nifskope + normal maps?

[monsto]

working on a texture in photoshop. PITA having to load the game to check the normal/bump/height/modelspace map.

 

In nifskope, the colormap (texture) loads automagically, but the bumpmap does not. I saw a similar answer that said "Right click on "NiTexturingProperty" for any Block, it will present a list with "Textures" at the top, select that and you'll be able to add any kind of "map" you want." . . . but there is no NiTexturingProperty item anywhere in the block list.

 

The question: how do i load the bumpmap for a texture into nifskope?

 

[edit] question 2: is there a better way to check or deal with a heightmap?

Edited March 25, 2012 by monsto

[SkjoldBjorn]

You go into the NiStriShape -> BSLightingShaderProperty -> BSShaderTextureSet

You will see 9 instances of textures under the block details when you press the BSShaderTextureSet

 

the diffusemap is located at the top and the normalmap is to be placed right underneath as second, By changing or adding to them you can press the purple icon or write in the path manually.

[monsto]

You go into the NiStriShape -> BSLightingShaderProperty -> BSShaderTextureSet

You will see 9 instances of textures under the block details when you press the BSShaderTextureSet

 

the diffusemap is located at the top and the normalmap is to be placed right underneath as second, By changing or adding to them you can press the purple icon or write in the path manually.

 

Excellent thanks.

 

and the follow up: textures are loading but the normal map isn't shadowning. does nifskope not have the capability to display it in context?

 

and the million dollar question: is there documentation (community or official) somewhere that i could have found out either of these questions? I'd rather RTFM (Refer To the Friendly Manual) than post questions to a forum.

[SkjoldBjorn]

well the only place i can think about is the tutorials etc. on http://niftools.sourceforge.net/wiki/

you also have a tutorial section in this forum section, it's stickied so you can see it pretty fast, it got some tutorials on how to import/export things for skyrim and they have go through how you handle textures as well. There are tons of tutorials added through the forum post so prepare to read a little :)

[monsto]

Thanks for taking a moment.

[Ghogiel]

Several reasons why nifskope might not display normal maps. the first is you are probably using vertex color, since F3 version nifs the renderer won't display normal maps if vert color is enabled on the mesh. If your mesh absolutely needs vertex color for whatever reason, just make a copy of the nif and turn that off.

 

Since you mentioned object space normal maps. I believe nifskope will only render tangent space normal maps, and only when the mesh has normals and tspace vectors. So if you are looking at object space normal maps in nifskope... yeah not happening.

you can always just get and idea with the CKs model viewer> rclick the nif> open with> CK.

[throttlekitty]

don't forget render>settings>[]Shaders. I think the default has them turned off.

[monsto]

back to this again . . . how do i get nifskope to show the msn in context on a model. it doesn't do it for any model, retail or otherwise.

[Perraine]

I always just click on the NiTriShape, then, in the bottom window of Nifskope, scroll down until you see "Has Vertex Colours" -> double clicking the yes/no will usually swap between showing/not showing the effect the normal map has, just remember to set it back the way it was originally BEFORE saving the file, otherwise the mesh will look all shiny and smooth in game ...

 

Don't know if that's the right way, but it works for me, so ...