Modding Armor for CHSBHC BBP tutorial for 3ds max

[CherryHotaling]

The purpose of this tutorial is to help even people that have not used 3ds max before import, mod mesh, merge mesh, export, then get the mesh working in Skyrim by using 3ds max.

 

Tools you will need:

-3ds Max 2010, 2011, or 2012

-Fallout Mod Manager

-Nifscope (Get the Latest Version)

-NifTools Max Plugin

-CHSBHC Mod

-CHSBHC Bone file in the Miscellaneous section (If you are using 3ds max 2010 or 2011

 

Install all tools above for your version of 3ds max.

 

Part 1

Getting the Armor/Clothing you want to work with out of Skyrim.

(We are going to use the female prisoners clothes for this example)

1) Open Fallout manager mods BSA Browser

2) Select Fallout 3

3) Click the Open button and Browse to your skyrim's data folder

4) Click on Meshes.bsa

5) On the Left pane click the + next to Skyrim the +meshes → +Clothes then click on prisoner.

6) Hold your CTRL key on your keyboard and select the prisonerclothes_f_0 and prisonerclothes_f_1 files.

7) Click the extract button (NOT the extract all button) and save it somewhere you will remember (Preferably a folder that you can keep it as the original)

Edited January 20, 2012 by CherryHotaling

[CherryHotaling]

Part 2

Loading all the files in 3Ds max to prepare your scene for editing

* Open 3ds max and load the CHSBHC-V2.3-Physics-Bone-T-Pose-2010.max file. You should now see bones in your scene:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/BonesImported.JPG

Some Quick navigating tips for 3ds max:

-Your middle mouse wheel is a button if you press it down and move your mouse around you can pan your camera around.

-If you hold your middle mouse button down and hold Alt on your keyboard you can rotate the camera.

(Note: if click on one of the bones in the scene and rotate the camera and cant rotate around it well enough. Theres a button on the button right next to the hand icon for rotate. Click on it and hold it until you change it to rotate on sub object) http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/SubRotate.JPG

You can also change the view from wireframe and back with the F3 key. F4 will make it sub wire frame so it actually draws the wireframe on the mesh (Very useful)

Also if you want to work in one screen instead of 4 there is a button on the bottom right to expand the view your looking at. http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/ExpandView.JPG

* Ok now its time to import the lowest body weight character file and prisoner clothing. Click the 3ds max icon on the top left then select import and browse to the CHSBHC mods femalebody_0 file.

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/Import.JPG

* Once you select the file its important that you import it and UNCHECK the cameras and uncheck Import skeleton options (Because we already have a skeleton in the scene.) Leave the rest of the options check See screenshot:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/ImportOptions.JPG

* You should now have the Low Weight body version of my character in your scene and the skeleton:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/Skeletonandfemalebody_0.JPG

* Import the prisoner outfit “prisonerclothes_f_0” with the same options. (Keep in mind the prisoner outfit also comes with its own body underneath, we will delete that in a minute)

* Lets get rid of the body mesh that comes with the prisoner outfit since we are going to use the body that comes with my mod.

* Click on the clothes_skin object (You will know its the right one selected because the name of the object you have selected will be called “Clothes_skin” will be listed on the right:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/Clothes_SkinSelected.JPG

* Press the Delete key on your keyboard to delete the Clothes_Skin.

* Lets do the same thing for the clothes_underwear. (That way we are only working with the prisoner clothing and the body underneath that.

* You should now have a scene with a Skeleton, My body mesh mod, and Prisoner clothing.

* Lets do one final step so we dont accidentally edit the body. Click on the body “CHSBHC_1_noweight001” Then R click and select Freeze Selection:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/FreezeSelection.JPG

This will freeze the body underneath the prisoner outfit so you dont accidently select it or edit it as we only want to edit the prisoner outfit.

Edited January 20, 2012 by CherryHotaling

[CherryHotaling]

Part 3

It is now time for the Fun. Editing the mesh whooohooooo!!!

* Click on the clothes (Prisoner tunic) then click on the modify panel → Editable Mesh, then under selection click on vertex.

