LE Blender 2.49 or 2.7 which should I use?

[gunslinger6792]

I figured I'd drop a thread here since I'm more likely to get solid advice from fellow modders. I built a new computer recently and started fiddling with skyrim and I'm wondering which version of blender is best to use with Skyrim for armor mash ups and mesh editing? I'd say I was decently good with blender 2.49 and created several armor mash ups for fallout New Vegas but from what little I've seen some of my old tricks don't seem to carry over and thus require blender instead of just fiddling with nif files and pasting to the scene root. Before you ask "why don't you use 3ds max it's so much better?" I was only able to find the 2014 version which doesn't have a nif conversion tool so I'm stuck with blender. Please let me know of any pro's and con's of the different blender versions and of many major differences in armor creation I should be aware of/ look into.

[gezegond]

From a technical perspective, the most widely used nif importer/exporter only works with 2.49b. That doesn't matter though in application since you can just import using 2.49, then use 2.7 to make changes\create new meshes, then export with 2.49 again.

 

From my (limited) experience, the basic tools for mesh editing and creation are the same between the two versions, but 2.7 has a modern UI and things are much easier to find there, and also lots of handy new tools that weren't present in 2.49.

 

In the end I don't think there's a huge difference which you go with. I use them both at the same time, sometimes when I can't be bothered to close 2.49 and open 2.7 I just use 2.49's tools, once you learn where they are there isn't that much of a big difference. Under the hood they're the same application and work the same way.

[sp0ckrates]

Gnat is better, in my opinion. Much like older versions of 3DS Max, but free.

 

http://www.turbosquid.com/gmax