ImsumDave

tLSotM is one I've started a while back. I have a small start on the high-poly. Burguul Ghaash has a interesting guard and pommel design. I must say that I'm not a fan of the flames on the sheath and handle.

:thumbsup: Good. I usually just manually add the alpha channel so it's saved with my main psd file. You can copy a layer and paste it right into the alpha channel. I will create all my textures in one psd file. I organize them into folders: spec, ref, diff, and norm. I will duplicate and merge the spec group, then paste it into the alpha channel. It's just ctrl+a, ctrl+c, ctrl+v, and a few clicks.

Vote on what weapon you'd like me to make for Skyrim. All weapons are real designs from Fable Blades: links to the individual weapon's webpages in the titles. Note that I'm currently working on Dragon Rend and that I will finish that before starting on anything else. I reserve the right to choose, but I'd like to know what the popular choice is. 1. Foler Frykt http://www.fableblades.com/Photos/FolerFrykt/FolerFrykt%20(12).JPG 2. The Lightning Shadow of the Marsh http://www.fableblades.com/Photos/Assorted/Dadao_0012.jpg 3. Truth (I've already had a bit of a start on this one a while back, but never finished) http://www.fableblades.com/Photos/Truth/Truth%20(4).JPG 4. Burguul Ghaash http://www.fableblades.com/Photos/BurghuulGhaash/Burghuul%20Ghaash%20(1).JPG 5. The Overlord http://www.fableblades.com/Photos/Overlord/Overlord3.JPG 6. Tribute http://www.fableblades.com/Photos/Tribute/Tribute.JPG 7. Blade of Evil's Bane http://www.fableblades.com/Photos/MasterSword/MasterSword10.JPG 8. Sunfang http://www.fableblades.com/Photos/Sunfang/Sunfang%20(1).JPG 9. Something else Tell me what I missed or what else you'd like to see made.

Generally, what I do when exporting is: 1. export and open in Nifskope 2. delete all the material sub-blocks of the NiTriShapes (BSLightingShaderProperty and NiMaterialProperty) 3. paste the NiTriShapes into a previous nif I've made or a vanilla nif 4. paste a BSLightingShaderProperty block onto the NiTriShapes from a previous nif I've made or a vanilla nif 5. change the settings and texture paths of the BSLightingShaderProperty to fit my need I think the 3ds max Niftools plugin that supports Skyrim was a slapdash modification of previous versions for Oblivion. I don't think material export is correctly implemented for Skyrim. EDIT: After re-reading the first post I think I made an incorrect assumption. The normal map looks fine in photoshop, correct? And the normals are screwy in-game? If that's the case, I really do think you're problem has to do with the material export. I recommend rebuilding you materials in Nifskope after export. Delete the exported material blocks and copy/paste the material blocks (BSLightingShaderProperty) from a vanilla nif

Are you using the niftools shader in 3ds max? I would not recommend using it. Unless I'm mistaken, I'm not sure if it was ever made to work for Skyrim nif exports. You may want to check out the niftools forum for a different version of the 3ds max niftools plugin. The version I'm using with 3ds max 2012 only requires that I change "BS Num UV Sets" to 4097 and update tangent space. On my previous computer I had found a version that did not require me doing that, but I could not find it when setting up my new computer. As for the lighting/specular issues, it sounds like the in-game issues are caused by the screwy normal map. The normal map controls the surface normals of the model. If it is inverted and f*#@ed in general, it will make the model look completely wrong. What program are you using to edit you textures?

There is a bit of information on BSEffectShaderProperty in the nifskope interactive help. Check it in the help drop down in Nifskope. I'm not sure how accurate all the info is, but at least it's something. The interactive help can be accessed in a browser, here.

No, I haven't used BSEffectShaderProperty at all up to this point. As for shader property controllers, I was playing around with them a bit in the past. I was trying to make a pulsing glow effect. In fact, the head in my Longclaw mod uses that exact effect. You could take a look at that if you need an example. I can't really explain any of it off the top of my head atm. It's been quite a while since I played around with them. This niftools thread has some useful info.

