AnOutdatedMind

No, I haven't checked in a while but I believe the .nif import plugin for Max doesn't fully import animations, perhaps it retains the skinning, but I honestly can't remember (and I can't check it right now). I plan on switching this mesh's BSTriShape with the one from the original switchbox in OutfitStudio. Saves me the headache of trying to recreate the original animations in Max, although from an earlier test I did, it's clear I'll still have to do some animation controller node manipulation in NifSkope.

Weird, oh well at least whenever this occurs in the future it's solvable. Thank you all for helping out with this.

Do the meshes look plain white? I've got export materials* set up in this case, so it's probably missing diffuse textures. Here's what it looks like on my end: Even though they look like standard empty materials, they do in fact work. *as opposed to the materials automatically set up by the .nif import plugin. Here are all the .nif files I've got. I don't know why the switch part isn't black in both the Pre- and PostElrich files, it's possible I've removed the vertex colors flag from it at the time, but I can't remember. The weird shading can sort of be seen in the PostCleanup file, although it's not as pronounced as in Max itself.

Welp, never mind; while working on a custom(-ish) powerswitch in outfit studio I came across the "Recalculate Normals" option. I used it on the exported variant of the problematic mesh and that works. No clue how to do something to the same effect within 3ds Max, but I guess I can simply ignore it from now on.

For anyone interested, I've uploaded the file to my drive and it can be found here.

I've tried it out, but it just turns the textured side inwards.

f2jc33c I don't remember what settings I've used at import. It's interesting though that the parts of the mesh that were imported (e.g.: the base console panel) are totally fine. It's my custom backside that's causing problems. Believe it or not, that's already perspective view, although I agree it doesn't particularly look like it. As an aside; it should actually show the UI elements for view and rendering settings for the viewport in the left upper corner, but for some reason Max doesn't particularly like Ryzen APUs (at least not with the current rendering engine; you can choose directX but that doesn't work all too well with Beth's 3ds Max plugins last I checked).

Hello all; I'm back from the dead. This time round when I was working on a mesh in 3DS Max, some parts of said mesh developed this weird shading. I assume it to be dysfunctional shadows, but I've honestly got no clue. I don't even know what to call this problem and I haven't been able to find anything through Google either. So, what causes this and can it be fixed, or do I need to start over? PS.: Why are there no spoilers?

Thank you both! I'll have to do some new setting up to do since my previous attempts are pretty much unsalvageable. I'll show the results here when I get it working or post when I come across another issue.

I've been trying to edit the animated Fancy Bureau mesh with 3DS Max and NifSkope. However I can't figure out how I can make changes to the root part of the mesh without some issue arising. I've got no clue what export script I'm supposed to use in 3DS Max, I've tried multiple. I've also tried editing the results in NifSkope with not much luck either. The Creation Kit crashes most of the time when trying to load a modified mesh, when it doesn't, it's generally caused by the collision or the animations missing or being messed up. Preferably I'd separate the drawers into separate sub-meshes and abandon the whole bone/vertex painting stuff, but if I can find a reliable way of editing meshes with animated bones I'll use them. Any assistance on this is appreciated. In short I want to change the Fancy Bureau mesh into the dresser pictured below while the original animation stays intact.

Thank you! I've checked the records another time and it does indeed state the materialswap in some of the OMODs, however some others do not, a notable example being the Nukatron torso. I'm going to open up the plugin in the creation kit and see if they use a script or something like that (I've been using FO4Edit till now).

I think my first time really experiencing the interior-exterior size difference was with the Yangtze (the chinese Submarine). I was playing around in the creation kit with it's exterior, trying to make a custom interior for it, and not understanding why nothing could fit inside it.

I've been trying to change how the Nuka-World robot parts are handled when used. I know that the Automatron parts apply materialswaps when one of the paints is selected in the workbench, but I don't understand how the Nuka-World parts automatically apply their materialswaps and simultaneously lock you from choosing a different one. If I look at the Galactic Zone parts in NifSkope they all use the standard factory paint, yet in-game they have their white and gold paintjob applied in some way I don't understand.

I'm uncertain about multiple P-WS-Snap snap-points working on the same mesh, it's been something to test out on my to-do list for awhile now. Is the snap-point it snaps to coincidentally also the closest to the target, or alternatively your location? PS .: Did you remove the workshopconnectpoints keyword from all the entries in NifSkope?

Very logical and practical, I love it. I'll be sure to keep in mind these aspects for future projects. This made me smile :) Would be a great name for a Bob Ross paintings mod.

