Modding: Vertex Editing Models

In this tutorial, we'll use vertex editing to modify an existing model in the game. Entirely custom imports require additional legwork, so this method can be a viable way to create unique looks for weapons and characters, such as what was done with both Voriki Mode and Classic Tahu. This tutorial assumes you have unpacked your game files using QuickBMS and have deleted/backed up your .DAT file, or are using Modder's Edition.

**Tools Required:**

Blender, Hexadecimal Mantis' NU20 Blender Addon

## Method

Step 1: Install the addon by opening Blender, pressing the "Edit" tab, and then navigating to "Preferences". Then press "Install", and select the script file. Once it's installed, enable it by ticking the new box that comes up in the "Preferences" menu

Step 2: Press the "File" tab, mouse over to "Import", then select Bionicle Heroes NU20. Browse to the file you want to open - for this example, we'll use blue\_head\_1.hgp (Hahli's mask) in faces\level1\blue

Step 3: You should now have three "parts" in Blender. Some models are contained in one part whilst others are comprised of multiple. If you wish to edit all of them at once, press A, which will select all meshes, and then go to the "edit" mode

Step 4: From here, you can modify the vertex positioning of any vertex. **You must not add additional geometry!** You can utilise any transformation that simple changes the positioning of vertexes (e.g. resizing, rotation, and manual positioning), but the exact same name of faces, edges, and vertexes must be present during your editing process

Step 5: Once you've made your edits, press the "File" tab, mouse over to export, then select Bionicle Heroes NU20. Before overwriting the original file, you're recommended to make a copy. Once you've done that, simply double-click the original file

Step 6: Load up Bionicle Heroes and test out your changes in-game!

## Tips and Notes

* The NU20 script works with both NUP and HGP files. However, some NUP and HGP files contain a problematic data segment known as OBJ0 which can prevent proper import into Blender. HGP files work more often than NUPs.
* Vertex editing can be applied to levels, but the aforementioned issue affects most levels in the game. Consult the tables below for a list of working and not working levels as of October 2022:

**Levels that work:**

```
-Bonus1
-Bonus2
-Bonus3
-Credits
-Viewai (separate geometry)
-Jungle4
-Mountain4
-Piraka Beach
-Frontend (testarea)
-Anti (testarea/graphicstest)
-Graphicstest (testarea/graphicstest)
-Water (testarea/kennytest)
-Volcano1
-Lava_test_scene4sdave (Volcano2)
-Volcano4
-Water4
-Volcano_hub

```

**Level asset components that load (e.g. maproom for hub):**

```
-Unlockachievement
-Unlockai
-Unlockmask
-Maproom (Piraka Beach)

```

**Levels that don't work:**

```
-Desert2
-Desert3
-Desert4
-Frontend_Hub
-Jungle1
-Jungle2
-Jungle3
-Mountain1
-Mountain2
-Mountain3
-Mountain3_all
-Mountaintest
-Outro
-Outroalt
-Stronghold1
-Stronghold2
-Stronghold3
-Stronghold4
-Volcano2
-Volcano3
-Water1
-Water2
-Water3
-Mountain_hub
-Water1_hub
-Water_hub

```

**Level NUPs that load but not properly (missing geometry/content) due to older NUP format:**

```
-Brokenobj (Mountain3_all)
-Brokenobj (Mountaintest)
-Biotest
-Biotest2
-Frontend1 (testarea)
-Frontend2 (testarea)
-testlevel (testarea)

```

**Other:**

```
Everything in testarea/cutscene_assets and explosion loads, but most of these are effect models

```