3d Print Your Toon

I've mocked up versions of characters using Hero Forge (https://www.heroforge.com/intro/) but I've never actually had them made. There are some pretty close approximations to EQ-style gear. It'd be cool if they could license certain models (epic weapons) from Daybreak.

Example "build" of my berserker: https://www.heroforge.com/load_config=13775692/
And Shaman: https://www.heroforge.com/load_config=13799881/

That would be cool.

I've played with Hero Forge before, mocking up characters, which is how I know it is very easy to lose hours there. I keep thinking about getting some characters printed so I can paint them but I don't have access to a 3D printer at this time. They will print them for you but shipping to where I live (Canada) is often cost prohibitive.

There are a lot of people who can use photoshop to retouch a photo but can not paint a mural. A problem with many people thinking about 3D printing is that they look at the print as a finished part. Almost all 3D printing ends up looking pretty low quality compared to an injection molded toy you can buy at the store.

Low poly is also great. I have tried to work with some models but the average Joe doesn't have the PC performance and software to do the retouch. The ability to get the low poly models would be great for a lot of people. Some people would either retouch them in CAD or they would print them out and retouch them physically with plaster or clay.

I myself wanted to make a full scale replica of the Staff of Eternal Eloquence, but I don't have a base model. I might be able to sculpt it, but my skills as an artist would make it significantly time intensive far beyond what I have to spare. However, I am very skilled in composite repair, and I would be very able to "retouch" a low-poly staff into a finished part.

I reached out to a Dev for assistance but they couldn't provide it. I have also asked a number of people I know in gaming and haven't been able to get assistance. If someone knows how to get a model of my staff, please let me know. My PC does not have the Horsepower to work with a high poly model anyway.

Someone definitely knows how to pull EQ models...
https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=everquest&page=1&type=things&sort=relevant

Might be possible for a weapon...

As I mentioned...

Back in the day we used PS2LS to extract the .obj files from the .pak files in your everquest folder. That is a third party program still available (I think), it was made for Planetside2 but works on EQ files (and it worked on Landmark files also).

There are tons of .pak files, and tons of files in each .pak. The names are super unintuitive. That is your first big hurdle is finding the name of the file you want. There is a visual browser of sorts provided, but don't try to view character files, it's been years but I believe that crashes it.

If you can find the .obj file and extract it, you're probably more than half way there.

You can use Blender (or CAD if you have it) to open the .obj, position lights and camera, and take an image 'snapshot' of the object to base your clay model on.

Or go full on and edit it in Blender (if needed for better 3d print). Maybe add a smooth modifier and apply. Check that everything will work in a printed 3d model (overhangs and highly detailed small pieces) and export as .stl. And use Cura to 3d print the .stl.

Then paint on the detail from the textures.

It could work.

Those are pretty good! I even animated a bunch of those. It's too bad it only grabs the bind pose.

Yes.

Pretty doable in Blender with the rigging tools, of course with elf, dwarf (etc.) different proportions, you've got to fine tune the armature too. sigh.

It does seem like too much of a chore for mediocre, at best, results, for characters.

The weapons/epics and such should be very doable.

The bind pose is fine. I can pull it into Fusion 360, scale it to size, slice it into pieces and print it out. I'd then use plaster to finish the model. Actually, I like to use drywall mud because I can buy different dry times. You can then lift a mold off of that. I'd appreciate the assistance if there was a way to get the model of my staff.

I found the PS2LS, the planet side extractor, but I don't see any .pak files in my EQ folder.

Edit: okay, I see .pak when I change from PACK to all files but this can't open them.

Well darn. I'm sorry to steer you wrong Vumad. It did work on EQ files (while it was SOE at least). Something may have changed over the years.

As you note from the Thingverse examples, it can be done. And I used PS2LS back in the day to browse the .pak files. Even as recently as shortly after they closed Player Studio.

Your epic mesh/model is stored in a .pak file, in .obj format, and can be extracted.

How you do that in 2023 is a new mystery to solve. With the people doing 'HD re-textures' of the character skins, I'm sure someone out there still knows how to extract from the .pak files.

Everything blurs for me now, but were the .pak files something that was affected when the moved to the .dds file type for some of the other assets?

I don't think so. I remember browsing the .paks with .dds and .tga files in them. It was after the first sale before the sale to EG7, probably around 4-5ish years ago.

My guess is the change to 64bit broke some old third party stuff like this. I would further guess it's just a small change in some 'header' data in the .pak files. Probably an easy update if you had the code for an extractor.

pak are an obsolete file type and they haven't been touched in many, many years for EQ. Look at your EQ directory and you'll see dates of 1999-2004. There's a gap until 2016 but those are for the Launchpad, and nothing after that. Anything that used to open those files still should be able to do so.