oblivion skeleton.nif nifskope and texture files

[darool]

feeling rather like an idiot.  in the past i've used nifskope to examine my texture files on the skeleton.nif and now i can't seem to find any mesh files that have the texture property.  thought i was using the universal skeleton or Corr  ... skeleton ... extracted the original from the bsa, still didn't see a node for textures.  i've used it in the past w/o any altering to the nif file, so i'm not sure what's going on.

any who, either i'm missing something simple or perhaps i need to add a trishape, which i've never done.  any help is appreciated.

i have the appropriate plug-in already installed and can see nif w/ the attached textures for other files, it just seems i can't find any for the skelton.nif.  perhaps i was just using the upper-body, which i did find had the appropriate node for texture.  i don't think copying and pasting from that file would work or maybe it would.  as i said, i've never had to mess w/ this before and keep getting errors w/ copy and paste and feel lost looking at the ones w/ texture nodes as they have umpteenth associations within the branch to each ... bip??  ... node.

[coolfreaky]

do not want to be harsh but you are confusing everything the skeleton is for bones is for animations.

 

all meshes else than skeleton has textures path in them but no textures .

 

as files.nif needs nifskope  all textures files.dds need gimp+dds plugin or photoshop+dds plugin (or other software+dds).

 

when you extract the textures from archives you can find all original textures.dds  and textures_n.dds (alpha).

 

https://wiki.nexusmods.com/index.php/How_to_create_texture_replacers

 

 

[fejeena]

Yes skeletons never have textures.

 

The body parts  ( Upper, lower, hand foot, head )  need the skeleton to be animated and they have the textures  ( NiSourceTexture  )

And to make a nif move with the skeleton  the body-parts have  NiSkinInstance  and the bones ( NiNode ) the nif use

[darool]

firstly, ty for the response.  like some dumb-founded epiphany, i found a solution to my question.

 

nif files don't have textures inserted by default, nor nif files w/o the plug-in, but can have a node inserted (Trishape)  that allows one to view or see animations in play w/ the texture file.  I've figured it out, which equated to a simple copy/paste from the lower/upper body, head, ... etc.

the other files, lower/upper body, head ... , i found already mapped properly in the oblivion/data/mesh/character path.  i used the 'Ren" version for the head, as the default head wasn't extracted.  although, if i had to guess, extracting the head nif would've had it properly mapped.

so what does this beget, now i can have the texture files open in Gimp, refresh the view in Nifskope and see the changes w/o having to go into the game every time.  from the original post, if i had to guess, i was just using a partial file, upper-body nif more than likely, adding tattoos and piercings to my custom race character.

i suppose if i had to ask a follow-up question, as i've resolved my own question here.  Is there a way to edit texture files (dds) in a 3d perspective?  i'm finding certain things such as alignment on the spine, arms are also difficult and neck to lower body, unable to edit the texture file in this 3d perspective.  3dsmax/ photoshop ... i've worked w/ photoshop in the past, yet i don't recall of any method being able to edit the texture file, usually footfemale.dds for the most part, in 3d.  i think the closest i've gotten is editing the worn apparel and adding my changes there.  that method gets rather annoying if i want to change apparel.

to sum up, can i use 3ds max or Photoshop to edit texture files (dds) in 3d?  (or other applications)

[fejeena]

Textures in 3D ??

I do not understand what you are talking about.

 

DDS files : PhotoShop, Gimp, Paint.net     All can handle dds files ( some need a plugin for dds and/or normal maps (  _n.dds )  )

The normal map does the Oblivion 3D effect.  A flat wall nif looks in game like it has deep joints between the stones.  A body   _n.dds can simulate muscles, sixpack, wrinkles or raised areolas.  And when you have scratches on the  dds  you can make them look deep with the _n.dds ( not like painted on the skin )

 

With Blender or 3Dmax you change the nif  but not the texture.

 

You can open the nif with NifSkope and the textures with PhotoShop, Gimp, Paint.net   and when you save your texture you can see the results  immediately in NifSkope.

 

You can change the placement of the texture ( the UV map)  ,  In NifSkope you can move and scale it.  Or  you change it with Blender or 3Dmax .

You can export the UV map with NifSkope so you can use it as layer  with PhotoShop, Gimp, Paint.net   when you work on the texture, this way you see  exactly what parts of the texture are used or where the UV map ends.

[darool]

once again, i found a solution that allowed me to edit textures in a 3-dimentsional view.

first, i copied the universal skeleton nif file to my custom race file, only for texture editing purposes.  copied the appropriate blocks that contained the texture paths from the nif files from the third person ( _male); femalefoot.nif, femalehand.nif, femaleupperbody.nif and femalelowerbody.nif and pasted those branches into the skeleton.nif file.  changed the texture paths in nifskope, then exported as a .obj file ... photoshop doesn't like nif files.

i could now open the entire textured body into photoshop and copy/ paste tattoos crossing from multiple seams, seamlessly ... lol.  photoshop automatically kept the mappings to the texture files and allowed opening them directly from the layer into a individual 2d texture format that could then be saved as the appropriate dds file (ya need the Nvidia plug-in for this)

had to do a little bit of touch up in the dds files, but over-all it worked great.

i attached the universal skeleton.nif file.  the texture paths in the NiTriShape and NiTriStrips should be changed to where-ever another is using or putting their textures.  For testing, one could just use the imperial textures for a blank canvas to start off with.  For 3d editing, a recent version of Photoshop that supports 3d is necessary.

guess i could add the texture files too, if someone doesn't have photoshop but likes the tattoos.  footfemale.dds and headhuman.dds are the only two that were altered.  the wings are from the mod Abyss Demon.  i didn't include the normal maps, but they are easily created using nifskope w/ the normal map plug-in, just open the dds, filter-normal map and save as ""_n.dds.

skeleton.nif headhuman.dds footfemale.dds

[fejeena]

What is  nifskope normal map plug-in ?   Sure it is NifSkope ? not Photo Shop ?  No results when I  google "nifskope  normal map plugin"

If it is NifScope , please a Link for the plugin.

 

----------------------

 

And NifSkope always shows the texture if the texture is in the game folder. (And you have the right textures path in the nif )

If the texture is not in the game folder:  e.g. You unpacked a Mod in a folder and you have  a esp and  a meshes and textures folder.  And you want to watch  one of the nif files in the Mod meshes folder. You copy the nif in the folder with the esp and the textures folder. Now you can open the nif and you see the texture.

 

! of coures only if the texture is not in a bsa file !

[darool]

you're correct ... i mis-spoke.  not trying to create a normal map for a mesh, DUH!  it's a texture and requires GIMP.  i tried Photoshop several times in different formats, it just kept crashing.  GIMP worked perfectly, with the plugin:  GIMP normal map plug-in

 

[fejeena]

Good, no Photo shop , I do not have Photo shop.  Gimp is OK but have not used it some years. Maybe I should try it again.

I use Paint.net  . I have two normal map plugins.

[darool]

lmao, i just noticed the face mask in your pic fejeena.  i guess it's become so common-place it no longer looks odd.