GECK Retexturing Troubles

[Seirza]

I'll start off by saying that not only am I a recent buyer of F:NV, but I'm also new to the modification department for this particular game, so please have a bit of patience if I say or ask something that seems stupid to you =) I have already done hours of internet research and also did a few different searches on these forums to try to find the answer to my problem, all with no luck.

 

I'm trying to create a mod that generates a custom textured RatSlayer, and these are the steps I took:

 

Texture Creation:

I extracted the 1stPersonVarmintRifleUnique .dds file and edited it with GIMP to have the texture I want. I then saved it as a .dds file via a GIMP plugin I also researched and downloaded. When I loaded the file to edit, I didn't use mipmaps, but when I exported as DDS, I told the program to generate mipmaps and also to use BC3/DXT5 compression. After creating this .dds file, I placed it into a folder in my Data/textures directory, a custom folder I created for this purpose.

 

 

Mod Creation:

 

1) I opened GECK (as administrator) and loaded the FalloutNV.esm file. After it loaded I saved my customized .esp file.

2) Using the filter, I found the 1stPersonVarmintRifleUnique STAT form and opened it. Then I re-saved it with 0000myfilename.

3) I used the filter to find the 1stPersonVarmintRifleUniqueTexture form and opened it. I gave it a new name (0000myfilenameTexture), clicked the Diffuse box, and then clicked edit to assign my personalized .dds to the new form. However, when I clicked on my .dds file, GECK crashed.

 

I haven't been able to get past this step yet, and I'm not sure what is causing the problem. I do make sure to open GECK as administrator, and I've been using

tutorial, but I get stuck around the 2:55 mark every single time. I've tried this probably 30 times in the last couple hours, and no way I alter the steps I take is helping.

 

 

I realize that this mod creates a customized weapon that I have to place in my game in order to access it, but I am familiar with how to do that and I don't see why it would cause issues. But I can't even get to that step because of this other problem. So, if any retexturing savvy people could help me figure this out it would mean a LOT. Thank you ahead of time.

Edited December 31, 2012 by Seirza

[Xaranth]

1) Double-check that your texture has valid dimensions (I.E., powers of two)

2) Run through the export in GIMP once again, and triple check your export settings.

3) make sure your folder structure has no spaces or nonstandard characters - alphanumeric, underscore, and hyphen only.

4) Research cursing because you'll need to expand your swearword vocabulary when none of this works.

 

If all that's done and it's not working, see if you can crash NifSkope with your texture, too. If not, try redoing the texture paths in the model, then give it a whirl in game and see if that crashes - basically, at this point you're trying to isolate the failure to the texture, the geck, or the engine.

[Seirza]

1) Double-check that your texture has valid dimensions (I.E., powers of two)

2) Run through the export in GIMP once again, and triple check your export settings.

3) make sure your folder structure has no spaces or nonstandard characters - alphanumeric, underscore, and hyphen only.

4) Research cursing because you'll need to expand your swearword vocabulary when none of this works.

 

If all that's done and it's not working, see if you can crash NifSkope with your texture, too. If not, try redoing the texture paths in the model, then give it a whirl in game and see if that crashes - basically, at this point you're trying to isolate the failure to the texture, the geck, or the engine.

 

Thanks so much for the super quick response! I know the textures are working properly because I've used the Hello Kitty retexture of the Ratslayer and it worked. I was just trying to generate a Ratslayer with the texture on it. So the texture is eliminated as a threat, I just have to figure out if its the geck or the engine. I'll follow your other instructions, including the vocabulary one, and post an edit to this a bit later.

 

A very noobish question, though: What do you mean by the powers of two statement in regards to texture dimensions?

Edited December 31, 2012 by Seirza

[Xaranth]

A very noobish question, though: What do you mean by the powers of two statement in regards to texture dimensions?

 

Texture dimensions MUST be in pixel counts which are powers of 2, that is, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 1024, 2048, 4096, etc. I honestly don't know whether this is for proper wrapping/uv mapping or some other reason - I've never been brave enough to see what happens if I try an invalid value. :)

 

Based on the behavior you're describing, I'd suspect that there's something or other wrong with your texture, given that it's what's causing the GECK to crash, but given that you've done everything right, as far as I can see, I'm blown if I can tell what it is.

 

Another thing to check would be to duplicate the VarmintRifle dds you based your retex off of, and try assigning it to your next texture set - if that crashes too you'll know there's something off with your GECK setup.

[JimboUK]

Open the folder with the DDS in it in Windows Explorer and set the view to List. If I have the folder view set to thumbnails the GECK always crashes when opening textures, oddly when the view is set to list in Windows Explorer they appear as thumbnails when opened in the GECK.

[Xaranth]

This game and its tools are filled with such STRANGE bugs I swear.

[Ironman5000]

I've never been brave enough to see what happens if I try an invalid value.

I have actually seen it work for skyrim for one guy I worked with, the dimensions were something like 1500x1000. They did render in-game but hit the fps badly, taking a few seconds to load.

 

Dunno how NV would cope but not worth trying.

 

Open the folder with the DDS in it in Windows Explorer and set the view to List. If I have the folder view set to thumbnails the GECK always crashes when opening textures, oddly when the view is set to list in Windows Explorer they appear as thumbnails when opened in the GECK.

 

I have Sagethumbs installed and works fine for me, have you tried it?

Edited January 1, 2013 by Ironman5000

[JimboUK]

Yeah I tried Sagethumbs, it didn't like me. :confused: