footman
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In short, I've basically mastered your magic. It's relatively easy in principle. Unless, of course, you take into account the constant struggle with outdated programs.
While I was figuring out the process, the situation "something isn't working as it should. Why? It's unclear" arose about 5 times.
In short, I'm still fighting with one bug: during the final export from Maya, the smoothing groups on the models are destroyed, which is why the model is covered with such squares (it's clearly visible on the model without a texture).
Previously, the export somehow also destroyed the UV mapping, but then, in the same magical way, it stopped doing that.
Footman, maybe you have any ideas about what I'm doing wrong and why the smoothing is disappearing from the model?
Currently, I'm using this export chain:
using UViever in Max => from Max via FBX to Maya 2009 => then your clever trick of renaming the file version to Maya 6.0 => from it, using Blitzkrieg's plugins in the map editor, into the game.
But mine turned out to be a little longer. For some reason, Maya 6.0 stubbornly refused to see models imported using this scheme.
so I had to do this: UViever in Max => from Max to FBX => using Noesis, FBX to SMD => SMD to Max => then from there FBX to Maya 2009 => then renaming the version to Maya 6.0 => from it, using Blitzkrieg's plugins in the map editor, into the game.
The problem with the disappearing smoothing definitely isn't due to the SMD stage; I checked, the smoothing is preserved at least until the import into Maya 6.0.
In short, if you can suggest what the problem might be, I'll be grateful. Also, I'd like to hear if the method I'm currently using to add a model to the game is still relevant. If there's a more convenient way, I'd be very happy if you shared it.
2) As for smoothing, after the SMD import, I reset the shading and set up the smoothing from scratch, and when exporting to FBX, you need to check the box next to SmoothGroups; when importing into Maya, the box should also be checked (I switched to Maya 2010, so it's called Edge Smoothing). Honestly, I don't know why they disappear for you; I've never encountered this. Most likely, you just didn't specify them during the FBX import/export.
3) I can write how I did it for exporting to GR2 by changing the coordinate system so as not to tilt the model by 90 degrees using Granny Export. The difference is that you don't have to rack your brains about how to make the movement at an angle (I'm unlikely to forget how I struggled with the specability2 animation for griffins at an angle...), and the fact that models exported by changing the coordinate system can be exported to SMD using Archangel; models exported using the old scheme cannot be exported because the skeleton simply doesn't load.
Added 5 minutes ago
Regarding relevance, no, I found a way to export models by changing the coordinate system in Granny Export so as not to tilt them by 90 degrees.