Getting a new Mesh to show up in-game

[ZerasCETA]

I'm working on a simple sunglasses mesh and having some trouble getting it to render in-game at all. It doesn't crash the game at least, but it's not visible when I equip it. Here's what I've done:

 

Before export from 3DS Max:

 

1.) Added skin modifier, added bones "HEAD" and "Head_skin"

 

2.) added BS SubIndex Modifier, no extra partitions

 

3.) Exported with default settings for FO4

 

 

Then in Material Editor:

 

1.) copied the material from a vanilla model and moved it to a new folder, added paths for new diffuse, normal, and environment cube map textures, no specular

 

 

Then in Nifskope:

 

1.) Added material path to BSLightingShaderProperty

 

2.) Changed Texture paths to same textures as material (not sure if that matters if you're using a material but I figured it wouldn't hurt)

 

3.) Changed shader flags to the same as a similar vanilla model

 

 

 

I've modded FO3, New Vegas, and Skyrim and the 3DS max exporters always left out a lot more than this one appears to, requiring much more work in Nifskope. The hierarchy of the exported model appears identical to a similar vanilla model and I think that's making it more difficult to find where I'm going wrong. Any pointers from the folks who have already got meshes in-game?

Edited March 16, 2016 by ZerasCETA

[jeffglobal]

Did you also adjust the bounding sphere? Idk about stuff with transmissive materials though, I haven't tried to get those ingame for a while. I know though, no bounding sphere, no visibility. Otherwise, I thought transmissive materials are bgem files...(like glass) unless ur making just shades but, using the BSLightingShaderProperty implies to me a bgem file.

[ZerasCETA]

I'm just using a .BGSM material for now, I can tweak the material after it shows up in game to get the look I want. And... bounding sphere? Well i definitely don't have one. I don't even see it in nifskope on vanilla meshes. How do I add that? Also this is only the equipped model, not the world model. I just replaced a vanilla model for testing purposes for now so it's using its vanilla world model.

[PoliteRaider]

Here's a tutorial video for weapons, but around the 4 minute mark the creator describes the invisible mesh problem and how to fix it with a bounding sphere.

 

[ZerasCETA]

Here's a tutorial video for weapons, but around the 4 minute mark the creator describes the invisible mesh problem and how to fix it with a bounding sphere.

 

 

Thank you, but I've actually made a good bit of progress and found that not to be the problem. I was able to get it to show up in-game but the next problem i ran into was its translation, rotation, and scale being off, which even after resetting within 3ds max 2015, didn't seem to correct the problem (clicking the reset transform button wasn't even resetting it, i think 2015 might be buggy...). I found that by attaching the mesh of a new model to a working, imported vanilla mesh, i could copy its properties and have less inconsistencies after exporting, and it showed up in-game, in the correct place. THEN, it showed up with half of its tri's invisible, which took forever to figure out that the BS SubIndex modifier had 2 partitions and was causing the issue. Then I learned a bit more about BGSM's vs BGEM's from other mods and vanilla files and got the glass and frames about right, and I'm now left with one issue. Upon export, I end up with less tris than the mesh in 3DS Max, these screenshots should demonstrate the issue.

 

 

 

I thought it might be the weld vertices option during export causing it, but after setting it to both 0.0 and 0.00000001, neither made any difference. Unless that portion of the exporter is currently broken, I'm at a loss. As you can see, in 3DS Max, I have a beautifully crafted circular tube for the sunglass frame (created by another for FO:NV, this is for my education, not for release) and in nifskope (and in-game, and in bodyslide outfit studio) it's been downgraded in tri's, and I can't figure out why. Anyone know the cause?

[Kikaimegami]

I don't really know the exact cause, other than experiencing something similar back in Oblivion-modding days and it ending up being something odd in the exporter that needed fixed by a dev. You may want to head over to the NifTools forums and give them a heads up.

 

As for trying to make it stop doing that now... I can only offer hackish solutions as an amateur 3d artist :ermm:

 

Try making the mesh match the UV mapping... If you were using Blender, I'd say to select the entire thing in edit mode (so, the mode where you can twaddle individual vertices), and remove all doubles. Then in your UV/Image editor, use the seams from islands function, which in Blender, marks all the UV mapping seams on the mesh itself. Then in edit mode again, with edge-selection enabled, you'd select all of the seams and edge split them, which ends up with the kind of mesh the game engine actually wants, where each UV island is separated in the actual mesh. I mean, I'm pretty sure what you're seeing is the exporter doing something bizarre with the calculations and deciding to cull vertices it things are identical, but giving it something as close to what the resulting NIF will be like might alleviate it.

 

You could also bite the bullet and use Outfit Studio to do the nif conversion for you instead, so you'd export from 3dsmax as obj or fbx, though obviously obj trashes your rigging (and redoing weight-painting in OS for anything more complicated that crap that only needs zero or full weight across the entire shape is so fun, because using its copy weights function doesn't always give the best results). This does have the added benefit of making it stupidly easy to fix your translation/rotation/scaling issues without dancing around with fixing it in 3dsmax in a way that the exporter honors.

[ZerasCETA]

Thanks for the quick reply, and thank you for the advice. Although the terminology Max uses may be different, I think I understand what you mean and it's actually a simple enough mesh that each UV section is already detached from each other part. I'm going to give this a try in 2016 to see if some of the issues and random crashes I've experienced, as well as this new issue are alleviated. As for using outfit studio, it doesn't bode well for my future projects, but at least this is just a pair of glasses that does only require full weight so that may end up being what I do. Thank you for the idea.

 

EDIT: Ok, that was weird. So 2016 didn't change anything, same issue. But by scaling up the mesh by its vertices, the problem goes away. of course that doesn't help much, but its a start. So it seems that the plugin may be ignoring whatever i enter into the weld vertices box during export. The real question is, how am I the only one being affected by this...

 

EDIT 2: AHA! I figured it out. It was an issue with copying the skin modifier from the vanilla glasses. I should have known, it's been too long since I modded a gamebryo game. I figured out my transforms issue too. Now the only issue is that at certain angles in-game it disappears. I remember dealing with this in Skyrim, I just can't remember what fixes it... It appears that the glasses are only visible when my feet are also visible. Considering its location before rigging is applied is somewhere near 0,0,0, that would make sense, but i can't figure out how to change it. I changed the bounding sphere location to up near the head but that had no effect. any ideas anyone?

Edited March 17, 2016 by ZerasCETA