nifskope question

[Rendalli]

how do i tell nifskope to not move a mesh with another? im trying to make a holster for a weapon but i cant get it to stay put when the weapon is drawn. i know how it worked in oblivion but it doesnt seem to work with f03s meshes. any help would be appreciated.

[Skree000]

ok, this is all in my opinion, as it is my best guess.

First of all, im going to assume the holster is on the leg and not the belt?

The holster wont stay on the leg unless its skinned to do so.

 

1st: The 'slots' in your items properties box tell the game what bone set to parent the object to. You probably have to pick the right slot and it should 'lock' its movement and rotations to match the thing you parent it to. If your object is skinned to multiple bones, it will show up as it should when you skinned it etc, depending on if you pick the right slot.

 

Before that however, you will likely need to skin your model in your 3d program.

 

To do this i would import a full fallout3 skeleton into your 3d program. (as well as a nude fallout3 model for reference on where to place the holster)

 

Import your holster, and place it on your model so it looks like its in the right spot. Then skin your model and parent the holsters vertices 100% to whichever thigh you want it to appear on, or 100% to the pelvis if you want it to float at the hips. (or maybe Spine (not Spine1 or Spine2)... youll have to experiment)

 

Then when you are done and go to export, delete the naked character, select the skeleton and the holster both. in the export window, choose to export Skin, but not skeleton. That way it will export your skinned mesh with references to the skelly.

 

the usual procedure is to Copy and Paste over the Nitristrips from yours to a vanilla, then Copy Branch your nidismemberment branch and paste it into the root node of your target, then point the NiSkinInstance towards your newly pasted dismemberment sub-branch. (its in the NiSkinInstance's properties, just pick your new dism. branch instead of the old one it already had) (dont forget to delete the old nidismemberment branch too once your new one is in there, it should bump the old one down to the bottom automatically as soon as you retarget the skin instance to yours)

 

then save and pray...

and your holster should be done. Will look like a floating holster in preview window, if you did it right.

 

In GECK now, going back to the slots thing, i would pick BodyAddon2 or BodyAddon3 since BodyAddon1 is usually occupied by vanilla gloves.

that should be it. a skinned holster that follows whatever leg it was on, or the waist.

 

 

Ill be releasing some kits soon that consist of a few packs and ammo pockets etc that float around the players waist, so ill probably have to figure it out all over again then too.

 

hope it helps, if not, im a noob, and hopefully when i get around to making the waist items ill be able to go back and share what i learned :)