3D Character Models?, Ripping from Gamecube or N64...

For my fangame, I need 3D models of all of the Mario characters, but I'm horrible at modeling characters from scratch. I can animate them, but I can't build them. I figure if I rip some models from an actual Nintendo game, I'll be more successful, and have a good-looking game. Unfortunately, I know NOTHING about ripping game information.

Does anybody know where I could get some 3D models of Mario characters? I would prefer some from an official game like Mario Party, and most prefferably from a Gamecube version, but N64 versions can work as well. (I can likely remodel N64 characters if I have a basic frame to work with.)

The models from Mario Kart: Double Dash are floating around the internet somewhere.

Ah, I think that would be perfect, actually! I'll try to look for them. If anybody else knows where to find them, please post!

the game models are usually sitting in plain sight so they usually aren't that hard to "rip"

however i'd say there's a 99% chance they'll be a custom format, which would likely be useless to you unless you wrote a converter... and digging through binary to extract vertex, normal, texture, animation, and who knows what other information sounds FUN

Yeah, I'm completely lost when it comes to actually ripping the models myself. Actually, I can't even figure out where to get emulators and .roms. If the whole world had my researching skills, nobody would ever know anything.

I do have BMDview2, though, so I think I could view models if I had them.

Hey, BMDView is one piece of the cake you're going to bake. The next step is getting GCMTool (which is cross-platform, so no problems if you're on a Linux/Mac at the moment).
Use GCMTool to extract the BMDs (or whatever the models are) from the GameCube Disc image, and use BMDView (I... think it has a conversion function, not sure) to convert them to a format of choice.

And by GameCube Disc image I mean a legally obtained (i.e. a bought) GameCube disc. Just pop it into your disc drive and go nuts.
EDIT: A pirated copy will also work.

Although you're probably better off getting already-ripped models.

This post has been edited by Raccoon Sam on Jun 7 2008, 01:39 AM

Ah, this is great!
I'll try Mario Tennis. If the models aren't what I'm looking for, I'll buy Mario Party.

If all this fails, I saw a Garry's Mod mod that has a bunch of Mario models. I might have to buy Garry's Mod, but that'll work just the same.

My last project failed because I couldn't get the models. Now that I have a better game engine, I'm determined to get them! xD

UPDATE: Just downloaded it and registered my C++ editor. I can't figure out how to use it though. I see all these files with no type and in the other folder, I see files with .c and .h file types.
How do I actually use GCMTools? (Also looking on Google, but so far no luck)

Try this tutorial. It should cover up the usage.

I'm still stuck on compiling everything. I tried to compile it with Dev-C++, but it came up with 20 errors; few of which I could actually fix. I've gone to several people with querries about this, but it didn't help much.

Is there anyone else who has gotten past all these many flaws?

I use SZSTools. Download it, and do what it says in the Readme file(considering you have the actual GCM file), then use BMDView2 to view and extract the models.

I'm no pro but try asking Girrrtacos for some tips because he has a habit of ripping 3D models like he did here:

http://www.mariowiki.com/User:Girrrtacos

Where did you download BMDview2

Dude, don't bump old topics. And look on Google or something.