I was trying to make really minor changes. Recently, I've been organizing the individual files of my mods using numbers preceding the file names. Here are the names I want to change and what I want to them to. 0 ISD Longclaw Silver => 1 ISD Longclaw Silver 2 ISD Longclaw Longer2H => 3 ISD Longclaw Longer2H I just tried to change the background image again. It worked: image changed. I don't know if you did anything, but my thanks if you did.

Here is the file I've not had issues like this previously, at least not that I remember. I've just tried again and the background image still won't change. The file name hasn't updated since I tried to change it yesterday. Thanks for any help with getting this working.

I've been having issues changing file background images and names of files. I mean files in the files tab of a file (mod). I will crop and save a new background image, but the old image will reappear immediately on the next page. I will change the name of a file, the page will reload, and the name will remain as it was before the change. It seems to depend on the file: some names I can change, while others I cannot.

No problem. I made this quite a while ago. I posted it with an incorrect name. This information can be quite hard to find and even harder to figure out for a beginner. I made this as a quick reference. There is quite a bit of information missing. I only included what I know to be correct (ignoring the height map slot). I might add refraction, normal mapping, and parallax mapping information in the future.

Saved for future updates

BSLightingShaderProperty Basics Introductory Information Diffuse Environment/Reflection Specular and Glossiness Glow/Emissive Alpha/Transparency/Opacity Normal Mapping Refraction Parallax MultiLayer Parallax Notes and Miscellaneous Information INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION I've uploaded some files that may be helpful, including a shader showcase nif, and blending and testing nif. They can be found at this link. Nifskope Nifskope is a program that can open, view, and save nif files. The nif file format is the model, or mesh, data storage format used in games that utilize the Gamebryo Engine, formerly Netimmerse, and spin-offs of that, which include all games made by Bethesda Game Studios (BGS), Morrowind on - starting with Skyrim, BGS redubbed their engine Creation Engine. Nif files also commonly contain animation data in various forms, shader and material data, collision information, and other miscellaneous data, such as inventory model preview rotation and zoom. Nifskope includes: an interactive model viewerability to view and edit nif data blocks/nodes via an expandable hierarchy viewanimation previewbsa archive browserability to edit data (grouped in related blocks) stored in the nif, via the block list and block details menusgame-accurate viewport shadersa viewport that changes in realtime to changes made in the nif dataability to view and edit collision informationand more.................... ... .. .​Get Nifskope - Github Niftools/Niskope Releases Page (a more recent dev build can also be found here: https://github.com/jonwd7/nifskope/releases) Learn about niftools here on the Niftools About Shaders In the context of 3d graphics, a shader is a set or sets of predetermined calculations that utilize multiple inputs to generate specific visual outputs to aid in rendering a desired image. The term is general and can cover a range of things. Specific to the case at hand, shaders are used to aid rendering by simulating various materials upon the surfaces of 3d models. BSLightShaderProperty You might be asking what a BSLightingShaderProperty is. It is a data block, or grouping of related data, that exists within a nif file. It contains data that the in-game shaders use to define how the surfaces of a model are rendered (shaded). It is used in Skyrim LE and Skyrim SE. The niftools team, as well as other contributors from the community, have decoded and translated that data so that it can be displayed, understood, and edited in Nifskope, and elsewhere. A quick tip: It is not necessary to build your own BSLightingShaderProperty from scratch. Things are made much easier by copying and pasting a BSLightingShaderProperty from elsewhere before modifying it for your needs. Textures What is a texture? In the context of 3D art, a texture is an image stored in some digital format. These images are a means of storing information that is used in calculations related to a models surface shading. They are inputs to a shader. Direct Draw Surface Image Format Many games utilize the direct draw surface (dds) image format as their texture image format of choice - Skyrim is among those games. The dds format supports storing images in both compressed or uncompressed forms, of which there are various types. Supported types depend on the graphics