[Tutorial] How to rip PS2 models v.2

[o0DemonBoy0o]

In this tutorial, I will explain how I rip PS2 models.

What you will need:

PCSX2 0.9.8
Texmod
3D editor of your choice.
(I will be using 3dsMax 2010. You can get the student version for free at the Autodesk website)
A PS2 game you wish to rip from. (I will be using Dark Cloud)
(Note that not all ps2 games render in the same way.
This will be covered at a later time.)

Before starting, make sure that you have PCSX2 running fine on your computer.
All the default settings are what I use. I can't grantee it will work if you change anything.
here are the plugins I have set just encase

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Next you want to make sure that you have Texmod extract to a folder somewhere on your computer and that your antivirus is not blocking you from using it.

Once that is sorted out lets get to ripping your model.

Once you open up Texmod you should be greeted with this

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Just click on the folder and locate your pcsx2-r4600.exe
After that click on the "Logging Mode" tab and you should have this

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You can change what button captures the texture, what format it saves as, and where it saves to.
Once you have everything set to how you want it click on run and PCSX2 should start up.

What I like to do first is rip the textures then the model, though it really does not matter what you decide to do first.

For ripping the textures, click on "Config" on PCSX2, scroll down to "Video (GS)" and select "Plugin Settings..."
Make sure that you have these settings

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Now just start your game and get to where the model you want to rip is.

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Now press * (This will allow you to only cycle through the textures currently on screen. very useful if there is a large amount of textures loaded.)
and press + or - to cycle through the textures until you find the ones your model is using.
you should get something like this

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Now just press whatever key you set to capture the texture (I used Enter) and it will save to where you set the output folder.
Repeat this for all the textures that your model uses.
Once that is done, go to you video plugin settings again and change
"Direct3D9 (Hardware)" to "Direct3D9 (Software)" like this

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Now go back to your game and hold Shift and press F8. This will save a screenshot as well as an object file of that scene in your pcsx2 folder called "snaps"
Alright now open up your 3d editor and import the obj file that PCSX2 gave you.
These are the setting I use for 3dsmax

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Alright notice how we have this

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Just zoom in a little here and we notice that we can see the wireframe of the model we want

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Just carefully delete all the stuff you don't want until you have what you are looking for.

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Now that you have that done you have to scale down the model from its y-axis.
while it looks fine from the front, you may notice from the top it's really stretched.

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How much you have scale it down can vary, so just keep going until you think it looks good

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Now rotate the model right side up and mirror it an everything should start looking better

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Alright, something that PCSX2 likes to do is rip the model twice.
What I do is select all meshes that start with f0_ and either move or delete them, although this isn't always the case.
Alright now what you have to do is scale the UVs. Why? because for whatever reason they are way too large.
Just appy an Unwrap UVW modifier and click edit. you will notice that not much is there.

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Just zoom out and you will see everything eventually

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Just start scaling them down untill you fit them whre they need to be, then flip them vertically.

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After that is done you can start applying the textures, combineing whatever two meshes use the same texture and whatnot.
Now we are going to fix the normals.
export the model you have as an obj and re-import it.
next use a vertex weld modifier on everything (set to 0.1) and then appy a 'Normal modifier" and select unify normals.
you should get this

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Now just apply the textures apply a "Smooth" modifier and you should now have something like this

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Now just fix up any problems with the UVs and you have your finished model.

Extras

Fixing Textures

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What you will need.
gimp
The texture you want to fix

When you rip the textures you may notice that them come out somewhat inverted, like this

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Just load up the texture in gimp
under "Colors' got to "Components" then "Channel Mixer..."
Change the red slider to 0 and the blue slider to 100
then under "Output channel" change it to "Blue"
then change the red slider to 100 and the blue slider to 0
press ok then save the texture

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now you are done.

About Backface Culling

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As you might know, not all games render 3d models in the way.
While some will render the entire model, others will use what's called backface culling.
What this means is that nay geometry that is not 'seen' will not be rendered.
Take the game Wild Arms 3 for example. when you rip the model it may look ok from the front, but most of the back is not rendered

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that is because the back part of the model was not "seen' by the ingame camera.
now if a game you are trying to rip from has backface culling then there isn't much you can do to fix it.
if you really wanted the model then you would have to capture the model from all sides then attempt to piece them together in your 3d editor.

Known games that use Backface Culling

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All Kingdom Hearts games
Wild Arms 3

if you know of a game that uses backface culling, let me know so that I may add it to the list.