Tutorial: 3ds Max Skinned Meshes Into Game

[SeveredSon]

The other day I installed Niftools 3.7.1 plugins for Max 2011 (32 bit) and was able to import Nif files from Skyrim into Max with textures, no problem. However, the next day Max would crash when importing models. I did some investigating and discovered that the Niftool shader is what's crashing Max.

 

When I open the Material Editor in Max and select Niftool Shader from the dropdown Max freezes, then crashes. Has anyone else experienced this? Why would it work one day and then not work the next day?

 

*** EDIT *** After further investigation I discovered that when importing a Nif file from Skyrim into Max the Niftool Shader works just fine. However, if I create a new object and attempt to select the Niftool Shader from the dropdown in the Material Editor it crashes. The Niftool Shader seems to only work if you import a file that already has the shader applied. Does that seem a little odd to anyone?

Edited December 7, 2011 by SeveredSon

[Derrax]

The other day I installed Niftools 3.7.1 plugins for Max 2011 (32 bit) and was able to import Nif files from Skyrim into Max with textures, no problem. However, the next day Max would crash when importing models. I did some investigating and discovered that the Niftool shader is what's crashing Max.

 

When I open the Material Editor in Max and select Niftool Shader from the dropdown Max freezes, then crashes. Has anyone else experienced this? Why would it work one day and then not work the next day?

 

*** EDIT *** After further investigation I discovered that when importing a Nif file from Skyrim into Max the Niftool Shader works just fine. However, if I create a new object and attempt to select the Niftool Shader from the dropdown in the Material Editor it crashes. The Niftool Shader seems to only work if you import a file that already has the shader applied. Does that seem a little odd to anyone?

 

Yeah that's because of the assigned renderer in 3dsmax. Keep in mind that the plugin is very much a work in progress at the moment anyway, so glitches are to be expected.

 

Anyway the solution to your issue is going into your Render Setup (F10) and make sure that the Default Scanline Renderer is assigned to your scene. Chances are you have set it to MentalRay or iRay at the moment. MentalRay doesn't play well with the shader and crashes. The Default Scanline renderer doesn't, neither does Vray (won't work with that, but won't crash)

[SeveredSon]

Yeah that's because of the assigned renderer in 3dsmax. Keep in mind that the plugin is very much a work in progress at the moment anyway, so glitches are to be expected.

 

Anyway the solution to your issue is going into your Render Setup (F10) and make sure that the Default Scanline Renderer is assigned to your scene. Chances are you have set it to MentalRay or iRay at the moment. MentalRay doesn't play well with the shader and crashes. The Default Scanline renderer doesn't, neither does Vray (won't work with that, but won't crash)

 

You're right, I had the default renderer set to MR, but when I switched it to Scanline it still crashed. Maybe it will get fixed in future versions. Until then at least I know how to work around it. Thanks!

[PrometheusTS]

Notice - please read first time (hidden in spoiler for tidiness)

 

OK, I just cracked it after a lot of trial and error on my part. I've noticed the same methods I've used here have kinda been mentioned throughout posts in the forum, but tracking them down and understanding them can be quite difficult! So I've documented my process here so that can get you from a skinned mesh (one that uses bones) in 3ds Max into a perfectly working model in Skyrim.

 

Firstly, I give no promises that this will work. I have done very little testing, but it was kind of a breakthrough moment that I thought worth documenting here.

 

Please note that this is just my process that I have to do for now. This is likely to become obsolete possibly very quickly, but for now it's a working process. Hopefully someone can make use of it for some good mods while we wait for an easier more streamlined method!

 

I don't claim to be an expert in this area. I've simply tried lots of things until they work. This may not be the best way of doing everything. I don't understand how everything with Skyrim nifs works, just if it does work or not! The steps here may likely require tweaking for your individual requirements.

 

I keep a lot of the steps to the point, so you'll partly need to know what you're doing already. If you don't fully understand a step, searching the forum can likely help.

 

Let's Begin

 

Tools you'll need:

1. NifSkope with Skyrim ini (or use Amorilia's, but may currently cause issues - thanks throttlekitty).
   
2. MaxTools 3.7.1 The forum post for this has unfortunately recently been merged and previously mentioned links are broken. This may change again soon, so I don't guarantee this link will work.
   
3. 3ds Max (obviously) - I'm using 2012 x64
   

Importing the mesh you wish to change

1. First find your mesh you want to edit. You'll need to extract the nif.
   
2. Make sure you have the required skeleton nif file extracted to the same directory. If you're unsure, import attempts will produce an error telling you which skeleton you need.
   
