Rayne and I have finally figured out an alternate ase export tool to use instead of the ActorX plugin. It is the AseExport plugin. Rayne previously mentioned this plugin to me but neither of us could get it to work. The plugin manager just refused to load the plugin. After studying the code of the plugin (I have a programming background) I found what the issue was for me (and probably is for most other people having trouble loading this plugin). It was a missing runtime dll.

If you're having issues loading the plugin, this might fix it:

1.) First, Make sure Maya isn't running. Download, unRAR, and install the plugin (run the executable that corresponds to your version of Maya). If you have already installed it before, you might uninstall and reinstall it to make sure you have a fresh start. The files are available fromhighend3d.com If you don't have a RAR achive program, you can download WinRAR from rarlabs.com

2.) Next, make sure you have all the proper dll files. Here's a list of the required dlls and the directories to put them in. The ones you might be missing are provided by http://www.dll-files.com and will have to be unzipped before you can use them. Make sure these files exist in their appropriate directories before continuing.

- MSVCP71.dll (Windows\system32) (Thank you, Rayne)
- MSVCP71D.dll (Windows\system32)
- MSVCR71.dll (Windows\system32)
- MSVCR71D.dll (Windows\system32) (Thank you, Rayne)
- OpenMaya.dll (MayaX.X\bin) (You SHOULD have this one if MAYA installed correctly. If not, you might have to reinstall it or try to find that DLL on this disc.)
- kernel32.dll (Windows\system32) (You have this one for sure. It is the memory managment dll file for Windows. If you didn't have this, your system would be hosed.)

3.) Now you should be able to run Maya, go to Window>Settings/Preferences>Plug-in Manager and check to load and/or auto-load aseExport.mll without any problems.

Now that the exporter is loaded you have a new file type in your export window called ASEexport. This exporter has more features and has options for Force Triangulate, Double Sided, Facet Groups, Materials, Smoothing Groups, Normals, VertexNormals, and Match Unreal Editor. Make sure you assign a material to your object and check the Materials checkbox before you export, otherwise it will not write the lines that specify the material and bitmap. That means you would have to have the code memorized to specify the material and bitmap if you wanted to change it. I've already tested it out and it works great for me. I exported from Maya and imported to Doom 3 with no issues at all. The only downside I found so far is the lack of formatting when you open up the resulting ase file for editing with a text editor- it's a total mess. Other than that, it's great. Definitely worth a try!

Screenshot -

Hi Tabre, I'm really glad you did it! But here the problem stills remain.

As I said, when I click on the ASEexport checkbox in the plugin manager it simply won't stay checked.

In the past it gave me an error, basically saying that msvcp71d.dll was missing... So I downloaded and placed in windows\system32 .. But the error still persists.

I really don't know what to think. Do you have any idea? Maybe some libraries I haven't installed...

Rayne wrote:

Hi Tabre...

You got a error saying it was missing the DLL file? Wow...it could be a completely different issue then because I didn't get an error like that. It just said "Error: Operation completed successfully." in the output box.

Anyways...let me see what else I can find. I bet you're still missing a library. Have you looked at the .mll file? Here's a list of DLLs that the .mll references.

OpenMaya.dll (MayaX.X\bin) (You SHOULD have this one if MAYA installed correctly. If not, you might have to reinstall it or try to find that DLL on this disc.)
MSVCP71D.dll (Windows\system32) (You said you had this one.)
MSVCR71.dll (Windows\system32) (Do you have it?)
kernel32.dll (Windows\system32) (You have this one for sure)

Sorry since English isn't my first language...I'll try to be more precise about the whole situation... :wink:

1) The dll error is popped up only 2 times, some weeks ago (I gone crazy and started to click repeatly on the aseexport checkbox) but never showed up again. Even now I can't reproduce that situation.

2) the error that Maya shows up when I click on the checkbox, is something like "error: operation completed" . Also, in the script editor a line says " unable to dinamically load "/blablabla/Maya7.0/bin/plug-ins/aseExport.mll"

Sounds like another library problem

EDIT: ok, I'm going to check dll's files you posted above

EDIT2: still nothing to do... I've got every file you mentioned.. I'm really lost right now.

Wow. I'm all out of ideas at this point. Are you using the latest version of the plug-in?

I thought I made a big break-through but I guess not

Oh well. Sorry, Rayne.

Oh thank you man, your help is really appreciated :wink:

Even if it doesn't works for me, this thread could be helpful to someone more lucky than me!

I'm sad since I have to continue using ActorX crap plugin... We'll see.

THANK YOU!!!!! Now someone made a ASE plugin for Maya 6.5 to 7.0 that is not from EPIC games. I sujest having this post as a sticky. Do you mind if I also host your file on my alternitive site just incase that site does not host it anymore?

ajm113 wrote:

I sujest having this post as a sticky.

I added it to the tools sticky in the modelling&animation section:
http://www.doom3world.org/phpbb2/viewto ... 706#107706

ajm113 wrote:

THANK YOU!!!!! Now someone made a ASE plugin for Maya 6.5 to 7.0 that is not from EPIC games. I sujest having this post as a sticky. Do you mind if I also host your file on my alternitive site just incase that site does not host it anymore?

Hey I hope you didn't think that I'm the one who made the plugin. I did not make the plugin. This brief guide is intended to help those people who are having difficulties using the plugin. I apologize if I gave you the impression that I am the author of the plugin. If you want to distribute the file further, you might check out the site http://www.atomlabs.org/asdn The author's name is Atom Lew and his email is atom.lew@asdn.net.cn

Let us know if you are able to get it hosted.

That's it! I managed to let it work! Has Tabre pointed out, the aseExporter can give problems if you miss some dll files... I just downloaded from http://www.dll-files.com/ the following .dll files:

msvcp71.dll
msvcp71d.dll

msvcr71.dll
msvcr71d.dll

and place it in windows\system32

and the plugin should work.

Thanks again Tabre for your help!

Rayne wrote:

That's it! I managed to let it work...

Good work Rayne! I'm going to add this to the main post. I'm glad you got it working.