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This topic has been pinned, so it's probably important

[Fatshark]LoPuS [developer] 13 Jun, 2018 @ 7:41am

BSI Model/Animation Exporters

Vermintide 2 Modding SDK has been updated with exporter plugins for Maya, 3dsMax and Motionbuilder to be able to export your own models and animations to the BSI model format. These exporters are located in the Vermintide 2 SDK\tools\bsi_exporters folder and is the first step on releasing the tools that we use to build Vermintide 2.

BSI stands for (Bitsquid Intermediate) format and it is the format we use internally at Fatshark to export models and animations to our version of the Stingray engine. Even though we technically support using the FBX format for model transfer we have chosen to go with our own format as it is a much more lightweight format in terms of features and complexity and we have full control of its implementation which allows us to improve on import and compile times and to expose features in the format as we want them to be exposed.

For now we have only delivered Exporters for the BSI format as our current Importer is not ready for release yet. The BSI format is however very simple, all data is stored in a simplified Json format and is fully human readable after export. Reverse engineering this format should be easy and we hope that our community will be able to create import & export plugins for other DCC tools that we do not intend to support. The Motionbuilder exporter specifically is a pure python exporter from which you should be able to see the source for how to write such an exporter yourselves.

As for the FBX support in the engine it should be fully functional but we take no responsibility for its maintenance as we ourselves do not use it in our workflows but in very few occasions.

The import of new models into the engine requires the creation of a .unit file next to your exported BSI that contains metadata explaining how these meshes should be rendered,
this contains options such as visibility options, shadow casting, culling, lods, material assignments, flow logic, animation logic, and accompanying script data.

More information on how to change our existing models and animations will be delivered with the Modding Source at which point the exporters will become more useful.

Last edited by [Fatshark]LoPuS; 13 Jun, 2018 @ 7:45am

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Showing 1-7 of 7 comments

#WeonQQ <<< neobir >>> 13 Jun, 2018 @ 11:23am

kesuga7

17 Aug, 2018 @ 12:53am

Is there any ETA on when the modding source and the map editor will be released?

This game would be (even more) ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ amazing if it had the the potential modability of left for dead 2 or at least near it [A major reason why people still play l4d2]

Persivan A. has Warhammer: Vermintide 2

20 Sep, 2018 @ 10:06am

but where can I find the models of the game in a normal format?

Zealous Praetoric Pariah has Warhammer: Vermintide 2

5 May, 2019 @ 5:26pm

Apparently only a handful of people have been able to export your models... they claim it is so complicated that they dont want to share it. Will we ever have a means to obtain the games models? Because what you have claimed has proved too difficult.

Flannel

17 Feb, 2020 @ 1:04pm

Originally posted by FatsharkLoPuS:
Vermintide 2 Modding SDK has been updated with exporter plugins for Maya, 3dsMax and Motionbuilder to be able to export your own models and animations to the BSI model format. These exporters are located in the Vermintide 2 SDK\tools\bsi_exporters folder and is the first step on releasing the tools that we use to build Vermintide 2.

BSI stands for (Bitsquid Intermediate) format and it is the format we use internally at Fatshark to export models and animations to our version of the Stingray engine. Even though we technically support using the FBX format for model transfer we have chosen to go with our own format as it is a much more lightweight format in terms of features and complexity and we have full control of its implementation which allows us to improve on import and compile times and to expose features in the format as we want them to be exposed.

For now we have only delivered Exporters for the BSI format as our current Importer is not ready for release yet. The BSI format is however very simple, all data is stored in a simplified Json format and is fully human readable after export. Reverse engineering this format should be easy and we hope that our community will be able to create import & export plugins for other DCC tools that we do not intend to support. The Motionbuilder exporter specifically is a pure python exporter from which you should be able to see the source for how to write such an exporter yourselves.

As for the FBX support in the engine it should be fully functional but we take no responsibility for its maintenance as we ourselves do not use it in our workflows but in very few occasions.

The import of new models into the engine requires the creation of a .unit file next to your exported BSI that contains metadata explaining how these meshes should be rendered,
this contains options such as visibility options, shadow casting, culling, lods, material assignments, flow logic, animation logic, and accompanying script data.

More information on how to change our existing models and animations will be delivered with the Modding Source at which point the exporters will become more useful.

Just checking back now in 2020 if there is any update on this.