Increasing an armor's breast or bra size?

[davidx4]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd imagine it would be done in NifSkope. I'm wanting to edit the Tifa armor by Colourwheel's. I'm in NifSkope, I have the "tanktop" selected, and here is what I've got:

 

http://www.davidjscott.com/misc/nifSkopeTifaSmall.jpg

 

I tried using the scaling option in NifSkope in hopes of enlarging it, but all it did was move its coordinate position. Maybe I'm just using the wrong software altogether. Is this indeed done through NifSkope, and if so, can I get away with just enlarging the tanktop size to fabricate bigger cup size?

 

If it matters, I'd prefer it be HGEC H-Cup compatible, but I was hoping that didn't matter and I could just enlarge the tanktop and be done with it.

Edited September 28, 2011 by davidx4

[MShoap13]

You'll need Blender or 3dSMax. Blender is free and there's a nice package that includes most, if not all, of the plugins you need for editing Oblivion meshes available on the Nexus.

[davidx4]

Alright, I've made a lot of progress since my last post. Using Blender, I took the existing Tifa armor, enlarged it, constrained the proportions (since .nif's wont export otherwise), I parented all the meshes (since my export was complaining otherwise), and it exported correctly. Looking at the armor in my .nif, it matches what I had in Blender, and looks correct:

 

http://www.davidjscott.com/misc/tifaNif2.jpg

 

However, when I equip the armor in Oblivion, I have a floating head:

 

http://www.davidjscott.com/misc/tifaArmorFloatingHead.jpg

 

I've tried the various guides online, but I think I've hit a brick wall. What could possibly cause an armor not to show up in-game when the .nif file looks correct? I received no export errors from Blender. All I did was imported an HGEC H-Cup body, imported the Tifa armor, enlarged the Tifa bra to conform to the body, parented everything, deleted the starting cube at my character's feet, selected all the elements (A key), exported, replaced the exported file over the old .nif in the correct Oblivion meshes folder, and done.

 

Is there some kind of skeleton crap I have to add, or some kind of missing step I overlooked?

Edited September 29, 2011 by davidx4

[davidx4]

Sorry for double post. I may have figured it out. I think it's because I have two scene roots. I believe this second Scene Root is from my imported HGEC H-Cup body.

 

Edit: Well, I managed to make my .nif have only one Scene Root, but, I still have a floating head. Anyone have any ideas? Here is what my new .nif looks like.

 

http://www.davidjscott.com/misc/tifaNif3.jpg

 

If it helps, I packaged all my files into a .zip, if anyone wants to take a look and help me out.:

http://www.mediafire.com/?inopft4gub68rds

Edited September 29, 2011 by davidx4

[MShoap13]

Open your file in Blender, delete all of the skeletons, save your file as "blahblahblah(WIP).nif" or whatever. Close Blender to remove any old skeletons from memory and to ensure the skeleton you import in the next step is named Scene Root.00 not Scene Root.01. Now, reopen Blender and open your project, Import the original skeleton.nif stored in your Oblivion Meshes.bsa and choose to parent it to your project. You'll need to use BSA commander to extract the default skeleton to any file. Be sure not to overwrite the skeleton in your data files if you have one installed.

[davidx4]

Yea, I don't know, I did all that. I did the following:

 

1.) Import the existing unedited Tifa .nif armor

2.) Delete the existing cube, light, and camera that come with every new blender file.

3.) I delete the one (and only?) existing Scene Root by right-clicking it and deleting it.

4.) I select all (A key) and save as a .blender and a .nif.

5.) I exit Blender, restart Blender, then reimport the newly made .nif file.

6.) I import the skeleton from the meshes.bsa file.

7.) I select all (A key), then parent.

8.) Export as .nif (again, with everything selected).

9.) Done.

 

At this point I'm not even editing the armor! To isolate my issue, I'm simply importing the Tifa armor and attempting to export it back as the SAME .nif to see if I can make it show in-game, but I just end up breaking it! What I need to find is an updated tutorial utilizing the version of Blender I'm using (2.49b). It's the one I downloaded from TES Nexus. Right now, I'm relying on an outdated screenshot of the Steel Cuirass Blender tutorial, so the import and export options aren't 100% accurate, and I'm concerned that's what is messing me up.

 

I've also searched YouTube for guides, but they're all for weapons. Working with weapons and working with armors feel like two totally different beasts.

 

I also tried circumventing Blender as much as possible by using NifSkope. Basically, I made my enlarged bra in Blender, then opened its .nif in NifSkope, selected the bra, did "copy branch," pasted it into my ORIGINAL Tifa armor .nif. Deleted the undersized original Tifa bra, then did "save as." In-game, all the pieces of the armor showed up EXCEPT the copy branched bra (go figure).

 

I really don't understand why this software is so stubborn (grr). I wish it was more like Adobe Photoshop, where what you see is what you get.

Edited October 10, 2011 by davidx4

[MShoap13]

That branch probably isn't connected to the scene root properly. NifSkope is pretty tricky, I haven't figured it out myself. If you compare your model in NifSkope to someone else's custom made model you'll most likely notice a difference in the structure of the main tree in the left pane.

 

I'd recommend basically repeating the steps you did in NifSkope only in Blender. You can import the modified bra into the original mesh's workspace after deleting the original bra. Then save, restart, import skeleton.

Edited October 10, 2011 by MShoap13

[davidx4]

I got it! Finally! I see what you were saying about your steps, but I found a link online that elaborated on the exact import/export settings conforming to my Blender version and I finally nailed it down.

http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Split_Oblivion_meshes

 

I think several things were the culprit:

 

1.) Probably my biggest mistake... When importing my skeleton, I did not know I had to select everything (A key) before doing so. This might be how to properly parent it to the skeleton, as you mentioned. Prior, my mistake was parenting the skeleton AFTER importing it using the object>parent>make parent selection.

 

2.) My export settings were a little different than the one's in the link (for example, I didn't use metal and use '10' scale), although whether this was a culprit or not, I'm skeptical. The old Steel Cuirass screenshot guide didn't say this, so ::shrug::.

 

3.) I didn't always use the "Scene Root" application to each armature. While guides told me to do it, sometimes I wouldn't, since you didn't mention me having to do anything like that, so I was thinking this was an irrelevant step, so I'd skip it sometimes.

 

Thanks for all your help. Finally, I can lay this chapter of frustration behind me and get to modding! Furthermore, I figured out Blender's "edit mode" easily, and in no time at all, I've been tweaking vertices, so I'm not constraining myself into only scaling :)

Edited October 10, 2011 by davidx4