[Mesh Importing Help] The Creation Kit crashes when I import my weapon meshes. I need help!

[zealotlee]

Materials made with Ousnius's tools are in json format and those made with the CK are in binary, or so I've read but both are readable.

 

I used the unofficial program to make the material files opposed to the one that Bethesda provided under the 'Tools' folder. I could try it with the other way and see if it makes a difference. I used the vanilla Assault Rifle material as a base yet again.

[TrickyVein]

I had actually gotten that flipped around, but regardless, both should still be valid.

 

As much as it may not make intuitive sense, I would trust unofficial tools to do a better job than anything Bethesda has released so far.

Edited May 23, 2016 by TrickyVein

[zealotlee]

I had actually gotten that flipped around, but regardless, both should still be valid.

 

As much as it may not make intuitive sense, I would trust unofficial tools to do a better job than anything Bethesda has released so far.

Ironic, isn't it? Then again the communtiy has been doing this for years so it's no surprise.

 

When I get home I'll try some of these tactics out and see what works. Thank you guys for all your help so far and keep an eye on the thread!

[zealotlee]

Ok, so a bit of progress. I can load the receiver mesh into the GECK if it's assigned to a mod part or misc item. However if I try to open up the weapon file or anything that would need to load the mesh as a part of the weapon the CK crashes. It crashes in game the second I hover over it in the pip boy, indicating there is some error when it tries to load the mesh.

 

I'm kind of confused at the extra data stuff still. Here is what it looks like for me:

http://i.imgur.com/CMJCJ0e.png

[TrickyVein]

Alright, so if the model loads into the game then the discussion has shifted to how to properly set up weapon modifications for weapons. This is somewhat complex, as it involves syncing keywords to certain values within .nifs which can be easily lost track of.

 

For simplicity's sake, a weapon record references a single asset. A 1st person version can be defined, but in practice it doesn't deviate from how the default weapon record's .nif is configured, and so it isn't relevant here.

 

In the weapon record, keywords can be assigned to the weapon which determine how the engine establishes a hierarchy of attach points for weapon modifications for the weapon. This hierarchy has to be mirrored in the weapon's .nif and additional object modifications through the setting of values in BSConnectPoint:Children and BSConnectPoint:Parents.

 

BSConnectPoint:Children defines what the .nif is; is it a receiver? A scope? A <whatever> as the user would like to define it within the weapon or object modification record, through the use of keywords in the plugin.

":Parents defines which things can be attached to the .nif in question. Which modifications should be able to be applied to <this thing, defined in BSConnectPoint:Children>?

 

So if you would like to treat your mesh as a receiver, as the resource which the weapon record uses, the .nif would need to include as many values in BSConnectPoint:Parents as are defined in the weapon record to allow for however many weapon modifications.

 

Note that once this hierarchy is established, the correct object templates have to be defined in the weapon record to tell the engine with which parts to spawn a weapon.

[zealotlee]

I have that all set up with the object templates. Again, copying the structure of the assault rifle. It is loading the receiver mesh were it is supposed to be but it just crashes when it all tries to come together. What information do you need?

[Morbias777]

Try to set up receiver mesh only, and see if it works in game, that's what I did for testing my (unrealeased) machine gun. Also, have you defined children objects in NiNode under NiTransformController?

Make sure it all works and plays a correct animation during weapon reload, then think about other stuff. I mean, your weapon mag can do a weird stuff, like flipping around during animation.

As for weapon type, i.e. assault rifle/pistol, grip is what defines what it is. Attach a default stock to it or create an object inside creation kit and copy keywords from weapon type you want it to be. It crashed for me until I attached a handle to a handle. Yep.

[JonathanOstrus]

I realize I'm a bit late to the party here, and that you sort-of got it in game.

 

I thought I'd touch back on the crashing CK issue though in case that had to be revisited later. I didn't notice anyone mention it previously, and it seemed like you may have copied some nodes/trees from other nif's into the nif you're working with now. I found that when copying nodes, sometimes sub references got messed up. Specifically if I copied something that had a BSLightingShaderProperty. In the original nif the wet template had a proper reference to a string value pointing to the right material file. After pasting into the new nif it would try to reference the same string index. Sometimes it would exist, sometimes it wouldn't, but almost always it was wrong either way. In the case of it not existing that would cause CK to crash. So where I'm going with this is, if you copied any nodes/trees and pasted them in, you may need to go through any related nodes checking that all the references are pointing to other nodes or string indexes that actually exist.

 

*Edit: Actually that may not be related to your issue. Re-reading an earlier post I see that if you assign it as a mod or misc you can load the nif, but as a different record type it crashes. It's unlikely to be an index reference issue then. See another edit below.

 

On the note of the game crashing when you hover over the weapon. It sounds like the same thing causing the crash in the CK.

 

*Edit: After further reviewing I'm thinking it has to do with your connection points. The nif pointed to by your Weapon record should only have parent type connection points. There wouldn't be any other nif's loaded that children would connect to. From the image previously posted it looks like you have both types in the receiver which I'm assuming is the item referenced by your Weapon record. If you only have one receiver type you could do this but you need to remove the child reference since there's no parent for it. If you want multiple receivers then you need a dummy like all the vanilla weapons.

 

Based on this, is your Weapon record pointing to a dummy and using a template to load your real receiver as a mod? In which case as you noted before making your mod record and loading the nif there should resolve your crashing issue. That should also remedy your crashing in game if your connection points are properly configured. There's also the chance that the nif is somehow malformed internally even though NifSkope isn't complaining. I run into that a lot with helmets for some reason. I always have to load a vanilla nif, delete the meshes and copy mine in and adjust all the strings and such. I've never figured out if it was Figment's nif plugin for 3DS causing the issue or what.

Edited May 25, 2016 by BigAndFlabby