTest\ 
[Export] 
X=0 
Y=30 
Dir= 

Replace the "Directory" field with the location of an actual directory on your C drive. This is just a stub, but the plugin won't function if this directory does not exist.

Also, set the "Dir" field to a directory where you want the generated MOULa files to be located. This output directory should also have a 'dat' folder.

I get an error when I click on Age Description Manger

If you access the Age Description Manager and get the following message:

Application Error 
An error occurred and the application will now close. 
Do you want to attempt to save a copy of the current scene?

As described by Chogon:

The Age Description Manager that is in the PlasmaMax.gup plugin 
is not going to be very useful to anyone outside of Cyan, even 
if it did work. It tries to communicate with an internal Cyan 
server to make sure that Ages created don't conflict with each other.

So, do not access the Age Description Manager. Instead, create your age file manually - see Dustin's Quick Tutorial.

I get an "unknown error" or plConvert error when exporting an Age with physics

Make sure you have PhysX installed. The installer "PhysX_Setup.exe" comes in Moul's main folder.

Tutorials

• Dustin's Quick Tutorial
• Dustin's 3dsmax Cookbook
• Andy's Great Tutorials
• TheMagician's Video Tutorials