Blender .nif armour stuff. I need help...

[ooofbaer]

:facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm:

 

I'm trying really hard to get a grasp on the most basic stuff for modding...

 

Pursuant to this thread, I got Blender. (I was supposed to get Maya or 3DS Max, but that didn't work out. Anyway:)

 

Some sources tell me to use Blender 2.49b, some 2.61.

 

Some sources tell me to use Nifskope X, some Y.

 

Some sources tell me I can't mod armour in Blender, some tell me I can.

 

Some sources tell me I need 3DS Max for X, some tell me I can just do it in Blender.

 

You understand my dilemma.

 

I need to know if the following is possible in Blender, so I don't waste time changing the armours just to have them not be exportable to Skyrim:

 

1. Can I resize/move armour layers in Blender? I need to resize/move the female Forsworn armour's feather collar to fix clipping issues that also interfere with lighting.

2. Can I place/associate backlight textures on/with a particular layer of an armour? I want to have backlighting for the female Forsworn armour's feather collar.

3. Can I alter the armour mesh? I want to fix the male Forsworn armour's pauldron.

4. Can I associate particular layers with different textures? I want to change the inside of the male Forsworn headpiece so that it shows hide/leather instead of fur.

5. Finally, can I alter the character's body (both the body that comes with the Forsworn armour, and the body that you would see if you removed all equipment from your character) in Blender? I want to change the mesh so that it's a bit more detailed.

 

Edit: let me rephrase that. What I mean is, if I make these changes, will the files still be able to show up/work properly/whatever in Skyrim? Do I lose any data by making any of these changes, and/or are there some things I can't do because that data isn't ported into Blender, and/or if I do 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 will I be able to export the mesh properly or... You understand what I mean. (I hope.) I want these changes to show up in Skyrim. Will I be able to make these changes appear in Skyrim with Blender and Nifskope?

 

Answers are much appreciated.

 

P.S. I can't use TESSnip. I understand it's a part of FOMM, and FOMM won't work on my PC because I don't have Fallout. Are there alternatives to TESSnip for importing stuff into Skyrim?

Edited February 4, 2012 by ooofbaer

[ooofbaer]

He-... hello? *echo* *echo* *echo*

[SkjoldBjorn]

First off, you need to use blender 2.49b, and import/export with fallout 3 settings. The nifscripts for 2.61a is not ready for skyrim yet.

Use the newest nifskope you can get your hands on.

 

 

You can resize, scale and alter the armor as much as you like in blender, the only thing you need to be aware of is that if you add something, say like extrude a poly/face the UV will need to be unwrapped again and you will need to do the whole texture from ground up.

You can have textures wherever you want, just remember that the normals must be faced the way you want the textures to show, or the area will be invisible.

For detailed bodies you don't change the mesh, you just change the normal map for the body. unless you want to add additional faces through subdivide to get the details forth, but be aware that high poly models will not work well ingame. This is why we cheat by using normal maps to get the details forth, a good normal map can do incredible things.

 

Last: Go the blenders homepages and start doing tutorials, search the web for other tutorials, if you just search the forum here there should be a stickied thread about skyrim tutorials, read that one, including tutorials for 3ds max, some of the stuff there will make it easier through the nifskope import/export process.

[ooofbaer]

First off, you need to use blender 2.49b, and import/export with fallout 3 settings. The nifscripts for 2.61a is not ready for skyrim yet.

Use the newest nifskope you can get your hands on.

 

Excellent. If I can't use FOMM -- it says I don't have Fallout, and that's that; it won't let me use it -- is there something in lieu of TESSnip for importing into Skyrim? (TESSnip is a part of FOMM, do I have that right?)

 

You can resize, scale and alter the armor as much as you like in blender, the only thing you need to be aware of is that if you add something, say like extrude a poly/face the UV will need to be unwrapped again and you will need to do the whole texture from ground up.

 

Okay, so I can fix the female Forsworn armour, just not the male counterpart or the male headpiece. Both of the latter would require actually changing the basic shape of the meshes. Got it.

 

You can have textures wherever you want, just remember that the normals must be faced the way you want the textures to show, or the area will be invisible.

 

I don't quite know what this means yet, but once I get to this part in the learning process, I have it to keep in mind. Thanks.

 

For detailed bodies you don't change the mesh, you just change the normal map for the body. unless you want to add additional faces through subdivide to get the details forth, but be aware that high poly models will not work well ingame. This is why we cheat by using normal maps to get the details forth, a good normal map can do incredible things.

 

I figured if I was going to start modelling, I might as well fix the terrible feet, but if it's only doable through textures at the moment, that's what I'll be using.

 

Last: Go the blenders homepages and start doing tutorials, search the web for other tutorials, if you just search the forum here there should be a stickied thread about skyrim tutorials, read that one, including tutorials for 3ds max, some of the stuff there will make it easier through the nifskope import/export process.

