User:Erythros

All info will pertain to Portal. The majority of the models or materials I have worked on were not created by me. I have merely decompiled and edited as needed.

Models

In my efforts to re-skin or re-model preexisting Portal models I have learned a few things.

Decompiling

I use Cannonfodder's MDL decompiler on all of the models I work with. I have had several models cause the decompiler to crash. Upon closer inspection I found that the error seems to be with how the decompiler handled the headers of some Portal MDL files. By comparing MDLs that successfully decompiled against ones that failed, using a text editor, I noticed that the first 4 characters where consistent throughout all the models, and the first 5 where consistent in the models that decompiled. My theory is that the decompiler expects the first five characters to be a set standard, and when they deviate it errors out. I tested this by opening one of the offending MDLs in a hex editor and changing the 5th character to reflect what I thought the decompiler expected. After saving the result I ran the MDL through the decompiler without further problems. I have successfully used this method on multiple models that have otherwise failed to decompile.

The header should read:

49 44 53 54 2C

Which if read in a text editor displays as:

IDST,