Installing programs for working with GR2 3D files

First of all, this guide is about the nuances of installing and using the necessary software for viewing and editing GR2 3D graphics files for Civilization Beyond Earth. For everyone interested in this section of game modification.

• Версия на русском языке

Introduction

Greetings Dear Citizens, Talents and Drones!

For me, graphics editing in games is a subject of great interest. My imagination draws many ideas that can enrich the game world. And I like to understand what of my fantasies can be realized and how exactly to do it.

As you may know, I am working on a project Anchor Ceti DLC, one of the tasks of which is to use the undisclosed possibility of team coloring units. There are a lot of units, each with several textures, and I worked on them in stages, doing other areas in between. Getting to the next stage, I had to go through the trial and error path again when installing programs, since the operating system has been reinstalled over the past time.

Next, the installation will be described in order with all the nuances that I remember. And at the end, you can follow the links to the manuals that I used.

Здесь вы найдете русскоязычную версию этого руководства.

Originally posted by If you want to support me::

1. https://www.patreon.com/protok
2. https://www.donationalerts.com/r/protokst

1. Beyond Earth SDK (ModBuddy, FireTuner)

If you are going to modify Beyond Earth, then the first thing you should install is the official Beyond Earth SDK toolkit from steam. You can find it in your steam library in the list of games, if you check the option in the "Show Tools" box.
This tool includes two utilities: ModBuddy and FireTuner.

For them to work, you need to install The Visual Studio 2010 Isolated Shell Redistributable
You can download it by registering on the official website.
Go here: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/ru/vs/older-downloads/isolated-shell/
Check the box agreeing to the license agreement, access to the link selection Visual Studio 2010 will open. Which will take you to the following page: https://my.visualstudio.com/Downloads?q=shell%202010

After registering and logging into your visualstudio.com account, follow the link https://my.visualstudio.com/Downloads?q=shell%202010
The first item in the list that opens will be: Visual Studio 2010 Shell (Isolated)
You need to change the [OTH] option to [DVD] and click download.

After installing the Visual Studio 2010 Shell, you must restart your computer.
Now the Beyond Earth SDK will work fine.

2. Nexus Buddy 2 (Granny Editor, Granny Viewer)

This is an open source tool. Its capabilities include editing the attributes of the model stored in files like GR2 and importing from the formats FBX and BR2 into a format readable by the game.
You can download it from the CivFanatics forum.[forums.civfanatics.com]

You can unpack the folder with the program wherever you like.
Next, you need to choose a location to create the storage folder: "Dummy". Inside it, make two more folders "Assets" and "Resource". In another way, it can be written like this:
"Dummy/Assets/"
"Dummy/Resource/"

You will need to manually write a couple of lines in the registry, you can use RegEdit.
You need to create a registry entry at:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Firaxis\Tools
Parameter name: "ToolAssetPath".
Parameter value: Path to the folder "Dummy" inclusive.

After that, you will be able to run the program. However, before you can load the GR2 model from the game, you need to do the following.
Go to the Additional Actions tab, press the Load String Database button and select the string file GSD to which the model loaded from the game belongs.


There is a nuance, after changing the material parameter, you must press ENTER while the cursor is in the line, otherwise the changes will not be saved.

Granny Viewer

Included is a program for viewing the model at the level of materials and meshes.
In order for the model from the game to be viewed, it must first be resaved in order to generate the data necessary for viewing.

3. Civ 5 SDK Old Version (Nexus 3D Viewer)

This SDK package contains a version of Asset Viewer with the option 3D View, which allow you to view game models at once with textures and animations. For me, the opportunity to see the result of working on the texture outside the game is an essential necessity.
It can be downloaded from CivFanatics.[forums.civfanatics.com]

After installation and the first launch, the program will ask you to specify the location of the game, you can safely specify the directory of Beyond Earth:
"steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth\"

Then you need to make two registry entries at:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Firaxis\Nexus\Viewer
1. AssetPath With:\Program Files Protok\Nexus-Buddy-2\Dummy\Assets
2. Executable C:\Program Files Protok\sid meier's civilization v sdk\Nexus\x86\Viewer.exe
After updating the registry, you need to restart your computer.

To open the model view window, use sid meier's civilization v sdk\Nexus\x86\Nexus.exe . The shortcut to which can be placed on the desktop in advance.
And in the window that opens, click on Asset Viewer.

3D View of models opens automatically.
The State Machine options and the State Graph window are used for playback and choosing animation.

Conclusion

I would define the category of this guide as for beginners and for people with an average level of experience in modding. It is brief, but it contains all the necessary nuances to start working with game models. Perhaps I will expand it at my discretion or at the request of the audience. Below are links to the materials used in the compilation of this manual. You can use them to get more extensive information.

Links

Nexus Buddy 2 - Granny Editor, by Deliverator the creator of the tool[forums.civfanatics.com];
Extract GR2 to Blender with mesh AND skeleton and re-export to GR2[forums.civfanatics.com];
Nexus Buddy 2 2.5.3[forums.civfanatics.com];
Civ 5 SDK Old Version - working Nexus 3D Viewer v2[forums.civfanatics.com];

Addendum

The Dragon Unpacker program is suitable for unpacking archives with game resources (*.fpk).

Ther archives are in the folder with the game, in subfolders:

• Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth\Resource\dx11\
  
• Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth\Resource\Common\

If you unpack them here, then the game will use the unpacked files first.

[manmoth]

Yeah to convert the gr2 into something other software can read like Blender and then convert them back and put them in again.

[Protok]

What do you mean to do. Depends it.
To extract gr2 from another game and view/edit via Nexus Buddy 2, then plug it back to another game? That may work.

[manmoth]

is it possible to follow the same method for other games that also use gr2 files?