New .nif Editor Needed

[VearCon64]

So bugthesda has not only stuck with their f*#@ing proprietary model format, but apparently has made it more encrypted or something so that neither a blender plugin nor even f*#@ing nifscope can even open it! Considering the latter hasn't been updated since 2017 and the formers even earlier, it looks like modders are screwed even with the CK unless someone else decides to go thru the effort to write a completely new program or plugin from scratch, which is possible but will take years even if the someone else starts now, or the creators of the aforementioned come out of retirement and update them, which I highly doubt. Another dump on modders and fans. First no CK with a year (probably more) without IF THEY'RE BEING HONEST, then the sound banks to make sound modding far more difficult or impossible, and now further encrypting already proprietary formats to ensure no new models or edits to existing ones. Congrats on protecting your intellectual property bugthesda/zenimax/microsoft. Now each and every one of you please all go eat 200 apple seeds. Thank you. :mad: :down:

Edited September 17, 2023 by VearCon64

[South8028]

As far as I understand, a system of nodes has simply been introduced - links to objects with a mesh extension (regular obj, opens in many 3D editors), something like the old addonnode system only coded in nif nodes, without links to ck. I am sure that tools for working with nif will appear quickly (os, nifscop, analogues). The materials have not changed at all (these are still the same bsLightingFx, bsEffectFx, from fo4) and the physics have not changed at all (these are still the same havok collisions from fo4). Im 90% sure that a new bgs nif exporter will be released from ck, just completed on the basis of bgs exporter fo4 for 3ds 2017-xxx). Somewhere within a year, or in a year. Also, nif with bones (for example skeleton.nif) open in 3ds with nif importer. nif with mesh nodes do not open because the structure has changed.You're just in a hurry. bgs nif exporter for fo4 appeared only 2 years after the release. Beth has always been slow.

[SandMouseAnarchy]

Just a little FYI, there is already atleast one tool in git for extracting meshes from references in nifs, nifscope and other nif tools are currently being made on git and they are already really close to "cracking it" with the biggest block being a way to display the mesh from within the tool, and they have already had some success with that, and a handful of unknown flags etc.

 

Patience mate, tools will be out before you know it

 

Also, I hear they have replaced havok tools with their own in house physics tool, which will be soooo much better given the rarity of hct2012

[South8028]

Just a little FYI, there is already atleast one tool in git for extracting meshes from references in nifs, nifscope and other nif tools are currently being made on git and they are already really close to "cracking it" with the biggest block being a way to display the mesh from within the tool, and they have already had some success with that, and a handful of unknown flags etc.

 

Patience mate, tools will be out before you know it

 

Also, I hear they have replaced havok tools with their own in house physics tool, which will be soooo much better given the rarity of hct2012

Starfield uses havok, and accordingly you need hct (why some 2012?) In fo4 hct2014. Starfield has some next version of havok, for 3ds 2017-20xx. But this only matters for nif from a collision perspective. nifscop, in principle, never had the ability to create collisions. Collisions fo4 were created in 3ds 2013-2014 with bgs nif exporter installed. nifscop is an excellent tool for editing a finished nif. Edited September 20, 2023 by South8028

[SandMouseAnarchy]

Oops typo... I meant hct2013 used with 3ds max 2012 (if I remember correctly) (for Skyrim) and ah yes I think I remember now fallout 4 used hct2014(?)

 

In any case - hct was bought by Microsoft (again, if I remember correctly) and v2013 onwards became next to impossible to get ahold of, hence what I said.

 

I say Bathesda is not using hct for starfield because that's the latest news from an inside source -> https://discord.com/channels/916686954421157930/1062692492190961735 (link to the starfield modding discord, to the post talking about hct)

Edited September 20, 2023 by SandMouseAnarchy

[South8028]

Oops typo... I meant hct2013 used with 3ds max 2012 (if I remember correctly) (for Skyrim) and ah yes I think I remember now fallout 4 used hct2014(?)

 

In any case - hct was bought by Microsoft (again, if I remember correctly) and v2013 onwards became next to impossible to get ahold of, hence what I said.

 

I say Bathesda is not using hct for starfield because that's the latest news from an inside source -> https://discord.com/channels/916686954421157930/1062692492190961735 (link to the starfield modding discord, to the post talking about hct)

https://disk.yandex.ru/i/3krleTz_FkMOhQ

As you can see, Starfield uses havok, and accordingly uses hct. For animations, some new version of havok is also used. The files are separated into animation and metadata, but the structure is the same as in hkx. Although, it is obvious that havok is used, just look at the console commands.

[SandMouseAnarchy]

Ahh that's a shame, and I haven't personally seen any havok console command or reference to it myself until now.

 

I must admit though, it does feel like havok is still being used.

 

Do you happen to know what version of hct starfield is using?

[South8028]

Ahh that's a shame, and I haven't personally seen any havok console command or reference to it myself until now.

 

I must admit though, it does feel like havok is still being used.

 

Do you happen to know what version of hct starfield is using?

No. I have no idea. I didnt even install Starfield for myself, because Im just not interested in playing and will wait for the official tools. I just asked the person to unpack and send me resources in the form of nif and bones to see what we are dealing with.The person concluded (or he read it somewhere) that Starfield was made on 3ds 2017. But I did not understand why he (or his sources) made such a conclusion. Edited September 20, 2023 by South8028

[SandMouseAnarchy]

Hmm, if I remember right, older versions of max exports (fbx & .max) had a version number included somewhere in it, like a file header if you opened the export in notepad++. Unless a Dev told them, that would be my only guess at how they knew it was from max2017

[South8028]

https://github.com/hexabits/nifskope/releases