Re-texturing security helmet visor.

[ToxicShift13]

The bgem has to be the culprit doesn't it? The visor is the only object out of the entire security armor sets that has both a bgsm and a bgem, everything else has only a bgsm. Guess im learning blender and nifskope now. TwT

[ToxicShift13]

Ok, its definitely the bgem. For testing purposes i started removing texture mentions from it and with all but the mention of the diffuse itself removed it became solid with no reflection, however, when i do this it becomes purple, mind, it currently has the green diffuse texture. It shouldn't be purple atm. Going to keep fiddling around with this file.

Edited September 28, 2016 by ToxicShift13

[ToxicShift13]

Here is the result when simply removing the reference to the environment map (you can faintly see the details of the diffuse map):

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/RYZea9R.jpg

 

 

With that its now mat and has no reflectiveness, however the removal of the environment map turns it purple, so i'm now going to begin playing around with the environment map itself and see what i can do.

 

If anyone knows anything about editing environment maps please make yourself known. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

[ToxicShift13]

Where you have the new texture on your visor, you could cut out the eye slit and see what that looks like - similiar to the first image you posted. Not sure how that would look?

 

I did wonder if editing the .bgem would make it look still look like glass, I remember though from editing a lense on a helmet that I managed to get it quite dark looking and almost reflective. You could try the environment map. Maybe extract some of the cubemaps and take a look at them, or cross reference from another .nif.

 

Another way would be to edit the nif and change the .bgem to a .bgsm, alpha could be used for the eye slit if you wanted it to be clear or transparent. You'd get the same texture then as the helmet, depending on the spec map. That would mean adding a BSLightingShaderProperty rather than the BSEffectShaderProperty in Nifskope.

 

The whole environment map thing might be just a waste of time (seems that way after several hours of fiddling with it). I think your right about editing the nif to use a BSLightingShaderProperty with a string pointing to a BGSM. However i do not know how to use nifskope and am having no luck whatsoever finding any useful tutorials or people who do have a good understanding of it.

 

I have created a BGSM with all the correct texture references for the visor, but there is another problem.

 

I can't modify the entry which is currently BSEffectShaderProperty, i can only link it to a different string or remove it. And if i create a BSLightingShaderProperty it is no matter what defaulted outside of all the node structure (and then simply does not work, whole visor is just mat black):

 

 

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/aOEWb78.jpg

 

 

Even if i am successful, there will be more problems. Because the visor was modeled with the intention of it being rendered as an effect, it is not two sided by default, its just a flat, one sided piece. I'm not sure i could fix that without editing the model itself to have thickness and two sides which would also mean learning to model in blender and create entirely new textures and apply them to things so it could be 3D, like for example the strap in that picture.

 

All of this is quite beyond my ability i feel. :\

[wubilyu]

It's okay dude, I've been there too. Took me a good while to teach myself what I know now and there's a good chance what I'm saying to you is the most awkward way of doing things! So I'm sorry for that if it's confusing matters!

 

That would be the best way I think to add the BSLighterShaderProperty - which you've almost done. Maybe someone else will pitch in with a less hassle way of doing things, until then I'll try and help you further. It was worth you playing with the material file though, that may come in handy another time.

 

So...

 

First off save your .nif as a different filename. You can cross reference to the .nif you're working from if need be. To open a second .nif, in Nifskope hit CTRL + N then open the original .nif - Always handy to have a reference open if you're struggling.

 

In your image above where you have marked with red arrows.

 

1/ Right click on 8 - BSEffectShaderProperty and hit 'remove'. - not block remove - just 'remove'.

 

2/ Click on the BSSubIndexTriShape (6). Look in block details below for 'BSProperties'. Click the little arrow beside it and type in the number of your BSLighterShaderProperty in the first entry (7 in the image above). That should then be attached to the BSSubindexTriShape (6).

 

3/ Click in the space in Block List, right click > Block > Insert > Bethesda > BSShaderTextureSet

 

4/ Click on the new BSLightingShaderProperty, in block details below, scroll down to 'Texture Set' and type in the number of the new BSShaderTextureSet (possibly 0).

 

5/ Click on the new BSShaderTextureSet and in block details, change the Num of Textures to 10, it may be on 6. Save then re-open.

 

You should now have the structure to now edit the settings and to set up the textures, add material file etc.

 

This is where it will be handy to cross reference from the original .nif. You'll be wanting to check out the helmet BSLightingShaderProperties, not the visor.

 

6/ Click on your new BSLIghtingShaderProperty. In block list > name, click the little bold Txt. Type or copy in the new material file path, (Materials\Armor\etc\etc)

 

7/ Still with the BSLightingShaderProperty, look below in block details for 'Shader Flags 1'. While it's highlighted, go to the end of the line as far as you can go and double click, you should get the little box appear, click that and a drop down menu will appear. Copy the SLF1s from the orginal helmet .nif, in the vanilla Vault-Tec helm it's: SLSF1 Specular/Skinned.Cast_Shadows/Own_Emit and Zbuffer_test.

 

SLF2 is ZBuffer_Write and Assume_Shadowmask.

 

Basically copy the same settings from the helmet to the visor. You may need to also change the Texture Clamp Mode to 'WRAP_S_WRAP_T.

