(Another) Zelda Ripping Project!

[JamesO2]

Not sure if I replied to this already, but thanks! 2023 and I'm back at it. Funny enough I'm actually chatting with Melty now. I just made a pr for his Model view tool to improve some camera controls. I'm might look into adding support for the scene files, not just the actors. 

It looks like all the other tools have gotten some updates since. Do you know which one is most feature complete at this point?

I haven't checked in a few months, but to my knowledge, none of the tools available are really "most feature complete." Each tool does one or two things better than the other tools, and there really isn't a one-stop-shop quite yet. I'll quote an older post where I made an assessment:

(UPDATED: 2023-03-30)

It sucks that all of these tools each seem to be missing 1 or 2 vital components to make a single wholly functional tool. And they're all missing different parts of the puzzle.

Blender 2.79 CMB Importer: github.com/MeltyPlayer/OoT3D-Importer

• Imports perfectly.
  
• Preserves UVs, Vertex Colors, vertex alphas, bones, materials, everything.
  
• Only works in a very specific older version of Blender 2.79.
  
• Extracted texture files don't have ".png" extensions, which is a slight annoyance to work with.
  
• EDIT: PNG issue above is only with an older version by MLG. Most recent version is by MeltyPlayer - make sure to use that version!
  
• You have to manually separate the CMB from a ZSI file. Which is tedious. (sort of solved, see below)
  
• It can't read compressed CMB/ZSI files. (sort of solved, see below)
  
• There's no simple tool to just decompress a ZSI file.
  

JamesO2's ZSI Scene Decompressor: github.com/JamesO2x/Py-MM3D-LZSS-decompressor-to-CMB

• I've created a tool that can decompress and extract ZSI files.
  
• Works as of (2022-11-04) using Python 3.
  
• Bulk converts ZSI scene files to CMB format, and also removes LZSS compression.
  
• Works on "scene" files, probably doesn't work with "actors" (not tested)
  
• Tested with MM3D and OoT3D
  
• Does not convert models to FBX or other standard format, only to grezzo's CMB format.
  
• So this Python script combined with the Blender 2.79 CMB Importer is now currently the best option for scene ripping.
  

Fin Model Utility: github.com/MeltyPlayer/FinModelUtility

• Basically automates everything (extract RomFS, rip models, auto-converts them to FBX and GLTF)
  
• Works with OoT3D, but I can't get it to work with MM3D at all.
  
• Now works with MM3D
  
• It seems to only convert the "actors" and completely ignore the "scenes" folder. So its only currently good for characters, not environments.
  
• It automatically exports all the "actor" files into both an FBX and GLTF format. The FBX includes all animations too!
  
• Can export models individually, or in bulk.
  

CMB Viewer (not recommended)

• Simple to use, quickly load of ZSI files with one-click.
  
• But the Collada export messes up the UVs badly, and doesn't apply bones correctly.
  
• No options for other exports, or even just to extract CMB from ZSI files.
  
• No batch/bulk converting process, so converting to Collada is tedious.
  
• Blender's Collada importer is also pretty broken anyway, and doesn't import Vertex Alpha data properly.
  
• This tool is no longer recommended.
  
• Other tools work better now. But if you want a simple, quick, and dirty model rip (that lacks accuracy) then this is an OK tool.
  

Which is why I sorta just bodged together my own solution using a combination of tools and my own scripts. Specifically, I used:

• My own Python script to bulk decompress the ZSI files into a CMB format: https:/github.com/JamesO2x/Py-MM3D-LZSS-decompressor-to-CMB
  
• The MeltyPlayer blender 2.79 importer: https://github.com/MeltyPlayer/OoT3D-Importer
  
• My own AHK script to bulk import CMB files using the above (because I could not figure out a way to automate this with Blender's python, likely due to how the addon was coded) and save them as 2.79 Blend files.
  
• Appending the 2.79 Blend files into Blender 3.1, to take advantage of the newer tools and material features.
  
• Export to whatever game engine/format you need.
  

In summation:

• Fin Model Utility rips all the characters and their animations. But nothing else.
  
• My hacky solution above rips all the scenes. Might work on other ZSI files, but not tested.
  

It seems like the Fin Model Utility is the only tool getting regular updates now. Eventually, I imagine it will be able to do everything. Talk to MeltyPlayer about that.

That's the current state of things.