* Click the + next to Soft selection

* Click the “Use Soft Selection” check box. (we are going to play around with the Falloff settings in a little bit so keep in mind where this is located) (Btw your panel on the right might be a little different or you might have to scroll down to see the soft selection options):

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/EditableMeshSoftSelection.JPG

* You will notice that your prisoner outfit will now be highlighted by a bunch of blue dots. The soft selection allows you to move a bunch of the blue dots at once smoothly instead of just a single Vertex(Blue dot). If you click on a blue dot you will notice the dots around your selection will change color:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/SoftSelectionColors.JPG

The orange dots will move most, yellow dots a little less, Green a little less, and blue barely at all.

* What we need to do is move the top to cover the breasts, however we dont want to move that many verticies(Dots) maybe a smaller amount. So play with the Soft selections Falloff until it looks like you have a better selection area. (smaller orange and yellow area when you select a dot (vertex)) You can click and hold on the arrows next to the Falloff and drag your mouse up or down to increase or decrease the numbers. Lets change it to something around 10.0 or so:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/Falloff10.JPG

(Obviously you dont have to set it to 10, put it to whatever you think is best for the next step)

* Ok I know you want to move stuff around but first we need to know “How the heck do I move stuff around?” Well theres a bunch of tools at the top of 3Ds max and I will give you a screenshot and descriptions for each.

 

Top Bar:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/SelectionTools.JPG

1- Selection tool, this will allow you to select objects or verticies without moving them etc. (Useful if your trying to select an object without moving something)

2- Selection type, if you want to create a selection box or freeform draw a selection when you L click and drag

3- Move tool, This will allow you to move objects, verticies, etc all around (you will see a little gizmo on your screen on whatever you have selected with different colored arrows (Those arrows represent the different directions (X, Y, and Z) that you can move things around in.

4- Rotate tool, This will allow you to rotate things. This will give you a little circular gizmo with different colored circles that you can rotate on (X, Y, Z) just like the move tool but for rotating instead.

5- Scale Tool, This will allow you to scale things (If you have multiple Verticies (Dots) selected then you can scale them up or down together. If you click and hold on the Scale icon you get different scaling options (Uniform scale or non uniform scale)

6- Reference options, A little more complicated to explain but we usually leave this on view. You would change this if you wanted to move or rotate based on the reference of things you have selected. (Moving things on the same plane for example)

7- Snapping tool, We wont be using that in this tutorial but its absolutely worth mentioning. The snap tool allows you to snap verticies to each other. This can be very useful in many situations but for this tutorial it is not needed (You can R click this to see a list of things you can snap to)

 

* Yay now we know what the tools are for! Lets move stuff around!

* Click on the Move tool at the top and select a Vertex(blue dot) with soft selection on. You should get a gizmo that has arrows with colors. You click on the arrows or the little boxes between the arrows to move the verticies around on that plane:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/MovingVerts.JPG

Feel free to move it around.

TIP: Save often, I would recommend saving this as the Myprisonerclothes_f_0.max or something to that idea so you know what it is.

TIP2: If you have soft selection on and you hit F4 you will see the mesh lines very clearly all colored. This can be very helpful!

* So start moving verts around to make sure the Prisoner clothing covers the body.

* Some areas may take more time like the Back of the legs. Dont forget the Butt! Take your time, if your nervous about a particular area save it before you make changes. Dont forget you can CTRL Z to undo stuff too. Use different tools, move scale etc if you want to. If your having trouble rotating the camera with the middle mouse button then you can click the rotate tool on the bottom right: http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/SubRotate.JPG or if your in 3ds max 2010, 2011, or 2012 then you can click and drag on the rotate tool in the view window: http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/Rotatemax10.JPG

TIP3: Ignore the black areas of the mesh, thats just the back side of the mesh showing through a little. This is fine so dont worry about it too much.

Edited January 20, 2012 by CherryHotaling

[CherryHotaling]

Part 3a (Optional, tips only)

This is just a sub section to include some tips on modeling. This part is just to help with additional options to help you with moving things around etc.

This section is completely optional and not part of the overall steps. Skip to the next section if you want to continue the tutorial.

 

* Sooo your moving verticies around and all of a sudden you realize. “Oh no it looks so jagged why did I move it like that, its all pointy now. Well we can fix that.

* Select a bunch of vericies you want to smooth out a bit

* With Editable Mesh in the modifier panel selected then click on the Down arrow on the Modifier list and select Relax from the drop down.

