Mod model doesn't appear when equipped to gun.

[leot486]

So over the last two days I taught myself how to add weapons from scratch, how to modify them and add the meshes to show in game, sounds, etc. Though the major roadblock I am reaching is the object template it seems. As far as I know when you create mods that make a visual change to a weapon you have to form a link to it through the object template. I made a modcol for all potential modifications for the gun I made, sights, magazine, receiver, and suppressor. But whenever I make a custom tree in the object template no change occurs to the mesh and the warning box says

 

LOOTJOY: Failed to attach 3D for mod 'mod_1911a1_Muzzle_Suppressor' (07004DB1)

 

or something like that depending on what it attempted to attach. Any idea what is going wrong here? This stuff was much easier back in Fo:NV days :P

[N7R]

For mod attachments it could be several things:

- Since you are attaching them in a modcol and not each individual attachment it could be one of the attachments in the modcol are missing the correct ma (mod association) or ap (attach point), I believe the modcol file itself needs the correct ma and pa as well. You cannot just get a collection of attachments and stick them in a collection, the attachments will need the correct keywords to work on a gun as well.

- Make sure that each mod attachment has the corresponding ap (attach point) keyword associated with it along with the ma (mod association).

- If you created a custom attach point (one that the vanilla guns don't use) make sure in nifskope the receiver has the parent P- for the BSConnectionPoint node and the attachment mesh itself has the Child C- connection point keyword as well. An example would be on the receiver I want a flashlight so I made a connection point called P-Flashlight and in the flashlight mesh I made myself I have a connection point called C-Flashlight

- The parent node (that would most likely be in the receiver (if it is a new node you created) by default the scale is set to 0.0 make sure to set scale to 1.0 so your mod attachment is not invisible in the CK

[leot486]

On the weapon I have mod association ma_1911a1 and more under keywords and under attach parent slots I have pa_legendary and pa_gun_receiver. On each gun receiver mod which has the attach point set to pa_gun_receiver I have attach parent slots pa_gun_mag and pa_gun_muzzle. every gun receiver, and the suppressor has ma_1911a1 as the mod association. None of this is using a custom point such as what you mentioned. How do I determine in the nif file itself it if is set up to take on the mods?

[N7R]

In the nif there will be a node called something like BSConnectionParent. That has parent nodes to tell the game which nifs to attach for a mod. All the attachments will have a similar node that is called Children.

[leot486]

Awesome thank you I appreciate the info as that was the problem. To remedy it I just had to add a P-muzzle to the firearms nif file (How do you line up the parent and child thing on each in nif?). Wondering two other things.... one is when setting up zoom data in the creation kit is there an easier way to check your adjustments other then going into game and seeing how your sights line up with every adjustment?

 

Also.... to make an in scope reticle I have no idea how, so I was going to use one from an existing mod. It was working at first as I was just copying the branch and then pasting it over, making adjustments as I went. Though for some reason after 2 or 3 saves of the nif all of a sudden when I look through the scope it looks like someone tinted it, severely to the point I can barely see through it. Even after deleting the reticle branch and resaving the nif the shading remains on the gun. Any idea how this is happening?

Edited May 30, 2017 by leot486

[N7R]

For your first question about lining up the parent and child node it can be done in several ways. The nif files will place your objects in correlation to where the connection points in the nif scene are AND where your models in the scene are moved as well. So for example if your connection points are at coordinates 0,0,0 and the nif models are at coordinates 0,0,0 then the model will be directly in the middle of the grid. If you keep your connection points at zero but move your child mesh forward in the scene it will appear forward in game now too.

 

The trick I do is in my 3d program (I build all my models from scratch) is I export them all in relation to position. So I keep all my connection points in the nif at ,0,0,0 since my models are moved to the correct position already. I don't have to do any manual moving around of my attachments since the attachments are already moved to the correct spot essentially. Just play around with moving your attachment and connection point coordinates in nifskope and you'll see what the result in the game.

 

For your next question, yes you basically have to go into the game every time to check changes. It can get a annoying but with cool tools like this it really speeds things up: https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/5494192-relz-utility-f4se-autoload-launch-to-game-and-bypass-the-main-menu/

 

For your final question about scope reticles (assuming you are going to see through scope approach) there are several ways to make them. The default way Fallout 4 does them is with like overlays and such. Most prefer the new see through scope method where you can look through the sights literally (which sounds like what you are wanting) with an improved field of view but no overlay blocking your view. There is a see through scope framework out there for modders I believe if you want to look into it more and see how those files are setup. For me my scopes are see through as well but I made my models/textures myself. It is essentially just your nif for your scope, another nif for the see through glass, and possibly another nif for like a reticle. The glass and reticle will need transparent textures and in nifsope or a material file you can tell the game to make the alpha channel work (making the texture see through). It sounds like when you copied over the nodes some of them went missing or got disconnected from the BS Properties list. Any nif that needs to be transparent will need the NiAlpha node property attached to it. If you look at another nif scope file you can see the properties and settings they have attached to like a reticle or glass mesh.