Completely Lost with Eye Patch model

[ArnanTryggva]

I have created a model for an eye patch (being dissatisfied with the one existing). I follow step by step the instruction from

 

http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Creating_an_armour_for_Skyrim._Part_1#Fix_the_dismemberment_weights

 

and it fails each time. I do not know why.

 

In Blender I attach a material and a texture to the mesh, I unwarp the mesh successfully and I have created the two texture files.

 

I also copied the weights successfully from the head-nif file to my mesh. I export it as a nif file as described. Then I try to follow the instructions for modification of the nif file with nifskope as best as I can. However my node setup always looks different from that presented in the instructions. For instance in most cases I do not see a root sceen. I associated in nifscope the two texture files.

 

I successfully save it and replace the old eyepatch meshes with my new ones for testing.

 

But when I play the game there is no eyepatch. I see it in my inventory but it is completely invisible.

 

I have no clue how to solve my issue as I do not know what I am doing wrong. This cannot be so difficult as there are so many armour mods out there. Please can somebody help? I am getting desperate.

[ArnanTryggva]

Here a screenie from the nifskope file.

 

http://www.abload.de/thumb/nifskopeeyepatch01kwrso.jpg

 

As I only painted one side (it is a volume body not showing the inside faces of the mesh). I tried already in nifskope the mesh>face normal but to no avail.

 

Can somebody troubleshoot me?

 

Here's the nif file:

Edited October 19, 2012 by ArnanTryggva

[ArnanTryggva]

*bump*

[nonoodles]

I have more experience with static objects than armour and don't know anything about working with Blender but, far as I can remember, if a new model did not show up in CK for me it was because I had forgotten to change the BSShaderTextureSet property. Try removing the branch from your eyepatch nif, copy-paste the same from a vanilla nif, reset the texture path, load up in CK and see if it shows up.

 

I've had to do this for every mesh I fiddled with and exported from 3ds as the BSShaderTextureSet gets corrupted on export or something.

 

It may also be a good idea to use Nifskope rc6 or below when you're importing your model as it handles all that better than 7 or 8. Haven't checked out the most recent versions.

 

And don't forget to make a backup of the mesh before you start! : )

 

Edit: I successfully save it and replace the old eyepatch meshes with my new ones for testing

 

Do you replace it in CK or simply the nif in the Meshes folder? If it's the latter, try editing the eyepatch in CK so that it points to your new nif.

Edited October 13, 2012 by nonoodles

[ArnanTryggva]

Thanks for reply, nonoodles!

 

I tried to replace the shader properties from a vanilla nif file for both trishape nodes but it did not help much. I use nifskope rc4 but I have to admit one thing:

 

I started out to model this patch in blender 2.61 and my first try stalled when I realized that there's no nif file script for this version of blender. So what I did I exported the model in Blender 2.61 to wavefront object, imported it in Blender 2.49b and checked that a material and texture was assigned (which I had done in blender 2.61 already). It looked as if it was right (however I am not 100% sure, only 80% sure as I am also quite new to blender). I followed the instruction steps like re-importing the nif file of the head, attaching the bones, modifying the dismemberment thing and re exporting it as nif file - using the nif scripts this time. Whatever I did I always failed to see the thing in CK or in game.

 

I will try to remodel the whole thing now from scratch in blender 2.49 (a pity because I think the initial model looks just exactly as I want it).

 

I have one question because my gut feeling says to me that I missed an essential step concerning the assignments of textures in blender. To my understanding when I use the UV unwrap the information about the vertex distribution on the UV map is well stored inside the blend file and not on the texture image. So actually I just could use any suitable dds file of the same size (including normal map of course) by placing it with the right name in the right folder without passing by blender since these files do not contain the information needed by the mesh. Is it so?

 

To my understanding the tga file that one can create during the UV mapping process only serves as a painting pattern, right?

 

 

I have more experience with static objects than armour and don't know anything about working with Blender but, far as I can remember, if a new model did not show up in CK for me it was because I had forgotten to change the BSShaderTextureSet property. Try removing the branch from your eyepatch nif, copy-paste the same from a vanilla nif, reset the texture path, load up in CK and see if it shows up.

 

I've had to do this for every mesh I fiddled with and exported from 3ds as the BSShaderTextureSet gets corrupted on export or something.

 

It may also be a good idea to use Nifskope rc6 or below when you're importing your model as it handles all that better than 7 or 8. Haven't checked out the most recent versions.

 

And don't forget to make a backup of the mesh before you start! : )

 

Edit: I successfully save it and replace the old eyepatch meshes with my new ones for testing

 

Do you replace it in CK or simply the nif in the Meshes folder? If it's the latter, try editing the eyepatch in CK so that it points to your new nif.

[ghosu]

Die UV repräsentiert eine 2D Projektion der "Haut" eines 3D Modells, mehr oder minder eine Schablone. Im Prinzip enthält sie einfach nur die Koordinaten jedes Polygons auf einer flachen Ebene...und ja, die UV Map wird "im" Objekt gespeichert, ist also unabhängig von der Textur und kann mit jedem anderen Bild gefüttert werden - solange die Position der Grafiken übereinstimmt.

 

SF_Skinned ist angehakt?

 

http://666kb.com/i/c82c5t1sxb1etdcx7.jpg

 

Ansonsten würde ich empfehlen, das Ganze (nif,dds,esp) im Paket hochzuladen...damit die Leute evtl. einen Blick darauf werfen können.

