3D MAX 2016

[SenorPato]

I still can't figure out what makes the meshes not appear in game, has anyone else maybe had some luck with this?

[tumbajamba]

Did you work thro my Import/Export tutorial? Check my fallout 4 files you might find it helpful.

[SenorPato]

I happened to come across it just after posting here, great tutorial! I've been able to change some meshes and make them appear in game, but I'm still trying to figure out how to add more meshes to something (e.g. putting a cats tail on a bloatfly). When I do the same thing as in your tutorial the game won't be able to exit loading screen when something with extra meshes is around.

[tumbajamba]

Well to answer this question i have to see the broken mesh. PM me if you need more help.

[Kukipett]

I have tried many times to export meshes with this plugin, sometimes it works sometimes not.

 

I have managed to create a new body highres mesh and i have exported it, but as usual it would not appear in game directly.

I have tried your tutorial but it doesn't change much.

The only solution that worked, was to export the nif then import the body shape in an original working body mesh and create the 4 dismemberment partition as you did in your tutorial.

But it was not enough, the mesh was still invisible.

The miracle came when i loaded the mesh in Caliente the Outfit Studio using the original mesh as reference shape.

You need to edit a little your mesh (inflate/defalte slightly somewhere) then export the nif without reference.

 

And it worked, the body was perfectly working, except the dismemberment.

 

I also tried to do the same for boots but the result was weird, the boots were totally distorted and buried in the ground.

 

So all the problem seem to come from that dismemberment data that the plugin ignore, sometimes loading the mesh in Outfit Studio can make it visible by correcting the dismemberment data, but it seems that you need that the body is complete or at least partially. I was able to export a working body mesh without legs to use it with long boots, but i never was able to make the boots work they were systematicaly distorted.

The only way to export my boots was to export as OBJ and import that OBJ in Outfit studio.

 

I have done a lot of new cloth and armor thio way with success.

 

But there is a little problem, in game when you use a model done this way, avoid bloat flies or the mirelurk queen. It seems that when they throw their acid at you the body needs the dismemberment partition to show the damage and sometimes the game crash immediately to desktop.

The solution is to alway have a standard vanilla armor in your stuff and change for it when such an ennemy comes out.

 

 

I also exported a lot of nifs for construction objects, i was tired to build with junk!

For this kind of nif, the plugin works as there is no dismemberment. But you have to import the BSTiShape in an other working nif of the same kind. The problem is the collision mesh that is missing so the best is to choose a vanilla mesh which has about the same shape and locking points.

But sometimes the nif is invalid and when you open the build menu and open the section where your object is the game crash. The more complex the object the more problem you have. For simple objects like walls, ground plates, ceiling tec... it works wery well, i have done stairs also with success, but i tried to load a statue and with taht nif the game crashed often, so it seems that the plugin doesn't export the meshes in a perfect format.

Edited January 28, 2016 by Kukipett

[brokefoot]

I've had the same issues mentioned, where my exported nif from MAX is sort of invisible in-game. Well, its there I think - but it looks almost like its just an invisible mesh casting shadows.

 

The workaround, sadly, is that your exported nif from MAX needs to be loaded into Outfit Studio>Export shape as OBJ>Import that OBJ back into OS>reskin (copy bone weights from a reference) in OS>Export as nif.

 

The problem with doing that is the copy weights function isn't so great. As an example, I tried removing all but the vest from the Desdomna outfit using MAX. Mind you, I did no resize or shaping, just removed parts of the mesh in MAX. And when I do the Export/Import OBJ trick with Outfit Studio for that vest, even using the original Desdemona outfit as the reference for skinning - the weights are still a bit messed up in certain areas. You wouldn't think this should happen because the vertices are in the same damn place !

 

Really, really, really wish someone knew of a simpler workaround for the invisible/shadow bug with the MAX exported nifs. I'd love to keep the original skin/weight values of the mesh.

[tumbajamba]

I've had the same issues mentioned, where my exported nif from MAX is sort of invisible in-game. Well, its there I think - but it looks almost like its just an invisible mesh casting shadows.

