If you have any queries, please direct them to the Tower Unite Discord[discord.gg]'s #workshop channel.

For information regarding what is considered 'inappropriate' for the Tower Unite workshop, see the following information from the developers:
https://forums.pixeltailgames.com/t/clarification-and-reminder-on-inappropriate-workshop-content-in-tower-unite/39456

Following this guide, you will need:

• The latest version of Blender - Download free from Steam or the Blender website[www.blender.org]
  
• The Tower Unite Blender Addon[forums.pixeltailgames.com]

0:00 Introduction

0:12 Prerequisites

• Blender 2.8+
  
• Tower Unite Blender Addon
  
• Model should already be rigged
  
• Model should be below 30k vertices (lower the better)
  
• Model should have 10 or less materials (lower materials the better because sometimes it doesn't always match)
  
• Make sure unit scale is set to 1.0
  
• Check clip values

2:40 Model Setup

• Materials must be set to Principled BSDF and have an image texture
  
• Model normals must be facing correctly (TU enforces Backface Culling!!)
  
• Materials can have normal maps applied to them
  
• Materials with special properties, ignore special properties for now
  
• Remove model shape keys
  
• Delete any unseen parts of model
  
• Model should be set to shade smooth

5:32 Porting Part 1

• Spawn in tower unite armature just to scale model to its size
  
• Apply all transforms to model (Location, rotation, scale) then delete/hide TU armature for now
  
• Pose fingers like fist (Recommended, TU armature fingers aren't great)
  
• Apply current armature modifier to save those changes
  
• If armature is parented, clear parent and keep transforms
  
• Recreate/Unhide Tower Unite armature

12:41 Porting Part 2

• Begin renaming vertex groups to match Tower Unite armature
  
• Make sure all parts of the model are weighted to something
  
• Not all bones are required for the model
  
• Check progress using addon's pose menu if you want

18:39 Porting Part 3

• Model parts on extra bones must be set to closest matching bone (or whatever looks nicer)

24:52 Testing

• Use addon's pose menu and see how it looks

26:13 Export

• Export using addon's export menu

28:29 Import

• Import into Tower

29:49 Material Metadata

• Set up metadata for materials

32:50 Player Metadata

• Set up metadata for model & its wearables

36:57 Upload

• Upload to Steam Workshop

39:29 Done!

Tower Unite has strict requirements for materials to work when importing models. These are detailed below:

First of all your material must "Use Nodes" and its Surface type must be Principled BSDF, though only the following two properties of this shader will be imported with your model:

• Base Color must be linked directly to an Image Texture node. It will not work if this is set to a color value instead,¹ but you can link it to a 1x1 pixel image of that color.
  
• Normal may optionally be linked to a Normal Map² node which gets its Color input directly from another Image Texture node. Note that Tower Unite ignores all other properties.³

The following properties are ignored when imported, but may be set in Blender as described below, to better preview how your model will look in Tower Unite:

• Metallic, Specular and Roughness values⁷ function identically in both Tower Unite and Blender, but these values aren't imported and must be set manually in the item's Metadata after importing.
  
• If you link Emission directly to the same Image Texture node as your Base Color property, the Emission Strength property will function identically to the value in Tower Unite.
  
• If you link the Alpha input to the Alpha output of the Image Texture node your Base Color input⁵ is using, you will be able to preview Transparency modes using the Blend Mode property⁴ - use 'Opaque' for 'None', 'Alpha Blend' for 'Translucent' and 'Alpha Clip' for 'Masked' modes.⁶
  
• Turn the Backface Culling⁴ property on to preview your materials one-sided, as Tower Unite does not use double-sided materials like Blender does by default.

IF your materials are set up correctly as above, and they still do not load on import (they will be mostly pink), ensure you are exporting with 'Copy Textures' enabled. For maximum chance of success, keep your blend file, image texture files and exported model all in the same folder.

¹ Unless you enable the Magic Export in the Tower Unite export from the TU Blender Add-on.
² Due to a regression, Blender versions 2.8+ will not export normal maps to DAE format, however the TU Blender Add-on will include normal maps in its own export.
³ Beware that Blender does a poor job of rendering normal maps compared to how they will display in Tower Unite, and there is no known remedy.
⁴ This is found much further down in the Material Properties tab, under the Viewport Display section's Settings subsection.
⁵ This cannot be done from the Material Properties tab and must be done from the Node Editor viewport, found most easily in the 'Shading' view layout.
⁶ Due to UE4 limitations, the Translucent mode in Tower Unite disables shading on the material and suffers from visual sorting issues with other 'translucent' materials.
⁷ For help with picking appropriate Metallic, Specular and Roughness values, see the excellent guide:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2362156981

It's almost certain that the vertex count displayed in Blender will be lower than the vertex count displayed in Tower Unite, and there are several reasons for this. The easiest way to reduce these is to 'Decimate' your meshes, but this targets and discards the finer details of your model. First, try these common solutions to reducing vertex count without sacrificing detail:

Object Mode > Right click your mesh object > Shade Smooth
Try this first of all, because it is often responsible for more than tripling the vertex count in TU.
TU, running on UE4, only does 'smooth' shading and will automatically add extra vertices for every 'flat' face to mimic the effect.

