Help editing specific items in a nif

[Crash180]

My next thing I would like to learn is how to edit nif models if possible. Not sure how deep into the pool I am getting so I am asking for some advice. From an Illustrator perspective it seems simple but this ain't Illustrator.

For the ceiling I would like to remove the diagonal beam, align some of the rafters and create a new roof. I tried importing it into Blender but the frame appears as a composite piece just like in Nifskope and it stripped the textures which hopefully can be reapplied. I used Blender 3.6 with the latest niftools plugin.

For the wall I would like to create an opening for a door or window. I have thoughts of creating different windows with different styles and types of glass that can snap in. Or maybe just copy one from a cabin model. Like I said I'm not sure what I'm getting into.

[RoNin1971]

Well, knee deep into "something", for sure

A few things of note:

The meshes are grouped by texture/material.

Pynifly (stupidly) assumes the texture is within the path of the nif imported, by cutting the path down to .\Data (IF its there). (so lets say your nif is: D\Fo4\wip\meshes\myModel.nif it will be unable to find the texture. If your path has a .\data e.g.: D:\Fo4\wip\data\meshes\myModel.nif it will assume the texture is at: D:\Fo4\wip\data\textures\... this can be very annoying if you are working outside fallout 4's .\Data directory)

 

You can 'simply' point it to the right texture in Blender though.

 

Editing the mesh to get what you want, is fairly easy.

...but then the 'fun' part starts... for adding windows and doorways you will need to create new collision(s). Might be doable with copying from something similar in size & shape. Otherwise its going to be a challenge. (and you will be looking for 3DS 2013...)

[Crash180]

Back from a long break and taking another crack at it. I did play with Blender a bit in the meantime and can now do some of the things I want. Now to get the rest of the puzzle put together.

You mentioned getting 3DS 2013. I looked but did not find a way to get it plus it looks like it would not be compatible with my OS. I could turn an old computer into a dedicated system but would still need the software.

I went back to Blender and imported File 1 from the extracted BSA folder instead of my working folder and had no texture pathing issues and it rendered fine. Exported it as a Nif and it gave me warnings about merging identical materials and ended up with a Nif with no objects. I imported File 2 from the same folder and it gave me errors I think related to the Blender Nif addon. I was using the latest Niftools v0.1.1 which only supports Blender 3.6.

Next attempt was to try Pynifly which you mentioned. I ended up installing the most current Blender and Pynifly. I imported and exported File 1 with no problems and ended up with a viewable Nif. When trying to assign it to the static object it crashed the CK on multiple attempts. File 2 imported with no errors but would not render the textures. This file has connection points if that matters.

I really want to continue with this but I haven't found what I am missing or doing wrong.

 

 

[pepperman35]

After exporting the files from your 3d application, you will also need to run them through a app known as Elric before importing them into the CK.  If Elric shows any kind of error, it will likely crash in the CK. 

[RoNin1971]

If the nif is not correctly structured (which mostly happens when copying things around) Elric will CTD too.

I always sort by name, then reorder blocks & remove unused strings with nifskope before running nifs through Elric.

When It does CTD, it is usually because I forgot and doing so fixes the CTD 9/10 times.

 

You only really need Elric to finalize collision data. You don't have to do it for anything else. Also note that Elric will remove any copies of collision data.

So, if you painstakingly copied collisions from other nifs to create something new... Do Not Pull It Trough Elric. or use a copy, and re-add the data afterwards.

[Crash180]

Referencing a video I processed the Blender exported Nif in Elric (convert files) and it had no errors (green). I did not process the textures (convert directory) because they are in game assets and should be good. I then took the converted Nif, placed it in my meshes folder, tried to link it in the CK and it crashed again.  I tried again from scratch and achieved the same results.

I did notice the exported Nif was lacking the BSXFlags and a two NiNodes when compared to the original.

Just to be clear I've started as simple as possible by importing an in game file, made no alterations, exported it and tried to bring it in game.  Definitely nothing fancy.

[RoNin1971]

The top NiNode (c_Cabn01NoFence) contains the main collision data (a bhkCollisionObject)

The second one has a 'helper' for NPC's to find their path (a special type of "collision")

or at least, it looks that way.

The BSX flags tells something about the complexity.

 

Not entirely sure about the BSX but the lack of those shouldn't make CK or the game CTD.

 

It sounds a bit familiar to problems I had myself when I upgraded to Blender 4.0 & latest pynifly. Somehow it got the data corrupted in a way that only made the game CTD.

Not Elric, Not Nifskope, not sure about CK anymore. Only reinstalling everything and downgrading to Blender 3.5 & an old pynifly solved it.

[Crash180]

I wondered if going to the latest version was wise. I had tried 3.18 that was already installed for Niftools and had issues. I'll try 3.5 tomorrow and give it a go.

[Crash180]

That didn't work either. Installed Blender 3.5 and and installed the earliest Pynifly version that didn't warn me about Blender v4.0 which was v13. Failed to import. Went to v14 and it exported with all the blocks as the original in the same order but it crashed the CK. It was Elric approved. Went to v15 and it stripped the BSXFlags and Cabin01NoFence NiNode.

Oddities observed was that I could not remove the Pynifly addons because of Python script errors. Had to reinstall Blender each time. Also had a command prompt icon appear in the task bar each time I launched Blender.

Because I apparently am a glutton for punishment I played with exporting it as an fbx and then as a Nif through Bodyslide. No textures appeared and for S&G's I tried linking it to the CK and it crashed.

[Crash180]

So I did the whole process with another file, ShackWallFlat05, which is a default constructible in the game and was able to successfully bring it into the game albeit with pink connection spheres.

The cabin I can bring into the game only from the default file. Once it goes through blender we know how that goes.