CivNexus6 3D

CivNexus6 3D graphics tool

CivNexus6 is a tool to import/export .fgx files for making custom Civilization 6 graphics. (In other words, this is Buddy 2 updated to work with Civilization 6.) Buddy 2

The Blender script also works with CivNexus6.

Function

What’s new in CivNexus 6 1.2

*The new import/export format .cn6 can be used instead of the old .nb2.br2 format. Old formats are still available via radio buttons. .cn6 is a development of the .br2 format with the following improvements to the Blender import/export script and CivNexus6 import/export:

• Supports up to 3 UV layers per mesh - glowing layers (night lights) for buildings etc.
• Supports up to 8 bone indexes and weights per vertex (up to 4 in Civilization 5).
• Support material import/export (name only).
• Each mesh supports multiple triangle groups, each mesh has its own material assignment for each mesh shared by various entities in Civilization 6. 5) Until now, Blender has been recalculating its own normals for each vertex instead of using custom files from .nb2 files. This explains why some meshes when imported into Blender don't look as smooth as the original .fgx does in the FGX viewer. Since Blender now supports custom normal import I can now import vertex normals correctly. Additionally, a virtual vertex group named VERTEX_KEYS is used to preserve the original normals, binormals and tangents as much as possible for exporting. If you want to force Blender to recalculate vertex normals, binormals and tangents, you can delete the VERTEX_KEYS vertex group of the mesh. I may add this enhancement to the old .nb2.br2 Addon script for Blender 2.7x when I have time.

*Materials are now assigned at the mesh triangle group level rather than the mesh level, which is the correct representation of the internal .fgx Granny structure. Use the Edit Mesh Material Binding tab to toggle assigning and renaming meshes. Use the Edit Materials tab to add or remove materials and rename materials.

*Importing/overwriting meshes now works with 3 mesh vertex formats:

• Bone rigging, 1 UV (layer): for units, leaders and any animations.
• No bone rigging, 2 UVs (layers): for static objects like unit weapons and shields.
• No bone binding, 3 UVs (layers): for improvements with self-illumination maps, etc.

• Fixed export of models using Indices instead of Indices16 (e.g. LEAD_AZTE_Montezuma.fgx)

Function:

NB2/CN6 export model and NA2 export animation to import 3D art from Civ 6 into Blender.cn6.nb2 export model and .na2 export animation, which can then be imported into Blender via Blender script.

BR2/CN6 Import and overlay custom models and meshes to bring Blender’s 3D art into Civilization 6

To use it, first export an assembly model from Blender via the .br2.cn6 script.

Note: I recommend exporting from Blender 2.7x, even if you are working in Blender 2.49, because Blender 2.7x exports normal and tangent vertices, which makes the mesh look smoother.

Then you have two options:

• Use "Open" to load the skeleton and mesh data from the .br2.cn6 file.
• Make a copy of the vanilla.fgx model you used for the base and open it using "Open". You can now use "Overlay" to overwrite the mesh data, using the mesh data from the .br2.cn6 file, leaving the skeleton unchanged.

After performing any of the above operations, the .fgx should be saved immediately using Save to ensure stability.

You can add, remove and rename materials, and reassign material bindings to the mesh. Only the name of the material matters - the rest is done by the .ast and .mtl files in the Asset Cooker-based Modbuddy project.

Generate XML metadata for Modbuddy" as .ast

"Create GeometrySet.xml" can be used to automatically generate <m_GeometrySet> entries in the .ast file for the .fgx model. Then all you need to do is concatenate your material names.

"Create Geometry/Animation (.geo.anm) File" will create a .geo if the current file is a model, or a .anm file if the current file is an animation.

Classes exported …