[LE] 3ds Max editting .nif files

[ekimolaos]

Hello everyone. I'm not a modder or something but I'm editing here and there to adjust mods to my preference. So now I have come a cross a difficulty. I'm trying to change the male mesh of Seppoko's "Mask of Blades" mod (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/30033?tab=posts) so that there will be no chin clips with male races (especially elves). I did so with 3ds Max, but it seems it doesn't work...

 

When I export the nif and load the game, the mask is stationary a bit inside my character's face. when I move, it is behind my character's head. I'm using Mod Organizer so I don't know if that's the problem. I also manually import the skeleton from C:/games/steam/steamapps/common/skyrim/mod organizer/mods/XP32 Maximum Skeleton Extended - XPMSE/meshes/actors/character/character assets/skeleton.nif when I import the mask nif, so I don't know what am I doing wrong... The original nif works fine, mine never works. I'm totally new to 3ds Max so I guess there is something I'm doing wrong/haven't noticed. I'd really appreciate it if someone can help me... It'd also be a first step to becoming a modder myself! (although I don't have infinite access to 3ds Max. It's a 30 day trial, but who knows, maybe someday I'll buy it and mod myself! :D )

 

I'd really REALLY appreciate any help. I'm not asking for others to do it for me, just for a tip of what I'm doing wrong so I can do it myself! And no, I'm not going to upload my changes as I don't have permission to do so, I'm only doing it for me so I can have my bosmer wear the mask without making him chinless!

[Deleted38846565User]

It might not be weighted properly, I highly suggest watching Nightasy's armour tutorials on yt, he goes really in depth on that. Also just a tip, if you're a student you can get a student lisense for 3ds Max, for up to 2 years

[SandMouseAnarchy]

Hi :) have you tried editing the mesh inside outfit studio instead?

 

It sounds like the mesh isn't weighed to the head properly.

Did you delete the bsdismemberment and skin modifiers before editing the mesh? If not the skin information can get all screwed up. If you did, did you reskin the mesh and add the bsdismemberment modifier back in? I remember once not putting the bsdismemberment modifier back in and my armor just kind of floated there and when I crouched the armor shot through the back of the body.

 

You could also try throwing the mesh into outfit studio and either editing it there or copying weights from the original mesh to your new one there.(sometimes 3ds max just won't weigh things right)

 

Other things you could check would be the transforms box on the export window, it should be 0.000 and there's also a check box that says something like "zero transforms" make sure that's checked :)

 

Sometimes info in the nif can get messed up too, I think I'm right in saying that 3ds max doesn't export nifs perfectly and the exporter doesn't give full nif functionality, so if you haven't done already - check that nif, maybe a bone is missing or the wrong skin instance is being referenced?

 

Good luck with it mate :)

[ekimolaos]

It might not be weighted properly, I highly suggest watching Nightasy's armour tutorials on yt, he goes really in depth on that. Also just a tip, if you're a student you can get a student lisense for 3ds Max, for up to 2 years

Thanks for the tip, I'll check the Nightasy's tutorials for sure! I really don't know what you mean by weighting, but I guess it's something in 3ds Max. No, I am not a student, but I can have access to a full 3ds Max account from a friend after the trial expires. The only downside is that I won't be able to have access 24/7 obviously, just a couple of hours now and then - still better than nothing! Thanks again, really appreciate the help! :smile:

 

 

Hi :smile: have you tried editing the mesh inside outfit studio instead?

 

It sounds like the mesh isn't weighed to the head properly.

Did you delete the bsdismemberment and skin modifiers before editing the mesh? If not the skin information can get all screwed up. If you did, did you reskin the mesh and add the bsdismemberment modifier back in? I remember once not putting the bsdismemberment modifier back in and my armor just kind of floated there and when I crouched the armor shot through the back of the body.

 

You could also try throwing the mesh into outfit studio and either editing it there or copying weights from the original mesh to your new one there.(sometimes 3ds max just won't weigh things right)

 

Other things you could check would be the transforms box on the export window, it should be 0.000 and there's also a check box that says something like "zero transforms" make sure that's checked :smile:

 

Sometimes info in the nif can get messed up too, I think I'm right in saying that 3ds max doesn't export nifs perfectly and the exporter doesn't give full nif functionality, so if you haven't done already - check that nif, maybe a bone is missing or the wrong skin instance is being referenced?

 

Good luck with it mate :smile:

 

Thanks for your reply too mate! I have NO idea what all those things you mentioned are and how to do them, so I guess 3ds Max wasn't as simple as stretching the mesh you want to stretch and all is fine! Thanks for your info too, will check those out too after I watch some tutorials from Nightasy (as IamTheRedd mentioned above), as it seems this weighting thing you guys both mentioned to be the problem. Thank you both so much, really! :smile:

 

EDIT: Oh and as for Outfit Studio... I have never heard of it before, but with a quick nexus search I found this:

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/49015?tab=files

So I'm guessing this is the one you mentioned. I'll give this a try too! Thanks again! :D

Edited February 20, 2018 by ekimolaos