thePhilanthropy

DISCLAIMER: I may come across as arrogant. But I'm really not. Just tired. Just wanting SOME validation. Or not. Idk, f***... Hi, I did some ALIEN/predator stuff years ago. I no longer feel like I will ever finish those projects in particular. Because live gets in the way, doesn't it? Anyway, I got a lot of requests (in SOME round-about way or another) to please just finish my f***ing xenomorph stuff over the years. Well, I can't. Or I won't. No difference, really. Point is, I don't have that freedom any more. The freedom to sit there, working on a mod for 12 hours straight. It's gone, done away with. Dead. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Just fell victim to a different set of priorities. That's just reality. But I don't want the effort I once spent to be completely wasted and forgotten about, So if any of you are at all interested in this type of mod, here's the deal (http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/24197/?tab=1&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Foblivion%2Fajax%2Fmoddescription%2F%3Fid%3D24197%26preview%3D&pUp=1) What I would like to see is either some ridiculous amount of enthusiasm (unlikely) or some person interested in taking over for me. Someone willing to host my old files and do their own thing with it. I just don't want my old files to waste away. Thanks, The Philanthropy

Damn. I preordered the game more than a month ago online. Now I got this mail: Translated by me: ONE WEEK?! I preorder the game and get it one week later? Shiiiiiiieeeet. Now what? I was so excited to play this today. Now I gotta avoid spoilers for more than seven days. Thanks, Bethesda. Great job. Urgh. Does anyone else have this problem?

there's no need to mess with the shaders themselves. So your new mesh is using the same texture as the lower body mesh. And you can't really change that if you want to use the skin shader. That's not such a big deal really. All you need to do is have your new mesh occupy part of the UV-map that is not occupied by the lower body. And then you retexture the texture for the lower body accordingly. This, of course means that you need to know how to edit UV-maps. But that's easier and less incompatibility-prone as changing shaders (with no clear goal in sight, anyway).

i understand the problem. As it turns out the Oblivion engine handles some materials and meshes in a way that makes the life of a modder so much harder. E.g. body meshes. The texture path is somewhat irrelevant, as long as the niTriShape/Strips has the right name or material. Consider the different head meshes. They don't use the skin material (I think), but appear much the same. Try this: - extract (with OBMM) and open (with nifskope) headhuman.nif - copy the material from the niTriShape to your mesh. if that still doesn't work, try to find a list of all the Oblivion shaders (google it). Try them out. If that doesn't help, try to change the way you apprach the issue. actually I don't think that's gonna work as intended, but it's definitely worth a shot. also, it would be great if you could elaborate on what exactly you're trying to do: what are "characters models"`? Do you mean the the body meshes? and you want them to use different textures? or what? be more (very) specific.

i do see a difference, but it's too small to really say what exactly it is. maybe I'm just too tired or my monitor sucks, but: Can you show us some examples for another mesh? you know, a normal map with more stuff going on than a simple skin texture? maybe some ornaments or weapons? much appreciated

eh?! what does the poll have to do with anything? anyway, you may wanna check these out: how to make an OMOD OMOD to OMOD-ready

here's how I did it in 3ds Max: 1. import skeleton 2. import nif 3. delete useless copies (just one mesh left) 4. deform the mesh to fit the skeleton 5. resetXForm on the mesh 6. add Skin Modifier to the mesh 7. add bones to the Skin Modifier 8. weight-paint/blend the weights until the mesh deforms OK (when rotating bones) 9. export the mesh as nif 10. open the nif in nifskope and fix materials, textures, names, etc... 11. save the procedure should be basically the same for blender.

you simply copy the skin modifier from one mesh to the other. Simple as that.

sounds like a skinning issue. can you post a screenshot?

there you go: download

yes. Here's what you do: 1. load the mesh in blender 2. delete copies (delete everything except your mesh) 3. reset xForm (freeze transform) on your mesh (as explained above) 4. import the skeleton.nif 5. weight-paint the mesh to the armature (parent it if Blender needs that) 6. select ONLY your mesh 7. export the selection as nif If that doesn't help, send the file again and I'll fix it for you.

