This will be a little tutorial of sorts? For importing Elden Ring models into Blender, since a lot of documentation and such for ER modding is pretty scattered around the internet or locked behind a discord server. I'll go over the programs needed and the process I use for taking chr models and putting them into blender.
Hover over images for alt text!
-Programs and Links-
Here's a quick list of everything needed.
-Blender 3.3 (any version above 3 will probably work.) : https://www.blender.org/download/
-XNAlara addon for Blender (for importing .ascii files) : https://github.com/johnzero7/XNALaraMesh
-Paint.NET (For opening .DDS files) : https://www.getpaint.net/
-Notepad++ (For editing .ascii files) : https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/
-UXM (For unpacking Main ER Data.bdt files.) : https://www.nexusmods.com/eldenring/mods/1651?tab=description
-Yabber (For unpacking other ER Files) : https://github.com/JKAnderson/Yabber/releases
-Elden Ring Chr ID List (This is a spreadsheet from the Souls Modding Wiki which lists which character corresponds to which ID) : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eZ9FWlu1MDLnR2J0z0ld6T9FFZssOCjM1tS-Vvx0Yr0/edit#gid=0
-Bloodborne Tools : https://forum.xentax.com/viewtopic.php?t=17332
-FLVER to ASCII Tool : https://forum.xentax.com/viewtopic.php?t=24883&sid=67c83b26e4fef44067805faac91fdcfd
(You'll need an account to download these last two.)
-Videos-
-Elden Ring Model Exporting Guide (This video's a good start for unpacking the Elden Ring files and a more basic model exporting guide. (I'll go over this in my tutorial as well.)) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9WtRrl5PSo
-Elden Ring Modding Playlist (By the same account, a lot of helpful information on doing different things) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USA0VnTlNA4&list=PLk3PHlXPeN-hLhvzBwI6BkDzJ5R7wTVaP
-Exporting Models-
So begin by unpacking Elden Ring's files with UXM according to the program page's instructions. Once this is done there should be a bunch of new folders in the game's main folder. The one we're interested in is the chr folder. This is where all the enemy character models for the game are contained.
In this folder you'll see a bunch of .dcx files, but we're only interested in .chrbnd.dcx and .texbnd.dcx files, which contain the model and textures, respectively.
Using the spreadsheet, find the character files you wish to export and drag them onto yabber.exe, which will create an unpacked folder in the directory the .dcx files are located. For the texture files you'll additionally need to navigate the unpacked folder until you find a .tpf file, which you'll also need to unpack with Yabber.
Now you should have an unpacked folder containing the textures in .dds files and one containing the model files, of which we're only interested in the .flver file. This is the file which contains the actual mesh.
Now here is where this method diverges from the video listed earlier. The video's method is to simply drag the .flver file onto the bloodborne_model_v3.exe in the Bloodborne Tools folder you've made. This will create both an .ascii and a .smd file. Then you import the .smd into blender using an addon. This works for getting the model into blender, but there is a major issue with this method. The UVs for the model are not properly preserved, which means models with multiple UVs will only keep one. Additionally, meshes with cloth physics such as fur and others will usually have their UVs corrupted entirely.
If you're interested in applying textures to the model, or editing it to place back into the game, this method doesn't generally work very well for many characters.
Instead we'll follow the method detailed on the FLVER to ASCII tool page. Basically once you've created an .ascii file with the Bloodborne Tools, take that file and place it in a separate folder. Then open FLVERtoASCII.exe and select your .flver file. This will create another .ascii file.
This is where it gets a little complicated. We're going to open both .ascii files in Notepad++ and copy the bones from the Bloodborne Tools .ascii to the FLVER to ASCII tool .ascii. We'll use Blaidd's files for reference.
The FLVtoASCII file starts with two numbers, 0 and 16.
The BT file starts with 356 and then lists all the bone data and ends with 16 once again.
Just select and copy everything in the BT file up to the 16 and paste over the 0 and 16 in the FLVtoASCII file. Now that you've done that just save the file and it should be ready for importing to Blender! The numbers will be different depending on the file but the method is exactly the same, copying everything from the first number to the second.
The format in the FLVtoASCII file should end up being : First number from BT file - Skeleton data - Second number from either file
Now you just need to import the .ascii file into Blender with the XNAlara addon and viola! (Be sure to uncheck Join Meshparts when importing) If everything was done correctly you should have a complete model with a skeleton and fixed UVs.
(Also if you're intending to use the model for rendering in blender or such be aware that models are flipped when imported, like Blaidd's closed eye being on the wrong side etc.)
Now it's ready for the textures you've extracted to be applied! I won't go over applying textures or From's texture formats in this tutorial, but I'll probably talk about them in another one later. Just know that Blender can't open From's .DDS files, so you'll need to open them in Paint.net and save them in another format like .TGA.
And You're Done!
For now that's all you should need to extract some models from Elden Ring! I hope this proves useful to anyone interested, and thank you for reading! :)
