Istaria's Modeling Program?

[Racktor]

I've been scouring the internet for how people edit .GR2 files and apparently there are ways to import/export them from Blender but I've never figured it out.

I remember Solitaire saying "Istaria uses a really expensive program" for its models, but the name was never mentioned. Does anyone know what it even is? I'm more curious than anything. And also if someone did manage to edit Istaria's .gr2 files, is it as accepted as texture mods to be used ingame?

Just wondering before I research more on the Blender option

[Solitaire]

Maya for modeling. Granny by RAD Game Tools for exporting the .gr2 files. And it needs to be an older version to match the version of Granny the client is running. I have no clue how you would export them from Blender because I've only seen plug-ins for Maya and Max. And I don't think there is any way to import them into Blender. Can't do that in Maya that I know of.

.gr2 files do not carry texture information. When you export a model out of Maya, the skeleton is exported as one file, the mesh as another and animations are their own group of files. The only texture related information that is exported is the UV mapping inside the mesh file. Textures are applied to monsters in one way (by a .def file) and characters are done in a more complex manner which is the server sending to the client what textures to use on a character and the client assembles them all together in layers. It is a multiple step process and every time I needed to work with it I had to train myself all over again what was going on.

[Racktor]

Sounds lovely..

This is one of the blender things I was talking about: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=495207

Anyway I realised the whole texture/skeleton/model separation when I was viewing files with the old Granny viewer to check out some animations, though that doesn't make it much less complex. Thanks for the reply though, Solitaire. ^^ I appreciate it. Seems if I were to ever somehow manage to edit the models, I'd probably get into way over my head... I'll stick with textures. xD