Two isses: Projectile art coloration and "how to" AddOnNodes

[VigilantWarden]

Hi guys!

 

Let me begin with a quick synopsis of what I have been up to: Lately, I have desired to have unique laser colors within my game. I started with the simple stuff by giving AER weapons optional blue lasers and Institute weapons "classic red" lasers.

 

I then moved on to the excellent Prismatic - Laser Colors mod by Diranar. Seeing that the art assets within his mod are intended as overriding retextures, I have gone ahead and given every mesh and texture a new name with the suffix of whatever color the assets belong to. For example, AshPile01.nif is now AshPile01DB.nif (corresponding to a dark blue coloration) and so on.

 

That much of the process has worked splendidly and the vanilla lasers have not been overrode whatsoever. However, I've encountered a few obstacles with this process.. Projectiles entries themselves function perfectly, however, I find that the actual "beam" retains the original red "bolt" while now sporting an outline of dark blue (or whatever other color in question).

 

I'll be very specific with my process so far: I have created three (technically six including the focuser muzzle's separate beams) new projectiles corresponding to the colors dark blue, lime, and orange: LaserRifleBeamDarkBlue, LaserRifleBeamLime, and LaserRifleBeamOrange that utilize the renamed meshes from Prismatic (effects/LaserBeamLoopRedDB.nif, effects/LaserBeamLoopRedL.nif, and effects/LaserBeamLoopRedO.nif respectively). I am aware that these would not override the default effects/LaserRifleBeamRed.nif due to having completely different names even without the suffix. When I open one of the effects within the mesh folder to view it within the Creation Kit's .nif render previewer, the beam appears as a solid red bolt with a dark blue/lime/orange glow around it.... odd. Furthermore, the muzzle flash color seems to not work at all as seen in this image. Additionally, regular "non-armored" impact effects don't seem to even trigger at all, red or otherwise, as not seen in the above image. (Vanilla laser weapons have a small red/light blue "burst" upon impact and shimmer red/light blue sparks depending on which weapon is used.) The small burst "sphere" doesn't occur at all and only red sparks seem to emit briefly from an impact.

 

Here's where it gets weird. Almost everything else works flawlessly... Disintegration effects for both lime and dark blue work wonderfully! However, they too have an interesting catch in that their ash piles look great except for the seemingly "unmodifiable" AddOnNode that gives vanilla ash piles their distinctive red mist effect. It is especially noticeable with contrasting colors such as the lime pile seen here and a dark blue pile currently not pulsating its color as seen here. I am completely dumbfounded as how to force AddOnNodes to work within the Creation Kit, as there seems to be no way to "apply" them to the AshPile's activator object. I have heard some say that AddOnNodes must be connected to a mesh directly within NifSkope and that seems awfully unusual to me...

 

A shame too, because the pile itself looks very cool in my opinion! I figure this all must have something to do with the mostly unused gradient .dds files...

 

Now here's the rub: installing the mod normally via its FOMOD within Nexus Mod Manager applies the retextured meshes quite nicely. The bursts, sparks, beams, and muzzle flashes all seem to work just when the mod is allowed to override the base game's lasers.

 

Overall, I am perplexed here. It's like I've gotten this personal mod to "work halfway", with unintentional multicolored lasers and almost perfect ash piles... save for their emanating red mist.

 

What's an amateur modder like me to do? I appreciate any help or commentary you may have!

[VigilantWarden]

I've researched these issues a bit more. It seems like meshes (effects/LaserBeamLoopRedDB for example) only contain the surrounding corresponding color, hence my predicament here of a red laser with a blue vapory glow around it. It would appear that the mesh itself has been assigned to use the vanilla "red laser" texture in some capacity, hence why it works when I enable the plugin as an overriding texture as opposed to a separate and new entity with its own textures.

 

Prismatic includes a number of .dds texture files under effects/gradients, but I am unsure how to "apply" these textures to create an entirely dark blue laser beam projectile. I've read lots about materials and materialswaps with .bgsm files, but that's not exactly the path I want to take (if it's even possible for a projectile at all).

 

Would applying these textures to the laser beam/bolt be something I could do in Creation Kit or NifSkope?

 

Anyway, still don't have the slightest idea on how to work with AddOnNodes. Worst case scenario, I'll live with red mist on mismatching colored ash piles! :tongue:

[deadbeeftffn]

 

 

...

I have heard some say that AddOnNodes must be connected to a mesh directly within NifSkope and that seems awfully unusual to me...

...

 

Though it is true. AddOnNodes can only be attached In NifSkope. Not a great thing: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/articles/127/?

 

[VigilantWarden]

 

 

...

I have heard some say that AddOnNodes must be connected to a mesh directly within NifSkope and that seems awfully unusual to me...

...

 

Though it is true. AddOnNodes can only be attached In NifSkope. Not a great thing: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/articles/127/?

 

 

I see. That's such an odd thing to me. I'll have to work my way through that process I suppose! :smile:

 

Now I just need to discover how to assign these gradient textures to the laser beam nifs within Creation Kit. I reckon it's something to do with TextureSet entries.

 

Thanks for clarification!