Replacing Armor with Custom Meshes

[Davis237834]

Hey Folks,

 

 

I'm currently working on altering the armor for the Imperials. Something that didnt really make a lot of sense to me is why have soldiers wearing short sleeve armor in cold weather. Rant over, i decided to do these.

 

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i373/Davis237834/set1.jpg

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i373/Davis237834/set2.jpg

 

Simply put, im trying to add the sleeves and leggins of the steel plate armor, to the Imperial Light heavy and Tulius armor and playing with the textures.

 

Problem is, when i try to replace the armors in nifskope, either the replace ends up outside of the block and not able to go in, or the entire armor just disappears.

for example:

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i373/Davis237834/wtf_4-1.jpg

 

Apparently it is not as simple as making the mesh and replacing it like you would with making a weapon.nif...

 

Ive looked and cannot find anything on properly making armor for Skyrim or fallout...

 

Any help would be appreciated!

[FavoredSoul]

Interesting.

 

• The only reason why a block would appear outside the branch you want to paste it into is because you've got the wrong node selected when pasting.
  
• Don't copy NiTriShapeData blocks into a branch that has a BSDismemberSkinInstance in it and expect it to work.
  
• Don't use Paste Over when copying and pasting blocks of data. Paste the entire node that holds the armor information as a new child of 0NiNode and make your modifications to it by swapping data blocks between the new and vanilla meshes. Delete the node for the vanilla armor once you've done taking data.
  
• It matters that the Name property of 0NiNode is the same between the mesh file you've just made and the mesh file you're trying to paste data into (At least it does matter if you're trying to give 0NiNode a new child).

 

How are you making your skin data? You don't want to be copy pasting that.

Edited December 24, 2011 by FavoredSoul

[Ghogiel]

Interesting.

 

• The only reason why a block would appear outside the branch you want to paste it into is because you've got the wrong node selected when pasting.
  
• Don't copy NiTriShapeData blocks into a branch that has a BSDismemberSkinInstance in it and expect it to work.
  
• Don't use Paste Over when copying and pasting blocks of data. Paste the entire node that holds the armor information as a new child of 0NiNode and make your modifications to it by swapping data blocks between the new and vanilla meshes. Delete the node for the vanilla armor once you've done taking data.
  
• It matters that the Name property of 0NiNode is the same between the mesh file you've just made and the mesh file you're trying to paste data into (At least it does matter if you're trying to give 0NiNode a new child).

 

How are you making your skin data? You don't want to be copy pasting that.

1:mostly, but not always. Some blocks will get unhooked for other reasons.

2: true dat

3:true dat

4: I think only for objects that have links to other blocks that not are a child of itself. Like you could paste a nitrishape, but if it has a skin instance, which will be pointing to bone refs that aren't a child of the nitrishape, you'll need the same root node name. Or something like that. Nitrishapes are self contained, like you can paste weapon ones about an not match the root nodes name.

Edited December 24, 2011 by Ghogiel

[Davis237834]

So im gonna have to rig the mesh?

 

If so, i am using maya 2012, i also have 3dsmax 2012, would i wanna rig it in max or can i rig it in maya?

 

 

thanks for the reply's

[Ghogiel]

Well you have to export from max no matter, but in theory you could do the rigging in maya if you fbx'd over the skeleton.... then back to max for the dismember modifier and exporting.

[WezEllison]

This looks great, but I think the reason the majority of armour has no sleeves is due to the fact Bethesda wanted to show off their new muscly males.

[FavoredSoul]

Rig the mesh in Max it's easy, and like Ghogiel said, you'll be using Max anyway to do your exporting so why go to the extra effort of trying to do it in Maya?

 

It only takes about 10 seconds to rig your armor in Max:

 

1. Select your mesh and apply the Skin Wrap Modifier to it
   
2. Hit the Add button and select a vanilla mesh to copy skin data from. The mesh you want to copy the Skin Data from must be an object in your scene and the skeleton must be there as well. When copying skin data I usually use the mesh for the human body or a piece of armor that covers the ENTIRE body, like a robe.
   
