World model textured incorrectly

[Reg0lith]

Hi, the mod in question is the mod I developed, the Improved Chinese Assault Rifle.

The default world model isn't showing up with the correct textures.

Here is what is happening. The gun that I have equipped is using the extended mags mod, while the one on the NPC is the default


When applying textures in the GECK, I noticed that the order in which each model is listed is in a different order.

 

When I preview each model in the GECK though, they are all textured correctly until I close and reopen it in the GECK.

The default assault rifle has incorrect textures and the weapon mod models don't have textures applied at all when opening them in edit mode. Here.

 

Note: I have not gotten a chance to test this out with the other modifications I made.

[Reg0lith]

Bump

[dubiousintent]

Hmm. I'd hoped someone better experienced in creating such mods would reply, but rather than leave you hanging I'll give it a try.

 

The textures used by a mesh (NIF) are linked in the mesh itself. Vanilla meshes and textures are stored in the vanilla BSA files That you are having the vanilla mesh using the wrong textures suggests to me that you have "loose files" in the "Data" folder with the same file names as the original textures which the game is using instead. (This is what "ArchiveInvalidation" is all about.) This would explain why the vanilla mesh is getting the wrong textures.

 

If you have the same file paths and names in two different BSAs, the game can't work out which BSA to use, so it randomly grabs them from one or the other without apparent reason. This is why they are not consistent looking. ""Loose files" override the use of BSAs, so they are more consistent in how they are applied.

 

So, the solution is to use unique filenames and paths for your plugin "assets". Which is why you often see authors have a "textures\<modname>\<specific subfolder>" or "textures\<specific subfolder>\<modname>" structure.

 

The path to the textures in the mesh file has to be in "relative" format to work correctly on everyone's machine because they have them installed all over the place.

 

If this isn't sufficient to work out your problem, then we will need more detail such as exactly what paths and filenames you are using.

 

-Dubious-

[Reg0lith]

I'm actually not using paths from a BSA file, but rather I have included the folders and files themselves in the addon. My .zip file contents for the addon looks like this.

 

 

  Quote

meshes
sound
textures
NV Chinese Assault Rifle.esp

 

The meshes, sound, and textures being folders that contain the required files.

The folder paths for the weapon meshes and textures look like this

 

  Quote

meshes/weapons/2handautomatic/

textures/weapons/2handautomatic

Should I create a custom folder directly within meshes and textures or under the weapons subfolder of each? Or is the 2handautomatic folder fine? Edited January 16, 2018 by Reg0lith

[dubiousintent]

Start from the fact that things as they are now isn't working correctly. "[meshes/textures]\weapons\2handautomatic\" is the folder where the game looks for it's default files. Files placed there will "override" the same files in the BSAs. Placing your customized files there is likely to cause confusion and make it difficult for a user to determine what is "vanilla" and what needs to be removed when uninstalling your mod. (This should always be a consideration.)

 

I don't do such mods myself, but based upon what I have seen from others (such as "Weapons of the New Millenia"), I would place my custom files in my own folder under the appropriate broader category one (i.e. "weapons\NVCAR"; make sure this is a name not already in use) and look to other authors for examples. From what I can see the sub-folder for "2handautomatic" is just a way the developers used to manage the overall large number of similar weapons so they could re-use where appropriate. The only reason to place something there is if you want it to ALWAYS be used by vanilla weapons. For your more limited purposes, you just need one folder under each major category. When your "weapon mod" (i.e. the 30 round clip) is being used then your replacement mesh points to your custom file under your added folder (i.e. "weapons\NVCAR"). If you expand upon the idea and create other weapon mods, then consider creating sub-folders for each weapon under your mod folder (e.g. "weapons\Reg0lith\ChineseAR" and "weapons\Reg0lith\<other weapon>").

 

You could place your "mod folder" even higher up in the folder tree (e.g. "textures\Reg0lith\") but then you have to either recreate all the other sub-folders or ignore the game structure in favor your own only. It's a matter of how closely you want or need to mesh with the game's expected internal structure. If everything is your own custom elements, then only your own structure matters. If you need to incorporate your mod into existing game assets, then it's better to conform to what the game expects.

 

Again, I don't have actual experience with creating such mods. This is based upon my understanding of how they work by tracking down issues and solutions to them. If a tutorial says to do something in a different way, I would defer to the tutorial. Please see the wiki "Getting started creating mods using GECK" article for a selection of such.

-Dubious-

Edited January 17, 2018 by dubiousintent

[Reg0lith]

Well I just finished putting my textures, sounds, and meshes into dedicated NVChineseAR subfolders within their respective parent folders.
I was still getting the issue until I just applied the textures to the default model. For some reason after saving the textures would get scrambled and the wrong texture would be applied to the wrong part.

I still think this is because the "3D Index" numbers applied to each part differ between the default and the mods.

However, I noticed that when I drop a modded ChineseAR, the world model has no textures applied. This is not the case in first person or third person when I have the item equipped.

Edited January 17, 2018 by Reg0lith

[dubiousintent]

Re: the dropped "world" model. You need a "Ground Mesh" (*_gnd.nif) file.

 

When you say "applied the textures to the default model", I hope you really mean "to my copy (now custom version) of the default model". As I mentioned before, if you want the vanilla model to remain the same and distinct from your version, you need for your model to be completely independent of the default. A customized copy. When someone applies your mod to the weapon, they should be getting your customized mesh instead of the default vanilla one.

 

Re: the "3D index" numbers. That's beyond my knowledge. Have you looked at any of the tutorials under the 'Weapons' section of the wiki "Getting started creating mods using GECK" article? The one by Gaigestorm seemed pretty complete to me (but I have a preference for text tutorials).

 

-Dubious-

[Reg0lith]

Yes, the weapon is completely custom as far as the geck is concerned.

I think the problem is I need to texture the modded models in nifskope.