Using the N3PMesh converter

Knight Online uses an internal file format called “N3PMesh” to store a lot of the game’s item meshes along with other various game meshes. A lot of these files are located in the “Item” folder found within the game’s install directory. You can think of every object in the game has having its own 3D mesh. In order for a object to appear in game we need to first know all the vertex information in order to draw the object using a 3D rendering library (in KO’s case it would be the DirectX library). A lot of the details aren’t necessarily important for this article but sometimes players would like to modify the 3D meshes in order to change how the objects look in game. I’m going to show you how to do this using the N3PMeshConverter.

Using the converter it is possible to convert .n3pmesh files into .obj files (allowing you to modify the appearance of the game’s weapons) and it can convert .obj files (along with other various formats) into .n3pmesh files. All this allows for you to export objects from the game, modify those objects, and import the modified objects back into the game.

In order to export an object you first must convert the .dxt item texture to a .bmp/.png image file using the N3TexViewer. Next run the following command using the command prompt (Windows Start Menu -> Search Bar -> Type “cmd” -> Press Enter).

N3PMeshConverter -export obj 1_6011_00_0.n3pmesh item_co_bow.bmp

This command will convert the .n3pmesh for the basic bow into a .obj file. Using the .obj and image file you can easily load the KO mesh into a 3D mesh editor like Blender.

In order to import the .obj file back into KO’s .n3pmesh format (presumably after you have made your modifications) use the following command (again via the command prompt).

N3PMeshConverter -import 1_6011_00_0.obj

Simply paste the new .n3pmesh into the KO content folder and the newly modified weapons mesh will appear in game!

Getting setup with the OpenKO project

I recently made a video on how to get setup with the OpenKO source code and another video explaining the basic structure and history of the codebase. Feel free to take the time and get the code running! If you have any questions feel free to send me an email (info@stephenmeier.net).

This second video explains a little about where the source code originates from and what major changes have taken place since I first started working on everything.

Kodev – Updating the UIQuestMenu

I recently made a video explaining how the quest menu GUI works for the game Knight Online. This is the first part in a two part series where we look at why these GUI components work the way they do and how we can use the GUI editor to help us to implement functionality for later versions. Part two for this series has already been recorded I just need to upload it! I hope to do that in the next week or so. If you have any questions or would like to suggest future topics for videos please email me at “info@stephenmeier.net”. Thanks!

EDIT: I was recently able to upload part 2! In the future I will try not to make the videos so long because they quickly become hard to upload.