Adding Particles

[kieranfoy]

Hiyez!

 

I'm working on an Ayleid staff for my new shop mod, which will be full o fmy own custom retextures, (first time texturing!) and I was wondering if anyone would be willing to help me out?

 

There's a nif I'd like to add to my staff, called flare.dds, which is the nif that produces the glow you see on the Great Welkynd stone in Miscarcand. I'd like to find a way to add that texture to the head of my staff in Nifskope, but the tutorials are utterly confusing.

 

Is there any way someone could tell me this in plain English?

[DavidBudreck]

You can combine two or more nifs in Nifscope to make a single nif, but you have to do it one Branch at a time.

 

Open Both nifs.

 

Select the Nif that you want to copy FROM:

Pick a Branch, Right-Click and select "Copy Branch" (Do NOT Select "Copy")

 

In the nif the you want to copy TO:

1st from the View Menu, select "Block Details" This is where you will do your pasting.

 

1. Click on the Root Node. This becomes a pain after a while, but you have to remember to keep doing this.

2. In the Block Details, scroll down to the entry that says "Num Children"

3. Increment this by Doubl-Clicking on the current number, this activates the spinner so you can increment it

4. Right Click on the line directly beneath this that says "Children" and select "Update Array"

5. Expand the "+" next to children, then scroll down to the bottom of the list

6. You will see a new child record with a value of "none"

7. Right click on this line and select "Paste Block" (Do NOT Select "Paste")

 

Done.

 

Repeat as many times as you have Branches in the original Nif.

 

 

You can combine pieces of Armor this way as well, but that can be more of a pain because you may first need to copy over the body parts, like toes, for instance, if you are adding boots. You know you have to do this with the "Paste Block" in #7 above generates an error.

[kieranfoy]

Sorry, that wouldn't work, as I'm trying to add a DDS to my staff. It's a texturing thing. The flare is an animated texture, not a NIF.

[DavidBudreck]

Sorry. I thought about that when I rearead your post. At first you talke about adding a nif, then referred to the dds, but by that time I had already posted the response.

 

The Animated DDS does not apply like a regular texture?

[ub3rman123]

Okay, in that case you'd just have to do the following. Assuming you have it open in NifSkope..

 

1. Click on the section you want to retexture. On the Block List on the left, a bar should be highlighted, that's the NiTriStrips (Ignore the word, just a fancy thing for a part of a mesh).

2. Expand that NiTriStrips section until you see a purple flower-looking icon. Click on that, then select the texture you want to redo it with.

3. It's retextured! Save that thing.

 

4. If it has a transparency on it that you want, you might want to add a NiAlphaProperty so it shows up correctly. Right-click on the NiTriStrips (The thing you expanded earlier), and go to Node>Attach Property>NiAlphaProperty. Should be translucent then.

[kieranfoy]

No, I don't want to retexture it. I want to add a glow effect. Not replace a texture.

[ub3rman123]

Umm.. Glow.. Not a new mesh.. Erm.. Emissive colors?

[DavidBudreck]

The thing that when you click on it gets outlined with a white rectangle?

 

You should be able to import this from the Great Stone to your Staff by

using the instructions I gave.

 

Select the glowing area of the stone to highlight it. In my copy it

is titled "9 TriStrips" Right-Click and "Copy Branch".

[kieranfoy]

Sorry, I have no idea what white square you mean. it's clear this is way over my head, so never mind.

 

 

EDIT: Tried it, but it popped up an error message about my nifskope versions differing, then crashed my game.

[DavidBudreck]

NO, not at all! You can do this!

 

 

What I meant, was when I click on the glowing looking thing on the right, the area is surrounded by a white rectangle.

 

If you click on the stone itself, it is surrounded by a white wireframe as well.

 

 

Click on the glowing looking thing on the right, and an area on the left is highlighted.

 

This is the corresponding Branch that you need.

 

Right-Click and Select Block --> Copy Branch (This is the action I detailed in my secion "In the nif you want to copy FROM")

 

 

Then proceed with what I said in my first post starting with the section on "In the nif you want to copy TO"