Quick question about meshes and NifSkope

[45AARP]

I've been trying to figure out how to take one part of a clothing mesh and merge it with another clothing mesh but can't quite seem to figure out how to get it to work in NifSkope.

 

What I'm trying to do specifically is just take the shoulder bandolier thing and belt stuff off of the some of the meshes in this picture: http://static-1.nexusmods.com/15/mods/101/images/37594-2-1300216010.jpg

 

and put them on another armor or clothing mesh. I've figured out how to copy and paste the NiTriStrips node or whatever it's called into the other mesh's NiNode but I'm having a problem with it either :

 

A: Not showing up at all

or

B: completely crashing as soon as I try to load the game with my character wearing the armor I'm trying to change.

 

I've seen some forum posts about this where someone mentions to "expand the NiTriShape" among other things but I'm not having the slightest clue of how to go about doing any of that as I've had NifSkope for about an hour.

 

Anyone able to give a quick explanation on how to do this in a way that someone who's had NifSkope for an hour could follow?

 

 

 

 

EDIT: Well I've figured out how to get it to work by deleting the skeleton root somehow. But now I have a problem with it not showing amulets anymore. Anyone know what's causing this?

Edited August 15, 2015 by slapahotribe23

[DrakeTheDragon]

Provided the objects you want to copy are their own separate NiTriStrips/Shapes and not just part of a bigger one, this can indeed be done in NifSkope without help of a real modeling app in most cases.

 

The trick is to always copy the entire branch labeled NiTriStrips/Shape, including everything else inside it at the same time.

 

So, first you open two instances of NifSkope, one with the file you want to copy from and one with the file you want to paste into.

 

Next you select the NiTriStrips/Shape node you want to copy, right-click and select "copy branch", whereas the latter is of utmost importance. Never attempt to copy an entire object by just copying a single node of it, or by attempting to copy the entire branch as if it "was" only a single node. Always use "copy branch" and "paste branch" for these tasks.

 

Now that you copied the mesh you want to transfer into your OS' clipboard, switch over to the target NifSkope, right-click the "Scene Root" (usually NiNode 0 at the top of the whole tree and its very root node everything else of the NIF is parented to) and only then do "paste branch". Again the "branch" part is important, when you copied a branch before, as you should have, instead of a node. And again of utmost importance is to copy the NiTriStrips/Shapes "only" into the "Scene Root" top branch of the NIF tree, nowhere else.

 

There may be recursive layering and parenting in other types of NIFs, and for good reason, but for clothing, armor, or basically everything equipment in general, NIFs every NiTriStrips/Shape node has to be a direct 1. generation child of the Scene Root NiNode 0.

 

Provided the required underlying skeleton bone structure for the newly copied object was already present inside the NIF, this will have done the trick already. If not though, then the attempt to "paste branch" will have failed with an error message informing you of such. So when mix'n'matching your own patchwork creation entirely from scratch, it's always a good idea to have a "complete" skeleton bone structure inserted into the NIF tree first, so there won't be any armature nodes missing later when you attempt to copy&paste another object into it.

 

And last but not least, they say "expand the NiTriShape" to tell you to click the little "+" icon left of its entry inside the NIF tree, so the branch will unfold and you will see its next level of children. For example, you'll need to do this with the NiNode 0 "Scene Root" of the source NIF file already in order to see and select the NiTriStrips/Shapes you want to copy from one NIF into another to begin with.

 

You can very well also select objects directly from the 3D view on the right instead, but in order to paste them anywhere again you "will" have to go into the NIF tree structure. You'll never know "where" exactly you paste the entry into when doing it on the free space inside the 3D view. The results will be rather random and anything else but pleasant.

 

Oh, and one last word of advice: Never ever mix the armature skeleton structures from one NIF into another. When you end up with more than 1 single NIF tree with a NiNode 0 "Scene Root" and all the armature bone nodes and NiTriStrips/Shapes inside of it, then the tree structure is bogus and can't be read by the game anymore. I don't know "what" it will still be able to decipher from it, but in the best case you will just be missing a lot, and in the worst case the file will crash the game.