Vault-tec prewar van mesh/texture odd problem

[mfree80286]

(resolved)

 

Good evening,

 

I'm trying to turn the pre-war vault-tec van (vehicles/automotive/VaultTecVan_PreWar_01.nif) into an ambulance, and I've gotten everything nailed down with regard to new textures and material files, but the passenger side of the van isn't picking up the color defined in VaultTecVan_PreWar01b.bgsm. Here's a quick chart of what I found affects what parts and which files;

VaultTecVan_PreWar01a.bgsm	main body sheetmetal		vehicles/automotive/vaulttecvan_prewar01a_d.dds
VaultTecVan_PreWar02a.bgsm	interior sheetmetal, seats, etc	vehicles/automotive/vaulttecvan_prewar02a_d.dds
VaultTecVan_PreWar01a_e.bgsm	exterior chrome trim		vehicles/automotive/vaulttecvan_prewar01a_d.dds
VaultTecVan_PreWar02a_e.bgsm	Forward and upper window frames	vehicles/automotive/vaulttecvan_prewar02a_d.dds
VaultTecVan_PreWar02b_e.bgsm	wheel arches and running boards	vehicles/automotive/vaulttecvan_prewar02a_d.dds
VaultTecVan_PreWar01b.bgsm	logo strip sheetmetal		vehicles/automotive/vaulttecvan_prewar01b_d.dds
VaultTecVanLogo01.bgsm		passenger side logo		Vehicles/Automotive/VaultTecVanLogo01_d.dds
VaultTecVanLogo02.bgsm		driver side logo		Vehicles/Automotive/VaultTecVanLogo02_d.dds
VaultTecVanTires01.bgsm		tire rubber			vehicles/automotive/vaulttecvantires01_d.dds
VaultTecVanTires01_e.bgsm	hubcaps				vehicles/automotive/vaulttecvantires01_d.dds

Now, looking at the mesh in nifscope, there are a set of triangles in the main body BSTriShape (# 22) that cover the 'logo strip' on the passenger side, but not a matching set on the driver's side. The passenger side logo strip BSTriShape is #42 and driver side is #46.

 

I'm *theorizing* that the triangles in #22 are overriding the shape in #42 and drawing it's white texture "on top of" #42's red texture.

 

Would that be the case? If so, how do I get rid of these triangles and eliminate the issue? My little ambulance is looking pretty good except for the screwed up passenger side logo...

 

Could it be something simple that I'm not seeing?

 

 

[montky]

neat stuff! is that the driveable van from the author of Automathrone?

could that be a Bustin' ambulance?

 

I have a 'Misery-Machine" ScoobyDont "league of extraordinarywastelanders" van.

when you combine that with the "Regulators of the Commonwealth" mod,

which lets you have up to 6 squad members who turn up to a flare...

it can be fun stuff.

 

as to texturing,

I think the panel on the other side of the mesh,

you have to set the alpha or opacity to 0,

if you want to see something on that side.

that's like an 'optional default panel'

it is rarely used in game;

some of those 'wrecked vans' in junkyards, are just the same van asset with those panels toggled to 0 opacity.

I think the idea was, to be able to show battle damage or remove parts of the vehicle...

 

you could make the roof 'canvas' textured,

or glass-topped/glass sides too. in some of the beta testing for FO4, there was a van with all glass sides.

 

good luck,

and I hope folks like B2-D-B2, dudepatrick or dread74 are able to more assist

so as you can get your ambulance looking just so in no time.

[mfree80286]

neat stuff! is that the driveable van from the author of Automathrone?

could that be a Bustin' ambulance?

 

Ah, no... it's just a storyline clue, but it's based off a vanilla asset. The problem with the thing... I can see why it either wasn't discovered or wasn't fixed, they only used this van in the game in the intro scenes, and even then the "bad" panel is the same color as the panel that's supposed to cover it. Nobody would have noticed anything wrong.

 

I'll check the opacity settings in the NIF and in the material files. Maybe I can tweak an offset somewhere and get the logo base to supercede the main body.

[RangerDulann]

Got it right the first try:

 

 

 

So, I think you made a mistake somewhere. Typo maybe?

Edited August 16, 2017 by RangerDulann

[RangerDulann]

Did you make a materialswap for both sides?

 

Edited August 16, 2017 by RangerDulann

[mfree80286]

Certainly did. I have material swaps for everything listed in the original post except the tires. Went through and double checked the material files for the logos and made sure that nothing had changed from the vanilla BGSMs except the pointer to the diffuse texture (and checked that the vanilla norm/spec weren't actually in use), then I checked both my logo texture files to make sure the alpha channel was correct and in place, and they were saved DXT5 ARGB with MIPs...

 

Both logos are present, it's just that the passenger side (01) logo decal is white and the background it's drawing is white instead of the desired red. Swapping 1a and 1b BGSMs results in a red ambulance with both decals shown correctly.

 

I think the actual problem is that BSTriShape 37 *only* contains the logo strip for the driver side; there isn't one for the passenger side. I'm going to have to very carefully draw a red stripe down the side of the panel in the 1a texture, and ignore 1b. Which is all well and good because I'm not happy with the shade of red there, a result of changing the color map in order to keep the vanilla contrast details intact...

 

I think Bethesda let this one slip because it's a rarely used object, and in their usage everything is the same color anyways... that there's no 'logo strip' coloration for the passenger side would go unnoticed because the main body shell texture is the same color as their logo strips. I'm changing that color, which is where the problem popped out.

[RangerDulann]

How about making the logo texture solid, no alpha? Just paint the whole thing red and copy paste your logo on it.

 

And are you still using Nvidia's dds plugin? Hasnt been updated for a long while.

I switched to Intel Texture Works.

[mfree80286]

I got it; just set the 1b material to use 1a so the new red stripe on the 1a texture didn't get overdrawn. Logos need tweaking, but that was expected.

 

CK view leaves much to be desired; but the stripe should follow the bodyline that you can't see because CK's rendering suuuuucks.

 

 

[RangerDulann]

Nice! Now we just need a hospital. And paramedics (skeletons).

[mfree80286]

Just to re-iterate for anyone who has a similar issue and comes looking, here's the issue:

 

This material and texture for the pre-war vault-tec van:

VaultTecVan_PreWar01b.bgsm logo strip sheetmetal vehicles/automotive/vaulttecvan_prewar01b_d.dds

 

...is tied to shape #37 in the NIF. #37 ONLY affects the 'logo strip' on the driver's side of the vehicle, and there is no counterpart shape for the passenger side.

 

If changing colors on the prewar van, you must either set the above material to the same as the main body of the vehicle and draw your own strip in the main texture, or copy the texture file (or just the stripe within) from 1a to 1b and follow through with the 1b material file.

 

This all probably happened because the developers pulled the triangles out to a separate shape on one side, neglected the other, and realized it made no difference anyways as their displayed vans were a solid color. Since they were on display such a short time in the vanilla game, there wouldn't be a real need to correct the issue.