A slightly more complex mesh

[lgpmichael]

I am not an artist, not by a longshot. I am a coder, and the idea of doing artwork makes me all lightheaded with terror {:-)

 

But I am curious as to something I am looking for someone to do - as to whether this is possible.

 

Is it even possible, with the NIF format, to have a mesh change its size and shape, and the textures it uses? And if so, does Oblivion support this?

 

I ask, because I can't remember anywhere that this happens in the game. I will give you an example.

 

The particular model I need is - starting from a point - which is the side of a pool, water gushes out of the pool in response to a players action of breaking the side of the pool, onto the ground, and then follows the path water would flow, until it pools at a dip in the ground some distance away. So in effect the model starts at zero size (or 1x1 pixel disabled or something) and then grows as it expands along its path.

 

I'm not talking about calculating paths and direction of flow, this is from a set point along a known path, but is it even possible for a nif to grow like that, to have it add new textures and animations to the front edge of the flow, for example to add in a series of small waterfalls as it flows down a flight of steps.

 

I currently have the whole thing working as a whole series of the existing water flow models, they rise up out of the ground at an angle to give them the appearance of flowing but to be honest, it doesn't look that great. It looks passable, but, as I mentioned, Im a coder, and it looks like coders artwork {:-)

 

So, does anyone reckon that this is even possible. As I say, I've not seen a mesh in the whole game that changes its shape and textures over time. Other than perhaps something skeletal, give the water a skeleton, have it unwind itself to simulate the flow, with the wound up bits under the ground and exposing themselves as they unwind... that could work, maybe?

 

Thoughts? Opinions? Am I just insane to even think it is possible? {:-)

[LegacyCloud]

I too suspect that an animation object is the ony way forward for something like this. If you are handy enough with something like 3DS to create a custom skeleton and animation (which I am not!), this may be feasible. As for making standard Nif meshes do this, I know of no such example.

 

Still, where's the fun in modding if we can't push boundaries on the odd occassion?!

 

I wish you the best of luck, and I'd love to see the finished thing in game if you can make it work.