Low polygon modelling old OS what software?

Bobolaf

Hello. I am rather out of touch as have not done any modeling since I was a student in the 90s so please forgive any silly questions.

I am looking to do some low polygon modelling for a bit of homebrew on the old Nintendo 64 games console. Originally I was trying to get my hands on a copy of Ningen a customized derivative of Multigen commissioned by Nintendo specifically for this job. Sadly however it appears Ningen has been lost to the sands of time.

So my next option is to use the .obj file format as this can converted in to a usable format. So I am looking for recommendations on software to try. As I say it's a very long time since I have done this sort of thing so if anyone can recommend a few programs to try especial ones that are good for low polygon work and or is not to complicated to pick up. I am more than happy to pay so it does not have to be free but I would rather avoid subscription based software. Most of the software and hardware I am using is rather old it will simply not run on anything newer than Windows XP 32bit. So ideally I would like a 3D package compatible with Windows XP 32bit so I don't have to reboot every time I wish to change something.

Now on to the next question and this is hardware based. I am using an extremely old and slow system at the moment. I am thinking it's about time to upgrade ( to a faster old system ) and was wondering what sort of system spec would you consider enough for this sort of Low Polygon work? Windows XP 32bit support was dropped after Intel 7 series chip sets and AMD 990 chipsets. With GPU support ending after the original Nvidia Quadro K series and the AMD FirePro Wx000 series. However I am guessing even those would be over kill for what I am looking at?

Thanks in advance

poopipe

Wings3d might be worth a shot if you're going for authenticity.  it's modelled after nendo (which derived from mirai) which is roughly period correct and I believe was popular  in Japan.  Failing that I'd be very surprised if you can't find a version of blender that'll run. 

The machine will be fine as long as you can find software to run on it.  This is pentium 1/2 era stuff - my phone is more powerful than the machines I was using to mod games back then. 

musashidan

There's also Milkshape 3D, that you probably remember from back in the day. It was originally designed for Half-Life. It's Shareware and supports 70 file formats.
http://www.milkshape3d.com

sacboi

I still have a functioning HP c600 Notebook Pentium 2 (WIN XP) with 1GB HDD that runs a Blender 2.5 build on it. So considering both your targeted genre and legacy hardware config you're utilising at the moment I'd say you'd be more than adequately catered for by just grabbing a copy and test it for yourself to see what you might output using this OSS toolset.

thomasp

Wings 3D is not only authentic but also pretty cool. You'd have to grab a really old build though, I just stumbled over it the other day and the current version now apparently has a PBR viewport and stuff.

Milkshape on the other hand.... are.you.f####kn.kidding.me?! Notepad would be my preference in that case!

musashidan

thomasp said:

Milkshape on the other hand.... are.you.f####kn.kidding.me?! Notepad would be my preference in that case!

Milkshape brings back a lot of fond memories of those heady Half-Life modding days......or maybe my memory is just f**ked!! 🤣

Who said animating a walk cycle directly on the character verts wasn't cool?