it's probably the alpha channel of the normal map that's causing the problem. It functions as a specularity map. White = very reflective, black = non reflective. crazybump probably generates a new one that doesn't work well with Oblivion (I haven't used the program, though.) just use Photoshop or Gimp (free) to copy the alpha channel from the originals into your new normal maps. Also make sure to use the correct compression format when exporting to dds. If the alpha channel is smooth with gradients, use DXT5 (interpolated alhpa). if it's monochrome (black OR white), use DXT1 (with 1 bit alpha). If the original has no alpha channel, use DXT1 (without alpha). this only applies to normal maps, of course. If a common texture (= color map) has an alpha channel, it's probably only for opacity. Don't edit that one. hope that helps. I don't think that's a good idea. I mean, ALL of them? Even textures for very small objects (like rings, amulets, etc)? On those objects you will have a hard time seeing the difference between a 256x256 and a 2048x2048. It's a waste of VRam. You can, of course, paint them at such a big resolution. But please resize the textures to something reasonable before exporting. 90% of the time 1024 is just as good as 2048, provided you're a good texture artist. To rattle off the old double-entendre: "It's not the size that matters, it's how you use it."

have you tried each one several times over without resetting anything? I don't see why this doesn't work. I've written scripts that do exactly this several times already. Can you upload the esp somewhere? Maybe it's not the script after all?

try this: scn EquipArgonianLeatherTail ref tempRef begin OnEquip set tempRef to getcontainer if tempRef.GetIsRace "Argonian" == 1 tempRef.additem argonianleathertailarmour 1 message " " message " " tempRef.equipitem argonianleathertailarmour 0 endif end begin OnUnequip set tempRef to getcontainer if tempRef.GetIsRace "Argonian" == 1 tempRef.unequipitem argonianleathertailarmour 0 message " " message " " tempRef.removeitem argonianleathertailarmour 1 endif end didn't work? then try this one SEVERAL times: scn EquipArgonianLeatherTail ref tempRef begin OnEquip set tempRef to getcontainer if tempRef.GetIsRace "Argonian" == 1 tempRef.additem argonianleathertailarmour 1 message " " message " " tempRef.equipitem argonianleathertailarmour 0 endif end begin OnUnequip set tempRef to getcontainer if tempRef.GetIsRace "Argonian" == 1 tempRef.unequipitem argonianleathertailarmour 0 message " " message " " endif end still nothing? also repeatedly. scn EquipArgonianLeatherTail ref tempRef begin OnEquip set tempRef to getcontainer tempRef.additem argonianleathertailarmour 1 message " " message " " tempRef.equipitem argonianleathertailarmour 0 end begin OnUnequip set tempRef to getcontainer tempRef.unequipitem argonianleathertailarmour 0 message " " message " " tempRef.removeitem argonianleathertailarmour 1 end Tell me if either of them worked. And if so, which one(s)?

for test purposes, make it race-independent. if that works it means that Right-Wind is not argonian after all. if it doesn't help, read this article: http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/EquipItem i suspect it doesn't work because of the delay issue (mentioned in the article).

it's you. I don't mean that in a negative way. But it seems you will have to research the issue a little bit more. No pain, no gain. I can't help you with Blender. Everything else I have already said. read more tutorials. Go to the blender wiki or the blender community. I also noticed something else about your mesh: there a several meshes inside the nif that are basically copies of each other. you should delete every one except for the one you want to keep. maybe blender is having issues with exporting skin information for those useless copies (but I doubt that's the problem)

