Importing a weapon to Fallout

[Ooudestomp]

Ok, so I have been slaving away making a detailed weapon model and texture to put into fallout, only to find out that I can't do squat with 3dsmax 2013. All the tutorials for importing weapons use the nif plugin for max, but there isn't a nif plugin for 2013, and the ones for 2010, 11, and 12 don't work. So, I need someone to show me/tell me how to import a weapon without using 3dsmax (if it is possible), Starting from converting my 3ds file into a nif. I don't want my model to go to waste, now i have spent so much time on it...

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated :D

[Ghogiel]

If you have a student version of max, they offer DLs for back to 2010. In which case you could just DL 2012 and be sorted. Otherwise you are looking at using blender, waiting for a version of the max plugin to be complied for 2013 or using an older version of nifskope to try to get the weapon into a nif correctly via obj files.

[Ooudestomp]

Ahh, it took ages to download and install 2013, I was hoping I was going to have to download an older version... Is there much difference between the versions?

[Ghogiel]

Not between 2012 and 2013, I think it's a rather bland release. nothing is fixed really and the things they added you will likely never use, unless you are rendering/animating/simulating some very specific things.

[Ooudestomp]

Where is the 2012 plugin? I only see the 2011 one... Or is it the one on the nexus?

[Ghogiel]

I'm not sure where else it's up, but there should be a link on the niftools forum for a 2012 skyrim build for the max tools.

[Ooudestomp]

Are .max files not backward compatible? My project won't open in 2012, so i exported it as a .3ds in 2013 and then imported it to 2012, Is that the same? Also, i still have no clue what to do now I have 2012, niftools and no space left on my HDD :/ If ya know any good tutorials for weapons NOT armour or for skyrim, that would be appreciated :)

[Ghogiel]

No 3ds files are not the same thing as a max scene. It's not a file format I ever try to use either.

 

Max files are not backward compatible unless you save it right. hit ctrl+s and in the 'save type as' select the max version you want, max 2012 can save backwards to 2010 version scenes, I am not sure what 2013 can do but I expect something similar.

[Ooudestomp]

No 3ds files are not the same thing as a max scene. It's not a file format I ever try to use either.

 

Max files are not backward compatible unless you save it right. hit ctrl+s and in the 'save type as' select the max version you want, max 2012 can save backwards to 2010 version scenes, I am not sure what 2013 can do but I expect something similar.

 

Ahh, thank you, I was noticing some weird stuff when i was trying to re-size it :P

[Ghogiel]

http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/3ds_Max_exporting_custom_assets

 

I figure people still should read this old tut. The most important section is probably the bit where I touch on how to keep the meshes transform matrix intact.. seems people still don't actually know how to do this correctly and end up juggling objects in nifskope to get things working.