ZG SWTOR Tools Add on

WARNING: for Blender 4.x compatibility, this Add-on depends on installing the latest, 4-compatible version of the .gr2 Importer Add-on.

Game Update 7.6 broke its Character Assembler. We have a solution in Beta.

Depending on which resources folder is selected in the add-on's Preferences (extracted before or after Game Update 7.6), the tool gets the correct classic or modernized results. Check the release's description for details.

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The ZeroGravitas (ZG) SWTOR Tools Add-on provides with a miscellanea of tools to use on Star Wars: The Old Republic's game assets, including a game Area Assembler, Player Character and NPC Assembler, and a SWTOR Materials Processor. It grows in features as new ideas come up.

(Quality of code-wise, "this is not a place of honor": It Just (Kinda) Works™ 😓)

This Add-on relies on foundational efforts by fellow slicers, such as the .gr2 Importer Addon, which is invoked under the hood in places, and the ExtracTOR, Slicers GUI, and even ancient TorMYP/EasyMYP tools, which allow for extracting the game assets we play with in, to start with, plus game information exported by tools in Jedipedia.net and TORCommunity.com.

(WARNING: some of the images and information in this wiki might be slightly out of date, as the Add-on is in a state of constant upgrades and revisions)

Check the changelog at the bottom of this page for bug corrections and new features.

Table of contents:

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INSTALLATION AND STATUS PANEL

• Add-on installation and Preferences settings.
• Status Information Panel.
  • Requisite elements section.
  • .gr2 Importer Add-on section.
  • If Blender is set to a language different to English, set it to English for now.

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AREA TOOLS

• Area Assembler.
  • Requirements.
  • Importing options.
  • Options for reducing Blender's lag when importing MASSIVE Areas.
  • How to use the Area Assembler tool.
    • Locating Area IDs, and Downloading Area .json files.
    • Processing the area .json files.
    • Adding Terrain.
    • How Automatic Lighting Works.
    • General information about Object Types and Empties.
    • Known Limitations.
    • To Do.
• Enable/Disable Collections.
• Group Areas in SubCollections.
  • Options.

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CHARACTER TOOLS

• Character Assembler.
  • Requirements.
  • Features.
  • Limitations.
  • Importing options.
  • About multiple importings in a same Blender project.
• Item Names Prefixer.
  • Requirements.
• Merge Physics Bones' Vertex Groups.
  • Requirements.
  • Features.

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MATERIALS TOOLS

• Set Backface Culling On/Off.
  • Requirements.
• Process Named Materials.
  • Requirements.
  • Introduction.
  • Limitations.
  • Options.
• Customizable SWTOR Shaders tools.
  • Introduction.
  • Convert to Custom Shaders.
    • Requirements.
    • Options.
      • About the included custom shaders.
      • Custom Shader Extras.
      • Make them your own.
  • Apply values to multiple Custom Shaders.
  • Character's Skin Settings "control panel" Nodegroup.
    • Requirements.
      • In the 3D Viewer.
      • In the Shader Editor.
      • Other Node Tools in the Shader Editor.
        • Link Matching Inputs/Outputs.
        • Copy Matching Inputs/Outputs' values.
• Deduplicate Scene's Materials and Nodegroups.
• Set all .dds to Non-Color.
  • Requirements.

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OBJECTS TOOLS

• Interactions with the new .gr2 Importer Add-on.
  • The .gr2 Importer's new features.
  • How they affect the ZG SWTOR Object Tools.
• Quickscaler.
  • Requirements.
  • Features.
• Merge Double Vertices.
• Modifiers Tools.
  • Requirements.
• Set Objects' Custom Properties Manually.
  • Requirements.

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POSE AND SCULPT TOOLS

• Armatures In Scene's Pose/Rest Position.
  • Requirements.
• Clear Bones' Translations.
  • Requirements.
• Mask Selected Vertices From Sculpting.
  • Requirements.

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BAKING TOOLS

• Convert to Legacy Materials.
  • Requirements.
• Correct Twi'lek Head's UVs.
• Export Baked Textures.

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Changelog:

2024-07:

• Compatibility with Blender 4.0.x (depends on the .gr2 Importer Add-on's own compatibility).
• The Add-on interacts with the .gr2 Importer Add-on's new features, exposing some of them in the Status Panel. Several Objects Tools use them (see Object Tools page's prologue).
• Area Assembler:
  • Corrects a bug in its instancer code (responsible for duplicating already imported objects to speed up assembling): now more objects ought to land in their correct places instead of ending up floating around at random.
  • Terrains no longer show fissures thanks to an improved SWTOR Terrain Extractor. Please download it and regenerate your terrains with it.
  • NEW: It assembles 64-bit SpeedTrees now, filling a Tython or a Dromund Kaas with trees.
  • Makes sure whole imported areas are consistently placed relative to the scene's origin. In theory, merging partial Area Assemblies into a final scene wwith everything fitting correctly ought to be possible.
• Group Areas in Subcollections: works far better and easier now.
• Character Assembler (in combination with improvements in the .gr2 Importer Add-on):
  • Solves an issue with NPCs' skin areas showing armor material instead of skin.
  • NEW: it applies DirectionMaps to hair and fur.
  • Corrects an issue with Twi'lek eyes' UVs that kept them from baking correctly.
  • NEW: it can separate the eyes into a different object, which some third party rigging systems prefer.
  • NEW: it can make each eye a separate object, adjusting their origins so that we can control them with both bones and conventional rotations at the same time.
• NEW: Merge Physics Bones' Vertex Groups: helps with Cloth Physics applications.
• NEW: Set Objects' Properties Manually: for management of .gr2 object properties (expected to be seldom used).
• NEW: Clear bone Translations: to solve imported animations and poses' distorted limbs.
• NEW: Correct Twi'lek eyes' UVs.: same as in the Character Assembler, but applicable to already imported models.