Modeling help needed

[ChampionOfHircine]

I've been trying to teach myself to make models for Skyrim. I've learned the basics of how to make a model, but I can't figure out how to import/export .nif's. It's a huge pain to import in Blender. I can't find a good tutorial that shows me exactly how to do it. I've tried these but they aren't working.

 

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/15690

(I don't know what this means - "4 Replace the Root Node's name with "Scene Root" (usually the name of the root node is the <filename>.nif)")

 

http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Converting_an_armour_to_another_body_for_Skyrim

 

Both say: Python script error: Check console

 

 

 

 

What am I doing wrong? Is there an easier program to use than Blender that is free? Or can someone find a video tutorial?

[DavidD]

that's the general workflow. The beginning part is what you want, exporting it and replacing meshes

 

3ds max is free if you're a student, which is what he's using in that video. It might not be easier though.

Edited July 3, 2012 by DavidD

[Grimoa]

Again a place to drop a link to my favourite tutorial:

Creating an armour for Skyrim

 

Edit: as for that error message I never had excactly that one before. But you didn't say what type of mesh you want to import. Anyways, open the nif in nifskope and see if it has a "bhkcompressedmeshshape". If so -> rightclick -> remove branch.

Save and try importing again.

Edited July 3, 2012 by Grimoa

[ChampionOfHircine]

Didn't think of that. I found and removed the branch along with a couple others and got it to work. Is there a guide on how to texture custom static models? I can't find one anywhere.

[candlepin]

The tutorial which helped me the most for importing custom models (note that I haven't imported any armors or weapons) can be found here:

http://www.creationkit.com/Exporting_meshes_to_Creation_Kit

 

As for texturing your custom models, good luck. I personally found this the most difficult part of making my own model and getting it into the game. I unfortunately can't help you very much since I do all my 3D work & texturing (UV unwrapping/mapping) in 3DS Max.

[blackswan111]

nice tutorial but it use 3ds max

http://www.youtube.com/user/NightasyTutorials/videos

[ChampionOfHircine]

:psyduck: I can't find any tutorials on how to texture in Blender with DDS (other than the ones on Blender's site that I need a paid sub for). Kudos to whoever can find one. :thumbsup: Edited July 9, 2012 by ChampionOfHircine

[steve40]

You can make a UV template in Nifskope by right-clicking on your model and selecting Texture-> export UV. The UV will be saved as a tga file iirc. You can then open this file in your favourite painting program (eg. Gimp or Photoshop).

 

If you're not sure how the pattern on the UV template corresponds with your model, then draw numbers and reference points all over the template, save it as a dds then go back to Nifskope and add this dds texture template to your model. You can then see where the numbers are positioned on your model.

 

Now you can go back to your painting program. Create a new layer and make it slightly transparent so that you can see the UV template underneath. Start painting or clone brushing into the new layer. I find it best to paint a small area on a layer, then to create a new layer and paint another small area and it, and so on. That way if I make any mistakes I can simply delete that layer without having to start painting the entire texture again completely from scratch.

 

I also find it handy to first select the UV template layer and use the magic wand to select individual shapes, then make layer masks from them. Enlarge your selection by a few pixels so that the mask areas will be slightly larger than those in your template. This is so that you can paint slightly over the pattern lines, as this will prevent your texture from having visible seams when it is applied to the model.

 

When finished painting the whole texture, delete the bottom template layer (and any mask layers if necessary), merge all the painted layers and then save the texture as a dds (you need the nVidia dds plugin of course), then load it up in Nifskope.

Edited July 10, 2012 by steve40

[ChampionOfHircine]

:psyduck: I have no idea what I'm doing. I get the model into Nifskope (and with how little I know that was a pain in the ass by itself), I right click, go to texture and click "edit UV" (the only option) and it says, "Could not load texture data for UV editor." What I need is a very basic video tutorial that walks me through the whole process. Because I literally have no idea what I'm doing.

[steve40]

It sounds like your model is missing the data blocks required for assigning textures to the model, specifically the "BSLightingShaderProperty" and its child "BSShaderTextureSet". You might have to add those manually if they are not there already. I can't really explain it off the top of my head. Best bet is to do some googling for tutorials using those keywords. Ultimately, you need those data blocks to get the model to work in Skyrim.