Importing a Normal Map into NifSkope?

[jimmyThePipe]

Is there anyway to import a Normal Map into NifSkope? I'm trying to make an armor retexture, using Photoshop and Nifskope I can see the Texture changes whenever I save the dds, but I can't figure out how to view the Normal map changes without opening Oblivion.

 

I've never modified a Normal Map before so it's a lot of trial and error there.

[ihateregisteringeverywhere]

I don't really think you can do that. You could of course render the object in blender or 3ds max, but that's not always the way it'll look like in OB, running OB to view your items is the best way. Trial and error is - I'm afraid - the way to go.

[SickleYield]

Nope. NifSkope will not render normal maps in the same way Oblivion does.

 

Perhaps this might be of some help with your normal map synthesis?

 

It is sometimes useful to make a displacement map first and then run a normal map plugin (GIMP or PS) on that. The disp. map is a black and white version of the texture that is darker where you want the map to be low and lighter where you want it to be high - if you had a dark/light striped or spotted texture, for instance, you would leave the stripes or spots off the displacement map, because you don't want that to show up as height difference.

[jimmyThePipe]

How exactly do you make a displacement map for oblivion? Is it a greyscale version of the color map or is there a specific process?

 

I've been following a lot of the "oblivion tutorials" but none of my normal maps seem to look right. I've tried using the game files to take a color map and make it look like the related normal map, but my results don't look similar at all, being too bumpy or smooth or foggy.

 

Is it acceptable to modify one of the game's normal maps, or should I make my own for best results?

[SickleYield]

I repeat:

 

The disp. map is a black and white version of the texture that is darker where you want the map to be low and lighter where you want it to be high.

 

Usually if you just make the color map black and white, you'll end up with some high/low points you don't want. I generally do texture synthesis in layers in an .xcf in GIMP. Then my process can go:

 

1. Make texture as .xcf. Save to .dds. Close .dds.

2. Reopen .xcf.

3. Make all layers grayscale (image--mode--grayscale). Lighten/darken as needed; make patterns/stripes invisible if I don't want them bumpy.

4. Merge layers (image--merge visible layers), creating displacement map.

5. Run normal map plugin.

 

You're not usually going to get good results making your own normal map of a game texture, because you don't have access to the developer files. Instead of tweaking layers to be brighter or darker you'd have to use the lighten/darken tool, and that is easy to screw up.

[jimmyThePipe]

Sorry, I guess I got confused.

 

I've got it working very good now, because I took each of the Layer Masks (the ones used to tint/darken/brighten each section of the color map differently) and applied each Mask to a separate Level layer. That makes much better Normal Map. Thank you again!