hardware and its supported DirectX version, as well as the games supported DirectX version. The compressed form uses BCn compression of some type, which type is denoted by the labels BC1 through BC7. More infomation about BCn compression can be found here, in this well written article by Nathan Reed. Shader Inputs A shader will typically utilize more than one texture, as well as other more simply defined inputs, in order to control the resulting output. Utilizing nifskope, we can see and edit these inputs, both in the block details of the BSLightShaderProperty (more simply defined inputs), and by changing the texture paths in the BSShaderTexture set block - which point to textures that can be edited using some other software. The following image shows the block details of a BSLightingShaderProperty, in this case with an Environment Map shader setup, and BSShaderTextureSet, with labeled texture slots. The [RGB] label means red, green, and blue color image channels. The [A] label means alpha image channel. The [bC4] label means high quality grayscale BCn compression type, grayscale image. DIFFUSE What is it? The base color of the models surface. Requirements BSLightingShaderProperty Shader Flags 2 ~ Vertex_Colors ENABLED *only required if you are using vertex colors Appearance Controllers NiTriShapeData / BSTriShape Vertex Colors BSShaderTextureSet Diffuse [RGB] [TEXTURE SLOT 1] ENVIRONMENT / REFLECTION What is it? Simulates the general reflection of the surrounding environment on the models surface. The simulated environment reflections are not necessarily mirror like, although they can be with the right settings and cubemap (environment map). Cubemaps are bre-baked images, six sides of a cubic environment projection stored in one color image. Another common environment map type is a spherical environment map, although I do not believe it is supported in Skyrim. Some games have dynamic cubemap switching, in combination with in-editor area-based auto-baked cubemaps, to enable better accuracy of the reflections to actual in-game environments. Skyrim does not support such a thing, as far as I am aware. Requirements BSLightingShaderProperty Skyrim Shader Type ~ 1 or Environment Map SET Shader Flags 1 ~ Environment_Mapping ENABLED Shader Flags 2 ~ Glow_Map DISABLED ​BSShaderTextureSet Cubemap aka Environment Map [RGB] [TEXTURE SLOT 5] Appearance Controllers BSLightingShaderProperty Environmental Map Scale, unclamped float ​ 1.0 is normal intensity 0.0 is generally lowest intensity, aka off greater than 1.0 is higher intensity, brighter ​BSShaderTextureSet Cubemap aka Environment Map [RGB] [TEXTURE SLOT 5] is generally 6 sides of a cubic environment projection stored in one color image a black pixel is minimum intensity, environment/cube map has no effect in these areas a white pixel is maximum intensity intensity / brightness of cubemap increases as shade approaches white Environment / Reflection Mask [bC4] [TEXTURE SLOT 6] a black pixel is minimum intensity, environment/cube map has no effect in these areas a white pixel is maximum intensity intensity / brightness of cubemap increases as shade approaches white Environment Map Scale Environment/cube map Environment/reflection mask http://i.imgur.com/RX74xjJ.png SPECULAR AND GLOSSINESS What is it? Dynamically simulates highlights from in-game light sources on the models surface. Specular is not required for your model to receive lighting, only (specular) highlights. In Skyrim's case, in-game lights include: the sun, moonlight, torches, fires, lanterns, magical auras, and natural light sources in interiors - in some cases, things that seem like they should emit light do not and are actually just visual effect fakery. Requirements BSLightingShaderProperty Shader Flags 1 ~ Specular ENABLED Appearance Controllers BSLightingShaderProperty Specular Strength 1.0 is normal intensity 0.0 is minimum intensity greater than 1.0 is higher than normal intensity, brighter Specular Color color of the specular highlight Glossiness width of the specular highlight 10 is a wide specular highlight 50 is a thinner specular highlight 100 is an even thinner specular highlight value ranges from 0 to 999 BSShaderTextureSet Grayscale Specular Map [A] [TEXTURE SLOT 2] alpha image channel stored with normal map [RGB] black pixel is minimum intensity, no specular highlight white pixel is maximum intensity, maximum defined by BSLightingShaderProporty "Specular Strength" intensity / brightness increases as shade approaches white Specular strength Specular color Specular map http://i.imgur.com/ovqWo5F.png Glossiness http://i.imgur.com/UCRj5ih.png GLOW / EMISSIVE What is it? Simulates a glowing surface. Does not emit light, simply fakes the look of light emission. Requirements BSLightingShaderProperty Skyrim Shader Type ~ 2 or Glow Shader SET Shader Flags 2 ~ Glow_Map ENABLED Shader