2Tie's Old Gen MH Model Importing - The1andonlyDarto/MHAssetInfo GitHub Wiki

Guide Credits

AsteriskAmpersand - Developing the original .fmod importer for Blender 2.79

2Tie - Editing Asterisk's .fmod plugin, Creating Animation and Hitbox importer plugins.

Disclaimer

This is a slightly different way to import models, using 2Tie's tools for Blender 2.79c.

If you're only interested in frontier models, and don't care about their animations, please stick to using this workflow.

If you are interested in using the animations for assets from the following games, please, continue reading:

  • Monster Hunter (ps2)
  • Monster Hunter G (ps2)
  • Monster Hunter Freedom (psp)
  • Monster Hunter Dos (ps2)
  • Monster Hunter Freedom (psp)
  • Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (psp)
  • Monster Hunter Frontier Z

Required Files

  • 2Tie's Addons - Blender plugins for 2.79c. Includes the following;
  1. Import-Export: MHF FMod Model Importer
  2. Animation: Outbreak/Monster Hunter animation importer
  3. Import-Export: Monster Hunter Hitboxes Importer
  • Blender 2.79c - [Official Download Page] 2.79c specifically due to the plugins used for importing the animations. On the official blender download page 2.79c is referred to as "blender-2.79-e045fe53f1b0".
  • Optional; 2Tie's mhmultitool - 2Tie's importer tools are intended to be used with these extraction tools, but they aren't entirely necessary. Details will be provided during the guide on how to emulate its output method.
  • Required for 2Tie's mhmultitool; .NET Core 3.1 - Codebase required for 2Tie's mhmultitool to run.

Getting Started

File Extraction

For this guide there are 2 separate ways to extract the files for these assets.

Method 1: ReFrontier

This method is described in detail HERE, so please refer to this prewritten guide, and return here once you're done.

Method 2: 2Tie's Extraction Tools.

  1. To begin, unzip the "mhmultitool.zip" that you downloaded, and navigate inside to here. The "em076-hd.pac" was manually placed after extraction, for demonstration purposes.

  1. From here, click on the "APX Viewer.exe", navigate to the file directory where your files are kept, and manually select which file type you want to access. For this test we'll be selecting the "PAC archive (*.pac)" option.

  1. Next, Select the file in your window and click "Open".

  1. Once the process is done, you should see a white window pop up with the file name in the top left corner of the window bar. From here, navigate to the "export" folder that was just produced in the "mhmultitool" folder. This folder is where all exports will end up using this tool.

  1. For the final step in this process, navigate the "export" directory until you locate the files you extracted using the tool. They should all be in one folder like so.

At this point, you're ready to begin using the blender importer plugins.

Importing into Blender

Blender Plugin Installation

In order for blender to be able to import .amo and .ahi files, as well as _tbl.bin animation files later, we'll need to install 2Tie's Addons.

Here's how you can install said plugins;

  1. Select "User Preferences" under the 'file' tab in your main Blender window.

  1. Once you are inside the User Preferences Window, navigate to the "Add-ons" tab and select the "Install Add-on from File".

  1. Select the 2tie blender addons.zip file you downloaded from google drive Download link here.

  1. Click on the checkbox next to the following plugins, "Animation: Outbreak/Monster Hunter animation importer", "Import-Export: MHF FMod Model Importer", and "Import-Export: Monster Hunter Hitboxes Importer". Once activated, Save your User Settings. After saving, close and re-open your Blender application, this way the plugin will activate as intended.

Blender Plugin Usage

Once you have the plugin installed you should be able to see 3 new options in your "Import" selection. We're going to go over those new options in the order they're used during the model importing process.

  1. Select "MH MOD (.amo), MH AMH (.amh) from the Import tab, and import an .amo/.amh file of your choice. For the sake of this guide I am using em076 (Tigrex) as an example. Ps2 games will use the .amh file format, and Frontier models will use the .amo format.

Note, -HD .amo files have issues importing the textures using currently 2Tie's file output method for textures, prefered method is still using ReFrontier's texture name order scheme, just rename the .fmod file extension to .amo and the .fskl file to .ahi, and drag/drop the texture files into the folder containing your .amo/.ahi files before performing this step.

If done successfully, you should see a model like the below image.

  1. (.amo import only, otherwise continue to step 3) Return to the Import tab, and import the .ahi file that was also in the same folder as the .amo model you importer earlier.

  1. Once imported, make sure to parent the meshes under the armature in the Outliner window (for .amo import), then select the Armature and change it to the "Edit" mode in the Model Viewing window.

Animation Importing

  1. From here, you have the option to select animations. It takes some work, but generally you can have up to 200 animation slots to choose from. 0-99 with the monster subtable unchecked, and 0-99 with the monster subtable checked. You can only load one animation at a time.

More research required, but it appears that the animations for the unchecked table are common animations shared between other monsters, while the monster subtale animations are unique to that monster in particular.

For ReFrontier Extraction Method Users

4.1 The animation file is always going to be this file right here in the root of a freshly extracted monster file, the "0003_.bin" here. Add a "_tbl" at the end of the name for the importer plugin to be able to select it.

  1. Once these animations are loaded in, exit your armature's "Edit" mode and they will be selectable in the Action editor tab of the Dope Sheet window. They'll have the same name as their table/subtable and numeric ID within that table.

Tip, when selecting different animations, sometimes there'll be cases where animation actions aren't cleared from anim to anim. (Like in the case of body locations being off center, or severed tails not moving back to their default spot). If this happens, open your armature in pose mode, press the "A" key on your keyboard, and navigate to the Pose tab. Once there, select "Clear Transforms" and then "All". Finally, move the keyframe in your Action Editor window, it should refresh your pose to what its supposed to be.

  1. Take your time looking through the different animations, and have fun!