[SOLVED] Minimum MDL file

Hi I am trying to write MDL from python. And I started using bits and pieces from the Urho3d Blender exporter.
I am following the docs: urho3d.github.io/documentation/H … rmats.html
So far I have something like this:

byte[4] Identifier "UMDL"
uint Number of vertex buffers

For each vertex buffer:
uint Vertex count
byte[] Vertex data (vertex count * vertex size)

uint Number of index buffers
For each index buffer:
uint Index count
byte[] Index data (index count * index size)

But the Editor just crashes when I write only this data. What is the absolute mandatory information needed for an MDL to work properly ?
Thanks in advance,

Alex

You cannot leave anything out from the “per-vertex buffer” or “per-index buffer” data blocks. Also you need to specify at least 1 geometry if you want anything to render. The rest of the file, including the bounding box, needs to be properly written too, but you can specify 0 bones and 0 morphs. I recommend looking at Model::Save() from Model.cpp as the primary reference.

Thank you very much. Is there any existing tool that can convert existing MDL format to ASCII ? It would be a lot easier for debugging .

None that I know of. I’d recommend either looking at a .mdl file with hex editor, looking into a model in debugger at runtime (may not yield all the data you need), or inserting debug log prints into Urho as it loads a model.

Thanks guys, seems to work.