Object bounds, bounding sphere, nifs and other novice modding questions

[Ivarov]

Hi, just started trying some mods, many things way over my head, thought I ask you guys some things. direct answers or pointers to tutorials or the like are greatly appreciated (my level is so low that even googling stuff is not yielding very good results :tongue:)

So. I want to bring some unused nifs already in the fo4-meshes.ba2 back to life. It should be a statics or doors, but I'm doing weird experimental script and avif associations and I need it to be furniture (I think)

I'm worried about if I need to 'translate' anything regarding bounds from the nif to anything in the plugin. creating a new furniture in the CK I dont see an area to deal with it, but opening via FO4Edit I see x1y1z1x2y2z2 numbers under OBND. Should I worry about those?
If so, how do I see the nif bounds in nifskope? (i can see a bounding sphere info but only on 'fragments' of the nif, not the 'bigger/whole block'

Also, how do I make so the item can be placed (via workshop) a little bit under the terrain (so there's no floating edges on uneven ground)?
Is it something I need to do in the nif or is there some AVIF I can edit in the plugin entry (such as workshopoverridezboundmax/minbound)? or are those something completely different than what I'm thinking? Am I even looking at the correct things?

'Another one', I would like to take a part of the nif (that visually seems like a separate detachable component from the whole, but since I know little of meshes, not sure) and detach it from the whole piece (some to delete, most simply to reposition/rotate). Is it doable in nifskope or some other program? I'm a little bit reluctant to dive into blender or 3ds if I can because I'd have to start from 001 class on those, but if its required, maybe I will (any good tutorial links?)

and a final big one for now, I tested some of the nifs in game, although they work in a basic sense, some should have 'pathing'/navmesh for other npcs to walk over it and other items be built on those surfaces (which are not on the exterior bounds of said nifs), do I need to navmesh it and/or is it defined by some bounds physics or the like? (are there guides around?) lastly I certainly will need to make snapping points, and I had a preview of ctd nightmares on those, but I have found a few guides on that and I think I got it covered, given time due to being a slow learner :tongue: still advices are always welcome.

Hope this is in the right section, I'm always uncertain if this is mod talk, troubleshooting or ck talk. Oh, well.

Thanks in advance!
Cheers!

Edited April 20, 2017 by Ivarov

[Ethreon]

To speed up and avoid dealing with bounds, load your plugin in CK, select the needed records and Recalc Bounds.

 

Bounds - a 3d box determined by the extreme points of your mesh in 3D, on both + and - axis. Keep in mind the object doesn't always have negative bounds, they can be 0 or all positive - wiki.

For object placement and sink, check a snap point tutorial.

 

I don't think you can delete vertices in nifskope, use a proper 3d editing software. Blender and Outfit Studio are free.

 

I don't follow your navmesh question. There are detailed tutorials all over the place, as well as on the CK wiki.

Edited April 20, 2017 by Ethreon

[jabeth]

Hi Ivarov, hopefully you've gotten further with developing NetImmerse Files for your gaming pleasure. I too have just recently begun screwing around with game graphic images and have had to teach myself about the modern graphic processing units to better understand the need for all these various graphic image files in multiple formats. Very confusing but ultimately logical so it can be deciphered.

 

I came across a mod that allow one to get power cables through walls & ceilings. The walls worked, the ceilings didn't. I've had Fallout4 for some months now and have discovered all the various aspects of modifying it. I've successfully created I don't know how many modifications to my game. The mod's .esp file shows up with 1500+ records but I'd never touched anything graphically.

 

NifSkope will allow you to make (very tedious) changes to the basic model's mathematical structure. It is extremely time consuming to make even the smallest changes to a model image (.nif) file, very tedious. The slightest numerical deviation causes some very disturbing results. I've successfully fixed the mod allowing for me to pass cables through roofs & second stories' floors by manipulating the original image (creating a new one) and changing some of its original parameters or internal variables. I'm so happy to have finally gotten somewhere. I found your post by looking for information on the bounding sphere. I've managed to get the power connector to bind or snap to ceilings and show up when you want to hook a cable but it doesn't allow power through it. Anyway, I've found Blender to be a nice program but for one thing; it doesn't Import/Export (dumb expression for a programming event) .NIFs! The way we have to use to get the various formats used to get ONE IMAGE into a game of this type is extraordinary. You can change vertices, triangles, just about everything structurable about the model through NifSkope. Be careful though, weird things happen with loose digits.

 

I started programming in 1984 on Apples. Didn't stick with it, but modding such as it is, isn't to far away from actual programming (machine lang. / assembler) or some of the fancier languages redeveloped out of assemblers built for that purpose.

 

You can use the console command 'qqq' to exit (or dump as I like to call it) the game without the additional Exitsave file being created or going through the screens, normal steps, etc. It just dumps it. Very useful when you're trying to test your results. Stay private & have fun modding.