3. Select Face Deformation for the Deformation Engine
   
4. Scroll down and check the Weight All Vertices box
   
5. Hit Convert to Skin
   
6. Done

 

And for Dismemberment:

1. Select your mesh and Apply the BSDismemberSkin Modifier
   
2. Expand the modifier, select Torso and make sure all faces are highlighted
   
3. Now you're ready to export

 

 

And some tips for the Nifskoping:

1. For the mesh file you just exported, copy the entire NiTriShape node that contains the armor mesh information and paste it into the mesh file for a similar vanilla armor as a child of 0NiNode
   
2. If you get an error that says Failed to Map Parent Link NiNode (as stated above in my first post point #4) the Name property of 0NiNode must be the same between both files
   
3. Expand the node for your armor mesh and delete the NiMaterialProperty and BSLightingShaderProperty
   
4. Replace the BSLightingShaderProperty you just deleted with a copy of the BSLightingShaderProperty from the vanilla mesh.
   
5. Fix the texture paths
   
6. Expand the BSDismemberSkinInstance node and in the BlockDetails window expand the Partitions branch. Expand the next Partitions branch and you should then see a property called BodyPart with a value of BP_TORSO. Replace BP_TORSO with the number 32
   
7. The NiTriShape branch for your armor at this point will have a bad Name. Give it a new Name. If i'm replacing something, ill use the same name as the vanilla mesh has.

 

Too bad making armor isn't as simple as it used to be now that we have Morphs.. You need to make two versions of everything. There are already heaps of lazy people who have not bothered to make both versions of their custom armors. They just copy and paste the same mesh and rename it as the 0 or the 1 version. If you intend to make your new armors morphable, the geometry must be identical between the 0 and 1 versions otherwise you'll have problems.

 

Hope this helps.

If in doubt, refer to

video. Edited December 25, 2011 by FavoredSoul

[Davis237834]

Rig the mesh in Max it's easy, and like Ghogiel said, you'll be using Max anyway to do your exporting so why go to the extra effort of trying to do it in Maya?

 

It only takes about 10 seconds to rig your armor in Max:

 

1. Select your mesh and apply the Skin Wrap Modifier to it
   
2. Hit the Add button and select a vanilla mesh to copy skin data from. The mesh you want to copy the Skin Data from must be an object in your scene and the skeleton must be there as well. When copying skin data I usually use the mesh for the human body or a piece of armor that covers the ENTIRE body, like a robe.
   
3. Select Face Deformation for the Deformation Engine
   
4. Scroll down and check the Weight All Vertices box
   
5. Hit Convert to Skin
   
6. Done

 

And for Dismemberment:

1. Select your mesh and Apply the BSDismemberSkin Modifier
   
2. Expand the modifier, select Torso and make sure all faces are highlighted
   
3. Now you're ready to export

 

 

And some tips for the Nifskoping:

1. For the mesh file you just exported, copy the entire NiTriShape node that contains the armor mesh information and paste it into the mesh file for a similar vanilla armor as a child of 0NiNode
   
2. If you get an error that says Failed to Map Parent Link NiNode (as stated above in my first post point #4) the Name property of 0NiNode must be the same between both files
   
3. Expand the node for your armor mesh and delete the NiMaterialProperty and BSLightingShaderProperty
   
4. Replace the BSLightingShaderProperty you just deleted with a copy of the BSLightingShaderProperty from the vanilla mesh.
   
5. Fix the texture paths
   
6. Expand the BSDismemberSkinInstance node and in the BlockDetails window expand the Partitions branch. Expand the next Partitions branch and you should then see a property called BodyPart with a value of BP_TORSO. Replace BP_TORSO with the number 32
   
7. The NiTriShape branch for your armor at this point will have a bad Name. Give it a new Name. If i'm replacing something, ill use the same name as the vanilla mesh has.

 

Too bad making armor isn't as simple as it used to be now that we have Morphs.. You need to make two versions of everything. There are already heaps of lazy people who have not bothered to make both versions of their custom armors. They just copy and paste the same mesh and rename it as the 0 or the 1 version. If you intend to make your new armors morphable, the geometry must be identical between the 0 and 1 versions otherwise you'll have problems.

 

Hope this helps.

If in doubt, refer to

video.

 

 

Damn, thanks dude, ill let you know how it turns out!

[FavoredSoul]

One more thing, don't forget to set HasVertexColors to yes in the Block Details Window when NiTriShapeData for your mesh has been selected.

[Davis237834]

Good news is, I got it working!

 

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i373/Davis237834/2011-12-25_00002.jpg

 

 

Bad news is that it stretches some around the armpit of which ever hand is holding a sword.

 

 

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i373/Davis237834/2011-12-25_00001.jpg

 

 

I used the Nordic plate armor as a reference for the rig because the leggins and sleeves are from that mesh, should i try using the skin weights from a different mesh?

 

 

thanks a lot!

Edited December 26, 2011 by Davis237834