Blender, .obj and collisions

[Pellape]

Exporting meshes as .nif does not work well, well it has not for me so far, with any nif exporter/importer that I know of, maybe you know one that really work for Fallout 4?

 

Well, to my question:

I want to make a couple of simple rails to a couple of stairs, so I need to make unique collisions. One way to get around or make collisions is to use a similar mesh from the game, delete everything except the collisions and import the new meshes with NifSkope, but now I need to make one.

So now I export obj from Blender, add it to a mesh with Nifskope, add materials or textures to it and import them to Outfit Studio  and export them again and that works with any mesh, but if I make a collision in Blender, how do I export or rather import it to NifSkope?   One way might be to just export the Collision separate, when I think about it, and then load it into NifSkope and add the obj files there?  

 

How do you do it? I do not want to end up like this again... 

Edited May 30 by Pellape

[worm82075]

Wait. There is no way that mesh looks normal in Nifscope.

Anyway, you can't. The only way to make collision for this version of NIF is using 3DS max 2013.

BTW, in order to export nif from blender you have to have a material assigned to your tri-shapes.

[RoNin1971]

I use pynifly for blender to import & export nif files. Works OK. (not to happy about the last few versions myself)

 

and, no, you do not need to assign a material or anything really (with pynifly). You could add a cube & export it immediately, if desired. Just set it to export for Fallout 4, as it defaults to 'skyrim'.

 

I usually add (replace) the materials/textures with nifskope & export a bunch of cubes & stuff for the collision (as a nif) which I then import to 3DS 2013, turn it into a (compound) collision, export it, join it with the model nif & run it through Elric.

Then add stuff like connection points and/or (gambryo) animation data. (for levers, doors, etc.)

 

Note:

It uses a (compound) rigid body based on the convex hull of a mesh. This means it 'fills' gaps & the inside of circles etc. So, for a round tunnel for example you would need a lot of meshes, or the tunnel will be a solid round shape you can't walk in.

So, a single mesh of a railing on both sides of a stairs becomes a solid square, blocking the stairs. You need to create the railing in small pieces, using many meshes to get it right. (I've been there , still am actually)

 

edit:

This is what the collision for my Vault 33 tunnel stairs railings look like in Blender (something I'm currently working on for my vault pieces mod)

This (together with the rest of the collision for the workshop piece in question) I export to a nif (with pynifly) which I import into 3DS 2013 (using another import tool for 3DS, I forgot which one exactly ...) turn it into a compound rigid body using the official havok tools and export the result to a (separate) nif file. The entire model (ex. collision) is exported from Blender already at this point. I then join the two files (copy the niNode from the collision nif to the one with the model) and finalize it ( the collision data) using Elric (a tool which comes with Creation Kit. (as a separate program)).

That should get you a 'game ready' nif file. (do make sure you have the BSX Flags present and set)

Add connection points and/or anything else you need and you are almost done

Ones added to the creation kit you still need to navmesh the stairs for NPC's to be able to walk up/down on them.

[Pellape]

4 hours ago, worm82075 said:

Wait. There is no way that mesh looks normal in Nifscope.

It sure did. Here is the exact same mesh in Nifskope, taken the same day. It is in another thread here as well. 

 

When I got the right tips here, it looks normal and here is another roof in Sanctuary right now. The walls are from the Sanctuary Parts DL from 2016

  

3 hours ago, RoNin1971 said:

 which I then import to 3DS 2013

Darn...  Time to learn 3D Max then. I did try it out many years ago and I disliked it a lot, as I was already hooked up with Blender, with the old interface, which i was used to as I used Linux a lot back then anyway. Well, I only need to learn how to export collisions really.     It was not easy to make collisions to actually work for Oblivion with the Blender 2.7+ interface (4.1 now) and I managed to make them work by making a mistake, which seems to be the right way, as suddenly it worked and I was very surprised and extremely happy as I really thought I was never gonna solve it and I was close to give up.    Mega Thanks  for the tips RoNin1971.

This year at school, is the first time they use Blender so those that went to the same education the year before me, did learn 3D Max.

 

Edited May 30 by Pellape

[fraquar]

I see everyone reference 3DS2013 - can you even get that anymore?

Legally, and not hiding behind a "student" license either....

Edited May 31 by fraquar

[worm82075]

Like Photoshop the 3DS license is transferable so it is possible to buy a copy secondhand but i haven't seen one for sale in over 3 years and they wanted 700$ for it. So it's possible just not very likely.

[fraquar]

I'm just asking because literally every modder who makes weapons quotes 3DS2013.

If it's that hard to get, how does every modder seem to have access to it?

Even if I bought a 3DS Max license today - I still couldn't get 2013 version - I'd get the latest version.

Added:   I'd prefer NOT to support modders who are making mods with stolen software - if you catch my drift.

 

Edited May 31 by fraquar

[worm82075]

To be fair, those that have access to even the periphery of the digital graphics industry will have 100 fold opportunity to get their hands on a copy compared to us regular folk. I have spoken to several graphic artists that have told me about this practice. Second hand copies are so rare to us because they get passed around within the industry.

Knowing that, i would take the stance of leaving the onus on the user of said software to be doing it honestly. Of course if someone told me outright they used pirated tools i would be forced to shun their product but otherwise i assume all is on the level and won't be asking anyone for proof.

[fraquar]

Was just wondering, because they make it sound so easy.

You need this, that, and to sell your spleen, a kidney and your first born to get the last thing you need to make great mods with.   

[worm82075]

Agreed. I'm still hopeful that now that Havok is no longer proprietary(Microsoft owns it) that Bethseda will now be legally allowed to share it's conversion tools with us and Starfield CK will have them right out of the gate. That would be a tremendous step forward.