Creation Kit Won't Load My Custom .Nif File

[MrBigFedora]

hey there,

 

so I wanted to make a re-textured version of the deathclaw gauntlet as a seperate item in game. so I cloned the .DDS of the DCgauntlet and then opened it up in gimp and retextured it, then I exported it as a seperate .DDS file. then I opened nifscope and opened up the .nif for the gauntlet, added my texture to it and it showed up on the model just fine. so then I saved that as it's own .nif instead of replacing the origional.

 

now my problem is, when I make a copy of the deathclaw gauntlet in the CK and then load the .nif I created myself but, instead of showing the model, it just gives me an error marker in the preview screen.

 

anybody know how to fix this? because I'm at a loss.

Edited September 10, 2016 by MrBigFedora

[radiumskull]

Did you create a new BGSM material file for your NIF? You'll probably want to clone the gauntlet BGSM file.

 

I know the NIF file has entries for textures, but CK and FO4 don't look at those.

[MrBigFedora]

No I didn't even know that file existed, what do I do with the BGSM material once cloned? and how do I even clone it?

Edited September 10, 2016 by MrBigFedora

[CaptainCockerel]

You can find a material editor here on the Nexus (sorry no link I am on mobile). Extract all the materials from Bethesda in the accociated BA2 first, open the gauntlet BGSM, find the right tab and change the filepath to your texture path, then save it with a custom name. Now in your NIF file, find the BGSM string and repoint it to your file.

 

If none of that works for unknown reasons, just delete the BGSM string in the NIF and repoint your textures manually in the texture set. You won't get as much control for parameters, but you sound like you are just repointing anyway.

[BlahBlahDEEBlahBlah]

A note from personal experience: If the new or edited bgsm doesn't seem to work even after following these other posters good instructions, try exiting completely out of the Creation Kit and then back in. Sometimes, a bgsm won't work for me, even after having done the all the needed bits, and doing this will give the last little kick Creation Kit needs.

[MrBigFedora]

Thank you guys so much! I'm going to try these tips tomorrow when I wake up. :)

[TrickyVein]

If you're just changing a texture, you can use a material swap instead of needing to duplicate the .nif.

[radiumskull]

@MrBigFedora : Try reading any of the available FO4 retexturing tutorials, and you'll find out more about BGSMs.

 

Shouldn't forget to mention that the CK has its own BGSM editor.. but most people don't understand it much. It's a web page that builds a JSON file for you. That little colored-ball button next to the Preferences button on the top bar.

[RaffTheSweetling]

If you're just changing a texture, you can use a material swap instead of needing to duplicate the .nif.

 

 

Yes indeed, this is valuable information. I did things the old-fashioned way for my first dozen or so custom retextures before realizing I could just use 'custom material swap' or create a bgsm of my own and swap the material through that. Sometimes It doesn't work, and a new .nif needs to be made, (copied/edited), but 99% of the time the material swap is all you need. :smile:

 

Edited because I quoted the wrong comment originally. :)

Edited September 13, 2016 by RaffTheSweetling

[BlahBlahDEEBlahBlah]

but 99% of the time the material swap is all you need. :smile:

Slight hijack:

I fully stopped using material swaps, as I found it to be maybe a 50/50 whether it works or not. Just quicker to do it myself with new nifs than go back and try to fix, fix, fix the material swap again, again, again because it's not showing. Particular Chimney that I had forced myself to try again with a material swap...and eventually gave up. For me, and maybe I'm lame and ignorant, I'd rather just do a new/duplicate nif now (in my defense, I also needed to adjust scale of many objects of my current project outside of the Creation Kit anyways because they were outside of the .01-10 scale allowed, so I wasn't just bypassing material swaps anyways).

Edit: "fully stopped" except, of course, for weapons...which is still hit and miss, but almost necessary with weapons due to time...

Edit 2: way of topic (sorry:

Handy tip for scale *within* CK, raise object scale to 10, create static object, and raise scale again. "Edit" newly created base object and 'rebuild the nif' (something like that, forgotten already) so that it shows up in the files as a new nif. Can get much bigger in CK this way.