Joshawowo

Wow that sucks. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one having this problem (even though I wish we didn't). Anyone else having problems or have any idea why this would be happening? I hate when updates are more harmful than helpful... really frustrating.

So, I was about to create a topic about how my game crashes to desktop every time I try to load up a game, but fortunately after fiddling with it for awhile I realized it some of my mods causing it to crash. I have a LOT of mods downloaded, and was very afraid that something like this would happen... It took awhile of turning mods on and off to figure out which ones were causing my crashes, but I was finally able to narrow it down to a few: Sounds of Skyrim - The Wilds Sounds of Skyrim - The Dungeons Deus Mons Haven -Player Home- Moonpath to Elsweyr Actually in the case of Moonpath to Elsweyr, I actually had problems with it about a month ago causing my game to not run, so I had to unsubscribe to it on steam back then. I tried downloading the new version off Nexus, but that's also causing CTD for me. So, on one hand I'm relieved that I at least found the problems as to why my game was crashing, but I'm still just not sure why. I suppose I could contact the mod authors individually, but at least in the case of Sounds of Skyrim I think others have reported it to the author. So does anyone have any idea as to why these mods aren't working all of a sudden? For now I'll play without them, but I'm bummed because I never actually got to visit Deus Mons or Haven yet. Update: Ranger Ridge seems to be giving me problems too. Hopefully that's the last mod that's been giving me issues, and I'll at least be able to play again... anyone else experiencing problems with these mods or have any idea of what it could be?

Yeah I'm having the bad feeling that there may, in fact, not be a solution to the issues. I'm kind of bummed, because I feel like my mod could've been a great idea if it didn't come with a whole bunch of glitches. I may just have to leave it as is, and just let people use it if they can look past the graphical glitches. This thread post (and I made a post on the Nifskope forums) is kind of my last effort and figuring out the problems, before walking away and moving on. Thank you for your response, and excellent mod btw, your shield is actually what made me use those settings (not initially realizing the shadow glitch, but personally it doesn't bother me that much on the shield). I'll probably just revert the armor back to normal, but keep the weapons and shield with the new settings. I'm gonna wait and see if I can get some more feedback from people saying which they like and don't like.

So I've been working on a few mods over the past few weeks which are supposed to give glass weapons and armor a more realistic transparency than what I've previously seen from transparency mods. I've been able to get a look that I like, but they've come with a few graphical glitches that I haven't been able to figure out, and have prevented my mod from being as good as it can be. Here's the links to my mods: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=9892 http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=10751 In the first version, the weapons and shield (and armor to a less noticeable extent) had the right transparency that I wanted, but had some lighting errors. When outdoors, they would appear to be in full sunlight, even if they were under shade. Indoors, they wouldn't be affected by certain lights such as fire. Here's an example: http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/10751-1-1330478460.jpghttp://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/9892-1-1330477394.jpg As the pictures demonstrate, I was able to find a solution to the problem. I'll backtrack and explain what settings I've used. The first version simply added a NiAlphaProperty to the mesh and used a flag setting of 237 and a threshold of 0 (and added a specific alpha channel to the texture of course). Then, yesterday actually, I came across a mod that seemed to have better results than me, so I tried those settings. The changes were this: I changed the NiAlphaProperty to a flag setting of 4845 and threshold of 128, then in the Shader Flags 2 under BSLightingShaderProperties, I added SF_7. At first glance this seemed to fix the issue, but actually it just gave it another issue, possibly even a worse one. Now, apparently shadows that are behind your character (when viewed in 3rd person) showed up ON your character. It's hard to explain, or even show in screenshots (it looks much worse in motion), but here's a shot showing what I mean: http://i.imgur.com/jnByK.jpg Oh, and in both versions, your character doesn't cast shadows anymore :/ Personally, on the weapons and the shield it doesn't bother me much, but it looks ridiculous on the armor. I've been trying to fiddle around with various settings in Nifskope, trying different SF_# combos, trying a few different AlphaProperty's, but haven't ran into any luck. To be perfectly honest, I'm rather new to 3D in general, and have 0 knowledge of how shaders are written or work etc. I'm hoping that anyone with a better understanding of how this works can help me. If anyone has any suggestions, or needs any more information on what settings I'm using, please let me know! I leave you with a picture of me trying to figure out Nifskope: http://img.anongallery.org/img/4/1/i-have-no-idea-what-im-doing-dog.jpg

Sounds good, thank you for letting me know. I know most about 3ds Max, but still not enough as I'd like, so I'll keep working at it and figure out how to do what I need to do. Thanks!

Hey Skyrim modders, I have a question that hopefully someone would be able to help with. I'll try to word it in the best way that I can. What I want to be able to do is take an object in nifskope, lets say gauntlets_0.nif, which is all one NiTriShape, and break it up into 2 smaller NiTriShapes. For instance, most weapons do this, the blade is one NiTriShape and the hilt is another. Is this something that is possible to do? If so, does anyone know how? Is this something that would be done in NifSkope, or in something like 3ds Max? Thanks!

