How to add Alpha Channel support to ms2dtsExporter

The Milkshape Exporter supports Additive Translucency only - it kicks in when you have the emissive material slider set to less than 75% (default for it is to be all the way to to the right; if you move it left about 1/4 of full range and keep going, you get 75% or less...). That's the total extent of translucency/transparency in the ms2dtsExporter.dll

Now, in MS, the second material button (the botom one)loads a material in as the Alpha Texture, but the exporter doesn't do anything with it.

The following fix enables non-additive/non-subtractive translucency when the exporter simply detects the presence of an Alpha Texture. Remember to keep the emissive slider pushed all the way to the RIGHT, or you will end up with additive translucency, which in most cases, most of us DON'T want.

in the file DTSMilkshapeShape.cpp in the ms2dtsExporter project at around line 185, add the code below shown in bold:

[b]char alphaName[MS_MAX_PATH+1];   //--- KCF: put this anywhere before the code below; 
                                // ---I put it in the traditional location just after entering the MilkshapeShape::MilkshapeShape method code block.[/b]

[i]<skip some code here>[/i]

            // Check transparency value
            if (msMaterial_GetTransparency (msMat) <= 0.75f)
               mat.flags |= Material::Translucent | Material::Additive ;
[b]
            msMaterial_GetAlphaTexture (msMat, alphaName, MS_MAX_PATH); //--- KCF ---             
            if (strlen(alphaName)>0)                    //--- KCF ---    
               mat.flags |= Material::Translucent;     //--- KCF ---       
 [/b]
            materials.push_back(mat) ;

now rebuild, move the dll to your MS directory, run MS, and make sure you have a texture loaded with that second button as the alpha texture.

NOTE: Milkshape will NOT let you import .PNG files if they have an alpha channel in them, so you need *two* copies of your texture, one as PNG and one as JPG, both with IDENTICAL names, but different extensions. You use the JPG version in MS, and use the PNG version in Torque. The exporter exports the name without the extension, and when torque sees the name, it looks for a PNG first by default...