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/RelaxModifier.JPG

* Play around with the Relax and iterations to see the verticies smooth out to your desire.

* You must add a Edit mesh modifier above the relax to work more on the verticies (Try not to ever go down in the stack to work unless you REALLY have to. Because if you go back down to the Editable Mesh and select different verticies then the relax above it will affect the verticies you have selected now) So add a new Edit Mesh modifier by clicking the Down arrow again in the modifier list(With the Relax modifier selected) and select Edit Mesh:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/Editmeshmodifier.JPG

* Click on the Edit mesh modifier you just created and click on the vertex option/button to start moving more verticies.

* Repeat the steps above, move verts around, select verts that you want to relax, create a relax modifier then a new edit mesh modifier as many times as you need to. (Yes the modifier stack might get long but thats ok)

Important TIP: DO NOT put a modifier above the Skin or BSDismemberSkin Modifier!! If you create a new edit mesh modifier or relax modifier and it ends up above the skin or BSD modifier then you can R click the one you made and select delete to delete the new modifier you made.

* Save often, to new file names if your really nervous.

Edited January 20, 2012 by CherryHotaling

[CherryHotaling]

Part 4

Prepping your scene in 3ds Max for export.

Thats it you modified your armor mesh yayyy! Now for the real pain (if your into pain then this should be fun!) Its actually not that bad but not the most fun.

 

* First thing we want to do is we need to create a smooth modifier (this is needed to keep the vertex count the same when we export it.) Click on the modifier you created just below the Skin modifier then Click the Down Arrow next to the Modifier list and select Smooth from the list and then click 2 under smoothing groups:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/SmoothModifier.JPG

* We are going to replace the existing skin modifier now with the one from my body so that the weights match (Weights are what allows the mesh to bend and move with the bones in the game. So to move with the body I modded we are going to copy the weights from that) Click on the existing skin modifier on the prison clothing and then R click it and select delete.

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/DeleteSkinModifier.JPG

* Ok we need to UnFreeze the body under the Prisoner clothing so that we can copy the skin modifier from the body underneath. Right click anywhere in the scene and select Unfreeze all then click on the CHSBHC body underneath.

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/Unfreezeall.JPG

* Click the select tool at the top of 3ds max and then click on the CHSBHC body (You should now see its modifier options on the modifier panel on the right. First thing we need to do is ALSO apply a smooth modifier to the body. Click on the Editable Mesh modifier then click the Down arrow next to the Modifier list and select Smooth from the list. Then click 2 under smoothing groups. (Pretty much what we did for the prisoner outfit a couple steps ago)

* Now click on the Existing Skin modifier on the CHSBHC body, then R click it and select Copy:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/CopySkinModifier.JPG

* Click Back onto the Prisoner clothing, click on the smooth modifier that you created earlier (It should be under the BSDismemberSkin modifier in the stand, then R click and select Paste. This will create a new skin modifier but its a copy of the body one so it should now have the breast weights pasted with it YAY!

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/PasteSkinmodifierfromCHSBHC.JPG

The skin modifier should now be in the stack under BSDismemberSkin on your prisoner clothing now:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/Skinappliedtopris.JPG

* You can double check and make sure the skin modifier copied properly by clicking on the skin modifier you pasted, click on the edit envelopes button scroll down the list to NPC R Breast and click on it. You should see it highlight showing you that its there:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/CheckEnvelopes.JPG

If you see something simular to above where it shows orange yellow blue etc on the mesh when you click on NPC R Breast you know that the weights copied right.

*Click the Edit Envelopes button again to deselect it (Dont need to edit any of that in this tutorial)

Edited January 20, 2012 by CherryHotaling

[CherryHotaling]

Part 5

Exporting from 3ds Max

* Click the Selection Tool at the top then Select the body and the prisoner clothing by holding CTRL then L clicking on the body then the clothing. The modifier panel should say 1 Objects Selected:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/ObjectsSelected.JPG

* Now with both objects selected Click the 3ds max button on the top left and click the side arrow next to Export and click selected:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/ExportSelected.JPG

* On the Export file window save the file to a new location (Not the same location you originally saved the prisonerclothes_f_0.nif to as we dont want to overwrite the one you extracted!!) name the new file “prisonerclothes_f_0.nif” click save.

