[LE] BSALightingShaderProperty

[Quibblonian101]

I'm trying to get a new mesh into the CK but I'm getting the Marker_Error:0 for the biped model.

 

I've seen some people say that you need to copy the BSALightingShaderProperty from a working nif onto the new nif and adjust things in nifsSkope; however, I don't have access to the base nifs, like a steel helmet nif for example, since I'm trying to add a new helmet. So I'm wondering if I can just copy the shader property off of mod that uses the headgear slot instead?

[Pineappletree]

Any NiTriShape inside a NIF needs at least three parts to work correctly in the game:

 

The NiTriShapeData, which contains the actual mesh and necessary meta data,

Either a NiSkinInstance or a BSDismemberSkinInstance, which contain the mesh's weights and its meta data.

And, indeed, the BSLightingShaderProperties, which contains the shader, material and texture information needed to make the mesh actually show up and render correctly.

 

You don't necessarily have to copy the ShaderProperties from another file, it's possible to create them from scratch in NifScope. However, at the start it's certainly much easier to copy the node and then modify its data where needed.

 

Where you get the ShaderProperties from is actually not too important, it is completely independent from the BipedSlot the mesh uses. You could, for example, copy the data from a pair of boots to your helmet and it would work fine. And yes, taking the data from a (well working) mod is absolutely ok.

 

However, to make things easier at the start, you should look for models with material properties similar to what you want your own model to have and copy the data from them.

Then you just have to link your own textures to the mesh and should be able to test it in the game. (For that there's another node linked to the ShaderProperties called BSShaderTextureSet. It has nine slots for textures and the ones you definitely need to fill to get the model working are the first slot, which is for the diffuse, and the second, which is for the normal map.)

 

€dit:

Oh and just to be sure, let me add that for all this to work you have, of course, to have your model "unwrapped". Which means you have to have created the model's UV information. Which means, in plain words, you have to have told the model which part of your 2D texture to project on which part of your 3D model.

Edited September 22, 2019 by Pineappletree

[Quibblonian101]

Thanks for the info. So I should really stop trying to skip some steps I see. I thought I would try to get a model in game first before doing any more work on it but I've yet to skin it and UV map it or add textures since I've no clue how to do that.

[Pineappletree]

Yes, you have to have all this data in the model for it to work. But if you just want to get the mesh into the game to test it, it doesn't have to be "good" data you put any time and effort into.

 

Skin the mesh 100% to a single bone (shouldn't be too problematic for a helmet anyway), put some auto-generated or primitive based UVs on it (no matter how nonsensical) and give it a plain diffuse and a "neutral" normal map (that's color R:127 G:127 B:255 for Skyrim) as textures. The result won't be pretty but enough to learn all the necessary import / export procedures and get a first impression of the mesh in the game.

[Quibblonian101]

Ok thanks, that's what I was hoping to do so I can at least get an understanding of how it all works.