rkelly Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 hi Baelkin, I dont know if it helps you, but the Blender export script splits the models depending on the assigned material/texture for each polygon. Maybe it is in 3dmax the same. Just wanted to say that this was indeed the issue and I can't believe I made such a "newbish" mistake. :whistling: Anyway, I'm finally done rigging the model to the Fallout male skeleton though I don't really know if I've done it "right". Guess the only thing to do is to test it and see what happens. SWEET! if there is something wrong and you need help with anything ask the modders at the main fallout 3 forums at the bethsoft site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baelkin Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 hi Baelkin, I dont know if it helps you, but the Blender export script splits the models depending on the assigned material/texture for each polygon. Maybe it is in 3dmax the same. Just wanted to say that this was indeed the issue and I can't believe I made such a "newbish" mistake. :whistling: Anyway, I'm finally done rigging the model to the Fallout male skeleton though I don't really know if I've done it "right". Guess the only thing to do is to test it and see what happens. SWEET! if there is something wrong and you need help with anything ask the modders at the main fallout 3 forums at the bethsoft site. Well the majority of modders active on the Bethsoft forums are also active here, so I'd probably get better results asking around this place. I'd really like to pick Tyokio's brain on the topic of rigging though, at least he should be able to give some pointers as to what could be wrong. The rigging works fine in Max (ie. the mesh follows the bones when I move them), so my error likely is somewhere in the NifSkope implementation pipeline. Furthermore, considering the exported model also works fine when opening it in NifSkope, I reckon the error lies in the copy/pasting process - I think my issue is that I haven't gotten the skinning data itself copied over proper, meaning the model has the vertex information (and thus shows up in Nifskope) but due to the skinning data missing the model does not know how to behave in-game. Edit: Maybe I should just open my goddamned eyes and re-read the mini-tutorial in the stickies - there's a link to armour rigging int he first post that I must have completely overlooked last I checked it. It'd probably help a lot if I actually just followed that instead of bumbling along like a retard on meth. Edit 2: Well I got part of the model working in-game, so at least now I'm on the right track concerning what needs to be done in NifSkope. I still need to make a well weighted rig though, along with the additional parts required for PipBoy support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Expresate Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Baelkin, I have to ask. Is there a texture yet? Or are you just focused on getting it to work in the game first? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baelkin Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 Baelkin, I have to ask. Is there a texture yet? Or are you just focused on getting it to work in the game first? Just focusing on getting it to work such that it can be added through the GECK - I find that it's easier making textures when you can test the result in the game's natural environment. I could probably hand over the model and exported UVW templates to a texture artist and get the work done "on the side", but I kinda' want to finish the project "in-house" so to speak before releasing anything to the public. :happy: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Expresate Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Baelkin, I have to ask. Is there a texture yet? Or are you just focused on getting it to work in the game first? Just focusing on getting it to work such that it can be added through the GECK - I find that it's easier making textures when you can test the result in the game's natural environment. I could probably hand over the model and exported UVW templates to a texture artist and get the work done "on the side", but I kinda' want to finish the project "in-house" so to speak before releasing anything to the public. :happy: Well, take your time. Can't wait for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baelkin Posted June 17, 2009 Author Share Posted June 17, 2009 Ran into a few problems while rigging the model to the skeleton - while the rigging process itself is easy as pie, I noticed some areas that looked quite wonky once I got around moving the rigged model. Specifically I couldn't get the kneepads rigged in such a way that it didn't look extremely weird, so I've taken the consequence and have decided to tweak the model itself in that area. Lesson learned: layout the UVW's after your model has been rigged to its skeleton, as you might come across issues that require re-modelling of the mesh and thus re-UVW'ing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baelkin Posted June 18, 2009 Author Share Posted June 18, 2009 Seems I can't get the kneepads to look proper when rigged no matter what I do. Due to the way 3D model rigging works in general, and due to the fact that it seems adding bones to the Fallout 3 skeleton is impossible (for obvious reasons), the knees of your character will always deform abnormally when your character crouches - the distortion is so bad that it sometimes reduces the size of the kneepad by 50%+, which is very noticable when a character isn't just wearing pants or the kneepad has a distinct shape. :pinch: Basically this means that I'll either have to settle for a bothed-together solution by weighting the kneepad entirely to either tigh or calf or cut the kneepads althogether, nether of which I find very satisfying. :dry: If anyone knows of a workaround that doesn't involve sacrificing your first born on the altar of modding, I'd love to hear about it. Edit: Screenshots of the problem at hand below. I've checked the vanilla armours with kneepads in-game and they do exactly the same, except it's not very noticable due to them not featuring elaborate kneepads of any kind. Don't mind the straps on the screenshots, they can be weighted to follow the leg better, I just hadn't bothered doing it when I took the screenshots. :P Edit 2: Actually the armour doesn't look that bad without the kneepads, so I might go with that solution until I figure if anything can be done to get the kneepads proper on the model. Of course it doesn't look as badass when standing upright, but at least you won't go "WTF" when crouching in the shadows. Wonky Kneepad when model is crouched: http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Baelkin/kneepad_wonky.jpg Kneepad weighted to the thigh when model is crouched: http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Baelkin/kneepad_thigh.jpg Kneepad weighted to the calf when model is crouched: http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Baelkin/kneepad_calf.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baelkin Posted June 18, 2009 Author Share Posted June 18, 2009 Just botched together an alternate design for the kneepad which I'm pretty sure will look great and also will be riggable without it looking retarded. I think I'll settle for this solution for the first release as it looks appropriate and I won't have to spend countless hours trying to solve the problem of the morphing kneepads - It's about time this armour gets into the world and I can't be bothered spending countless hours trying to solve something that might not be possible within the limitations of the game engine. Alternate kneepad design - made the kneeguard part of the sabaton itself, allowing me to weight it to the calf without it looking odd when crouching: http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp337/Baelkin/Alternate-kneepad.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Expresate Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Glad to see you worked something out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baelkin Posted June 19, 2009 Author Share Posted June 19, 2009 Glad to see you worked something out. So am I! :biggrin: Means I can finalize the model skin and get the model exported so I only have to wrestle with NifSkope, not that this is much comfort in itself because NifSkope can be quite a beast to tame if you haven't worked with it in a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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