ZG SWTOR Tools Installation and Status Panel - SWTOR-Slicers/WikiPedia GitHub Wiki

This Add-on is installed as any other Blender one. It needs us to set a Preference to make it aware of our SWTOR assets stash' location in our computer.

Add-on installation and Preferences settings.

This Add-on assumes a Blender 3.1 version or higher, preferably the latest version of 3.6 LTS (4.0 will work, with a caveat). Several of its tools ought to work in older versions of Blender, but compatibility might be spotty. Remember that we can have several versions of Blender installed at once without any trouble, as Blender keeps each version's preferences and add-ons isolated from each other.

The installation of the ZG SWTOR Tools Add-on in Blender is quite simple:

  1. Download the Add-on's "zg_swtors_tool.zip" file from this link. Don't unZip it: it's used as such .zip.

    (Downloading the "custom_swtor_shaders.blend.zip" file is no longer necessary. The Add-on has one inside already. Still, you can download it to tinker with it and select it in Preferences instead of using the internal one)

  2. In Blender, go to Edit menu > Preferences option > Add-ons tab > Install… button.

  3. Select the Add-on in the file dialog box and click on the Install Add-on button.

  4. The Add-on will appear in the Add-ons list with its checkbox un-ticked. Tick it to enable the Add-on.

  5. Twirl the arrow preceding the check-box to reveal some information and, most importantly, the Add-on's Preference settings. Filling those is crucial for some of the tools to work correctly. They are:

    Alt text

    • Path of a "resources" folder: some of the Add-on's features depend on looking for information and game assets inside a SWTOR assets extraction (typically produced by apps such as SWTOR Slicers or EasyMYP). In the case of a SWTOR Slicers extraction, the "resources" folder is inside the folder set as that app's Output Folder.

      Click on the folder icon to produce a file browser window where to locate the "resources" folder, or type or copy its path inside the folderpath field.

    • Path to a Custom Shaders .blend file (if any): only required by a couple of tools that allow us to replace the current .gr2 Add-on's modern SWTOR shaders with customizable ones held in one Blender file, meant for us to experiment with and improve upon.

      By default, a .blend file contained inside the Add-on will be used, but we can select an external file, too, by clicking on the file icon to produce a file browser window, or by typing or pasting its path inside the filepath field.

      If a external file (or no file at all) is selected, a button lets us easily revert to the internal one.

      Alt text

The Add-on's tools will appear in the 3D Viewport's Sidebar ('n' key), in the "ZG SWTOR" tab (plus as a few specific tools in the Shader Editor's Sidebar, too).

Alt text

Status Information Panel.

Alt text

As some of the tools rely on having certain resources at hand (set in either this Add-on's Preferences or in Blender itself), this panel shows if they effectively are set so:

  • .gr2 Addon: meaning Darth Atroxa's .gr2 Importer Add-on, which exists in two versions:

    • The current Modern version, which is compatible with both 32 and 64 bit versions of SWTOR and its assets, and whose SWTOR shaders provide with a novice-friendly interface for assigning textures and values.

    • The Legacy version (only compatible with SWTOR 32 bit), which this Add-on no longer supports directly: its usefulness was lately reduced to providing baking-friendly SWTOR shaders (that we've preserved: they are now available in the SWTOR Materials Tools subpanel) which were also easier to modify (the Customizable SWTOR Shaders are just as easy and add yet more features).

  • 'resources' Folder: this refers to the folder containing the game assets extracted from SWTOR via the Slicers GUI app (it typically is inside the folder designated as Output Folder in that app) or the old EasyMYP.

    Notice that we can have several 'resources' folders and switch between them at will. There are reasons why we would want that: Broadsword is doing some "renovating" in the game, replacing objects and materials, such as the giant statues on Korriban, without keeping the original ones. We could want to preserve them and keep them at hand (once imported into a Blender project, Blender will keep track of what came from where, which lets us keep on switching 'resources' folders at will).

  • Custom Shaders: it refers to the .blend file holding the Customizable versions of the current modern SWTOR shaders that is included inside the Add-on (but can also be an external file). Normally, this file will be selected by default, satisfying the requirement.

When lacking any of the resources, the panel will say so. We can use the Add-on's Preferences button to go directly to this Add-on's preferences to correct the situation. Not all tools require those resources: any specific tool that needs any of those resources will color itself red when they aren't present. Hover the cursor over them to produce helping tooltips showing what their needs are.

Alt text