Question on meshes and textures

[dkpittbull]

Hi guys

 

A real non modder newby question...

 

Can anyone tell what governs how a nif file reads a texture file.

I know that if you install a .dds file with a different layout to the original you may end up having a nipple on your back and fingers on your chest etc. Not good..

Is it the .bsa file, the esp file or the nif itself.

 

Deedee

 

[IsharaMeradin]

Skyrim has two ways to apply textures to a mesh:

 

The NIF file will almost always have an assigned set of texture files.

Any plugin records with the NIF file assigned can have a texture set record applied which will override what may be on the NIF file itself.

 

The location of any of the aforementioned texture files may be loose or packed inside a BSA. The loose files will take priority should there be a file of the same name in the exact same directory structure packed inside one or more BSAs.

 

Basically, the game looks to see if there is a texture set applied in the "winning" plugin for the record holding the NIF. If there is, the texture set is used. If there is not, then the textures assigned inside the NIF file will be used instead.

[dkpittbull]

Thanks for the reply.

It's slghtly different to the format structure I'm used to.

Once again thanks for the clarification.