3. In 3ds Max, import your mesh with the following settings:
   http://i.imgur.com/AaDsF.png
   

 

Make your changes to your mesh.

It's your responsibility to ensure changes you make are valid: ensure the Skin has correct bone assignments and your UVW maps are good.

 

Exporting

Export with the following settings:

http://i.imgur.com/hXKk3.png

Ensure Generate Strips is off. We need NiTriShapeData, not NiTriStripsData.

Remove Extra Bones shouldn't be necessary if you correctly checked Remove Unused Bones on import.

 

Fixing with NifSkope

This is the most important bit and can be tricky.

 

1. Open the original non-edited mesh and your new edited mesh alongside each other. If you can't for some reason, just open each one as you need to.
   
2. Replacing the shader information with the original's:
   
   • This is important, otherwise your mesh probably won't appear at all. In your original, copy the branch of the BSLightingShaderProperty.
     
   • In your modified, delete the BSLightingShaderProperty branch, then paste the one copied. It won't be linked in correctly yet, so don't worry.
     
   • In the NiTriShape, find Property Link 1 (it's near the bottom) and input the node number of the pasted BSLightingShaderProperty.
     

[*]Fixing the mesh up: At this point your mesh still may not appear correctly in game. It'll likely have incorrect textures. Following steps are on your modified mesh unless stated:

• In your NiTriShapeData, find Has Normals. If this is Yes, double click the value to change it to No. I don't know why, but normals data it isn't needed and it's just adding a lot of redundant data to the file size. The importance of this step is uncertain, but it's probably worth doing. If you experience issues, try without. Update: Comment by Ghogiel (also mentions the need to recreate the BSdismember Modifier)
  
• Still in your NiTriShapeData, find Has Vertex Colors, and change it from No to Yes. If it was already Yes, it's likely you had accidentally checked Vertex Colors on export, which you shouldn't have done! I find this step is very important, as Skyrim needs the vertex colour information to render the texture properly; without it, my diffuse textures didn't appear (or they appeared black). If your mesh actually needs certain vertex colour information, I'm sorry I can't help at the moment. Update: Comment by Ghogiel

 

Finishing up

Save your nif and put it into the correct data folder in your Skyrim directory so the game uses it. You should now be done! Have a test and see if everything worked ok.

 

I hope this helps. I really cannot provide too much support for this, because even I don't fully understand it. But I hope my process, which I've found to work for me, will work for you too. And I apologise in advance if everyone finds that the method doesn't help when you actually do some serious modifications to your meshes. I haven't done so yet, so I can't guarantee it'll work right! But I hope the concepts will be a good base to work from.

 

Good luck and happy modding! :)

Hi in your tutorial you say be shure to have the nif skeleton in the folder but in what folder and anyway there is no nif skeleton there is skeleton.hkx file , how to use that?

[PrometheusTS]

I coul dimport without the skeleton I guess anyway when export crashes max ....

[Derrax]

I coul dimport without the skeleton I guess anyway when export crashes max ....

 

It would certainly be helpful if you'd mention WHAT mesh you're having trouble with :P

[PrometheusTS]

I have downloaded the latest 3dsmax exporter importer , the things I did are the following :

 

Since I have found no skeleton I only found a skeleton hfx something not the nif skeleton , so I have taken this and placed in the same folder of the mesh I wanted to import , befoure this step I took 2 armors and merged into one nif , as the usual stuff done to have a new armor so far just by erasing parts of the meshes with photoshop work , anyway I did this and then imported in 3dsmax , it imported and seemed fine keeping the stacked modifiers , so I proceded to delete parts of one armor and parts of the other , I am not sure why but the armors seemed doubled in the import , altough in the nif file they where one single block so I delete the duplicates , then I reexport it and .... crash .... :(

 

 

the mesh I mixmatched are the dawn robe and the steel plate armor ...

[MysticBinary82]

There must be a "skeleton.hkx", "skeleton.nif" and a "skeletonbeast.nif" in \meshes\actors\character\character assets

 

I don't get my mesh to work ingame too. I try to edit the nude male mod. I did already change the mesh and put some more realism into it but I always get my mesh screwed ingame.

[PrometheusTS]

I cant find any skeleton nif stuff...

[MysticBinary82]

Are you extracting the bsa files with FO3Archive?