* In the export nif screen you have to set the export the same way I show in the screenshot everytime you export:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/NifExportOptions.JPG

* Finally Click Export. This will create the new prisonerclothes_f_0.nif in the new file location you selected.

Edited January 20, 2012 by CherryHotaling

[CherryHotaling]

Part 6

Using NifScope to finalize your first file creation for use in the game

* We are going to now open 3 (Yes I said 3) nifscope windows!!

* In the first window we are going to load the original CHSBHC “femalebody_0.nif” file

* In your second window we are going to open the Original “prisonerclothes_f_0.nif” (Not the new one you just made!!)

* Finally in the third window we are going to open the NEW “prisonerclothes_f_0.nif” you just made.

TIP: If you can try to put the windows 3 in a row side by side so you dont get confused, with your prisoner file to the far right.

* Click the Arrow next to the NiNode on Your prisoner outfit file then the arrows next to the 2 NiTriShapes below that:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/ExpandNiNodes.JPG

* While your at it you should expand the NiNodes and NiTriShapes of the original body file and original prisoner file.

Note: Let me quickly explain what the heck we are doing here.

-You see when we export from 3dsmax it breaks the BSLightingShaderProperty (You can see this in your nifscope under each of the NiTriShape in Nifscope.

-Also you will Notice that the original Prisoner clothing file has 3 NiTriShape's and yours only has 2. (Holy hell batman what happened? I broke it!!!!!) No you didnt break it. What happened is one of those NiTriShapes is the underwear we deleted in 3dsmax. Also one of them is the body we deleted under the prisoner clothing? (Dont remember that part? Well we did it ok? Dont believe me? We did it back somewhere in part 1 go look! Told ya!)

-So since our new .nif files BSLightingShaderProperty is broken we need to copy the original working ones. But we dont need to copy the ones that we deleted!

* In the nifscope that has Your new prisonerclothes_f_0.nif file open. R click on the BSLightingShaderProperty under the clothes → Block → Remove Branch. Do the same thing for the CHSBHC_1_noweight001 section of your file (So in total you remove two BSLightingShaderProperty's from your file. Dont be alarmed if the NiTriShape move down on the list its ok really):

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/Removeshaderblock.JPG

* Ok we are going to copy the shaders from my body mod. Go to the nifscope that has my original CHSBHC femalebody_0.nif open. R click on BSLightingShaderProperty under the CHSBHC_1_noweight001 NiTriShape section and select Copy Branch:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/CopyShaderBranchCHSBHC.JPG

* Now go back to your file click on the NiTriShape. Then R click and select paste branch (It will pop to the bottom of the list we will fix that in the next step.):

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/PasteShaderBranch.JPG

* Make note of the Number to the LEFT of the BSLightingShaderProperty you pasted from the body file. In my case its “36 BSLightingShaderProperty” (this wont be the same for everyone.

* Click on the NiTriShape CHSBHC_1_noweight001 in your new prisoner clothing file. You will see a block details window at the bottom. Scroll down that window until you see properties. Click the arrow next to properties. You will see 2 properties and then Ref<NiProperty> then None. What you want to do is double click on the top Properties None and type in the number of the BSLightingShaderProperty I had you make note of in the previous step. In my case I typed in 36. This will attach that shader to the body in your file and the shader will now jump up under your NiTriShape CHSBHC_1_noweight001 section of your file:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/ShaderPropteries.JPG

* Ok now go to the Original prisonerclothes_f_0.nif that you have open in a separate window.

* We only need the BSLightingShaderProperty From the NiTriShape clothes section as the other two we deleted in 3ds max. So R click on the BSLightingShaderProperty under the clothes select blocks then copy branch:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/Copyclothesshaderbranch.JPG

* Go back to your NEW prisoner clothing nifscope window. Click on the NiTriShape clothes section then Right Click → Blocks → Paste branch. This will paste the BSLightingShaderProperty you copied from the clothes to the bottom of the stack.

*Make note of the number next to the BSLightingShaderProperty, Click on the NiTriShape clothes section again, look at the bottom window where the block details are shown, Scroll down to the Properties section, click the arrow to expand that section. Then under the first None double click it and type in the number that is next to the new BSLightingShaderProperty you just pated into the file.

