Importing .nif to Blender

[LadyAubrie]

Oh, no, trust me...I didn't mean to express a lack of gratitude. I wouldn't love Oblivion *half* as much if it wasn't for all the amazing custom content available for free...and the knowledge that I can do the same thing myself. It's a ton of fun and it's kept me addicted for months...

 

So please don't think I'm out of line when I express - and I'm sure I speak for many here - a certain frustration at how complicated some things are. I'm fairly computer savvy - and I know my way around Photoshop extremely well - but installing some of these programs and plugins turned out to be, yes, a real headache for me. For some people, armed either with the right logical systems in their mind, the right skill set, or years of experience with modding/coding/3d design, this stuff is no big deal. A lot of modders I really admire have helpful backgrounds...anything from four years in the Air Force to working in the IT department at work...even a few computer classes in high school or college. A lot of tutorials - especially a lot of those on the Wiki - are written with an air of nonchalance. But changing the contents of a game isn't something I suppose many people do every day, so the programs that are designed seem - to me - like kind of a "by designers for designers" thing. I've been forced to take a crash course in probably five or six different topics since I started modding, and it's been a bumpy road. You must admit...this stuff is complicated...(especially for someone with a really intuitive, non-logical mind like mine)...! I can't help but wonder how long it took others to learn all this, how their items and mods turn out so flawlessly...it boggles my mind...

 

So yeah, I agree with you, LHammonds, 100%, so please forgive my more abstract brain for getting headaches when this stuff gets overwhelming! I'll try not to gripe and whine too much...:) I wouldn't keep at it if I wasn't grateful for the ability to make my game more fun...

Edited June 7, 2011 by LadyAubrie

[LHammonds]

I did not sense a lack of gratitude at all. I was merely pointing out that your particular frustration with installing these programs is well-known and the reason why I created a bundled package with detailed instructions on how to install them no matter which flavor of Windows you are using.

 

I wasn't born with this knowledge and it certainly did not come easy. However, I took what I learned and tried to make it easier for others so they could spend more time on the things that mattered more...content creation and having fun seeing your creations come to life.

 

And yes, there is a ton of material to learn and skills to harness if you are looking to create your own armor or custom-animated creatures. There are a lot of skills to learn if you don't have them already and I always recommend learning to crawl, then walk, then run as evidenced in my advice to those starting to model for Oblivion and other advice to new modelers

 

In order to create those masterful pieces of modding goodness, you 1st have to learn the basics. Something as simple as importing a sword and turning around and exporting it right back is a must. Then take a simple cube and figure out what has to be done in order to export it to a working item in the game...such as creating a UV, attaching a texture and possibly adding collision before export to NIF...etc.

 

LHammonds

[Murmiir]

Hey, i am having a problem similar to this but for me i dont even have the option of importing .nif files.

[yenth]

Last time I tried a new install of Blender I found that the newer version didn't support .nif for some reason. I'm not sure which version dropped it, or if even more recent versions added it back in, but if you use an appropriate older version it will work.

 

All old versions are found here: http://download.blender.org/release/

 

Also, try not to necro two year old threads. Its bad form.

[neomonkeus]

For the latest recommended version see - http://www.niftools.org/wiki/Blender

Download order is install order.