Textures and .esp

[IOPASD]

I have a problem. I'm trying to adapt an already existing mod (that has an .esp) to work with Robert's male body. In NifSkope the .nif file works as intended, wrapping the texture "footmale" around the exposed skin. However, both in the CS and in-game, the texture wrapped around the model is "upperbodymale" instead. I read somewhere online that an .esp can change texture paths; is this true? If so, how can I change it so that it tells the .nif file which texture to use?

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited August 16, 2020 by IOPASD

[Oblivionaddicted]

An esp/esm can change the folder way to a mesh whereas the textures path is set in each mesh.

 

To discover a texture path -> Download NifSkope, open the mesh, click on the selected zone -> NiTexturingProperty -> NiSourceTexture.

 

Always start your texture paths from the textures folder.

[Striker879]

Body textures are keyed to the mesh NIF (expand the tree in the left panel of NifSkope and you'll find the textures "purple flower"). Body textures are all linked to the mesh material ("skin" in this case), which allows each race to use the appropriate texture files (as assigned in the Race record).

 

What you are describing sounds suspiciously like a vanilla game male upper body mesh, not a Roberts Male upper body mesh.

 

- Edit - +1 :ninja: for OA

Edited August 16, 2020 by Striker879

[IOPASD]

Thanks for the replies. Like I said, the .nif reads the texture perfectly when in NifSkope. The path is "textures\character\imperial\male\footmale.dds" (which if Roberts Male body mod is installed, becomes the whole body texture), and when in NifSkope, it renders beautifully (beautiful skin). The problem occurs when CS and the game ITSELF are loading the .nif file, because their are NOT using the aforementioned texture path, but rather "textures\character\imperial\male\upperbodymale.dds" (which if Roberts Male Body mod installed, becomes the torso alone) , which it shouldn't.

 

Is it possible that the .esp is affecting this "Race record", then? Maybe telling each race to use the "upperbodyX" texture instead of the "footX"?

[Striker879]

Is this a body mesh or an item like armor or clothes with exposed skin?

[IOPASD]

A piece of armor with exposed skin

[Striker879]

It is not designed for use with Robert Male (i.e. it's for vanilla bodies). Change the texture path for the exposed skin parts of the NIF to textures\characters\imperial\male\footmale.dds and see if that helps. Make certain the the material for the exposed skin parts is set to "skin" (there are a couple of numerical values that work as well, but I only recall seeing them used for head parts like ears ... could be wrong though ... DrakeTheDragon is the go-to guy for details like that).

 

- Edit - Load order ... where in your load order is this armor ESP vs either MaleBodyReplacerV5.esp or Oblivion_Character_Overhaul.esp (if you use OCO v2). Last loaded wins every time.

Edited August 16, 2020 by Striker879

[IOPASD]

Like I said, the texture path is fine down to the smallest detail. Skin renders skins textures and the armor renders armor texture, when in NifSkope, that is. The material is set to "skin" as well, so that does not seem to be the problem. I'll ask DrakeTheDragon, then. I assume he is a member of the Nexus as well?

Thanks again for the replies (y)

 

EDIT: (Y) DOES NOT TURN INTO A THUMBS UP?!

Edited August 16, 2020 by IOPASD

[Striker879]

So the armor ESP is not lower in your load order than either MaleBodyReplacerV5.esp or Oblivion_Character_Overhaul.esp?

 

- Edit - And yes Drake is a regular here ... give him time.

 

- Edit 2 - Also make sure of the texture path ... i.e. textures\characters\imperial\male\footmale.dds is not the same as textures\character\imperial\male\footmale.dds (note the missing s ... game won't find the second example).

Edited August 16, 2020 by Striker879

[DrakeTheDragon]

Alright, here I am, as summoned. :sweat:

Now let's get down to the 1 thing I think all of you were missing so far when it comes to how to make a model an actual body mesh.

 

It is right, the texture assigned in NifSkope "must exist" and must have a normal map as well, else you'll get a "missing texture" or "missing normal map" error in game.

And yes, the race records also have to be correct for all of this to work. Though in case of this being about "make a Vanilla NIF compatible to Robert's Male" I take it a proper setup of Robert's Male, thus the race texture records, is already a given, or should not be the immediate problem at least. You can always correct me, if I'm wrong.

 

But as soon as the material is "skin" it doesn't really matter anymore "which texture" was set up inside the NIF. The game engine will take over here and use the texture assigned in the race record for that.

This, however, additionally underlies another rule. Which body texture "slot" gets used by which mesh is controlled by the NiTriShape/NiTriStrips node's "name". And this is what I think is still wrong here.

 

Valid "code names" are "upperbody"/"arms", "lowerbody"/"legs", "hand", "foot" and "tail". A ":" counts as a remark indicator, so everything coming after it gets ignored. You remember node names in body NIFs of other body mods being something like "foot:upperbody" or "foot:legs"? That's just additional information for a reader/onlooker of the NIF. The game only cares for the part before the ":", which in most body mods' cases always says "foot", for the reason all of you know.

 

So my first guess as to what's still wrong would be just that, check the name of the skin meshs' nodes in the NIF and make sure it also says "foot", like in every other Robert's Male (-compatible) NIF.

 

 

(And the code for a thumbs up is ": thumbsup :", or just use the emoticons from "Show All".)