Adding Custom Assets / Exporting Meshes and Textures from Blender and importing to GECK?

[StillSummit]

So I begun working on random custom assets for the GECK to practice and see how they do in the game world, one of them is this brick sign of Camp Navajo. I set up the meshes and then added procedural textures on it, converted text to mesh, the works. I got the niff plugins for Blender, I know the Meshes and Textures are two different file types that the GECK handles, and such. Only problem is I don't know how to export the meshes and textures? I am not familiar with the process at all, I know vaguely what I need to do but I'm not sure what the steps are, how do I even separate the textures from the meshes as a different file type? I know I have to put them once converted into the NV directory the way other similar files are but then I don't know how to make the GECK read them. Do I need nifskope or something to first shove the meshes and textures through that and then put them in the GECK?

[madmongo]

First, make sure you are using Blender 2.49b. There are nif tools for newer versions of Blender but if you want everything to work, use the older version. There's a mod that has Blender 2.49b and all of the correct versions of the tools under the Oblivion part of the Nexus.

Second, you have to create your mesh using a separate texture file and UV map it. You can't use materials to texture the mesh. If you aren't using a separate texture file when you create your blend then you are doing it wrong from the start. The game engine can't handle that. It needs separate texture files and the textures have to be UV mapped.

The texture file needs to be in dds format. There are three texture editors that I know of that can handle dds file formats, Photoshop, Paint.Net (not the MS Paint that comes with Windows), and GIMP.  Photoshop is ridiculously expensive for hobby use. Paint.Net and GIMP are both free. Paint.Net is easier and more intuitive to use, GIMP is much less intuitive but more powerful, and handles normal maps a lot better. GIMP is by far the most popular among FNV modders.

Make sure that your mesh has a collision mesh. For something like that sign, if those letters are actually part of the mesh you can probably duplicate the big blocky parts of the sign for your collision mesh but leave off the letters. You want a fairly minimal collision mesh for performance reasons. The fewer shapes the game engine has to check collision with, the better the performance.

Once you have created your mesh, just export it in the nif format. Make sure you select all in Blender before exporting, since Blender will only export what you have selected. When you get to the nif export screen, start with the default for Fallout 3. For something like a sign, you'll want to select Static under Collision Options (top, center) then Stone under that. Make sure that Use BFFadeNodeRoot is selected (top right). Everything else should be set correctly by default.

Then just add your sign to the GECK and place it somewhere.

You can look at any Blender tutorials for FNV or FO3 for reference. FO3 and FNV use basically the same game engine, with only some minor differences between them.

 

[StillSummit]

On 8/18/2024 at 9:50 AM, madmongo said:

First, make sure you are using Blender 2.49b. There are nif tools for newer versions of Blender but if you want everything to work, use the older version. There's a mod that has Blender 2.49b and all of the correct versions of the tools under the Oblivion part of the Nexus.

Second, you have to create your mesh using a separate texture file and UV map it. You can't use materials to texture the mesh. If you aren't using a separate texture file when you create your blend then you are doing it wrong from the start. The game engine can't handle that. It needs separate texture files and the textures have to be UV mapped.

The texture file needs to be in dds format. There are three texture editors that I know of that can handle dds file formats, Photoshop, Paint.Net (not the MS Paint that comes with Windows), and GIMP.  Photoshop is ridiculously expensive for hobby use. Paint.Net and GIMP are both free. Paint.Net is easier and more intuitive to use, GIMP is much less intuitive but more powerful, and handles normal maps a lot better. GIMP is by far the most popular among FNV modders.

Make sure that your mesh has a collision mesh. For something like that sign, if those letters are actually part of the mesh you can probably duplicate the big blocky parts of the sign for your collision mesh but leave off the letters. You want a fairly minimal collision mesh for performance reasons. The fewer shapes the game engine has to check collision with, the better the performance.

Once you have created your mesh, just export it in the nif format. Make sure you select all in Blender before exporting, since Blender will only export what you have selected. When you get to the nif export screen, start with the default for Fallout 3. For something like a sign, you'll want to select Static under Collision Options (top, center) then Stone under that. Make sure that Use BFFadeNodeRoot is selected (top right). Everything else should be set correctly by default.

Then just add your sign to the GECK and place it somewhere.

You can look at any Blender tutorials for FNV or FO3 for reference. FO3 and FNV use basically the same game engine, with only some minor differences between them.

 

That's very detailed, thanks! Some questions though... why won't newer Blender work? I already have the plugins for version 3-point-something, can't I just do the work here? If not, can I have both version on my system? Would be a bummer to delete recent Blender just for GECK use. When you say separate texture file, does that mean I have to make on in Photoshop/Paint/Gimp? or can I export the UV Map of my object and then paint it in one of the programs, and then import it back to Blender? I need to understand the ' separate ' part of this. I also already have the Photoshop and Paint.net dds plugins or any other Bethesda-related file format for the GECK. As for collision meshes, any idea or tutorial that shows how to do ones for GECK objects? All I've found so far is people just placing the default, no-texture plains around their object, export it and then the collision meshes just magically disappear in whatever engine they port it in, but they are still there, so it feels like I'm missing a step here? Hope that makes sense. Everything else you mentioned sounds fairly simple.

[madmongo]

I have seen people use Blender 3.x to make statics. That seems to work. I have seen a lot of questions about rigging using later versions of Blender that I have never seen resolved. When I tried it myself (I don't recall what version, not the latest) things that were rigged did not export correctly, and there were a couple of other things that did not export correctly, but I don't remember what they were.

When I get actual confirmation that rigging and other things all work correctly in later versions of Blender, then and only then will I recommend people to use it. Right now, the only version that I know works is 2.49b.

As for UV mapping, I have never been able to convert blends that have materials as part of the blend into a working nif. I always start with a separate texture file and UV map it onto the blend. That always works as long as you make sure to set the mapping to UV in Blender (which isn't the default).

Your collision meshes disappearing may be a problem with the later nif tools. Again, the only version that I know works is Blender 2.49b, which borks hairs a bit (I might not be using the right export options) and rotates animations by 90 degrees, but otherwise seems to work with everything else.

You can have multiple versions of Blender on your system. I have 2.49b and I also have a later version. I will often use the later version to convert other file formats into something that 2.49b can understand, but I always use 2.49b for the conversion to nif.