These are listed under the 'Object Data Properties' tab, displayed as a green triangle with three dots in Blender 2.8+
Only the active UV map for each mesh, indicated by an unfaded camera icon beside its name, will be used in the export. Any others will directly increase the total vertex count and should be removed.

Edit Mode > Press A to select all > Press M > Choose 'By Distance'
This will eliminate any duplicate vertices in a single mesh, but is not guaranteed to preserve 100% detail. Impact is minimal either way.
Keep the 'Merge Distance' in the popup at the default '0.0001 m' (or similar) value, as larger values will reduce detail similar to Decimate would, except worse.

• UV map seams, even if only using one UV map, will increase the vertex count for every edge vertex. Try to minimise these where possible for best results.
  
• 'Hard' edges, usually displayed as bright, cyan lines in Blender, are duplicated for the same reason as listed in 'Smooth Shading'.
  
• Hidden geometry (such as the interiors of closed mouths and the skin beneath clothes) are never seen and should be removed where applicable.

This is a modifier which can be added to mesh objects.
If you're left without options to reduce your vertex count below the 30k limit, Decimate should finish the job, albeit at the cost of model quality. You can retain maximum quality with some simple math: divide 30,000 by the number of vertices Tower Unite says your model has, and use the result as the modifier's ratio.
The add-on's 'Magic Export' setting allows the modifier to stay active, otherwise you will need to apply the modifier, which is an irreversible process- save a backup!

From start to finish, the basic steps covered for getting an Accelerate vehicle onto the workshop are as follows:

1. Create or source a static model of your vehicle
   
2. Import the model into Tower Unite's Workshop Editor
   
3. Adjust the metadata to position wheels, driver, etc
   
4. Upload the model to the workshop and take it for a test run

Custom Accelerate vehicles do not need to be animated, rigged to an armature or weight-painted; they are static, inanimate models just like furniture items. Material requirements are identical to the specification listed in the Workshop materials and Blender section.
Tower Unite adds its own animated wheels to the vehicle. You can opt to hide them if you create your own wheels, but they will not animate (your vehicle will slide).
The model must be exported to a compatible filetype: either .fbx, .obj, .smd or recommended .dae
The Tower Unite Blender Add-on's export feature offers a few benefits for vehicle model exports to dae.

In Tower Unite's Workshop Editor, look to the top-left corner for a drop-down box labelled "Type" and switch it to 'Vehicle'.
Then, from the MY IMPORTS tab, click the Import button and find your exported file.
If there are any errors, refer to the pinned messages in the Tower Unite Discord #workshop channel for help, as furniture and playermodel imports will show the same errors.

Once you have imported a model (or selected it from the MY IMPORTS tab), look to the top-right for a box labelled ▶ Edit Metadata and click to expand it.
Note that the 'Materials' tab is identical to other imports and will not be covered here. Refer to the Workshop Materials and Blender section instead.

You will see a ghost model of a go-kart and a default playermodel sitting in the seat. This go-kart model will be hidden when playing, and the driver will be replaced with the player's chosen model. Use the fields here in the 'Vehicle' tab to configure your vehicle:
Vehicle Type will affect the number of wheels and how the driver rides it:

• Normal vehicles have 4 wheels, and the driver will sit with their arms outstretched, reaching for the steering wheel.
  
• Bikes have 2 wheels, and the driver will sit leaning forwards.
  
• Scooters also have 2 wheels, but the driver will sit back like the 'Normal' type.
  
• ATVs have 4 wheels, but the driver will lean over the vehicle like they were riding a 'Bike' type vehicle.
  
• Skate vehicles have 4 wheels and the driver will not sit, but stand on the vehicle.

Kart Offset allows you to move, rotate and scale the whole vehicle model, so you don't have to get it absolutely perfect in Blender.
Player Offset allows you to move, rotate and scale the driver, and also gives you the option to hide the driver entirely.
Front Tires / Back Tires allow you to position how far Forward/back the tires will be, and the Width determines how far apart they will be if you have 4 wheels.
Wheel Size sets the size of _all_ wheels.
Exhaust Offset will show 2 bright lights which dictate where smoke/boost effects will come from.
Headlight Offset will show 2 dim lights which dictate where the vehicle's lights (toggled in-game with the [F] key) will come from. These are set to the player's chosen colour.
Flying Vehicle / Hover Mode will hide the wheels and make the vehicle appear more floaty when turning.
Hide Wheels also hides the wheels.
First Person Camera Offset shows you how the first-person view-mode will look (toggled in-game with the [R] key).
Item Front / Item Back let you adjust how far forward/back pickups will be held.

Once you're done adjusting, press the blue UPLOAD button to the right and fill out the menu that appears.
You can adjust and update this item later by clicking it in the MY UPLOADS tab.