Flags 1 ~ Environment_Mapping DISABLED Appearance Controllers BSLightingShaderProperty Emissive Multiple 1.0 is normal intensity 0.0 is minimum intensity, no glow greater than 1.0 is higher than normal intensity, brighter Emissive Color color of glow, color also influenced by emissive / glow map color BSShaderTextureSet Emissive / Glow Map [RGB] [TEXTURE SLOT 3] glow map is generally a color [RGB] image, or can be grayscale black pixel is minimum intensity, no glow white pixel is maximum intensity, maximum defined by BSLightingShaderProporty "Emissive Multiple" Emissive multiple Emissive color Emissive/glow map http://i.imgur.com/vNOVwrY.png ALPHA / TRANSPARENCY / OPACITY What is it? Simulates model surface opacity or transparency - either via on off testing or blending. Testing and blending can be used together or alone. Testing is used in situations where the model's surface is either fully visible or invisible, with no in-between. Blending is most commonly used for surfaces requiring transparency or semi-opacity. Requirements NiAlphaProperty ATTACHED to NiTriShape Flags ~ Enable Blending ENABLED *optional can use testing, blending, or both Source Blend Mode ~ Src Alpha SET Destination Blend Mode ~ Inv Src Alpha SET Flags ~ Enable Testing ENABLED *optional can use testing, blending, or both Alpha Test Function ~ Greater or Equal SET Alpha Test Threshold ~ Some Value Between 0 and 255 SET BSLightingShaderProperty Shader Flags 1 ~ Vertex_Alpha ENABLED *only required if you are using vertex color alphas Shader Flags 2 ~ Vertex_Colors ENABLED *only required if you are using vertex color alphas Appearance Controllers NiAlphaProperty Flags ~ Alpha Test Threshold a setting of 0 results in testing not hiding any area of the model's surface a setting of 127 results in any area of the model's surface that has an alpha value below 127 being invisible a setting of 255 results in any area of the model's surface that has an alpha value below 255 being invisible BSLightingShaderProperty Alpha 1.0 is fully visible, opaque 0.0 is fully transparent, invisible BSShaderTextureSet Alpha / Transparency / Opacity [A] [TEXTURE SLOT 1] black is fully transparent, invisible white is fully visible, opaque visibility decrease as shade approaches black NiTriShapeData Vertex Colors Alpha only alpha channel has an effect Alpha Transparency map http://i.imgur.com/ZrT7mVO.png Blend Modes and NiAlphaProperty Settings The NiAlphaProperty node allows for more blending techniques than just transparency, such as additive, multiplicative, and overlay (combination of additive multiplicative). These blend modes may or may not make use of the alpha channel of the model. Some use the destination (background) alpha. Some use the destination color. Some use the source (model's surface) alpha. Some use the source color. NiAlphaProperty Settings - in the below image "2x Multiplicative" is the term used for overlay blending http://i.imgur.com/QlE7LgX.png Color Blending Color Blending Equation (Source * SourceBlendFactor) + (Destination * DestinationBlendFactor) :: applied per channel (red, green, blue), per pixel for each channel (red, green, blue) "Source" is the normalized channel value of the model surface materials in that pixel "SourceBlendFactor" is the normalized multiplication factor applied to the source value "Destination" is the normalized channel value of the background in that pixel "DestinationBlendFactor" is the normalized multiplication factor applied to the destination value Blend Factors One - multiply by one Zero - multiply by zero Src Color - multiply by "Source" color value Inv Src Color - multiply by inverse "Source" color value Dst Color - multiply by "Destination" color value Inv Dst Color - multiply by inverse "Destination" color value Src Alpha - multiply by value of the model's (Source) alpha channels (diffuse and vertex colors) present at that pixel Inv Src Alpha - multiply by inverse value of the model's (Source) alpha channels (diffuses and vertex colors) present at that pixel Dst Alpha - multiply by value of the background's combined alpha channels (diffuse and vertex colors) present at that pixel Inv Dst Alpha - multiply by inverse value of the background's combined alpha channels (diffuse and vertex colors) present at that pixel NORMAL MAP What is it? A texture in which data is encoded that is used to bias the lighting on, or shading of, the model's surface. It is used to fake the shape and complexity of a models surface. There are a few types, the type used in Skyrim is tangent-space normal mapping. Requirements NiTriShapeData / BSTriShape BS Vector Flags ~ Has_UV *in some versions of nifskope this does not exist, instead set BS Data Flags to 4097 BS Vector Flags ~ Has_Tangents *in some versions of nifskope this does not exist, instead set BS Data Flags to 4097 Has Normals ~ YES BSShaderTextureSet Normal