Need help getting jukebox retexture to work!

[papamac67]

I created a "Nuka-Cola" themed jukebox (see below) that I want to have in the game to replace the "clean" version. Ideally I'd like to have it ONLY in my Megaton player house. I can't figure out how to get it working? I have tried using NMM to install my textures with this folder heirarchy:

 

Data>

 

Meshes>

Nuka Cola Jukebox>

jukeboxclean01.nif

 

Textures>

Nuka Cola Jukebox>

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/6576/gjtx.jpg

 

When in game I see no difference. I have a "clean" version of the jukebox in my player house but the textures are the vanilla kind. What Am i doing wrong?

 

 

Heres the new textures I made:

 

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/5510/4g7n.jpg

[pkleiss]

You have two options:

 

1) You can overwrite every nuka cola machine in the game by replacing the EXACT file names and folder structure of the vanilla assets with your own. (which you probably don't want to do) To find the exact file names and folder locations, you would have to unpack/look inside the appropriate BSA that contains the vanilla nuka cola machine files. You can do this with FOMM (and perhaps NMM but I've never used that).

 

OR

 

2) You must open the GECK and create a new Nuka machine and manually point its mesh and textures to your files. Then replace the one in the player home with your new one, paying careful attention to any links the old machine had and forming the same links with the new machine. Alternatively, you can replace the mesh and texture pointers of the clean nuka machine such that all the clean nuka machines become your new juke-nuka.

 

Don't forget that the vanilla nuka machine runs a script that makes nuka cola ice-cold. If you replace the old one with the new one, you will have to port that script and add the enable parent link(s) that are used when changing house themes.

Edited August 8, 2013 by pkleiss

[papamac67]

This is a jukebox...not a Nuka Cola VENDING machine. I am new to GECK and texturing. I am guessing the steps would be the same though? I know how to create a new form. I am confused by a few things though. I can make a texture set with some of my new textures, the jukeboxclean.dds, _n.dds and_g.dds. I don't know what to do with the rest...theres a lot of textures for a jukebox, jukeboxclean_m.dds, bubbles, lighttubes, screen, musicnotes. How to link those to the new form? I don't know what to do in the texture set dialogue for the environment mask , height or environment spots? Also the "model data" box for the new form has things I don't understand. I can doubleclick on the 1st value "jukebox01:1 and then point that to my texture set for those textures but I don't get what the other info under that is, "jukebox01:0, etc. I see they are related to the bubbles,tubes etc but since I don't know how to add those textures to my texture set then I am stuck.

 

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/3040/if9m.jpg

 

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/8409/8rn4.jpg

[pkleiss]

Forgive me, but its been a few years and my memory is a bit foggy. But...

 

If I recall, the environment map (the 'm' file) is used to make fake reflections, the environment mask is associated with the map - as in the mask prevents fake reflections on certain potions of the map. You don't need these. The height map produces a bumpy 3-D view of the texture like you might find on a relief map of the world. Again, you don't need that either. You really only need two texture files, which you have, the diffuse and the normal. Obviously, the glow map is nice for lighting effects. You can make all of these in Blender.

 

For the most part, all the entries in the model data point to the same Geck texture set as each piece of the model is already mapped to a space on the texture. Each entry corresponds to a node (or was it branch?) in the model/NIF. You do have the option of mixing and matching texture sets for different parts of the model , if you so chose.

 

Let me check that in an old esp of mine real quick.............................. Waiting for the GECK to load .....................Looking through my old objects for a good example ........................... Okay, found one.

 

yeah, it is as I remembered, first I made a texture set using only the diffuse (dds) and normal (_n) files, as you have done in your first pic. Then I entered that texture set for every entry in the world model. That should do it

 

I have some old tutorial links on re-texturing, would you like me to post them?

Edited August 8, 2013 by pkleiss

[papamac67]

Thank you very much for the help! :laugh: I think I get it now. I did what you said....entered the texture set for each entry for the world model. I also added the _m.dds as the environment mask in the texture set. I think that got it. I saw my texture on the model. Will have to wait until after some sleep and a redo of the main texture (remove logos as they appear backwards on the mirror side of the model..live and learn) to test it in-game. Any links you post would be appreciated. I'm sure others reading this could get use from them too.

[pkleiss]

Okay, here is my exhaustive list of tutorials and search pages that got me through all of this modeling & texturing so many years ago. Actually, I am kind of amazed that they are still around. I guess it goes to show that people still want to learn this stuff. You'll notice that many of the tutorials and whatnot will be for other games - like oblivion or the elder scrolls, but don't worry, they use the same game engine and the info works perfectly for Fallout 3.

 

Blender Noob to Pro

Nifskope Links at the Elder Scrolls wiki

Working with NIFs at the ES wiki

Retexturing Links at ES wiki

Alpha Chanels, Transparency and Reflections (scroll to the top of the thread to start)

GIMP Tutorials

 

Oh yeah, one more thing...

 

Sorry about confusing your juke box with a nuka cola machine. But you were right, it makes no difference from a modeling perspective.

Edited August 8, 2013 by pkleiss

[pkleiss]

Just an FYI

 

I can't remember which is which, but the _m and _e are for the environment and environment map slots.

 

The _m is often called the specular map, while the _e is sometimes called the shinybright map.

 

There is a one to one correlation as to where these are placed in NIF files, but the labels in the NIFs don't match the labels in the GECK. I used to know, but I have forgotten, sorry. If you get or have Nifskope, you can look at one and see where the _n, _m, _e and _g files go and what the record names are for them. _e is really for shiny objects like silver, I think _m also handles transparency, but I am starting to doubt my own advice at this point, so I will stop before I accidentally lead you too far astray.

[papamac67]

Thanks for all the help! If it was possible to buy someone a few beers via PC I'd do that. :blush:

[papamac67]

Success!!!

Thanks to you I got it working in game! I figured out how to use nifscope to get it all together. I may do a few tweaks but other than that it's good to go. i might even release it on FO3 nexus..just need to figure out how package it up. Put the .esp I created and the mesh/textures all in a folder? Thank you again pkleiss!

 

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/1913/q8uf.jpg

 

 

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/2540/hvtg.jpg

[pkleiss]

That does look cool, and if you put it up on the nexus, I will DL it for my home too.

 

About packaging it...

 

Are you doing this as a resource for others who make mods or are you doing this to replace clean juke-boxes or are you just after replacing the one in the players homes (megaton and tenpenny)? In all the yeas I've played and modded Fallout 3, I've never used tenpenny as my home, so I don't even know if it has a juke box, but it must, right?

 

Regardless of which you are after, you'll want to make sub-folders under the default ones something like this:

 

\Data\Meshes\NukaJukeBox

\Data\Textures\NukaJukeBox

 

That will keep all your assets nice and tidy and separate from other modders files and vanilla files. Of course that means you have to have the texture set object(s) in the GECK pointing to these file in these folders first. Once that's done, just make a zip file of all of them. I usually make a separate folder under \Data and call it \Export then I mimic the \Data folder structure there and populate it with just the files I want to include in the archive. For this example, my homwe made loose files are in the UCMod sub-folders.

 

I made a pic of what i am talking about, but it seems I don't know how to attach the image to this post as you have done with your pics. The image icon asks for a URL, not a folder and file. So how do you do it? Do you upload to photobucket or the like first?

 

Hmmm..

http://i779.photobucket.com/albums/yy80/HupOranje/exportfolder2.jpg

Edited August 8, 2013 by pkleiss