Help modifying .nif geometry

[xoham]

I'm trying to take out the central pillar a the top of the Kingsport lighthouse. I used the latest nifskope and Blender. The import to Blender issued several errors and did not show any textures. The import to Nifskope seems to have failed entirely.

 

Can someone point me to documents or videos that explain how to do this kind of work? In this case I am modifying the base game geometry, not making a copy. I need the central pillar gone so I can put in a spinning light (which I have somewhat working).

[niston]

Import to NIFskope? Why? You can just open the NIF with NIFskope.

You can also remove TriShapes, but you won't be able to rework collision w/ NIFskope.

 

Interested in your spinning light btw. Perhaps it can work together with the effect used in https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/23767

That one can be seen from across the map, but it doesnt look very good up close.

[YouDoNotKnowMyName]

Interested in your spinning light btw. Perhaps it can work together with the effect used in https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/23767

That one can be seen from across the map, but it doesnt look very good up close.

That link does not work ...

[niston]

Yeah hmmm... there's some extra junk at the end of the link. This one should work right https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/23767

If not, the Mod is called "Functional Kingsport Lighthouse".

[xoham]

That mod just turns on the glow from the glowing ghoul that was there before. Tried it.

 

I imported the .obj back to Nifskope to save as .nif. Can Blender save as .nif directly? Also there's the problem of the import of the .nif listing all sorts of errors. Is there an older version of Blender more suited to this task?

 

I don't think I even need to modify the object, just the collision so my light can get through.

[niston]

You probably looked at another mod. The one I linked uses Lighthouse01WindowGlow [sTAT:0018EDBC], defaultLightCool03NS [LIGH:0008E797] and a Lightbox.

 

Anyways, no I misunderstood and thought you wanted to import a NIF into Nifskope. But if you export from blender as OBJ, then of course you are right about importing the OBJ into NIFSkope.

 

You cannot rework Collision with anything but 3DSMax 2013 and a special export plugin that work with this particular version of 3DSMax only. But I doubt that collision blocks your light. Does the column thing use a doublesided texture by chance?

[xoham]

The column does indeed have a doublesided texture (inside and out). You can see it in the creation kit.

Does that mean if I new how to UV map, I could remove the map for that surface and light would go through?

Thanks.

[niston]

I suspect that all you have to do is:

 

- create a copy of the material file used for the column

- edit that copy, so that the material is not doublesided anymore.

- create a Matswap to use the edited material file and apply that to the column

 

Do you know how to find the BGSM file for the column ?

[xoham]

I don't know what a BGSM file is. I have the BSA extractor and I imagine I can get the texture files (.dds?) out of there that it references. If that's not what you're talking about then I don't know.

[niston]

BGSM are material files. They reference textures (d/n/s) and define other properties (Specular, Smoothness, etc) .

 

In NifSkope, if you select a TriShape and then expand the Node below (such as BSLightingShaderProperty), it'll show you a path like C:\Projects\Fallout4\Build\PC\Data\materials\Interiors\Utility\ConcreteElevatorWall01.BGSM.

If you can't find a path for a BGSM file that way, try browsing through the "Strings" entry on the "Header" tab in NifSkope, as it really depends on the NIF in question. And some NIFs don't use Material files at all.

But if you find the BGSM file name, you can then use BSA Browser to search for the file from this path (ConcreteElevatorWall01.BGSM here) in Fallout4 - Materials.BA2 archive. Extract it to some folder.

 

There is a tool called Material Editor, which lets you open the BGSM file and make edits to it. -> https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/3635

If you open the BGSM in Material Editor, you'll see on tab "General" the checkbox "Two Sided". Adjust it, then save the Material File under a different name, perhaps something like ConcreteElevatorWall01-DS.BGSM.

Im using this example because thats what I just did the other day, turned the ConcreteElevatorWall01 into a two sided material because I don't want the skylight to shine into an elevator shaft. So I found, extracted and loaded the BGSM and checked the "Two Sided" checkbox. You'll want to do the opposite for the column (ie, uncheck the Two Sided checkbox). Finally, create a folder like Data\materials\<yourmodnamegoeshere> and put/save your edited BGSM file there. Best to do this under a different name than the original so, you can easily tell them apart.

 

You can then create a Matswap in CK, replacing ConcreteElevatorWall01.BGSM with ConcreteElevatorWall01-DS.BGSM. Applying that matswap to anything that uses ConcreteElevatorWall01 will make that object use your edited version of the Material instead of the original one. You can apply them to references (under the "Extra" tab) or to Base Objects (in the window where you select the NIF for the base object).