First Custom Unit Issue(s)

[Idren]

Hey everybody,

I'm working on getting my first custom unit mesh into BF1, and I'm running into a few issues.  I've read several tutorials, and thought I'd give it a go.
This has been my process so far:
1. Import the stock imp_inf_shocktrooper.msh into XSI.
2. Delete the backpack object
3. Delete the 2 ammo packs on the hips.
4. Select the shoulder ammo pack w/the parent bone "ribcage".
5. Select the POLYGONS and move/rotate them around so as not to move the object's pivot point.
6. Duplicate the ammo pack 2 times and move the polys into place.
7. Delete the polys from the shadowvolume that were around the backpack.
8. Hide everything but the visible objects
9. Middle click the DummyRoot
10. Export the .msh to overwrite the old imp_inf_shocktrooper.msh

Then I munge/run SPTest, and it gets into the game fine (I did the above process with the lowres model as well), but in-game, the model keeps switching back and forth between hi-res and low-res.  I've checked around and know that this can be an issue when using too many polygons in your hi-res model, but if anything, the new model has LESS polys than the original because I removed the backpack.

Oh one more thing that might be causing the issue: I wanted to use a new texture (but I'm really bad with the XSI material editor functionality) so I duplicated the original TGA, renamed it from "imp_inf_stormtrooper.tga" to "imp_inf_stormtroope2.tga", edited with gimp, exported with RLE compression UNCHECKED, opened the .msh files in a text editor, and did find/replace on all the corresponding .tga files to match the new stormtroope2 one.

I'm attaching an image of the model/hierarchy in XSI (it's a minimal poly First Order trooper I'm working on for a map in that era.)

Am I doing something wrong? - I'm most wary about how I'm doing the .tga switching, as I'm not applying it to the mesh in XSI itself...

Thanks for the help!

[Giftheck]

How many polys is the unit?

Also how many units appear at once in the same area? If you're just using a blank map for testing then you will get those issues because the units on a blank map go straight for the opposite CP.

[Idren]

Poly Count - When I export in XSI using "ZE Tools" it says:
"Exported 4 materials and 56 models with 1947 verts and 649 faces in 0 seconds and 762000 microseconds"

I'm still pretty new to XSI, so I'm not sure where else to find a poly-count (I'm a 3ds max guy) - but 649 polys sounds about right just looking at it.  It's just the stock shock trooper without the backpack and with the 3 ammo packs moved around.

I am testing it on an empty map, so all the AI (16 vs. 16) are just running straight for each other.  There's only 1 AI shock trooper allowed in my LUA.  But it seems strange that it wasn't happening before (with just stock troop models) but now that I've made the shock trooper have fewer polys it's messing it up.

[Giftheck]

Poly Count - When I export in XSI using "ZE Tools" it says:
"Exported 4 materials and 56 models with 1947 verts and 649 faces in 0 seconds and 762000 microseconds"

I'm still pretty new to XSI, so I'm not sure where else to find a poly-count (I'm a 3ds max guy) - but 649 polys sounds about right just looking at it.  It's just the stock shock trooper without the backpack and with the 3 ammo packs moved around.

I am testing it on an empty map, so all the AI (16 vs. 16) are just running straight for each other.  There's only 1 AI shock trooper allowed in my LUA.  But it seems strange that it wasn't happening before (with just stock troop models) but now that I've made the shock trooper have fewer polys it's messing it up.

Did you use the same model for the low-res?

[Idren]

Did you use the same model for the low-res?

No, I made a new model using the stock low-res shock trooper as a starting point so I wouldn't have to re-envelope everything to the low-res skeleton.
(so I imported the stock low-res model, deleted the backpack polys, moved the ammo packs around, and exported)

[Giftheck]

I'm not sure what to say is causing this then.

[Idren]

Thanks anyways I'll keep working at it and post an update if I figure out what's going wrong.