Why is Blender doing this to me?

[Trashdog]

Greetings everyone, I realy hope someone can help me with this because I'am desperate, don't know what to do anymore and this is my last resort.

 

Whenever I import Nif's into Blender many of them will just end up being black, like this:

 

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/1809/meshc.th.jpg

 

Probably half of the outfits on TES Nexus is doing this to me, other half works fine, most of the time those are even outfits from one and the same Mod, like Apachii's Godess Store. Some will show up fine, other ones black... totally random in my eyes.

 

Whenever this happens the console tells me something like this:

 

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/5392/consolei.th.jpg

 

...which is bulls*** if you ask me because I'am 100% sure the texture paths are corect and as a prove here's a picture from the same model in Nifskope:

 

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/3716/nifskope.th.jpg

 

The most ridiculous part is that even the skin shows up black, which uses the basic "textures\characters\imperial\female\footfemale.dds" texture. This texture works just fine on other outfits or body meshes, but in case of those black outfits not even this one is working... so I have absolutely no idea.

 

In case you want to check out the file I used as example yourself you can find it here (its the serenity armor):

 

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=36125

 

I searched half the internet in hope of an answer to my problem, I asked different people, I asked on other forums... none could help me so far... so I have almost given up hope. If someone can give me at least an idea how to solve this I would be grateful beyond words.

 

Regards and thanks for reading

[Astymma]

For reference, can you list which versions of Blender, Python, PYFFI and Blender NIF Scripts you're using?

[Trashdog]

Blender 2.49b

 

Python 2.6

 

About PyFFI I'am not realy sure where to check for the version number, but I just downloaded the complete package from TES Nexus... same goes for Nif Scripts.

Edited January 30, 2011 by Trashdog

[Astymma]

I tested out that armor and it worked fine using the Blender 2.49b Bundle that LHammonds posted.

 

Although, there is one bad texture path in the Serenity armor pointing to "textures/gooch/serenity/serenity/n.dds" when it's likely supposed to be pointing at "textures/gooch/serenity/nCloud.dds".

[Astymma]

Well I think your first step would be to completely erase all of the installs for the blender stuff (blender, nifskope,nif scripts, pyffi, python) and reinstall everything making sure you use only the 32-bit versions of everything. You may have a previous version of one of the above interfering with your functionality somewhere.

 

Oh, the PYFFI and NIF Scripts version numbers are on the nif import settings screen after you have chosen a file name to import. Probably elsewhere too but that's a place I know where they can be found.

Edited January 30, 2011 by Astymma

[Trashdog]

The bundle you linked is the one I meant, thats the one I'am using.

 

[edit] I already did that... even twice, didn't change anything :/

 

Just to make sure I'll try it again tomorrow though, because its already very late here and I'am to tired right now.

Edited January 30, 2011 by Trashdog

[Astymma]

The bundle you linked is the one I meant, thats the one I'am using.

 

[edit] I already did that... even twice, didn't change anything :/

 

Just to make sure I'll try it again tomorrow though, because its already very late here and I'am to tired right now.

 

When reinstalling, did you completely clean all traces before reinstalling?

[Trashdog]

I uninstalled everything related I could find in the start menu. So if there isn't something included in this bundle which dosn't show up in the start menu then the answer is yes.

[Astymma]

I uninstalled everything related I could find in the start menu. So if there isn't something included in this bundle which dosn't show up in the start menu then the answer is yes.

 

Ah, well at a minimum I was suggesting by "completely clean" is to check to make sure all the directories and files were deleted AND that the registry is also clean in addition to a typical uninstall.

[LHammonds]

Sorry I was unavailable this weekend to answer this question (gotta hate having 3 jobs and no time for anything else on the weekend!)

 

Anyway, the ability to view textures in NifSkope and the ability to see them applied to a model you import can be 100% independent of each other.

 

For one thing, NifSkope can be configured to search many directories for texture paths. My NifSkope has a texture path for Oblivion's Data folder and the "out" folder where I have all the BSA files extracted. This allows me to see textures applied to anything that uses stock textures or anything I have installed for Oblivion. However, it will not find any textures if I extract a mod to a temporary folder unless I add that temporary folder as one of the paths NifSkope searches for. Here is a related tutorial you might find helpful: How to extract BSA files using BSA Commander

 

But the problem you are having is the import of a NIF file and Blender not being able to find textures for the NIF files imported. As stated above, I have all of Oblivion's BSA files extracted to an "out" folder as described in the tutorial above. Whenever I import a NIF file from that location...such as an Elven Dagger, Blender is able to find and attach the texture. If it could not for whatever reason, you could easily modify the texture path. But since you said the DDS files are there and Blender obviously could not find the DDS files (according to your screenshot and the resulting black surface), I would venture to guess the texture path is incorrect or the folders are not where they are supposed to be in relation to where the NIF is being imported.

 

If I download a mod archive that has NIF files and related DDS textures and extract it to a temporary location, I can open them in NifSkope but they will not display the texture because of the "temporary" folder not being in NifSkopes search path. However, I can use Blender to import a NIF from that temporary location and it can traverse the folder path to find the texture inside the temporary folder.

 

LHammonds