Map [RGB] [TEXTURE SLOT 2] Appearance Controllers NiTriShapeData / BSTriShape Model's Surface Normals BSShaderTextureSet Normal Map [RGB] [TEXTURE SLOT 2] REFRACTION What is it? Simulates image distortion due to refraction of light through a surface. Objects behind the model will be distorted depending on the shader settings used. Requirements BSLightingShaderProperty Shader Flags 1 ~ Refraction ENABLED Appearance Controllers NiTriShapeData / BSTriShape Model's Surface Normals Vertex Colors Alpha Alpha channel of vertex colors controls transparency without the need for a NiAlphaProperty BSLightingShaderProperty Refraction Strength 1.0 is maximum intensity, most extreme distortion 0.0 is minimum intensity, no distortion BSShaderTextureSet Normal Map [RGB] [TEXTURE SLOT 2] PARALLAX What is it? Simulates height variation on the model's surface. Fairly resource intensive, but also more realistic than normal mapping. Parallax mapping fakes surface deformation. Requirements ENB required to function properly! BSLightingShaderProperty Skyrim Shader Type ~ 3 or Heightmap SET Shader Flags 1 ~ Parallax ENABLED Appearance Controllers BSShaderTextureSet Height / Parallax [bC4] [TEXTURE SLOT 4] height / parallax map is a grayscale image mid gray (RGB, 127, 127, 127) is zero depth and height black pixel is maximum depth white pixel is maximum height MULTILAYER PARALLAX What is it? Simulates an inner layer under the model's surface, optionally simulates refraction of that inner layer as well. Requirements MultiLayer Parallax Shader Does Not Require NiAlphaProperty! BSLightingShaderProperty Skyrim Shader Type ~ 11 or MultiLayer Parallax SET Shader Flags 2 ~ Multi_Layer_Parallax ENABLED Appearance Controllers Environment map and specular / glossiness have no effect on the inner layer! BSLightingShaderProperty Parallax Inner Layer Thickness controls inner layer max depth depth increases as value increases Parallax Refraction Scale deforms the inner layer based on outer layer normal map detail, viewing angle, and inner layer depth refraction intensity increases as value increases (maybe?) max is 1 Parallax Inner Layer Texture Scale inner layer diffuse tiling density of tiling increases as values increase (x and y) x and y control the axis of tiling Parallax Envmap Strength outer layer environment map intensity increases as value increases BSShaderTextureSet Diffuse [RGB] [TEXTURE SLOT 1] Alpha / Transparency / Opacity [A] [TEXTURE SLOT 1] viewing angle affects transparency viewing the surface at a steeper angle increases opacity black is almost completely transparent (see above) white is opaque Subsurface Color [RGB] [TEXTURE SLOT 3] used to fake subsurface scattering Inner Layer Diffuse [RGB] [TEXTURE SLOT 7] inner layer diffuse is the diffuse texture of the inner layer Inner Layer Depth [A] [TEXTURE SLOT 7] inner layer depth is a grayscale image controls the depth of the inner layer from the outer layer black is minimum depth (inner layer distance from outer layer is 0) white is maximum depth (inner layer distance from outer layer is max) NOTES AND MISCELANEOUS INFORMATION DDS image format as it pertains to Skyrim MIP Mapping Always generate MIP maps when saving a DDS image for use in Skyrim. Saving a DDS image without MIP maps has been known to cause lag on asset load (ex. pause when swapping weapons). Google MIP mapping if you'd like the details about what it is and what it does. DXT compression (DXT1, DXT3, DXT5) - Alternate BCn Compression Labels DXT1, DXT3, and DXT5 all use the same compression method for the RGB image channels. The difference between them comes from how the alpha image channel is compressed. DXT compression can (will) cause artifacts in the texture, especially in areas with gradients. The benefit of compressed textures is the smaller size on disk and in RAM. DXT1 – no alpha DXT3 – explicit alpha DXT5 – interpolated alpha Uncompressed (8.8.8.8 ARGB, 8.8.8 RGB) Uncompressed dds images are quite large (space on disk and in RAM) compared to those saved with DXT compression. The benefit of uncompressed textures is the lack of compression artifacts. This can be important when artifacts are noticeable in-game. **if textures are too large, this can cause lag on asset load, especially with slower computers http://i.imgur.com/9i73dwu.gif (ignore gif compression, small specks in RGB images) Layering Incompatibility between some effects can be worked around by layering meshes (NiTriShape). For example, for glow shader and environment map, one NiTriShape will have a BSLightingShaderProperty set up for environment mapping, while another will be set up for glow. The glow NiTriShape will use alpha transparency to hide all areas that do not have the glow effect. The glow map can be used for the transparency map in diffuse alpha image channel. This workaround can be used in many different ways, be creative.