Thanks for the comments everyone. Yeah I've always thought it was strange that a weapon (or armor) would be made out of glass, but I just rationalized it that it's some fantasy glass that's much more durable than glass as we know it. *shrug* By the way, got some new pictures. 2 Variants on my glass armor mod, Morrowind-like textures (by JESSETIN3), and a Killer Keo's Skimpy Armor version. Check it out: http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/10751-3-1329941386.jpg http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/9892-1-1329941754.jpg http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/10751-1-1330021902.jpg Downloads are in the optional section. Enjoy!

UPDATE: "REAL Glass Armor and Shields with realistic transparency" has been released! Download it here: My linkhttp://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=10751 Some images: http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/10751-1-1329870139.jpg http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/10751-4-1329870141.jpg http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/10751-1-1329870155.jpg I also added a bow to my Real Glass Weapons mod: http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/9892-2-1329874637.jpg Enjoy!

Thanks Lovis! Glad you like it. I wish I was good at writing shaders, but unfortunately that's a bit out of my skill range at the moment. I'm hoping I'll learn more about it, and then can add a nice finishing touch to the weapons, I agree that would be awesome.

Hey all, I've been posting on this forum getting some feedback and help for the mods I've been working on. Well, after a lot of learning and work, I've finished the mods I've been working on. Please take the time to check them out! REAL Glass Weapons with realistic transparency http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/9892-1-1329374425.jpghttp://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/9892-3-1329374497.jpghttp://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/9892-2-1329374527.jpg Icy Chillrend with transparency http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/9705-2-1329276033.jpghttp://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/9705-3-1329276034.jpg Any feedback or suggestions would be appreciated. I consider these both works in progress, and plan to update them as much as I can. I also plan on releasing a real glass armor mod sometime next week. Thanks, and enjoy!

Thanks for the advice Jakisthe, unfortunately modifying the actual mesh of the object is still a bit out of my skill range at the moment, but I definitely agree that it would be cool to change the tip to further differentiate it from the default glass sword. When I get better at 3D modeling and whatnot I'll probably revisit this and see what I can do with it. In the meantime, I decided to go ahead and share my blade on the Nexus! Here's the link if anyone's curious in getting it: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=9705 Enjoy!

So I played around with transparency for a bit, and think I finally found a look that I like. I didn't want the entire blade to be the same transparency, so it was a bit tricky to get a good look. The only problem is that it looks better in certain lighting situations than others, but really I think it looks good 90% of the time, and that's good enough for me. It mainly just looks weird if it's in full blast sunlight, or a in a completely dark room. I think the transparency makes it bit more "special" looking, since that's not something you see much in the game. Take a look and let me know what you think! I'll most likely release it on the Nexus and see how the downloads go. Enjoy! http://i.imgur.com/SCHON.jpg http://i.imgur.com/uKYqh.jpg http://i.imgur.com/QA2b6.jpg http://i.imgur.com/XJsEy.jpg

No worries, there's a fix for this. Check out post #13 here: http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/555176-bethesda-hd-pack-override/page__st__10 Or check out Gophers's video explaining the process: Good luck!

I like your idea! I will definitely try smoothing out the normals a bit more than I have here (I think I went a little overboard on it..), and I'll take another stab at transparency. I'll post an update when I've got one (either later tonight or sometime tomorrow).

Hey all, I've been wanting to get into modding for awhile, so I decided a good first project would be to retexture the Chillrend blade. In the vanilla game, the Chillrend blade just looks like a glass sword, except blue instead of green. I decided maybe it would look cooler if it actually had sort of an icy look to it, so that's what I wanted to do. Along the way I decided to get rid of some detail like the part going down the middle of the blade (haven't decided if that was a good idea or not, I just wanted to differentiate it as much as I could). Here's where I'm at right now: http://i.imgur.com/led9v.jpg http://i.imgur.com/6aj3d.jpg So I liked it when I was working on it, but when I went back and look at the original I feel like I missed the mark a little bit, as I'm not really sure I made it more like actually "ice". I feel like now it's maybe just kinda grungy looking. But I'm not sure, maybe I've been looking at it too long, so I could use some second opinions. I'm not very experienced at making new normal maps, so that could be part of the problem. Also, I'm considering playing around with transparency, like making the blade (or maybe just parts of the blade) slightly see-through, like 80%. I played around with it and I know how to do it now, but haven't tried it enough to get a result that I liked. Figured I'd stick with just the texture and normal for now. So let me know if anyone has some suggestions or advice or anything. If anyone likes it, I'd be happy to release it, even if it's not 100% quite yet. Thanks!

So I know this is an old topic, but I noticed the same thing, both on my Chillrend and on my glass swords (though they're less noticeable). Haven't checked every other sword, but definitely it happens on those 2. Haven't found any solution, I was just glad that I wasn't the only one with this problem. Just wondering if anyone else has had this problem and if there's any solution? Thanks!