Edited October 13, 2012 by ghosu

[ArnanTryggva]

Die UV repräsentiert eine 2D Projektion der "Haut" eines 3D Modells, mehr oder minder eine Schablone. Im Prinzip enthält sie einfach nur die Koordinaten jedes Polygons auf einer flachen Ebene...und ja, die UV Map wird "im" Objekt gespeichert, ist also unabhängig von der Textur und kann mit jedem anderen Bild gefüttert werden - solange die Position der Grafiken übereinstimmt.

 

SF_Skinned ist angehakt?

 

http://666kb.com/i/c82c5t1sxb1etdcx7.jpg

 

Ansonsten würde ich empfehlen, das Ganze (nif,dds,esp) im Paket hochzuladen...damit die Leute evtl. einen Blick darauf werfen können.

 

Eines meiner vielen nif files habe ich oben schon angehängt. Aber ich machs eh neu, weil ich mittlerweile den Überblick verloren habe, welches nif file ich wie gemacht habe. Und ja, SLSF1 Skinned ist aktiviert für beide TriShape Nodes.

 

Ich probiers also mal mit einem Neuanfang, mal sehen ob es klappt, wenn ich von Anfang an mit den richtigen Software Versionen arbeite. Ich werde dann ggf. die Files hochladen. Ich hoffe, diesmal klappt es reibungslos (die Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt, wie man mir sagt).

 

Nun sitze ich aber gerade wieder herum und verstehe das Verhalten nicht von Blender: Ich setze die Säume wie zuvor, aber es scheint, dass die Teile nicht sauber getrennt werden beim UV Unwrappen. So will ich das Band von der eigentlichen Augenklappen trennen und habe an der "Naht" einen Seam gesetzt. Desweiteren einen Seam am Umfang der Klappe, die bei mir als dünner Volumenkörper modelliert ist, so wie das Band. Das Band habe ich selbst auch noch einmal aufgeschnitten. Trennen möchte ich das, weil das Band einfach sehr lang ist und es auf die Texture gepresst wird, so dass die Auflösung dort an dieser Stelle nicht so toll ist (Ich verwende ein einfaches Foto mit einer Ledertextur). Die Augenklappe möchte ich dabei möglichst flächenfüllend auf die Textur verteilen, um möglichst eine gute Auflösung zu erzielen. Da beim Anwählen der UV Unwrap beide Teile in der gleichen Skalierung auf die Ebene übertragen werden, ist die Augenklappe zu klein (und damit schlechte Auflösung). Nun möchte ich sie gerne vergrößern, aber aus irgendeinem Grund, ist das Netz der Augenklappe weiterhin an einem Punkt des Bändchennetz fixiert, so dass ich das Bändchennetz verzerre, wenn ich das Augenklappennetz skaliere.

 

Meine Frage nun: Spielt es eine Rolle, wie man die Säume in welcher Reihenfolge definiert?

[ghosu]

Wie gesagt, ich verwende leider kein Blender (mir persönlich ist das Programm etwas zu umständlich), deshalb solltest die Frage vl. eher auf Englisch formuliere...wobei sich hier auch nicht so wirklich viele Modeler rumtreiben...Blender Forum vl. suchen.

 

Alternativ kommt vl. noch ein UV Unwrap Tool in Frage, zwar selbst noch nicht verwendet, UV Mapping in C4D recht brauchbar ist. Einfach mal google oder youtube mit "uv unwrap tool" füttern, vl findet sich ja was.

 

Dein mesh würde ich nicht direkt einstampfen, kannst ja weiterverwenden.

 

mfg

[ArnanTryggva]

With starting from scratch I managed for the first time that the texture is visible inside nifskope. However it is still invisible ingame. Some clues?

 

What I do when testing the mod:

 

I use another eye patch mod that is working.

 

I overwrite the meshfiles of this mod with my mesh using the file names of the original eyepatch mod. The folder name is also that of the original mod.

 

The texture files are in the folder to which my nif files point to.

 

Now what happens is that I have no eye patch at all in the game.

 

Here's the nif file. I cannot upload the texture files as they are too big (even when rared).

 

EDIT: I checked now how it looks like in the Creation Kit.

 

As such it is not visible as can be seen in following screenshot:

 

http://www.abload.de/thumb/inck0brn1.jpg

 

Now when I press the right mouse button in the render window in the CK a popup windows appears. When I check one of the three options on the right side of the shaders rider of the popup window I can see my mesh in green colour. I do not know if this information can help to solve the problem but I thought I post it anyhow. Probably a texture problem? But what kind of?

 

EDIT 2: I also tried following in game (after some small modifications to the nif file):

 

I went to the inventory, selected the eye patch. In the preview (on the right side of the scene) it did not show as all the other items. However when I zoomed it (mouse wheel up) the untextures eyepatch showed. However I could not rotate it like the other items. When I zoomed out again (mouse wheel down) it also showed. When I closed the inventory and reopened it it was again not visible but I could make it visible like before.

 

The second attached file has these small modifications incorporated.

Edited October 19, 2012 by ArnanTryggva

[nonoodles]

Hi there, checked your previous nif by trying to apply a texture to it and yes, looks like it was lacking a UV map.

 

The new nif shows texture well (nice eyepatch btw!). I was going to suggest seeing if it can be imported and shows up in CK because that's when you can catch issues with a new model, but you already did it. If you didn't get any errors while re-directing the eyepatch to the new mesh in CK, only an invisible eyepatch, then your problem can be narrowed to texture issue. Probably.

 

Try checking against Ceekay9's bandit eyepatch. That mod works well enough both in CK and game, so I suggest opening it in nifskope and comparing the BSLightingShaderProperty branches and making appropriate changes. Then check your nif in CK again.

 

Sorry I don't have many more ideas. Just hang in there, there's always a solution, you just need a lot of patience when working with meshes!