First steps with 3dsMax and Creation Kit: Invisible meshes

[nosdregamon]

I couldn't get Niftools for Blender to work, so I gave 3dsmax a try. Starting small, I wanted to add some easy clutter like combs and brushes. I can import these into Creationkit, but while the item has the right dimensions, it appears invisible in Creation kit.

I thought it had something to do with the format of my textures(png instead of DDS), so I swapped them for existing/working ones. I used firewood, which looks strange, of course, but should show up. However, the result stays the same.

 

Anybody got a hint what I do wrong?

brush.nif

[MadMansGun]

(using NifSkope)

"BS Num UV Sets" under NiTriStripsData should be 4097

[nosdregamon]

Thanks. I installed another version of nifplugin for 3dsmax and played a bit with the settings and now, it kinda seems to work. I'm experimenting on this...

[Kastagir]

Skyrim doesn't use strips.  Although they work most of the time, this is legacy functionality from older TES games using the Gamebryo engine.  It persists because people use their knowledge modding older iterations of this engine and assume nothing has changed, or they port things from older iterations without understanding how the current iteration of the engine works. 

 

In Nifskope, right-click on NiTriStrips and choose "Mesh -> Triangulate".  This will change it to NiTriShape, which is the correct format for Skyrim.  Also, anything using strips will not work with Skyrim Special Edition.  Whatever tolerance for this old format that was left in the original release of Skyrim is gone in SE. 

 

Also, there are a couple of things you need to know about the Niftools 3ds max plugin.  It does not take care of all the formatting of the mesh on export and you have to do this manually in Nifskope afterward:

 

1.  Change BSNumUVSets to 4097 for anything that will display a normal map and isn't a skin texture.

2.  Polygon normals (I'm not referring to normal maps) are not set correctly on 3ds max export and they need to be set in Nifskope.  Right click on the shape in Nifskope and select "Mesh -> Face Normals."  This will correctly orient polygon normals to be perpendicular to the polygon faces.  Face normals is not a toggle.

3.  Anytime you change how a mesh is rendered (by changing 1. or 2. above), you need to update tangent space.  The 3ds max .nif export does not do this and usually leaves the tangents and bitangents arrays empty.  Right click on the shape in Nifskope and select "Mesh -> Update Tangent Space."  Alternatively, you can do this from the Spells menu in Nifskope to update tangent space on all shapes in the .nif.

[rahrahrah]

statics need to export as "bsfadenode" (check the bottom drop-down box on your export settings) I think - could be worng, haven't done many.

[nosdregamon]

 

 

Thanks for the hints, I'll give it a try.

 

[Farmthat]

You don't necessarily have to export as a BsFadeNode; in nifscope you can always right click on NiNode and convert block to BsFadeNode... but why not save a step.

 

Your export settings look a little over-checked. Here's my default for exports that never fails.

 

edit: use a working file from another mod to compare fields with, or even copy/past branches from.

[nosdregamon]

It seems I'm missing pretty much everything (and "Export Nif" doesn't produce BSFadeNode, but gives me NiNode). Adding BHKRigidBody modifiert doesn't add collision object, but results in an empty nif...

 

...I guess I'm missing much more than just a few settings. I'll try some tutorials and be back. Thanks for you hints and help.

[nosdregamon]

Found this tutorial which cleared up a few things about the nif-helper objects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My mesh now wont crash CK and appears in Skyrim. Still looks pretty shite, gotta work on that

 

Thanks for your support. Would have thrown the towel (again) without you.