* You should now have a BSLightingShaderProperty under the clothes and CHSBHC_1_noweight001 NiTriShape sections of your file!:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/shadersnowinyourfile.JPG

* Click file at the top of the nifscope window → Save as → and you can overwrite the new prisoner clothes file with the one you have now edited.

* In windows Copy the New “prisonerclothes_f_0.nif” you just saved and paste it into your games: “Data\meshes\clothes\prisoner” directory.

* Load up the game and put your weight slider to 0 all the way left (Open the console in game with your ~ key on your keyboard the one next to your 1 key and type in “showracemenu” Without quotes and move the slider for weight under body)

 

Your character should now be wearing the clothing you modded, also breast physics will be working wooohooooo!

 

Yayyyy we are done arent we cherry?!

Sorry no we arent! We now have to do this alllll over again but this time with the CHSBHC femalebody_1.nif

You have to run through this entire thing again but instead of importing the femalebody_0.nif like we did in the beginning we will import the femalebody_1.nif (you can keep your max file and simply delete the Body out and import the femalebody_1.nif and add more edit mesh modifiers to get it to fit the busty curvy shape. This way you dont have to add new smooth modifiers or skin modifiers to your prisoner clothes)

Then with your busty/curvy prisoners clothes version fitting the CHSBHC femalebody_1.nif, you would export the prisoner clothes as prisonerclothes_f_1.nif instead (This allows the in game sliders to go from 0 to the 1 file, so slim to curvy.) The game handles all the in between shape changes if you exported it following this tutorial.

 

Wooohoooo yayyyy!

 

Happy modding!! Ask questions in this thread if you have any at all!

Edited January 20, 2012 by CherryHotaling

[CherryHotaling]

Q: Cherry what the Heck is this modifier panel you keep talking about? I cant find it anywhere in max, HELP!

A: The modifier panel is actually shown under the modifier tab. The tab is on the Far Right of your 3ds max window:

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/EditableMeshSoftSelection.JPG

1- Is the modifier Tab. Click that and it will show you the Modify panel.

2- The editable Mesh, skin, and BSDismemberSkin modifier is shown inside the modifier panel

 

Q: I created my whateverclothes_0.nif and whateverclothes_1.nif, I load up the game and all is fine until I move the weight slider, then BOOM the clothing and/or body explodes everywhere until I have the slider at Max or Minimum weight, whats happening? Is this real life?

A: No its not real life, that would make real life painful and as we all know real life is not painful at all!

-Open 2 nifscope windows and in one load your whateverclothes_0.nif and in the other load your whateverclothes_1.nif (Obviously whateverclothes_0.nif is a fake name im using I would hope you know to use the name of the clothing or armor your working on here instead, if not we are in some serious trouble and im not naming it XXX_0.nif as im not that kind of girl!)

-Expand your NiTriShape for all the objects in both of your nif files. Under each NiTriShape there is a NiTriShapeData field. Click that and you should see in the Block details window at the bottom a field called Verticies or Vertex number Vertex count (im at work so I dont remember what it says exactly).

-Check the number it says there and check the number of the exact same NiTriShapeData for your other nif file. They Should Match. If they dont then something is wrong!

-Check the objects that mismatch in 3ds max and make sure you have a smooth modifier with the 2 ticked under smooth options and that the smooth modifier is UNDER the skin modifier.

http://216.105.128.240/Cherry/Skyrim/Tutorials/armortutorial/SmoothModifier.JPG

-Then re export the meshes again and check the vertex count again. they should match. If they dont you may have made a BIG booboo and deleted a verticie in 3ds max. Always remember to save often hehe.

 

Q: Cherry Help I am still getting a crash to desktop when wearing the armor I modded and all the verts are right etc! Help!

A: If the armor your working on has a "NialphaProperty" in nifscope under the NiTriShape then you have to delete it from yours and copy it from the original or it will crash. The armor I used as an example doesnt have a NialphaProperty. So Be sure to copy the one from the original --> click on the NiTriShape of yours and go to the properties (bottom window) and on the second one Put the number associated with the NialphaProperty.

Edited January 24, 2012 by CherryHotaling

[CherryHotaling]

Reserve Space for Additional Tips Edited January 20, 2012 by CherryHotaling

[CherryHotaling]

Yay its done Edited January 20, 2012 by CherryHotaling