I agree with David Brasher. Most likely, the mesh ( = the *.nif file) points to a texture that does not exist in your Oblivion installation. Getting more technical, what is missing is the normal map. 99% of the time a mesh needs a texture PLUS a normal-map to show up correctly ingame. If there's no texture, the model will be invisible or pink ingame. If there is a texture but no normal-map it will show up BLACK. Normal maps can be identified by their file-names. A normal map always has a "_n" suffix (excluding the file extension). e.g.: "textureABC.dds" would be the main texture. It contains the diffuse colors. "textureABC_n.dds" would be the normal-map of the main texture. in your case, it seems like the nif you're using isn't pointing at the correct texture. try this path: textures\characters\argonian\HeadArgonian.dds if your nif file structure is different from what is shown in this image, that could be the problem: http://www.imagebanana.com/img/kjf5jon7/argHead.jpg Gimp and Photoshop have plugins available to generate normal-maps. Just google it ("Gimp DDS plugin" or "Photoshop DDS plugin"). If this is not the problem, and you are 120% sure that the textures are NOT the problem, it could be that your mesh has "vertex coloring" enabled. In that case, which is very unlikely, please provide me (us, the community) with a copy of the nif file and we will be able to fix it in no time.* * again, this scenario is extremely unlikely. Try the normal map stuff first.

very nice worK! however I would urge you to pay extra attention to the mipmaps. Try to make them look as good as possible. Most of the time you will only see the mipmaps of this kind of texture (landscapes and stuff like that). It doesn't matter how good the original texture looks if the mipmaps are a blurry mess. just my 2 cents. Keep it up!

it's the same file as before. Still the same mistakes. read my previous posts again, and read this: http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/Blender/Creature_Meshes_101 just do that tutorial, except that you use the vanilla skeleton and your mesh. don't come back until you do that... just kidding. But try it out, it should clear things up. Good Luck!

the armature is not a mesh. It's a structure made of bones (or nodes). It's not supposed to be part of the mesh. You don't even export it. All you export is the mesh with skin information (= weighted). if you really did weight paint it, all you need to do is export the mesh (and not the armature). EDIT: there really shouldn't be any parenting/linking going on. you don't want the skeleton to be part of the nif. any questions?

ok so I fixed everything so far except the vertex groups. So should I delete my bones that I made. And then select the verticies, add them to a group and then parent that to the skeleton.nif's bones? no you actually weight-paint it (witht some sort of brush) in a 3d application, like Blender or 3ds max. here's what you do (should be the same for every app): (0. start a new scene) 1. import the skeleton (armature in blender). That's the file "skeleton.nif" inside your "oblivion - meshes.bsa". 2. import your mesh 3. play around with the mesh until it fits to the skeleton. Do not touch the skeleton! 4. reset XForm or whatever it's called for your app 5. apply a "skin modifier" to the mesh. This could be called different in blender. Google it. 6. add the bones you want to the skin modifier (should be some sort of list) 7. set or paint the weights for the vertices. 7a. little trick: rotate the bones to see how the mesh deforms. and repeat step 7 until it looks good. Just make sure you have a way to reset the bone to its default rotation (e.g. by setting keyframes) 8. select your mesh and export to nif 9. make sure the nif exported alright (check my earlier post or whatever) 10. test the mesh ingame steps 5-7 are the actual weight-painting. maybe you should read a tutorial or two about it first? setting the weights for each vertex manually (e.g. with nifskope) is possible, but it's too complicated to get any good results that way. Good Luck! EDIT: most of the mistakes you made earlier, should not even happen when you export it to a nif from blender.

