Modifying a Skeleton.nif in NifSkope

[guffeh]

Hi guys,

 

I'm using a custom skeleton.nif fitted for a smaller race, but whoever rigged it forgot to properly rig the weapon nodes for a closer fit to the body. As it is right now, these weapons hover over my character's back by around 6-8 inches, which is a little immersion breaking.

 

In NifSkope, I've located the WeaponBow and QUIVER nodes and Right Click -> Transform -> Edit -> and adjusted properly, but when I Right Click -> Transform -> Apply, nothing happens. Usually the Translation position is set to 0,0,0 and the object/node's current position is set, but it's not saving the new values. Even when I save the Skeleton.nif and test in game, everything's still the same as before.

 

I'm really hoping this is possible to fix in NifSkope, rather than having to import & export through 3DS Max (I've already tried & failed - exported .nif causes a CTD).

 

Does anyone know what else I could try to get this to work?

 

 

EDIT: I managed to get a hold of Metal-Gear-REX, the creator of Skyrim Weapon Positioning, who was able to explain how to fix my issue. Copy/Pasted the information in the case of someone else having a similar problem.

 

NifSkope is all you want for skeleton edits, at least that's what I've come to understand. When you open up my skeleton with Nif and look for... WeaponSword for example. You'll see 3 nodes, right? One is connected to a spine2 node, the main nodes which then connect to the WeaponBack, Quiver and Bow nodes are also connected to spine2, so you'll know what spine2 node I'm on about. Hopefully. I believe Spine2 is a Parent Node. Back to WeaponSword, you'll find one node connected to spine2 as I said, but then you'll also find there's the second node that sticks out to the right-ish, and then one which comes towards your screen. What you'll find out is that the 2nd node,( what I've called SwordControl on the Well Placed Weapons & Quivers skeleton I put in my mod, as that's the first skeleton I ever edited), does ALL the work. Whatever node is named specific WeaponBack, Quiver, Bow, Dagger, anything along those lines when it comes to weapons, do nothing. They're just to designate the weapon to the game or something.

 

If you make any edits on the WeaponBack node, nothing will happen. If you edit the settings on the node which the WeaponBack node is connected to, and tada, when you get in-game the changes you made actually come into effect. After saving the skeleton of course. Now when you actually get into the edit menu, you'll see 2 'sections', one containing the X Y and.. I can't remember the other, and the second 'section' with YPR, they each have similar functions but they will change depending on the weapon you're editing and main node you're connected to. First section actually controls the positioning of the weapon. The second section actually just moves the weapon, only the weapon. So you can tilt it back and forth etc, rotate it, but the actual position of the weapon never changes. First section controls that. I believe if you're wanting to get the weapon closer, edit the Yaw and watch the way it moves on the NifSkope screen, You're probably going to want to make whatever numbers there are in the Yaw box come closer to 0. Subtract, don't add to the Yaw. Once you mess around you'll know what I'm on about.

 

I reckon there is a way around having 3 nodes and just having 2, probably if you flatten the branch, but I'm fine with using 3 nodes for now.

 

Hopefully I made some sense, but I just wrote down what came to me off the top of my head

Edited April 24, 2012 by guffeh

[Deleted4240918User]

Hi guys,

 

I'm using a custom skeleton.nif fitted for a smaller race, but whoever rigged it forgot to properly rig the weapon nodes for a closer fit to the body. As it is right now, these weapons hover over my character's back by around 6-8 inches, which is a little immersion breaking.

 

In NifSkope, I've located the WeaponBow and QUIVER nodes and Right Click -> Transform -> Edit -> and adjusted properly, but when I Right Click -> Transform -> Apply, nothing happens. Usually the Translation position is set to 0,0,0 and the object/node's current position is set, but it's not saving the new values. Even when I save the Skeleton.nif and test in game, everything's still the same as before.

 

I'm really hoping this is possible to fix in NifSkope, rather than having to import & export through 3DS Max (I've already tried & failed - exported .nif causes a CTD).

 

Does anyone know what else I could try to get this to work?

 

 

EDIT: I managed to get a hold of Metal-Gear-REX, the creator of Skyrim Weapon Positioning, who was able to explain how to fix my issue. Copy/Pasted the information in the case of someone else having a similar problem.

