importing guns

[rensole]

Hey eveyone,

 

I wanted to ask you guys for help, because i can't seem to get my models working

the software i use:

3dsmax 2009

dds converter 2.1

fo3 archive

and nifscope

 

ok so here is were im having a bit of trouble,

i made a gun model (walter pps), i compleatly make a skin but somehow i get stuck at the following steps:

i cant make the jpg/tga/psd files converted to DDS files because i always get errors

I looked at some of the tutorials here but i cant see to make ANY sence of it what so ever lol.

 

could any of you guys help me with this please?

 

tutorial of this website that i allready looked at (and failed at):

http://thenexusforums.com/index.php?showtopic=82738

 

thx in forward guys

[Interfer0]

try using GIMP instead of the converter, its free. They you can just open the jpg and save it as a .dds

[rensole]

ok thx im downloading gimp as we speak,

but could some one help with getting the guns itself ingame ?

i made the model in 3 seperate things

the gun itself the part that slides (on top)

and the trigger

but what am i supposed to do ?

[Interfer0]

The guide is fairly step by step. Find a gun similar to yours, then copy your nistripsdata over that models. This will change the shape of the mesh to your mesh.

[rensole]

yeah but how do i go about copying nistripsdata over that model ?

lol im completely new to this stuff im not used to any of the modding tools oblivion/fallout uses

[Interfer0]

Open the .nif of both models. So that you have two niftools open. Go into your model, and find the trigger. expand the trigger menues, until you can se the Nistripsdata. Rightclick on that and click copy. Now go to other model, and find the same piece, paste your nistripsdata there, you may have to delete the old one, I can't remember.

[rensole]

ok thx that worked i got my entire model in working order BUT how do i get it ingame now ?

 

i got a .NIF file of the gun now everything is to scale n such but how do i actualy get this stuff IN the game itself ?

[Skree000]

To create DDS files you need the nvidia dds plugin for photoshop (dds.8bi) get it from nvidia site

 

IMPORTANT: Only textures with power-of-2 pixel dimensions are valid to be saved as DDS. (ie. 2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024,2048,4096... for example, a 256x256 jpg can be saved as a DDS file. however, a 250x195 pixel image CANNOT be saved as a DDS file it must first be resized to a valid size, usually best to round up to the closest size, which would, for that one, be 256x256.)

 

The latest version of Niftools for max should have come with an export screen that will automatically open NIFSKOPE!

Nifskope is the key you are missing. Its a middleground program that allows you to analyse Gamebryo Netimmerse-Format files (NIFs). NIF files are anything fallout uses, from cameras to FX, models, characters, etc.

 

Nifskope is free and the latest version from the Niftools@sourceforge site has support for fallout 3, so it makes it a bit easier.

 

somewhat hurried and crappy half-tutorial follows (im at work still, and i dont have much time):

 

First, find the weapon from fallout3 that uses the basic same animations your gun will use, then export its NIF file from the BSA archive using FOMM's BSA unpacker. Once you have the nif file, import it into max in your scene with your gun (save a backup copy first).

Try to position your gun just like the fallout3 gun. Name all your parts just like the vanilla guns parts, and open the Relationships editor, and once your gun has all the parts the same, start replacing and deleting the parts on the fallout3 gun and hook in yours instead, parenting them to the named bones as is appropriate. It should be clear to see what is what in the relationship window since they are named blocks.

 

Once your gun is matching the basic template of that fallout3 gun, export it (once you have deleted the geometry of the fallout3 gun and fully replaced it with yours, that is. Export as NIF w/ animation, Fallout3-type, W/collision

 

What you need to do is open 2 copies of Nifskope, side by side. in one, open your gun. in the other, open the gun that closest-resembles your gun, in the way that it functions. ie., if you are importing a revolver pistol, pick a revolver pistol from the game to overwrite, it should have the SAME animations you want to use for yours, if there is no weapon existing already in fallout 3 that uses animations you can use on your gun, youll have to make new animations, and aat present im not privvy on how to import them. So for now try to use an existing gun as a base for yours to emulate.

 

Once you have both weapons open start copying over the Nitristrips data blocks and paste-over the same-named ones in the Fallout 3 vanilla guns NIF file.

 

There are really nice tutorials on the process around these forums somewhere, might be buried a few pages back, but you should do a SEARCH and find em :) Theres also some youtube videos around that might help.

 

Basically NIFskope is open source fan-made utility, so unforutnately that means we dont have the big budget to do all kinds of advanced research and programming, since we are exploring as we go.

Sadly that means the documentation behind it is rather sparse, but it is out there.

 

Look around these forums, id spend a few hours poking around in tutorials here see what you can find. Dont come back til you do a thorough search! cant tell you how many times we answer the same questions cos people dont like to look hard :)