American Wilds models and textures in a workshop map?

So, my map loads and plays fine if I install it manauly. But.... if I upload it to the workshop, it no longer works.

After 4 days of troubleshooting, I've discovered after adding each model one by one, that when I got to the "bridge_road_01" model the map would still load but the bridge is nowhere to be seen. Although it can be seen if I load the map manually.

So, can you not use ANY models that are part of the American wilds DLC?

Please help me regain my sanity! :face_with_stuck-out_tongue_winking_eye:

@picsoul

Except for trucks, all DLC assets (including American Wilds models) should work fine even if you don't have the DLC.

I'd suspect that you have some file corruption in the DLC assets, except that you say it works fine in other circumstances. (I assume that you're playing it from your _mods directory.)

Do you perhaps accidentally have a second copy of the bridge_road_01 model somewhere? One major difference of a mod from the workshop is that the game won't mix assets from a different mod, whereas when you play from your _mods directory, it will pull models from any accessible directory.

I'm not sure that that's it, though. I will think more on it.

@PicSoul You could test further by creating and publishing a separate mod with a small map that has only a starting truck and a bridge_road_01, and see if that works or fails. That would help narrow down whether the problem is directly related to bridge_road_01 or whether you have some other problem in your map that happens to get triggered on that one model.

If you have spintires mod, you get the dlc files.

Thanks for the info fellas. I do have Spintiresmod installed (can't live without it :face_with_stuck-out_tongue_winking_eye:) and so I believe the files are all in place.

As a test, I created a workshop map with the US Lumber mill added as a separate model and included the class files. In game the occlusion/shadow for the lumber mill shows but not the model itself. Meaning I see the shadow it creates but I can drive right through it as if it's not there.

Here's where it gets weird though... If I add the reference that includes the US lumber mill, it IS visible. So, for whatever reason, adding the model manually is not working but adding it as a reference does.

@picsoul

I don't have the SpinTires Mod because I don't have the patience to disentangle two undocumented programs at once. Since I've never used that mod, I can tell you authoritatively that you don't need it in order to include American Wilds models.

I'm not sure what you mean that you "included the class files". The DLC class files are already present in the game (assuming that you've been keeping it updated) and in the editor (assuming that you've copied or recopied the media files after updating the game). If you include the class files again in your mod directory, this might be what is confusing the game.

BTW, when you publish your mod to the Steam Workshop, the editor automatically randomizes the names of all your custom assets in your mod. This is handy because it ensures that your custom models don't collide with someone else's, even if they started with the same name. However, it means that a bridge_road_01 in your mod becomes 8pshnf34, which then won't work if you don't have all the files needed to make 8pshnf34 work (class XML, mesh XML, .x mesh, and textures).

Also BTW, the occlusion/shadow is computed and baked into the map by the editor, so I'm not surprised that it's still present even if the model isn't working.

I'm not sure why it happens to work for you when using a reference. If you're using one of the built-in reference maps, perhaps the editor recognizes that it's outside your mod directory, and therefore it shouldn't randomize the model names used by the reference.

Happy to announce I have solved the issue. It was ONE PIECE of a fence, one freaking piece. LOL

I created another blank map and started adding objects one by one and testing after each object.

You live and learn I guess.

Thank you to all who offered help. 😄

yeah ive been there lol. drove me nuts, but finally realized I had a model in my map and the files werent there in my uploaded folder