Re-texturing with Gimp and Nifscope

[heeresman1]

Hello all.

 

This may be a bit lengthy but i figure the more info i put in here the more helpful it will be to obtain the right answers.

 

Ok, so to start with, i use Gimp to do the re-texturing.

I've got a decent handle on the tools available to me in Gimp.

I'm struggling with the following things though:

 

1) Currently looking at re-texturing some clothing and in one example i'm presented with a boots, headwear and outfit dds set.

Ok, boots and outfit have been re-textured, i've linked the mesh files to the newly-edited texture files via nifscope and saved as.

But in nifscope there are more meshes than textures for this particular outfit.

For example, 1stpersonoutfit, which i understand is the view of this outfit either in inventory or wearing it?

Secondly, since there is no texture file for a 1stperson mesh, do i include this in my upload for the mod?

Currently, all i've done with this 1stperson mesh file is copied it straight into the mesh folder in my mod folder(as in the folder that i save my progress in)? Wrong or?

 

2) The headwear texture file has no mesh file so i can't view my re-texturing progress in nifscope. What do i do here?

Trial and error? Is there any way to preview a texture file that hasn't got a corresponding mesh file? Or is it a case of re-texturing a bit here and there, load game, check it out, and so forth?

 

3) What does a meshfile with the word "go" on the end mean? For example, in the mesh folder of the corresponding outfit i'm currently working on, there is a mesh name with outfitgo. Rather than outfit_01 or outfit_o.

Case in point here, i've re-textured the outfit_0 dds, do i need to do anything with the outfitgo dds?

 

4) When linking a mesh file to the re-textured file, does the linked filepath name have to be: data\textures\clothes\outfit.dds, or can it be a link to my mod folder on my desktop? ie: user\desktop\my mod\data\textures\etc etc?

When i save as in nifscope after having linked it to tex file with the latter pathfile name, will it work or does the filepath name have to mirror a proper game folder structure?

 

5) I assume for every re-textured texture file, i have to produce a normal map with it? Ie, outfit_n.dds.

 

I have checked out a plethora of guides, tuts and what not, and all of them haven't addressed what i'm asking here.

The questions i've asked are specific and i guess tuts and guides assume that people know what to do in my case.

Not so! I don't.

 

If i can make myself clearer or provide more info on the above i would be happy to oblige.

I hope i asked my questions clearly and concisely and hope that some person or persons would assist me in this.

 

Thanks in advance form this newby re-texturer :confused:

Edited June 14, 2013 by heeresman1