Nifskope/normals/Skyrim import help

zebus_0

Okay, trying to get all my bases covered on this one.
I'm working on this tutorial: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVPicWtxTWk"]How to Get Custom Weapons into Skyrim - YouTube[/ame]

If you have seen my other threads I'm trying to get better at object modeling/3ds in general. I figured that I was working way too broadly/too overreaching trying ot make big environments so I'm trying to just do one thing at a time. Figured that a project of trying to get a model into Skyrim would be a good start.

Have the object modeled, it's on the left of the wireframe pic, the model form Skyrim is on the right. I'm aware both it and the texture are kind of garbage, I'm just trying to figure out workflow on this, not be #1 on mod downloads. I've never painted textures before so that's a whole other story that I'll have to work on later.

Problems:
-I'm not sure how to make a normal map for this, or a specular map. I've never done it before. I'm getting close I think, I have a map going but I think I'm missing a setting

-For some reason nifskope won't copy over branches, it comes up with an error saying that the version I'm pasting from is different. "Current version: 20.0.0.5, Clipboard Data: 20.2.0.7" How are they different when it's two windows from the same program? Unless the object data from Skyrim is different.

-From my best guess, it looks like the textures are connected to the standard longsword.nif (The iron longsword I'm working from) but no textures will display in nifskope

Ideas? I thought I was scaling back on my attempts at making something, only to discover I have 10 more things to learn.

throttlekitty

1) For a normal map, we usually create a high poly model first, one that has much surface detail, smooth transitions, etc. Then model a low-poly that matches the general shape, 'baking' detail from high>low to create a normal map. <or> use something like nVidia's normal map plugin to create a surface detail normal map from a greyscale image. There are many tutorials on this, try the Polycount Wiki for starters.

2) The version NifSkope is referring to is file version. There's a significant change in data structure between those two as far as models are concerned (and keeps lawyers away). Sounds like you're trying to copy your export into a working vanilla asset? If so, check your version settings in the Max export.

3) You may need to configure NifSkope to pull textures from the proper locations.

zebus_0

I'm going purely off the tutorial which, granted, seems like it assumes you basically already know what you're doing for the things I'm having trouble with. It seems like the guy just makes the connection and it snaps together. Maybe it's because I've copied the meshes and textures into separate folders onto my desktop instead of using them from the Skyrim Data directory?
I really haven't made any other than a test (that I failed at) just to literally see what normals are/why they exist but it seems like in this case it's a normal from that mesh that isn't any more complicated than it already is. I assumed it was needed just to serve the purpose of being a specular map rather than being used with the object to make it more complex. He start talking about this around 8:37 in the vid.

I might be problems with the Max export because for some reason it refuses to export .nifs. I worked around it by saving as a .obj and then using nifskope to convert the .obj file to a .nif...which apparently changed the file version?

throttlekitty

In that case, NifSkoppe Render>Settings (General Tab) Startup Version for importing objs into a file you can copy/paste with. I can't help you with the max exporter, you'd have better luck at the NifTools forums.

Once you do get the workflow down, You will need the textures residing in the Skyrim\Data\ folder, the game won't read textures from any other location.

Modding tutorials can be spotty, there's usually lots of info to cover, and the author generally does need to make some assumptions about their reader/viewers experience. I think the wiki entry on Normals and Normal Maps covers the topic fairly well. Specular maps control how 'shiny' an object appears.

zebus_0

Thanks man, I'll give this stuff a look.

zebus_0

Don't want to start a new thread on this, anybody know if there's an exporter or plugin for max 2013? I really don't want to remove it and then go backwards to an older version but it seems like all the .nif stuff for it is outdated. I could only find one thread on it and it was also outdated and inconclusive.