Updated: October 11th 2003

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create new skin files to bind geometry to skeletons

Requirements:
- You have already completed the tutorial on creating a mod with the Mod Wizard.
- 3DS Max 5

Load up 3dsmax and you will find a new menu named "Battlefield Tools", choose RFA Tools from the Battlefield Tools menu.

Choose Open .rfa from the File menu

Browse to the /mods/bf1942 folder. The "bf1942" folder has Battlefield's data files for a normal game.

Choose "animation.rfa" and press Open.

Select the file sherman_trackL_m1.skn and shermanTrackL.ske. From the Extract menu choose Selected.

Select the My_Mod folder in the Browse for Folder dialog and press OK.

In 3dsmax choose Skeleton and Skin from the Battlefield Tools menu

Press the Import (.ske) button under Skeleton Inport with IsWeapon unChecked, As Boxes checked and Bone Size set to 300%. Then browse to my_mod/archives/animations/ and select and open the file shermanTrackL.ske

Import Sherman_trackL_M1.sm from the game's standardmesh.rfa file
(extract the file from mods/bf1942/archives/standardmesh.rfa to mods/my_mod/)

Select all vertices in the tank tread mesh and scale on the X-Axis so that in game we can see a change.

Export the modified tank track to /my_mod/standardMesh/Sherman_TrackL_M1.sm

With the tank track selected, goto Modifiers->Animation Modifiers->Skin. Then press Add under Parameters and select bone0 through bone5.
Note: You will want to move the bones upwards to move the tank tread downwards in-game, do this movement prior to adding the .skn modifier.

With sub-object Envelope selected, select each bone from the list and adjust the envelope gizmo as needed. Vertices that turn red are ones that will be affected by that bone. You may also choose to paint weights instead. See paint weight options and button further down below Envelope Properties.

When your weights have been setup you will need to export the .skn file that stores these weights. In the Ske/Skn dialog choose export .skn with the tank tread selected. Save the file as /My_Mod/Animations/sherman_TrackL_M1.skn

In /my_mod/archives/ run PackRfa.exe and press the All button at the right side of the window.

Here is how it looks in game:
You can adjust the offset position of the tank tread by moving the skeleton bones inside 3dsmax prior to adding the skin modifier. Do so if you see wheels going through the tread itself.