FAQ

In this chapter I gathered all kind of questions regarding Dark Exporter usage and other questions related to Blender itself.

• I've installed the plugin, but sometimes I cannot see it in the File\Export menu.

Dark Exporter is working only in Object Mode. If you are in Edit Mode it won't show up in the menu. Just switch back to Object Mode.

• I don't understand the information printed in the console.

All details are given in the Blender Console chapter of the documentation.

• I get the following error message in the console: !!! Warning: No matching material for (material name) (E file) !!!. What does it mean?

This message says that Dark Exporter has found more materials in the E file than in Blender itself. It's possible because 3DS Exporter (a built-in converter used by the plugin to generate 3DS file) creates special material names which are different to Blender names. This situation is best visible when the material has a texture. You may come accross a situation in which your model has at least one polygon without UV mapping applied although the rest of the model is properly UV mapped. N3ds2e.exe generates two materials in E file for such a model. One is a proper UV mapped texture and the other is the material with an image applied but without UV mapping. In consequence Dark Exporter identifies unequal number of materials in E file and Blender. This is a user problem. You should examine your model for any problems with UV mapping and try to export again.

Note that although you may get this warning in the console, your model can look all right in Game Mode. That's because the improper UV mapping can refere to polygons which are hidden inside the model and will never be rendered in game.

Simply delete the unnecessary elements and it should solve the problem.

• I get the following error message in Blender Console:

Sliver triangle,0Cylinder.036:zero who built this?

killing sliver pgon 0Cylinder.036:zero!

but the BIN file is generated. What is it?

This error message is a warning rather then an error. It's generated by BSP.exe program due to triangulation problems. When you export your model, the 3DS file is created. The conversion process examines your model and performs triangulation - a procedure of turning polygons into triangles. Sometimes when the faces are not evenly distributed the triangulation algorithm can calculate very thin triangles. This shouldn't be a problems for most of the applications, but BSP.exe complains about it. You have to take a closer look at the topology of your model to get rid of this warning.

In Blender 2.63 a new mesh system has been introduced - a BMesh. It's a full support for N-sided polygons. It means you can now create n-sided faces instead of only triangles and quads. It's a new technology which incredibly simplyfies modeling process especially in architectural applications. Remember however that during export to 3DS format your beautifully looking n-gon has to be transformed into triangles. It's hard to estimate how the triangles will be calculated. Sometimes the resulting triangles can be too thin for the BSP.exe and that's why you get that warning.

The only solution is, as I mentioned before, look at the topology of the model and check if the polygons are evenly distributed. Avoid BMesh! It's a great thing indeed but not always works with BSP.exe.

• Why do I have to delete configuration file before upgrades?

It's necessary only if the new version introduces new option in configuration file.