Odd. It works now.

I can't set a hot files image for this mod here. After selecting, cropping, and saving, the image always ends up as a blank black box. I also tested this on one of my older mods, Longclaw. The same thing happens. Known issue or is it just me?

The weapon rack script uses the weapontype keyword associated with the weapon to determine where the weapon is placed or if it's placeable at all on that rack type. First check that you have a keyword associated with your weapons and whether adding one fixes the issue or not. If that doesn't work In the past, I've had issues with weapons being misplaced on racks or plaques. I had to recreate all elements of the weapon CK side (1stpersonXXXX entry, and weapon entry) to get them to place correctly. There may be an easier way, but that's one solution I've found. EDIT: Didn't see the date on the first post: wow, this is old. Oh well, still useful info for anyone looking for a solution.

I tried changing effect02 to a visualeffect and setting it's property value to ISDLongclawSummonFX, which links to the SummonTargetFX art object. Again, it didn't play. The visualeffect will play if applied as effect01 to the wolf. A visualeffect should be different than a effectshader, and therefore should get around any issue with playing two effectshaders at once. Good idea by the way, the effect looks like it should work well for my purposes. I also tried stopping effect01 before playing effect02, but that was not successful: the effectshader/visualeffect still wouldn't play. Thanks, for the help. Maybe there is something fiddly I have to change. I'll keep trying things. EDIT: I added a wait after the actor is moved to the wolf. The visualeffect now plays, but not in the right order.

Beginner scripter here. I'm trying to make an effectshader play on an actor after or before moving that actor into the vicinity of the player. The issue is with effectshader effect02. The effectshader effect01 plays with no issues. For reference, akcaster is a wolf and attackerRefActor is a Khajiit. Does anyone see anything that would cause an issue with the effectshader effect02? Also, does anyone know of a good effect that would fit an actor warping or teleporting in? It doesn't have to be a specific effectshader, just an effect you remember seeing while playing Skyrim. Scriptname ISDLongclawWOlfKillTriggerSCRIPT extends ActiveMagicEffect Actor property attackerRefActor auto EffectShader property effect01 auto EffectShader property effect02 auto Sound Property SFX02 Auto Event OnEffectFinish(Actor akTarget, Actor akCaster) if (attackerRefActor.IsDead() == false && akCaster.IsDead() == true && akCaster.GetKiller() == Game.GetPlayer()) effect01.Play(akCaster, 10.0) utility.wait(1.5) akCaster.Disable(true) attackerRefActor.MoveTo(akCaster) effect02.Play(attackerRefActor, 10.0) endIf endEvent

I can help with modeling and texturing. I don't have a huge amount of time at the moment, but I can help wherever possible. Best to give me a low priority job. What are the texture size and model tri/ploy count limits? I know it will be dependent on the object (ex. building vs. weapon), but have there been any general guidelines set?