 

NifSkope is all you want for skeleton edits, at least that's what I've come to understand. When you open up my skeleton with Nif and look for... WeaponSword for example. You'll see 3 nodes, right? One is connected to a spine2 node, the main nodes which then connect to the WeaponBack, Quiver and Bow nodes are also connected to spine2, so you'll know what spine2 node I'm on about. Hopefully. I believe Spine2 is a Parent Node. Back to WeaponSword, you'll find one node connected to spine2 as I said, but then you'll also find there's the second node that sticks out to the right-ish, and then one which comes towards your screen. What you'll find out is that the 2nd node,( what I've called SwordControl on the Well Placed Weapons & Quivers skeleton I put in my mod, as that's the first skeleton I ever edited), does ALL the work. Whatever node is named specific WeaponBack, Quiver, Bow, Dagger, anything along those lines when it comes to weapons, do nothing. They're just to designate the weapon to the game or something.

 

If you make any edits on the WeaponBack node, nothing will happen. If you edit the settings on the node which the WeaponBack node is connected to, and tada, when you get in-game the changes you made actually come into effect. After saving the skeleton of course. Now when you actually get into the edit menu, you'll see 2 'sections', one containing the X Y and.. I can't remember the other, and the second 'section' with YPR, they each have similar functions but they will change depending on the weapon you're editing and main node you're connected to. First section actually controls the positioning of the weapon. The second section actually just moves the weapon, only the weapon. So you can tilt it back and forth etc, rotate it, but the actual position of the weapon never changes. First section controls that. I believe if you're wanting to get the weapon closer, edit the Yaw and watch the way it moves on the NifSkope screen, You're probably going to want to make whatever numbers there are in the Yaw box come closer to 0. Subtract, don't add to the Yaw. Once you mess around you'll know what I'm on about.

 

I reckon there is a way around having 3 nodes and just having 2, probably if you flatten the branch, but I'm fine with using 3 nodes for now.

 

Hopefully I made some sense, but I just wrote down what came to me off the top of my head

 

 

Hey bro; were you successful in learning how to modify the weapons' position on the skeleton? Would it be possible for you to create a quickie guide on how to do it? I've tried it but it doesn't seem to do much in game.

[JohnHead444]

I see this Threads pretty old. But if some one else goes looking for this same topic maybe they will stumble upon this one again. Any hoo......

 

To get this to work you need to open up the skeleton nif that you want to adjust the weapon on. So lets use weapon back node as and example. In the skeleton.nif look for the bone sticking up the highest on the skeleton and click on it. It should be a few nodes below [NPC Spine 2] in the [block list]. NPC spine2 is the parent bone to all the bones,nodes or what ever below it. Now right click on NPC Spine2 and in the block list click on insert. Then you will see a new window asking what you want to insert. Insert a new [NINode]. Which will look like NIN..... Now that you did that right click on the WeaponBack node and go to block list and copy branch. Then past this branch onto your new NiNode. Then right click on the old weaponBack node and in block window Remove branch. OK.... Now click on the NPC Spine2 node again and scroll down to [children]. Click on the little arrow next to the name children and look for the [Children Ref<NiAvObject> None]....

Then double click on the NONE and put in the number of your new NiNode.

 

Now right click on the new NiNode not the weapon back node and do whatever edits you want. Do not apply or anything else when your done. just save it and check out your changes in game.

 

P.S. To really make things easy on you. Find what weapon your changing and open this up in nifscope and go back to your skeleton nif and copy skeleton.nif name from the top. Then in the weapon nif change the header name to skeleton.nif. Then right click on the weapon mesh in your weapon nif and right click then copy branch. Then paste branch onto the weaponBack Node in the skeleton nif. now you can see the changes while you do them. Don't forget to delete the weapon before you save though. Hope this helps.......

[JaksDostov]

Well, i did :P guess theres always someone trying to learn a few tricks of the trade. So, I have a question, weapon back node is for modifying position for two handed weapons? Also, which node should I modify if I wanted to, say, position one handed swords somewhere else? It would be awesome if someone could help me with this because since i'm new to this i have little understanding of how it all works.

Edited July 27, 2013 by JaksDostov

[Shadew69]

WHERE TO FIND THE f*#@ING BONE THIS PROGRAM IS SO USELESS CANT EVEN SEARCH