SSE Keep original "shading" when removing doubles in Blender

[DEADLY9996]

I've tried a couple different methods but non seem to work;

 

Merging faces and just keeping the edges that are actual edges.

Deleting Cutsom Normals

Adding Custom Normals

Manually merging the vertexs

 

Each and every one of them changes the shading, which isn't too bad on smaller objects but on larger stuff it's clear when you get it back in nifskope and compare.

 

Is there anyway of keeping the exact shading? besides just not doing it..

 

 

 

 

I also tried copying the "custom normals" from the original to the "removed doubles" version through the Data Transfer Modifier but it didn't seem to do anything, never used it before so not sure if it did it right.

 

 

 

Or would settings in that nif plugin have the answer?

 

 

 

A clear answer would be much appreciated as when it comes to Blender & Nifskope outdated information is in abundance, either that or links and guides to once useful information no longer work.

[Algabar]

In Blender, you normally work with quads. If these quads are converted to tris (which is technically necessary to use the mesh ingame, since graphic engines and graphic cards are based on tris), certain differences to the shading displayed in Blender are unavoidable.

 

Some things you can try:

- Triangulating you mesh in Blender might give better results than having Nifskope do the triangulating during the import process. Differences are rather minor, but maybe worth a try.

- More important: Instead of using doubled faces to control the shading (which basically isn't good modeling practice anyway), use the "Auto Smooth" option. It can be found in the "Properties" Window under the "Data" tab.

 

From my experience (only weapons so far), "Auto Smooth" works quite well. Getting exact the same shading in Skyrim as you did in Blender is generally impossible though. You only can get "quite close"...