LE Having problems with creating an armor mashup

[isra]

I've been working on an armor mashup for myself that covers the body, hands and feet (on one item - this is important for my purposes) and I've encountered some odd problems.

I've made _0 and _1 meshes for the mashup and then removed some small clipping issues using the outfit studio brush tool. I've previously done separate slot armor mashups like this without any problems but this one is giving me a headache.

 

First I get a neck gap, even though the mod I copied my body mesh from does not. Even if I copy & paste the body mesh over again in NifSkope I can see it lines up perfectly with what I already have... but a gap still appears in game. Could this be a texture problem with the body? The texture is OK in appearance, but it's hard to tell for certain since not much is showing below the collar (maybe my nipples are on my back!).

 

Second, my hand textures have gone through a jet turbine. They're streaks of dark brown and lighter skin. I used the same hand meshes as my base body - they're simply copied over in NifSkope, and the textures work correctly in NifSkope but in game they're muddled up like they've been applied incorrectly. Without the armor on, the very same hand meshes have proper textures. I can't seem to fix this and don't understand why only the hands seem to be having this problem. I've even tried using a different hand mesh, and I'm 100% positive the textures are designed for the meshes I'm using.

 

Is it just not advisable to create armor that covers multiple body parts, or am I doing something wrong?

Any advice or help is much appreciated!

Edited September 6, 2016 by isra

[thumbincubation]

With the caveat that I'm just beginning to cut my teeth in nifskope, I have had similar problems with placing armors over each other. I haven't specifically had the neck seam, but I've had spaces that needed to either be filled or deleted, depending on whether I was working on the _0 or the _1. Specifically, I've been trying to put sleeves and pant legs on armors. I usually work on the _1 first, then the _0. When I get the textures edited such that the armors seem to match nicely on the _1, I'll apply them to the _0 mesh and there will almost always be gaps between the cuirass and sleeves, in the armpits, and at the upper back. (This is where the cuirass is usually a low neck and the sleeves come from something with a higher neck, like Thieves Guild armor or mage robes.

 

What I've ended up doing is keeping nifskope up, while I open the texture(s) in gimp, cut a little something, export, see the changes in gimp, then go back and either "undo" or cut a little more, depending on what I need. So unintentionally, I've ended up with a _1 texture and a separate _0 texture, in addition to the meshes.

 

When things, that I know should fit, look suddenly borked, it usually turns out to be either an oversized texture, which I didn't shrink back down before applying; or that I've applied the armor texture to the skin or vice versa.

 

As I'm still uber noob at this, though, take it with a grain of salt please. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will be along, with an easier way for both of us. I have a few questions out there, myself, waiting for someone who knows...

[dalsio]

It's absolutely possible to make a full "suit" armor but to understand your exact problem I'll have to step you through a few preliminary "quick fixes" that are common problems. Also, if you can post images of what the seams and weird hands look like that would also be helpful.

 

For the body, check that the body mesh in the armor is the same as the one used by your game. An armor that is designed for a vanilla body (like a vanilla armor) will have strange seams and gaps at the neck, wrists, and ankles if you're using a custom body mod like CBBE or UNP and an armor made for a custom body will show the same if used with a vanilla body. This can also happen if the armor was made for UNP but your game is using CBBE, and vise-versa. Make sure that you're using the right body mesh for your armor or the right armor mesh for your body.

 

For the hands: It's hard to know without seeing what you're seeing, but it sounds like you have two hand meshes overlapping each other, trying to exist in the same space. If your armor does not cover the hands then you don't need to include bare hand meshes in your armor mesh. If, on the other hand (hah), your armor has gauntlets or gloves or something, you need to tell the editor that your armor includes hand meshes so that it removes the base hands when equipping the armor. Look at the ArmorAddon of your armor in the editor and make sure that under the "Biped Object" section, "33 - Hands" is selected. Hit OK and save. This should cause the base hand mesh to disappear when equipping the armor, to be replaced by the hands that come with the armor mesh. Also be aware that the hands may have seams or gaps for the same reason that your neck does.

Edited September 6, 2016 by dalsio

[thumbincubation]

Am taking notes, as this is helping me too. Thanks Dalsio.

[isra]

Thank you for your replies as they gave me somewhere to continue from and also gave me some ideas.

I couldn't ever figure out why the hand textures bugged out but I realized upon close examination that they were using the body textures even though the meshes were absolutely pointing to the hand textures. From there I had to assume that there is an inherent problem with attaching bare hands to a full body armor, or at least if you point it at the default hand textures. Kind of bizarre...

I also couldn't get the neck gap to close unless I messed around pretty hamfistedly with the weight slider, and then I still had a seam.

I'm sure there are ways of doing a full armor mesh but in the end I thought I am probably too lay to tackle this in an acceptable amount of time, so I opted to find another solution, and I did manage to fix both issues.

Instead of making a full body mesh, I simply made sure all the parts fit without clipping in outfit studio, and then created ArmorAddons for each part in creation kit. Then I attached all of those ArmorAddons in the models section of the actual in game item. This is probably very obvious to most modders but I only figured out it was even possible by poking around.

End result is the same - a single item made up of several items of clothing. I hope this information can prevent someone else from wasting many hours of their life!

Edited September 7, 2016 by isra