 

The workaround, sadly, is that your exported nif from MAX needs to be loaded into Outfit Studio>Export shape as OBJ>Import that OBJ back into OS>reskin (copy bone weights from a reference) in OS>Export as nif.

 

The problem with doing that is the copy weights function isn't so great. As an example, I tried removing all but the vest from the Desdomna outfit using MAX. Mind you, I did no resize or shaping, just removed parts of the mesh in MAX. And when I do the Export/Import OBJ trick with Outfit Studio for that vest, even using the original Desdemona outfit as the reference for skinning - the weights are still a bit messed up in certain areas. You wouldn't think this should happen because the vertices are in the same damn place !

 

Really, really, really wish someone knew of a simpler workaround for the invisible/shadow bug with the MAX exported nifs. I'd love to keep the original skin/weight values of the mesh.

Bump. Its a pain in my *ss, just cant get some meshes work especially if many diffrent bones involved. Hope some one could fix this isssue in niftools.

[miky23]

im trying to add a hat on an existing creature

i understand that i have to edit the mesh and the texture but i cant seem to be able to load the default uv map and add on it the new hat mapping

is there something i needed to export with nifskope to use on the mesh im editing with 3d max?

[Kukipett]

You don't need to edit the creature mesh and it's UVmapping, you just need to create a new mesh with it's own UV map for the hat and export it.

Then you just open the creature mesh in NifSkope and copy the hat mesh with the classic copy paste procedure.

Then you need to create a materail and copy a working shader from a anoter part of the model and change it's name wit the material name.

 

There are many tutorials about that kind of work on nif models.

[brokefoot]

Ok, I've tried the method below with a little over 20 vanilla meshes and no failures. I'm sorry in advance for my poor explanation. I'm not very good at teaching, but here goes...

 

The following method applies ONLY to 3ds MAX 2016 w/ latest Github release of Figment's tool and also Nifskope v2.04 (?) Alpha.

The following method also applies ONLY to skinned meshes, not including body. I recommend using Outfit Studio to "zap" away parts of body meshes if you wish to remove certain areas and also use OS if you wish to alter size of parts of body meshes. Use TumbaJamba's tutorial fix for SubIndex Segments after all this:

 

1) Import nif into MAX keeping all Figment's import settings untouched.

2) Click outside the area of bones/meshes thereby deselecting all in scene. Any shapes you don't plan on keeping, select now and hit delete.

3) Select only the shape you wish to edit by clicking on it in the viewport and make your adjustments > "Modify" tab then "Editable Mesh". This WILL move your shape 'under the grid' but don't worry about that. Remove parts, scale parts or whatever. I'm not covering weight paint alterations here.

4) Once you're done with editing, click the "Create" tab bringing you out of "Editable Mesh" and back into the full scene.

5) Click outside the area of bones/meshes thereby deselecting all in scene.

6) Hit "Edit" > "Select All" and now "MAX Icon" > "Export" > "Export". Choose nif as file type and keep all Figment's export settings untouched except weld verts should be zero ( thats 0, not 0.001 or 0.010 or whatever... just 0).

7) Close MAX and open Outfit Studio.

8 ) Import any skinned vanilla mesh (doesn't matter which one, really) via the "Load Outfit" option.

9) In the same scene, import your MAX edited nif you just exported.

10) You'll notice your nif is much higher than the vanilla mesh. That's ok.

11) Delete any and all vanilla shapes, keeping only your edited meshes in the scene.

12) Export this as a new nif (we'll call this "A" for this tutorial). Close Outfit Studio (and BodySlide).

13) Open Outfit Studio, import your "A" nif via the "Load Outfit" option.

14) The following transform values are what I found to be the closest, but they are not exact. Play around with them anyway you want.

- Select all shapes that make up your "A" nif and choose "Move Shape".

- First do Z = -121 then hit "OK". Next again Z = +0.201 and also Y = +0.871 then hit "OK"

- You might also try another method of transform found here (http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/5622/?) look for jet4571's post made on Feb 10th.

 

That's it, the rest is just updating materials/textures/etc and also SubIndex (partition segments) in NifSkope.

 

You can now freely edit this mesh in Outfit Studio for clipping and such or renaming reordering shapes, etc etc etc.