Once your item is finished and uploaded, see below how each workshop visibility setting affects the model's visibility in-game:

Everyone will see your model and it will be listed in the Workshop browser.
Anyone can find it and use it.

Only you and your Steam friends (and marked contributors) will be able to see, find and use your model.
Everyone else will see a default model instead.

Only you (and marked contributors) will see your model and it will not be listed in the Workshop browser at all.
Everyone else will see a default model instead.

Everyone can see your model, but it will not be listed in the Workshop browser.
Nobody can use your model unless they get a direct link to it.
Beware that in-game scoreboards like in the plaza will provide a direct link to your current playermodel, allowing it to be found and used by anyone even when unlisted.

• If there is no option to change your workshop item's visibility settings, check the filesize; it likely failed and stuck you with a zero-byte item, which will need to be reuploaded.
  
• You can mark an item as 'Hidden' by default if you do not check the 'Agree & Publish' checkbox when uploading. Use this to zero public exposure for non-public models.

If your model is failing to upload to the Steam Workshop, check these common causes:

Sometimes this just happens. It's worth trying again once or twice before investigating further.

Ensure your item is less than 30MB in size, else Steam will simply create a zero-byte item.¹

This may be pushing the item over the 30MB limit.¹ Preview images need be no larger than 200x200 pixels² - larger images can be uploaded afterwards³.

Large bodies of text in the title or description field may prevent the upload. Keep it short or empty and you can update it freely afterwards³.

Sometimes the Steam Workshop is taken offline⁴ and will be unable to accept uploads. If this is the case, try again in 15 minutes or so.

If you have recently had an item removed from the Workshop, you may be limited by a temporary Workshop ban, even if it wasn't a Tower Unite item.

¹ Textures and images can be compressed losslessly (without losing width, height or quality) using: https://imagecompressor.com/
² Size is unconfirmed.
³ You can do this directly from the Steam Workshop page of your item, once it has correctly uploaded.
⁴ To check if the Steam servers are online or not, see: https://steamstat.us/

If you have already uploaded a model, you can update the existing item without having to create a new item on the workshop.

Tower Unite cannot currently detect updates to cached models in a reliable way. This means that you and anyone else who has seen your model will NOT see the changes if it is updated, and will need to clear the cache manually. This can be done from in-game, and clear instructions are listed in the next section of this guide.

• In the in-game workshop editor, switch to the IMPORTS tab.
  
• Select the model you want to update. Remember to switch to the correct type depending on if you want to update a playermodel, furniture item or vehicle.
  
• Make your changes to the metadata, and click Save Metadata.
  
• Switch to the UPLOADS tab.
  
• Click on the one you changed, and it will pop up the upload menu again for that model.
  
• In this menu, you need to choose the model file you just updated and then click to upload it again. You will not need to provide a preview image or description when updating this way.

IMPORTANT: To see these changes in-game, you will need to clear the workshop model cache using the instructions in the next section of this guide. Anyone else who has already seen this model in-game will also continue to see the old version until the cache is cleared.

• In the in-game workshop editor, switch to the IMPORTS tab.
  
• Find the model you want to update.
  
• If your new model has the same filename as this item, you will want to click to rename it to something else first to prevent the new model from overwriting this one. (It will reset the metadata)
  
• Import your new model with the file browser and wait for it to load.
  
• Select the old version of the model.
  
• If it is a playermodel or vehicle, expand one of the offset tabs, then copy. You don’t need to make any changes.
  If it is a furniture item, you will have to change the scale and undo the change before copying.
  
• Select the new model again. SAVE YOUR CHANGES when prompted- else there is a chance it doesn’t copy and instead wipes that model’s metadata.
  
• Paste.
  
• Click Save Metadata.
  
• Switch to the UPLOADS tab.
  
• Click on the one you changed, and it will pop up the upload menu again for that model.
  
• In this menu, you need to choose the model file you just updated and then click to upload it again. You will not need to provide a preview image or description when updating this way.

IMPORTANT: To see these changes in-game, you will need to clear the workshop model cache using the instructions in the next section of this guide. Anyone else who has already seen this model in-game will also continue to see the old version until the cache is cleared.

Use this method to force the game to update workshop models you have cached:

1. From the Main Menu click Your Appearance
   
2. Once it loads, click REMOVE WORKSHOP PLAYER MODEL highlighted in red.
   
3. At this point, you must close and restart Tower Unite!
   
4. After restarting, click the SETTINGS button at the top of the Main Menu.
   
5. Click into the CONTENT section.
   
6. Switch to the Workshop Settings tab.
   
7. Click Clear Cache and ACCEPT.
   
8. Click BACK a few times to get back to the Main Menu
   
9. Click Your Appearance and equip your playermodel again.

Any workshop models that have been updated (including your own) will now correctly show the new version once they download again.

If you have any further questions, direct them to the Tower Unite Discord[discord.gg] server's #workshop channel.


https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2362156981
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2784757676
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1966755294