Looks very nice. It's definitely unique. I agree about animations for Skyrim within nifskope, it's definitely not user friendly. The results can be cool, but it is questionable whether it's worth the effort sometimes. I've only played around with it a bit myself. I would love to have the files. You can email me at my name @live.com. You should be able to send them as a 7zip or RAR file. Or you could send it over a file sharing site, like mediafire. Any way you want to do it, I'm interested in cracking open the files and slurping up the tasty infos inside. :psyduck: If I use them in any way I will credit you accordingly.

Yes, there are a couple of Longclaws up on the Nexus. My version is not the usual design featured in the show. It's interesting the solution you two came up with for the implementation of one handed and two handed options. I wish Skyrim would have had a similar system from the start. Similar to Dark Souls, where you switch between wielding weapons with one or two hands at the press of a button. WIP03 - texture progress - Skyrim http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/images/4235514-1368128843.png Things to finish - textures :: I'm still working on the textures. I may need to soften up the blade fuller edges. I play skyrim in 720p with 4x AA and I can see some jaggies (not seen in this image) along the edges, no doubt enhanced by the reflective material as well. - change blade model to try to avoid ugliness from dds normal map compression artifacts and highly reflective material, the bane of my existence :: I was not aware of the ARGB 8.8.8.8 option for the dds image format. I am very happy that I've found it. An ARGB 8.8.8.8 dds texture of 2048x2048 resolution takes up the same amount of memory as a DXT5 dds texture of 4096x4096 resolution, but the ARGB 8.8.8.8 dds texture is of better quality and has no compression artifacts. - add glow effect to the eyes of the wolf's head pommel :: no longer doing this EDIT: the new bane of my existence is the nexus-forum-post-html-glitch.

Is it similar to the draugr eye effect or some other vanilla effect? I've been looking into it myself because it didn't seem like you were going to reply back. My best guess was that the draugr eye effect was your base for the effect. I long while back, I wanted to use the draugr eye effect as a trail on the tip of a blade. I gave up on it pretty quick because I had no idea if it was doable and I eventually forgot about it. I'll keep playing around with things. See if I get somewhere.

I've had CTDs from bad nif files in the past. I had to completely recreate a few weapon nifs due to some unknown issue causing a CTD upon model load. I believe armors display their ground nif in the inventory/crafting menu model viewer. There may be a problem with the weighted-on-character-nif. If you made any changes to these nifs just completely recreate them, making the same changes as you did before.

Reference image http://www.fableblades.com/Photos/Longclaw/Longclaw9.JPGOther images WIP01 lowpoly with normal maps http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/images/4235514-1367722580.png WIP02 - textures in Skyrim http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/images/4235514-1367782321.png WIP02 - textures in Marmoset Toolbag http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/126/3/8/longclaw___wip_1___marmoset_render_by_ltd4ve-d64ebrw.png Things to finish - textures - change blade model to try to avoid ugliness from dds normal map compression artifacts and highly reflective material, the bane of my existence - add glow effect to the eyes of the wolf's head pommel

4k normal maps: maybe. 4k diffuse or environment mask: maybe. I might as well say, for those that may stubble of this thread later, that texture resolution and quality is not directly related to screen resolution. 4k, in terms of textures, means that the pixel resolution of the textures is 4096x4096pixels. 4k textures contain 4 times more pixels than 2k (2048x2048pixels) textures. If you have a 2k monitor, it will have a certain resolution, usually 1080p or 1920x1080pixels. A model will have a set of textures applied to it, each texture having a certain resolution. The polygons, that are the base element of a model, will have a certain region of those textures assigned to it through texel/UV coordinates. A model will quite often have a front and a back, and a few or many intricacies: each part made up of polygons. You can't see all sides and intricacies of a model at once, meaning that all pixels of a texture will not be displayed at any one time. The area of the screen the model occupies, the amount pixels in that area, the amount of pixels in the area of the model being displayed, and the texture filtering setting, all play a role is determining whether a 4k texture is beneficial or not. 4k textures, that are not just upscaled textures, would look better than 2k textures. But how much better would they look? Probably not that much better, however, it's all relative and dependent on what I listed above. Also, there is the added element of dds (image format of textures in Skyrim) image compression and the artifacts that come with it. Like most things, it is more complicated than it may seem at first. If you have the hard drive space, computer power, and a source of quality 4k textures, then I say go for 'em; it couldn't hurt.