Percevan

You're not sharing much essential information about which 3DS max version you're using, nor which nif exporter plugin. Start there ;)

That kind of issues as generally three possible origins: - inverted normals of the mesh. - flipped UV shells - GPU driver issue. I would start investigating in that order.

Hmm.... I'd rather suspect the gradient texture used by the BSEffectShaderProperty node(s) in the nif files, which you can inspect with Nifskope. And the gradient dds file used can be checked in your usual 2D software, if it's bluish, then it's probably it. Though be careful before editing it, because it can be use by other type of files/meshes. I would make a test first by deactivating, removing actually, the SLSF1 flab "greyscale to palette" (or "gradient to color", I never remember exactly, and I'm writting this from memory) in the BSEffectShaderProperty node, and see how it looks. It's worth trying at least. In anycase, neither the normal maps nor their specular channel should be the cause of such effect. hope this helps.

Very nice, and unique design (in a good way). It looks big too, which brings to mind the idea of fighting it inside some huge dwemer Jaeger. :P

What you describe, impression of depth, would fall into the Normal Maps textures. As you said, just a question of "lingo". ;) There is also the option of using paralax meshes+textures, but for a start I would advise sticking with normal maps.

Hi, Since you're using Whiterun buildings, this new modders ressource, just released, might interest you: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/55654/? Regards.

very nice work. :)

downloading. Will try it out tonight after work. :)

http://www.darkcreations.org/forums/forum/132-tutorials/ specifically this one should help you getting started: http://www.darkcreations.org/forums/topic/1920-exporting-static-meshes-for-skyrim-from-blender/

Well that's odd indeed because in your previous files, I found abnormal tangents and bi-tangents. When I updated them, on my side, Nifskope even gave a different array, numbers and, obviously 3D preview of them too. And it made all the difference to me when re-testing again ingame, at the same place, point of view, and hour of the day. On the other hand, I don't understand how your texture order issue could be related to the nif file itself, that sounds like a CK/.esp issue to me. I may be missing something, it's possible, but Nifskope doesn't switch texture sets between NiTriShapes. As for the textures, I think these comes from 'Skyrim Realistic Texture Overhaul", by Frozunswaidon. I opened your Edit2/new nif file in nikscope. Same T & Bi-T issue, as you can see here: http://imagecurl.org/viewer.php?file=13829714923618315380.jpg Sure, the array is "activated" by the correct BS Num uv set flag, except that its an empty array. It should be like this: http://imagecurl.org/viewer.php?file=32433236408241092244.jpg odd, ain't it?

one, if not the most useful IMO is not in the first post (or I didn't see it) : set gamehour to # (subtitute # with the intented hour, of course). I couldn't tweak my enb, or test my custom models without this one. leave the console, and bam! instant change, no wait, no need to tweak the timescale.

You will need either Blender or 3DSMax2012, and of course the free nif plugins. Some, if not all, are even available on Nexus mods

Ok, I tested it. You need to do a simple correction, it will resolve your oddish texture "order" (that's not really the issue actually, but anyway), by letting the normal maps do their job (they can't currently). In nifskope: spell menu > batch > "update all tangent spaces". And save. Right now they are messed-up, probably by the export plugin that you used, I guess. before: http://imagecurl.org/viewer.php?file=39126533374613244348.jpg after TS correction: http://imagecurl.org/viewer.php?file=28711417957072224620.jpg Other than this simple fix, it works nicely. oh, and don't mind the odd dirt missmatch on my screenshots, it's on me, not from your work :smile: (just testing textures right now).

testing right now... back in 5.

You still have some shading issues, as you can see from those darkish streaks, but less of them, so that's better yes. - To get rid of the remaining ones, you'd need to either: set up distinct sm groups between the faces on the side and those on the front, so as to make the corner into a sharp edged, cleaner one. This will look very sharp ingame too (though some textures can mitigate that a bit), and that's how bethesda did a lot of their vanilla meshes. - option 2: look at what I did in my previous pics. I used just a few SM to essentially make clean groups from one block of stonework to the other, but for the corners (vertical edges) I instead added geometry: bevels, or 3 control edges. Hence, the bevels are not just used to adjust the profile, or silhouette of a mesh, they also help in deciding how the shading/smoothing gradient will spread over your polygons. I'm not sure if I explain this in the best possible way, I hope so. Now, not that I want your to suffer more "behind the scene" information overflow about how this works ingame, but I will just add this, though, because it's important for your modeling decisions: since distincts 3DSmax smoothing groups on adjacent faces essentially split the vertices normals, a game engine will actually split the vertices/edges when rendering your meshes - gamebryo/TESV engine is no exception to this. Which means that the _rendered_ polycount will actually be higher than your modeled polycount (at this point, I know that I just lost most beginners, but hang in there, it's worth it ;-) ). This has one important implication: instead of always choosing to split the normals by the use of Smoothing groups in Max, or "Hardenned Edges" in maya (different lingo, same results), you shouldn't not always by warry of modeling actual bevels, because the rendered polycount will not be higher than what you'd get with no beveled edges+split normals. Deciding when to use split normals or bevelling edge depends of your model, your modeling preferences, also how you will unwrap your UV etc. It comes with practice, don't worry. Ok, I'll shut up for now. :smile: