exporting from 3ds max to nifscope and beyond

[quacko]

I am posting this here now, because i have been fiddeling around blindly for a long time now to solve a problem with exporting rigged meshes from 3dsmax to the geck, and i have tried tutorial after tutorial only to find that on this particular subject they always have seemed a bit vague and scetchy.

 

my problem was that either the mesh didn't show up at all or else it showed up, but became invisible when the camera got too close to the object ingame.

and as i said i tried tutorial after tutorial to figure this out, when the answer i was looking for and noone seemed able to provide, was so damned simple that im almost embarrased to not have figured it out before, so without further ado:

 

 

 

with the BSShaderPPLightingProperty selected, scroll down in the block details section until you reach the shader type field,

then select the SHADER_SKIN option.

 

Right below shader type is the shader flags field, here you choose only to

check the following flags: SF_Specular, SF_Skinned, SF_Zbuffer_Test.

 

 

Then save your file and you are ready to open it up in the G.E.C.K. and do with it as you want.

 

 

I have read somewhere though, that for clothes, you should also check

SF_Shadow_map, and SF_Shadow_Frustum, but it works for me just fine without them (and at first glance i dont really see a difference with or without),

although besides for a few educated guesses on my part, im not certain as to what any of these flags actually do, but i can say for sure

that when i set the shaders as this everything works just fine when i put the item in the game, and it works a lot better and faster than the copy and paste from one item to another thing, that most tutorials will tell you to do...

 

i though recall something about the facegen being necessary for the

skin color to adapt ingame, on body and head meshes.

 

 

well that was just my to cents on the subject, and two cents i wish i had collected a looong time ago, but atleast i hope someone in here will

find it usefull enough so that they don't end up pulling as much hair from the scalp as i have up until now :)

[luthienanarion]

i though recall something about the facegen being necessary for the

skin color to adapt ingame' date=' on body and head meshes.

[/quote']

 

For bodies and armors, make sure that you also have SF_Facegen on any part of a mesh where skin is showing so that the engine will match skin colors.

 

Most meshes have the shader type set to SHADER_DEFAULT for most objects and SHADER_SKIN for flesh, but I'm not sure that there's a difference.

Edited December 27, 2012 by luthienanarion

[quacko]

Well from personal experiance i have learned to set at least all rigged meshes ie. clothes armor and body meshes to the SHADER_SKIN,

im not sure if this is supposed to be regular practice or not, but personally if i set it to SHADER_DEFAULT it does weird things when i get it in game,

such as the mesh disapearing when i get too close to the item.

so wether it is considered bad pracsis or something like that or not, i won't comment on, since my experience with modding, still is limited to what i have learned by experimenting on my own,

but for me atleast, the mesh works every time if the shaders are set as posted :)