NIFskope advice? | Morroblivion

While normally I use the CS and leave meshes and models to the more experienced, lately NIFskope has caught my eye and I've been playing around with it. I managed to mix and match some basic armors for fun, But for some reason whenever I'm in game any piece of my play mesh not made of stock oblivion mesh is simply invisible, While in NIFskope they are 100% visible. I haven't been able to find a good tutorial yet so I figure while I'm searching I'll throw this topic out as a fallback.

Last edited by thermador on 11 Jun 2012 - 09:08.

Got It, It was a stupid

Got It, It was a stupid amateur mistake.

I really want to get into the

I really want to get into the 3d modeling stuff. Hashmi gave me a link to a tutorial. In that tutorial there's another tutorial. I'm working through that one. So I'll be making a lot of dumb noob mistakes. ;) So I saw this thread and figured I'd say high, because I'll probably be spending a lot of time here.

So hi.

;)

Probably a stupid question,

Probably a stupid question, But how would I avoid mesh pieces that float seven feet in front of you in third person? Haven't found anything on this kind of glitch.

Hey there Iceburg, nice to know I'm not the only one who is gonna be frustrated.

@Theramalse: You should

@Theramalse: You should upload the file you need help with.

Generally you can fix the problem by editing the Rotation or XYYZ Translation coordinates of the mesh from within nifscope. Sometimes, however, the mesh might have a different armature than the original and it would need fixing from within blender.

Sounds good Theramlse, or

Sounds good Theramlse, or maybe bad...... ;)

So Hashmi, how do you learn blender? Was it just from tinkering with it and modding?

Amazing

I fixed it about two hours before you posted, I had to go back over twenty cuirasses and change the rotation on their armbands to get them to show up correctly. Thanks for confirming my hunch that rotation was the problem.

Is there a way to prevent

Is there a way to prevent certain parts of a mesh from warping? For example This pair of greaves I'm working on has kneeplates that aren't actually part of the base mesh. When in game my character takes different poses that seem to have a slight warping effect on the kneeplates causing them to turn to the side and clip with his legs. If needed I can Upload the mesh.

I've started a sister thread

I've started a sister thread to this: asking questions about Blender.

Cheers!

Vertex Weights govern how a

Vertex Weights govern how a mesh moves with the bones\animations ... they are located within the the NiSkinInstance -> NiSkinData block in Nifscope ... but editing them there would take a lifetime.

With Blender however its just a matter of seconds ... if you decide to upload the file I can have a shot at it.

Hashmi, the more you talk,

Hashmi, the more you talk, the smarter I think you are....

There are some cool people on this website....

This happens with a pair of

This happens with a pair of kneeplates, Two seperate plates for legs, And a shoulder piece. As I am trying to learn about Nifskope I haven't even begun to try to work with blender, I appreciate your help greatly Hashmi. The three meshes are here: http://www.mediafire.com/?4yw682jlopwg4av

Is nifskope simpler / easier

Is nifskope simpler / easier than blender?

I know way less than Thermalse about Nifskope. Should I be focusing on it before I do blender or does it matter?

Well If I'm right Blender Is

Well If I'm right Blender Is all about Making, Shaping, and configuring meshes. Open up Nifskope sometime and look around, You should notice the differences almost immediately.

I've noticed a lot of

I've noticed a lot of differences between the programs, but as I don't really know how to use them very well yet I don't think I could accuratly determine the more difficult program...

Seems like Blender makes meshes and nifskope is more of a viewer / semi editor.

Correct? Have an opnion on which is the more difficult?

Blender, Blender by far.

Cool.Lol.We'll see how it

Cool.

Lol.

We'll see how it goes then....

@Theramalse: Alright, I've

@Theramalse: Alright, I've had a look at your files and there are a few problems:

a) The greaves you are working on have just Leg-Plates and Knee-Pads ... this setup will not correctly work for Oblivion, you need meshes for hips and legs uptill the ankles ... otherwise these parts will remain invisible.

b) I am confused as to what you wan to do with the shoulder piece. Do you want to merge it with the greaves into a single item? If so you WILL get clipping whenever the Greaves are worn with a Cuirass.

c) Finally I don't know exactly what the shoulder piece clips with ... or in which animation\pose the kneepads clip with the leg plates.

Anyways here are two attempts at the greaves:

First Attempt (Preferable - Flexibe KneePad).

Second Attempt (Simple repositioning to avoid clipping).

Try them both seperately and choose the one that works better.

Oops.

I'm sorry, I uploaded the unattached versions of each mesh, heres the right ones: http://www.mediafire.com/?p0q2h1ip73lm5p4 With the leg plates I am aware that the straps clip with the legs, That isn't the main problem. In the combat pose your character takes in the inventory they turn sideways and clip with the legs, As do the kneeplates. The shoulder plate simply twists in an odd way in certain poses causing strange creases, seeing as how it is metal this is not only strange, it is completely unrealistic.

I will check out those kneepads too.

NifScope vs Blender

Blender is a full function creation tool while nifscope is a limited tool. Nifscope can do some basic things like piecing together already created mesh parts to make a complete mesh however; if you want to correct alignment, clipping positioning or if you want to alter the mesh you'll need to do it in blender. The two work better as a team. I use nifscope to assemble parts ... for example. I want to create a new robe ... I take the skeleton add the body parts the robe will cover ie. upperbody, lower body etc. with nifscope by simply copying branches from the original nif file to the skeleton. after i have the body in place I then do the same for the clothing, I copy the parts of the clothing from their original nif file to the one with the skeleton and the body parts. Once I have everything copied to the skeleton I save it as a "filename"Wip.nif I then import this into blender to do all the necissary adjusting. Trying to make adjustments / modifications in nifscope is possible but very very difficult where as in blender it's a breeze.

Hope that explination/example helps.

Huh, ya. That really does.

Huh, ya. That really does. Thanks OldWolf.
I'm currently about halfway through watching a blender tutorial on youtube. After that it will be back to reading the blender noob-to-pro book...

Theramalse & armor creation

Theramalse, you like many other people may be under the misconception that oblivion uses a body and "hangs" clothing or armor items on the body. That isn't the way it works unfortunately. When you create any armor or clothing for the game you need to start at the very bottom. I'd use the skeleton from the first person folder and add the body parts you want to cover with the clothing/armor. Then add the actual clothing/armor to that. You will then see where there are any misalignments, gaps or static clipping. Dynamic clipping can only be seen through use of an animation or in game. This compiled nif you made can them be imported to blender and the static issues addressed. If the clothing/armor you create completely hides the body part under it you can, after addressing all the alignment issues and doing the bone weighting, delete the body that's going to be hidden by the new outfit. Be sure that it IS going to be completely hidden though, otherwise you'll find that you can see completely though your creation at a gap in the outfit :)