Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Modding Blender .GR2 export - Cannot export empties / Unparent issue

Hello,

I have been using .fbx from Blender 4.2 to test bringing some of my models into BG3.

I have not been able to get LODs/FX proxies to work with FBX, so I started looking into the Norbyte dae/gr2 exporter. Unfortunately, I get the following error when trying to export a mesh parented to an empty (even with the sample data from the Weapon modding guide)

(objectname) has a parent Dummy_Attachment that will not export. Unparenting copy and preserving transform.

[img]https://media.discordapp.net/attach...470a01266380d32772&=&format=webp[/img]

Which to be fair DOES export a .GR2 as it states, but it lacks the empties to set the VFX positions. I've tried an older version of the LSlib (1.18.7), I've tried blender 3.6, same results. It can't be anything to do with my data since the same occurs with the sample data, or just a blank scene with a cube parented to an empty. As soon as the mesh is the child of an empty, the exporter complains about it; other common things like item name, xform etc seem irrelevant. But the empties need to be exported for the in-game vfx to work, and I need the extra bg3 metadata for the LODs to work. So kinda stuck.

Searching the discord only had one instance of this error from someone who had improperly unpacked the addon - that is not my issue.

So. Does anyone know how to make this work from Blender? I have seen videos of people using the armature setup for characters, but I'm specifically looking for the setup for non-rigged weapon. Thanks.

Is it possible it is related to how you're exporting it? I found this: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/glTF-Blender-IO/issues/193 . You might have seen it already, so sorry if it's not useful. Your sword looks cool!

Thanks - this is unrelated since I'm using a different exporter.

Ok, I made some progress. It seems you need to use the Armature for weapons, not just empties which have the problems described in OP.

However I cannot get my weapon model AND VFX proxies aligned at the same time. Either the weapon model is 90 degrees out, or the VFX proxies are. Same issue with a .GR2 file from vanilla BG3, so something about the Blender setup / export is wrong. Any ideas? I also tried creating empties for the VFX proxies but no luck there either.

There is an export warning about unassigned weights.



working VFX but wrong model orientation:



If I rotate the weapon model to be correct then VFX will be misaligned. Editing Armature rotation effects both.

I'm not very familiar with modding weapons, but when I import the model it lies straight on the y-axis and is not perpendicular to the z-axis. First I would click on the mesh of the weapon and then select the armature while holding down the CTRL key and then select CTRL+A > All Transforms to set the rotation of both the mesh and the armature from 90° on the x-axis to 0.

Edit:

I see you haven't installed Padmee's BG3 Tools for Blender, so I have no idea whether everything will be imported and exported correctly so that it is displayed correctly in BG3.

I could explain the full method for weapons and armors but i suck with explanations so you should go to the wiki or to the discord to get more info, also theres a cmty discord where you can find a basic guide to import a weapon so you can get the correct armature for your weapon,

https://discord.gg/bg3mods

From a glance it looks like that's just a collection of scripts for basic things; i don't have any need for that. As for matching the rotation; I've tried many combinations but I can't align both the weapon AND vfx correctly at the same time. If you can with blender .GR2 export then I can try again.


Ok, so I tried this, and after some initial issues I got the LSlib .gr2 export working with copy skeleton. and it imports into the editor, however it crashes upon save (converting the mesh). I'm going to try again with a different model and skeleton.

Ok, on a different mesh/skeleton it is now working. Huzzah! The other model that crashed on import was using two meshes since that was the only way I saw to separate materials) so I'll have to play around with it. But at least now I have a way to move forwards. Thanks!

Having said that it would be a lot more convenient to get the blender armature setup working without needing to use LSlib to copy the skeleton of an existing model, so if anyone figures that out I'd be interested.

Ok, I think I have the blender GR2 export version working now; turns out I just needed to use the X-Flip skeleton option to solve my model/VFX mismatch. Praise gilgamesh

So import .GR2 unpacked with LSlib, arrange your model to that skeletons pos, use Armature modifier (Relations tpye -> Armature, Parent Type, Armature). Also used vertex groups with the same name as the imported vanilla weapon's mesh name (WPN_HUM_Flameblade_A_2_Mesh in this case). For the second mesh I used one of the bones used for a LOD so will have to think about how best to go about that. Hopefully we're not limited to finding an existing skeleton that fits the modded weapon closest.