Remove sleeves from mesh.

[Rageolic]

So i wanted to try to remove the sleeves on this robe i've been messing around with. I didn't succeed O.O..

 

So my question is..if anyone knows how to do this, please share you knowledge :D!

 

I tried just deleting the sleeves off in cinema 4d. When i imported the modified obj to nifscope to replace the old one i noticed it had changed position. And even tho i THINK i managed to move it into place in nifscope, it just looks horrid in the game.

[Perraine]

Simplest way is to add an Alpha Property to he NiTriShape, then open your texture and delete the sleeves ... Otherwise you'll have to muck about with your 3D program, make it compatible with Skyrim and then adjust the position/scale of the mesh ...

 

When doing a Transform -> Edit -> Apply on a NiTriShape you MUST remember to "Clear" any data from the BSDismemberSkinInstance -> NiSkinData directly under it first, otherwise the 'skin' (texture) will not match up to the mesh ...

[Rageolic]

Simplest way is to add an Alpha Property to he NiTriShape, then open your texture and delete the sleeves ... Otherwise you'll have to muck about with your 3D program, make it compatible with Skyrim and then adjust the position/scale of the mesh ...

 

When doing a Transform -> Edit -> Apply on a NiTriShape you MUST remember to "Clear" any data from the BSDismemberSkinInstance -> NiSkinData directly under it first, otherwise the 'skin' (texture) will not match up to the mesh ...

 

Adding an alpha channel was simple enough, but when you say "open your texture and delete the sleeves" you mean open the .dds in photoshop and erase the sleeves? I can't even tell where the sleeves are on the .dds.

 

Anyway, skyrim didn't like whatever i did to the robe and now it INSTANTLY closes when i pickup the robe. (placed it on the floor in breezehome). On another save, i'm wearing it and that save wont enter the game at all. Instantly closes 3 seconds into the loading screen. Just closes with no errors.

[Perraine]

On most textures the sleeves are fairly obvious but if your not sure, try opening the mesh in Nifscope -> open the texture file in Photoshop -> delete a part of the texture that you think is the sleeves -> then save the file (but don't close Photoshop!) the updated texture should be reflected in Nifskope (if not, right click in the preview window and 'Update All Tangent Spaces') to see what has disappeared off the mesh, if it wasn't the sleeves but the 'pants' then go back into Photoshop 'undo' the deletion, then try another part.

 

Sometimes exporting the UV map and using that as a reference can help (right click on the mesh -> texture -> export and save the UV map, it will normally be placed in the same directory as the .nif is located) this creates a file with a white background covered in dark blue triangles which is how the texture fits (wraps around) onto the mesh, this can be VERY handy for lining up edges and stuff

 

If the game instantly CTD's then there could be a problem with your mesh, did you make sure to make exactly the same changes to both meshes? the ***_0 and ***_1 versions?

[Rageolic]

On most textures the sleeves are fairly obvious but if your not sure, try opening the mesh in Nifscope -> open the texture file in Photoshop -> delete a part of the texture that you think is the sleeves -> then save the file (but don't close Photoshop!) the updated texture should be reflected in Nifskope (if not, right click in the preview window and 'Update All Tangent Spaces') to see what has disappeared off the mesh, if it wasn't the sleeves but the 'pants' then go back into Photoshop 'undo' the deletion, then try another part.

 

Sometimes exporting the UV map and using that as a reference can help (right click on the mesh -> texture -> export and save the UV map, it will normally be placed in the same directory as the .nif is located) this creates a file with a white background covered in dark blue triangles which is how the texture fits (wraps around) onto the mesh, this can be VERY handy for lining up edges and stuff

 

If the game instantly CTD's then there could be a problem with your mesh, did you make sure to make exactly the same changes to both meshes? the ***_0 and ***_1 versions?

 

The nif/mesh doesn't have a body, which is needed to actually see the body if i e.g remove the sleeves from the robe. (Which i know now..)

 

But what u said before..remove the texture in ps and add alpha in nifscope..does that really work? Seems like it doesn't. And yes, i made the same changes to _0 and _1.

 

I guess my ultimate question would be; How do you add a body to the nif/mesh? Would it be possible to find a nif that already got a body and just replace the actual cloth NiTriShapeData? By that i mean, delete the redundant NiTriShapes(if the nif got multiple meshes e.g a belt) and just replace the chest shape?

Edited April 27, 2012 by Rageolic

[Perraine]

Unfortunately most meshes in Skyrim are complete items, so you can't remove 'parts' that easily. Using the Alpha invisibility trick SHOULD work although as you guessed you would need to put a full body inside the armor, otherwise your player will end up 'armless' in game.

 

I don't use PS, so I'm not sure what needs to be done to create an Alpha transparency with it, I use Paint.net for basic stuff like that and with PDN all you have to do is 'lasso' select the part of the texture and then hit 'delete' then save the file as DXT5 .dds job done.

 

In Nifskope you then just right click on the NiTriShape -> Add Property -> Alpha property (this will add an alpha property at the very end of the list, now you have to make it a property of the individual NiTriShape before it will work) -> click to highlight the NiTriShape -> in the bottom window, scroll down to the very bottom and click 'properties' in the blank field type in the number next to the Alpha Property you just added and hit enter. It should now move up and be part of the NiTriShape under BSDismember and Lightingshader properties,

 

You can replace the body parts in some meshes (like the neck or wrists) with a 'full' body, but this generally will lead to horrible clipping issues in most armors because the shape/contours of the armor don't match the shape/contours of the 'nude' mesh.

 

There are several files available for the UNP body mesh that are 'body' meshes with just the arms and legs and no torso, which MAY work for what you are trying to do ...

[Rageolic]

Ok, so i got the alpha thing to work. I used the Skimpy Arch Mage Robes mesh which got a cbbe body. And just replaced the cloth mesh with my robe. It looks like this in game : http://i.imgur.com/FzCYn.jpg

 

What might be the problem here?

Edited April 28, 2012 by Rageolic

[Rageolic]

Deleting parts of the mesh didn't work. It just gave me the problem shown on the picture above. Is there any way to do this successfully?

 

And how do i add the body/arms to the 1stperson mesh? Right now the arms are invisible in 1stperson : /, and the robe is see-through when looked at from the inside.

Edited April 30, 2012 by Rageolic