 

Already on this. :biggrin: It's not the actual doing that's doing my head in. It's compatibility issues and drivers and plugins and... ! :wallbash:

Edited February 4, 2012 by ooofbaer

[SkjoldBjorn]

For detailed bodies you don't change the mesh, you just change the normal map for the body. unless you want to add additional faces through subdivide to get the details forth, but be aware that high poly models will not work well ingame. This is why we cheat by using normal maps to get the details forth, a good normal map can do incredible things.

 

I figured if I was going to start modelling, I might as well fix the terrible feet, but if it's only doable through textures at the moment, that's what I'll be using.

 

 

 

To fix the feet you need to modify the mesh itself, the details created by a normal map is just an illusion, it will look like there are heights and cracks on the mesh, but when you see it from the sides it will look flat. So you can't really get the feet to look very good without modifying the mesh. The feet in skyrim is so bad, so to make them better a complete do-over is necesarry.

 

And you can make a male/femle armor part fit for a male, you just need to move verticies around until they fit a male/female body. I have done this on my chainmail project, i worked on the male first, then to get the female model i just imported a female model and moved the verts around until the armor look nice for a female. So that can be done, i only stated that you must be careful with adding extra poly to a model, doing so will make the UV not covering all parts (the UV is the reference template for all textures, this goes for all 3d models that have textures, The UV decides where the part of your textures should be and not be.)

So example would be: You have a nice hat, but you want to add some stuff to it, then it's better to leave the hat be and make a new mesh that you can form as you wish. and place neately onto your hat, then you add bones and UVs and export them, you will then have 2 NiTriShape's in your nif, and then you only need to apply textures for the new mesh you formed, but the old hat remains the same without a broken or new UV and your work will become a lot easier.

 

If you want to make entirely new meshes you will of course need to unwrap new UV's and figure out how to texture them yourself though.

[ooofbaer]

So example would be: You have a nice hat, but you want to add some stuff to it, then it's better to leave the hat be and make a new mesh that you can form as you wish. and place neately onto your hat, then you add bones and UVs and export them, you will then have 2 NiTriShape's in your nif, and then you only need to apply textures for the new mesh you formed, but the old hat remains the same without a broken or new UV and your work will become a lot easier.

 

If you want to make entirely new meshes you will of course need to unwrap new UV's and figure out how to texture them yourself though.

 

Okay! This makes sense...

[ooofbaer]

I've been trying to get THIS tutorial to work, and I can't.

 

In the "Import" menu of Blender in the tutorial video, the guy has a "NetImmerse/Gamebryo" option. I don't get that option in 2.49b or 2.6whatever. And yes, I've installed everything the tutorial told me to install.

 

For the record, I have:

 

Nifskope 1.1.0 rc5

Nifskope 1.1.0 rc1

PyFFI-py3k-2.2.0.2c8f46c.windows.exe

python-2.6.6.msi

blender_nif_scripts-2.5.8.09855eb-windows.exe

 

And still, nothing. Nothing.

 

Am I just really, really dumb/blind/ignorant?

Edited February 5, 2012 by ooofbaer

[SkjoldBjorn]

Did you install 32 or 64 bit blender 2.49b? It's essential that 32-bit is installed. 64-bit does'nt have a xml parser which the script realy on.

[ooofbaer]

Did you install 32 or 64 bit blender 2.49b? It's essential that 32-bit is installed. 64-bit does'nt have a xml parser which the script realy on.

 

It's the 32bit version. I checked.

 

I tried to reinstall the things I need for Blender... they're all telling me I don't have an application with which to use them. So I reinstalled Blender.

 

Pyffi won't let me check any boxes. Is this normal? It won't let me change anything on that screen. Does that mean Pyffi is not installing? How do I get it to install, then?

 

I'm installing any and all PyFFI stuff I can find... and PyFFI 2.1.10 is telling me that "Blender's user data files (such as scripts) do not reside in Blender's installation directory. Blender will sometimes only finds its scripts if Blender's user data files reside in Blender's installation directory. Do you wish to... first reinstall Blender?"

 

Is this a problem? I just clicked Next/Yes when I was installing everything...

 

I'm uninstalling and reinstalling everything now...

Edited February 5, 2012 by ooofbaer

[ooofbaer]

Okay, I sorted installation stuff... I am finally able to import .nifs into Blender.

 

Yay.

 

Guys, when you make tutorials, please keep in mind that the people that need them aren't the people that can keep up with whatever shorthand it is you're using in your text/video/audio. You need to explain e-ve-ry step.

 

I wasted two, three afternoons and evenings trying to get things to work. It would have taken 15 extra minutes to make a complete tutorial.

Edited February 5, 2012 by ooofbaer