NEW UPDATE: I'm even more confused than before. Before mucking around more with my texture and normal maps, I decided to just make sure even just the regular texture worked. I deleted my new mesh and new texture from the data files, booted up the game, and to my surprise.... the seam! It's still there! Even on the regular sword! If I deleted my mesh and texture from the data folders, there's no way it wouldn't revert to the original mesh and texture, right? I tried out a few more swords, and didn't notice anything, but then pulled out the glass sword, and voila, the nasty seam again (albeit slightly less noticeable). Can anyone confirm for me who either owns Chillrend or a Glass Sword in game that you don't (or do) have a black seam when you zoom out into 3rd person? I am using Bethesda's high rez texture pack, I don't know if that would make any difference? (BTW, the seam doesn't show up when you look at it in the inventory). So I'm guessing it must be an issue with the UV's (although I'd feel better knowing it was a universal issue, and not just my issue) in which case it's kind of out of my hands, unless I can somehow manually correct the UV seams, which I feel is a bit out of my skill range. The good news is, knowing my texture wasn't the problem, I can go ahead and complete it how I want it, and get a good normal for it too! So keep an eye out for the mod, I can update in this thread too when I finish it.

Sorry for double post, but I just had a thought. Could this issue have anything to do with the fact that I haven't changed the normal map, and have been using the original? I assumed it would work fine, but I could be wrong. Any ideas would be helpful, thanks! I guess worst case scenario is I might have to make that tiny little area kinda detail-less, and see if that does anything.

Thanks for the reply. The black line does appear right where the sword textures are split on the texture map. Here's a comparison of the original texture with my (unfinished) retexture: http://i.imgur.com/UQcQF.jpg Thing is, I didn't change any of the original UV mapping on it, just the texture. Unless this could've accidentally been changed somehow, not sure though. My only idea is that there's this small blue area around the blade that's blank and I put more detail on there, maybe if I clean that up it'll fix the same, it's worth a shot. And thanks, glad you like the texture! I'm gonna clean it up significantly, it's kinda got a little bit too much going on right now. The screencap I posted is kinda overblown out, which looks nice there, but up close there's a lot of muddy texture I want to fix. Also I'm going to try to make a nice new normal map for it, getting more of an icy shape to it.

Hi all, I'm in the middle of a personal project to retexture the Chillrend sword to have more of an icy look to it, rather than it just being a bluer Glass Sword. I'm very new at modding and 3d in general, though I do have a strong 2d art background. After struggling a bit, I was able to get the new texture in the game (though it's far from done, I'm not happy with it yet.) Unfortunately, there's an ugly black line right through the middle of the blade. It only shows up when you're zoomed out away from it, so it's hard to get a good screencap of it. Here it is anyway: http://i.imgur.com/si1rc.jpg So I would imagine it would have to do something with the new texture that I made for it, but I'm not sure what. I tried to make the texture file as clean as possible. I can post the textures if it would help anyone pinpoint the problem. Being new to this whole process, I don't really immediately know what the problem is, so hopefully some experienced modders would be able to help me out. Thanks!

Hi all, I'm fairly new to modding and have been checking out some tutorials about retexturing. A lot of it makes sense and is straightforward, but I had a few specific questions. Besides just being able to recolor a texture, which is easy, I had a few ideas for projects that would be a good challenging introduction for me. The first is to retexture the sword Chillrend to make it actually look like it's icy or made out of ice, rather than just a bluer glass sword that it already is. I've ran into a few areas where I have questions: 1. I noticed (when checking it out in Nifskope) that the hilt of the sword uses the default glasssword.dds texture rather than the glasssword_chillrend.dds. I could just modify the glasssword.dds to make the hilt dark blue like I want, but obviously that would change all of the glass swords which I don't want... So I figured the solution would be to rewire the hilt to point to the new glasssword_chillrend.dds texture. I haven't actually found a tutorial for this exactly, so I've just been guessing at this point. The good news is that in Nifskope it seems to show up, the hilt does look blue like I want. I saved it out as glasssword_chillrend.nif and put it in the proper data tree folder, booted up Skyrim and unfortunately the hilt is still gold (the correct texture does show up on the blade though, since glasssword_chillrend.dds was in the right spot). Am I doing something wrong? What's the proper step for having a mesh point at a different texture than it was originally and being able to see it in Skyrim? 2. I'm embarrassed to ask this, since it really goes to show how novice I am at 3D stuff... For now I've just been using the default glass sword normal map, which works fine, but I'd imagine ideally I'd want to have a normal that matches up with the sword of icy-ness that I put on the texture. Problem is, I just don't really know how normal maps are generated, at all. Can I take my modified texture and somehow translate that into a normal map? Or does it not work that way? Any help or advice on this would be great. I also had the idea of making the sword look transparent/reflective like it's made out of ice, but I figure that's out of my skill range for now and I'll just stick to textures. So yeah, hopefully someone can help with either of these questions, it would be much appreciated next. After learning how to get Chillrend how I want it to look, I was thinking of taking on a more massive task, such as completely retexturing the Blue Palace in Solitude to make it extravagant and, well, blue.