Need help with custom models for Fallout 3

[Delta5Angel]

Hello,

I think this is the right area to post this. - Please tell me if it isnt :S

 

I am making an adventure mod for Fallout 3, called Frozen Sky, and I want to add all new models for the various guns that I plan on making.

 

I have Blender, and Google Sketchup. I created a model with Sketchup, exported it to .dae (which the free version does natively) and then imported into blender, then simply exported it from blender into Obj. *takes a deep breath*

Then I imported it into Nifskope from the Obj, and saved it as a .nif. I know my way around nifskope somewhat, and i succsessfully implemented the new mesh into the game.

But the textures... thats a different story.

 

I used sketchup to texture it, which i found actually created UV map for it, which worked in nifskope. So i have a boxy model, with a diffuse texture, I found a normal map (i just used some vanilla metal textures and thier "_n" versions as normal maps) but the model doesnt reflect light at all, and looks cartoony. I've done something wrong... or something not right...

 

Can someone, who knows about making custom models for Fallout 3, please guide me through the process of modeling it, and texturing it and getting working in the game and all the tools used please?

Sorry for the long and complex description of my problem, its just that for weeks now I simply dont have a clue how to make custom models and properly texture them...

 

Ive looked around, but not seen any tutorials for actually creating models from scratch. (or basically texturing them, the from-scratch models that is.)

 

I'd really appreciate some help,

Thankyou for your time,

-Anthony

Edited July 19, 2011 by Delta5Angel

[Moraelin]

Well, I'm not the big expert, but I figure I know a bit about getting stuff to look shiny.

 

In a nutshell, you also need to tell the engine what kind of shine to apply, based on that normal map. You've probably seen that list of 6 textures in NifSkope. You know, the first is your texture, the second the normal map... and the 5'th is the shine effect. If there's nothing there, there's no shine.

 

Personally I go for polished steel, so I put "textures\effects\Reflection.dds" there. (Without the quotes, obviously.) Downside, that's a full cube map reflection. So maybe not the best idea for stuff that every NPC gets, lest you want to make the graphics cards of most people cry.

 

Replacing "Reflection" with "ShinyDull_a" to "ShinyDull_e" or "ShinyBright_a" to "ShinyBright_e", gives you some less nuts shaders there. Wish I could tell you which one is exactly right for you, but I don't know either. You'll have to go by trial and error, really.

 

Btw, it says .dds, but as far as I can tell, it's really an internal name for a shader, so don't ask me about editing your own :P

 

As you probably know, the alpha channel of the normal map says how much of that shine will get applied. So 255 (fully opaque normal map) is full shine, while 0 (fully transparent) means fully dull and non-shiny. Personally I tend to use 240 for polished steel, and 255 I used only for the Japanese blades, less than that for other stuff. For example the lens of the Vladimir scope is only 224. Try and see for yourself what works, basically.

 

You may want to also look in the NiMaterialProperty at the glossiness, which also controls the amount of shine. It seems to have no effect for the Reflection.dds shine, but it does what it says for the others. It's from 0 to 100. I tend to use 50 for said shiny polished steel (I don't want it shining like the sun, after all), and 10 for spear shafts and the like. Though for some of those I just remove the shine entirely.

 

Of course, that all could also be subverted by other mishaps, but if you say you're already used to NifSkope, you probably didn't screw up.

[graveshot1212]

Could you tell me how you got the meshes from being invisible when putting them into the G.E.C.K?