Hello all, I'm currently developing a workshop mod, but I haven't been able to decide what to name it yet. The idea behind it is, to allow you to place a canvas and frame separately (by using snappoints), thus allowing you to have different paintings (in different sizes if you so choose), but with the same style of frame. Basically it allows for much more modularity in the realm of paintings. Because I'm bad at naming things I've only been able to come up with 2 names; "Modular Paintings" and "Canvases & Frames"

Does it happen always or just sometimes? For me it happens only for a minority of the time.

I know what you mean, I modded fallout 4 for a long time 2 or 3 years ago. I got a burnout that lasted for quite a long time after that. I've only picked up modding again since the beginning of 2020, when I restarted one of my large-scale mods from scratch again. One of the facts that keeps me engaged nowadays, is how much I've already accomplished in comparison to past attempts. Furthermore to keep it sort of fresh I switch between modeling, texture-editing, doing nifskope-stuff or doing CK-stuff. The only upside of a large-scale project, is that there's more opportunity to work on different types of stuff.

Answer to part one: What you want is not particularly hard, and shouldn't take to long to learn. For me it took about 3 years to get where I am now. To learn the systems involved I mainly reverse engineered and read the forums whenever problems arose, if the latter failed I'd multiple tests or asked online for help. I can effectively use the creation kit and NifSkope and to a basic extent 3ds Max (just started recently). Answer to part two: You'll need a lot of different programs and tools, here's a list: BAE (Bethesda Archive Extractor) you'll need this to extract the files you want to edit. If you've got no issue with pirating outdated, legally unavailable software (and accepting the risk of potential malicious software), I suggest 3ds Max for editing the meshes themselves. Unless you're already skilled with other modeling software that is, however if you still need to learn, you might as well do so with Max. Max is also the only software with which custom collisions can be made. Elrich/Elric is used to convert a .nif exported by 3ds max to the right format to the game, however additional editing is still required afterwards in NifSkope. NifSkope is where most of the .nif work is done. Here you'll correct settings Elrich/Elric enabled for whatever reason (eg.: vertex colours on BSTriShapes are more often than not unnecessary), add snap-points (connect-points), etc. GIMP/Photoshop for editing textures, I probably have the least skill in this area. The snapping experienced in workshop-mode is a result of the BSConnectPoint:Parent node in a .nif, here's some insight: https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/3606240-working-with-snapping-nodes-aka-bsconnectpoints-cpa/

Yes you need 3ds Max 2013 because the nif-exporter that comes with the ck only works with max 2013 .. as far as i knowMight as well add onto this, besides Bethesda's plugin, you'll also need the Havok content tools (I believe the 64bit 2014 edition) and figment's .nif import/export plugin (to import existing .nifs). You can also make it work on 3ds Max Design 2013, but it requires quite some finagling.

I'm unfortunately unskilled in any form of programming, so I'm not able to assist directly. Regardless, I do know something that might help. There's a mod called cheatterminal, if I remember correctly it has a menu with locations you can teleport to. Perhaps by reverse engineering it you could gain some insight?

I'm unfortunately unskilled in any form of programming, so I'm not able to assist directly. Regardless, I do know something that might help. There's a mod called cheatterminal, if I remember correctly it has a menu with locations you can teleport to. Perhaps by reverse engineering it you could gain some insight?

It's fixed! Disregard my previous message, NifSkope does indeed tell the whole story. The transparency is set per vertex in the drop-down vertex menu under the BSTriShape node. The alpha channel of each vertex's vertex color was set to 1 instead of a fraction. This controls the transparency. Thanks to everyone for pointing me in the right direction!

BTW here's a link to a resource that gives some insight into what default compression Bethesda uses for the different maps. Here's a guide that might be of use if you're going down the GIMP route, although it might apply to other programs as well. Actually meant for Skyrim, but not much difference in comparison to Fallout 4. (It's for the 2.8 version, but it works and looks identical in 2.10.) You'll also need the material editor program, which can be found here. After you've created the .BGSM file it can be directly referenced in the .nif file or you can assign it to an existing .nif file in the Creation Kit via a material swap, this can probably also be done in FO4Edit (but I have no experience in that area). (Note: all the data paths are relative to Data folder in your game folder.)

Weird indeed, I guess that means NifSkope doesn't tell the whole story then. When I have time later today I'll see whether or not Outfit Studio is capable of showing some insight.