Creating new armor - got to edit 20+ NIF files?!

[Sunnie]

They can't release those tools because they are only licensed to USE them, not redistribute them. As Jimhsu said, we are lucky they don't care much about translating their format structure and making home brew tools to work with them. Licensing is a big $$$ deal for the tool creator and the dev licensing to use them, since it speeds up development of a title by light years. Creating tools in-house is always a slow and and landmine filled landscape.

[galy3]

Lucky we are. They have choice, but this is my very own opinion. I don't play Skyrim. Why? I buy Skyrim for modding. Like many of us, I still a part of their costumer.

Sorry if I sound like complaining about the company, I am a big fan since Morrowind, unfortunately, I know I miss something about this great game, but modding is like a drug.

 

Do I waste my time playing and not modding or do I waste my time modding and not playing?

 

You brain just explodes!

[throttlekitty]

I know, for what I understand nifskoop and niftools plugins for skyrim are base on very old plugins. Those tools are almost abandonware.

Hardly abandonware, Niftools devs have been very active. NifSkope has had numerous updates for Skyrim, NifSkope 2 (total rewrite) is in development, and a mostly Skyrim-ready Maya exporter was released today (also a near total rewrite). Blender's plugin development has been slower, but there is still progress being made there.

 

The tools aren't always the easiest to use, but I'm sure many people would be just as lost using official exporters. We have a forum for making bug reports and feature requests, don't forget.

[Fatalmasterpiece]

Hmm Maya exporter you say? I may have to switch back to that since I prefer it much over 3dsmax.