OK. Got it. First, let me say this: This is a Poser model, isn't it? I'm very certain of that. You cannot release this as your own work, unless you want to break the law. Now to the nif: Wow, basically everything is messed up. Don't worry. This can be fixed, but it will require you to learn a lot of things. Why isn't the mesh showing up ingame? for several reasons: 1) the structure is wrong. Your nif file is structured like this: NiNode Bip01 -->NiNode Scene Root ----->NiTriStrips Tri Scene Root 0 ----->NiTriStrips Tri Scene Root 1 ----->NiTriStrips Tri Scene Root 2 ----->etc... it should be: NiNode Scene Root -->NiTriStrips Tri Scene Root 0 -->NiTriStrips Tri Scene Root 1 -->NiTriStrips Tri Scene Root 2 -->etc... my guess is that this happened because you parented the mesh to the armature. don't do that. 2.)the texture paths are wrong/non-existent your file: NiTriStrips Tri Scene Root 1 -->NiTexturingProperty ----->NiSourceTexture skintexture.dds should be: NiTriStrips Tri Scene Root 1 -->NiTexturingProperty ----->NiSourceTexture textures\characters\imperial\female\FootFemale.dds without a texture, the mesh is invisible, ingame. 3) the mesh is not skinned. That means that you didn't weight paint it. Meaning, it will not play animations at all. The vertices have no connection to the bones of the armature, in other words. 4) the mesh has a non-uniform scale. What I mean by that is that it's scale is effed up. In a previous post I said something about "reset XForm". That's a 3ds Max specific thing, so it's probably gonna be called something different in Blender. I tried to google for a solution in Blender and came across this: http://forums.cgsociety.org/archive/index.php/t-567106.html this post is important: -------------------------- Other tipps: Take a look at other body replacers and try to understand how they did it. go here and read some tutorials: http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/Portal:Modeling try something easier first, bofore tackling such a complex thing. Work yourself through the tutorials until you have a decent understanding of 3d modelling in general and until you can use Oblivion-specific tools reasonably well. regarding 3d modelling, here are some skills you will need to have in order to succeed with this: -modelling (polygonal modelling, box modelling. etc) -UV mapping -weight-painting I know this looks like a lot to learn, but there's no way around it. Good Luck! PS: Since you can't release that mesh anyway, you will have to create your own. One way would be to model your own mesh around the Poser mesh. Not only will you end up with a low-poly mesh (which is easier to manipulate), but you will also have something you did yourself.

Did you weight-paint the mesh to the skeleton? And again: please provide the nif or a screenshot of its sctructure (in nifskope). That might give us further clues.

I don't use Blender, but in 3ds Max there is a function called Reset X-Form. It basically deletes the history of changes that were made to the mesh (sort of finalizing it). That is a very important step before you export your mesh to a game engine. It really sounds like that is what you're doing wrong. I have no idea how to do that in Blender, though. Also, simply renaming the bones from another skeleton (armature) just doesn't cut it. Learn how to properly weight-paint. You'll not succeed in finishing your replacer without that skill. PS: can you upload your nif or a screenshot of the file from within nifskope with all blocks expanded? Maybe you simply need to adjust some things in nifskope for it to show up.

I finally found some time to experiment with this. It seems like it is possible to eliminate the neckseam completely, however (!) it takes more work than is apparent at first. here's what I've learned about egts so far: - all egts consist of 50 (not 150, my bad) packed tga image files. - making all of those black or white cancels out their influence on the skin color - each single tga corresponds to one or more color sliders (this is key. discovering what color affects which slider is the difficult part) - each egt has its own set of meta-data. This affects how the egt as a whole is handled by the engine. Making the meta-data of head and body identical helps a lot. Here's what I've tried out so far: btw, I'm currently on a new bodyreplacer, which I'm using to test all this. I have edited the human head model in such a way that it eliminates the seam between body and head mesh. I haven't seen a replacer yet that does this. I gave both head and body the same textures and normal maps whith both egts empty (black or white, see above), I was able to completely eliminate the seam. http://www.tesnexus.com/imageshare/images/531595-1272592506.jpg http://www.tesnexus.com/imageshare/images/531595-1272592541.jpg http://www.tesnexus.com/imageshare/images/531595-1272592574.jpg http://www.tesnexus.com/imageshare/images/531595-1272592602.jpg those are real screenshots. Except for the censoring they were not manipulated. WYSIWYG the seam is still there if you look really closely, but seriously: it doesn't get better than this. I'll try to decipher the egt slots this weekend. Till then.