When working in the block details, it's often going to the end of the line, double clicking etc.

 

Once done copying the texture settings I think all you have left to do would add the textures to BSShaderTextureSet. Referencing from the other .nif if need be as to where the textures go.

 

Your Visor should have kept the NiAlphaProperty which is cool, this will be handy for the eye slit. (cut that part out of your diffuse texture).

 

Something else handy, don't be afraid to save progress as you work on your .nif.

 

If you want the mask/visor double sided, change it in your .bgsm and also mark it on the SLF2 'double-sided'. You may get away with the mesh being slim.

 

I think that should have done it. Any problems post here and I'll try and help further.

 

It can sometimes feel a bit daunting trying to mod something that feels outside your own comfort zone. The first time I opened Blender and pretty much any new software, my eyes tend to glaze over and I revert to caveman.

 

Best of luck.

Edited September 28, 2016 by wubilyu

[ToxicShift13]

I have followed your directions, and set everything up in a manor i believe to be correct, i could however and probably am entirely wrong. I have created a new helmet in an esp ( copy of vault security helmet) and attached the new nif to it along with all of the textures. It is effectively packaged as a standalone mod.

 

However, my game crashes upon putting on the helmet, so clearly i have done something wrong, i'm just not sure what that is.

 

I hate to ask this of you, but i have literally no idea where to even begin, and i figure this would be less headache inducing if it did not need to be described to my idiotic self. So would it be possible for you to poke around it a little, see if anything obvious jumps out at you?

 

http://www.mediafire.com/file/9v6c266xf8cfh9g/Soviet+Security+Helmet.zip

Edited September 28, 2016 by ToxicShift13

[wubilyu]

No worries, I'll take a look and get back to you.

 

If someone had given me those kind of instructions back when I was learning stuff with Nifskope I'm sure I'd have got lost around step 1.

[wubilyu]

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/103532803/Soviet_Security_helmet_edits.rar

 

Check that out, (if the link works?)

 

The .nif for the male is working now. I went through a cuppla crashes. I think it was the 'wet material' missing from the BSSLightingShaderProperties, also maybe the normal map missing from the visor .bgsm.

 

I'd forgotten to mention the alpha needed changing earlier, that's all done anyways. So if you cut out the eye slit, you will see the players eyes, or shades if you're wearing any.

 

I've included the UV maps for both the helmet and the visor for ya, you'll be able to drag them into what art software you use and place them over the textures for reference. You'll get the idea when you see them. :)

 

The double sided-ness is added on the visor, that's the 'two-sided' option in General Settings of a .bgsm.

 

I threw together a normal map and a spec map for the visor, you can play around with these, they may help as a basis to work from if nothing more. The texture for the visor you uploaded, it was an odd size, usually you want to work with 512x512, 1024x1024 or 2048x2048. I messed around with the visor texture to get it working here to make sure it was working correctly in game.

 

I also added it to be craftable at the chem station in the .esp in the link, you can delete that if you don't need it or keep it for future reference to use with other mods, that was just for my own testing this end.

 

Once the .nif was working, I found in game, the visor was alright but the vanilla vault helm texture was on the helm. You'll need to set the correct file paths in one of the helmet .bgsms. (Easy stuff after your Nifskope editing!)

 

It's a step closer, you weren't too far off with the work you'd done in Nifskope, fairplays to you dude - you now know a bit more about Nifskope which is always a good thing.

 

Best of luck with it.

[ToxicShift13]

I cannot thank you enough, i'l definitely get back to work on it in the morning, really eager to see it once its finished, maybe we should throw it on the nexus afterwards.

 

I wasn't sure about a normal map for the visor, figured it wouldn't really do anything considering there are no 3-dimensional details to it (unless the rust lines would count).

 

The visor diffuse believe it or not was that size by default when i unpacked it from the texture bae3, so far the only fallout 4 texture in that small a resolution (odds are it just unpacked wrong, i don't think even i could mess up using the bae extractor, its ridiculously straightforward, but i might have :D).

 

 

Gonna look really good in the end i think.

 

Again, thank you, literally none of this would have gotten anywhere without you, and hopefully i won't need too much more help, feel bad bugging you so much. Have a nice night.

Edited September 29, 2016 by ToxicShift13

[wubilyu]

No worries, I'd worked on this helmet myself with one of my own mods so knew enough about it to believe I could help - what I know and what I believe I know is two totally different things though! :tongue:

 

It's up to you what you do with it when you finish it, just make sure you get all permissions from the author that did the work on making the mesh if you plan to release it. I'm easy, you don't have to credit me or anything, just happy to have helped out. If nothing else, at least you are closer to being able to use a helmet you're wanting to use. I know what that's like. :smile:

 

Remember if you want to cut out the eye slit, the UV maps may help with lining it up, it may take a bit of trial and error to get the cut right, simply pasting over the diffuse with a new texture with the eye slit will just work, it's all set up in the .nif to use the alpha layer - Nifskope is handy for viewing those kind of texture edits without loading up the game.

 

Have fun with it and best of luck, maybe put a screenshot up here, be cool to see the work in progress.

 

w