Some Bodyslide questions

[Aki K]

I'm trying to edit an outfit to be a little sexier. It is a bodysuit outfit. But i'm encountering problems.

 

Option 1: I want to make the outfit semi-transparent. However, if i edit the textures directly parts of the outfit become transparent, parts become totally invisible, and the transparency is generally uneven. Or sometimes it makes the mod fail to load the texture entirely even though its the exact same named file.

 

Option 2: I tried to delete verticles just for the crotch (basically making a hole in the outfit). I've done this with other outfits, and in outfit studio it looks okay. But in the game the outfit is hollow and there is no body inside the outfit, so with the hole one doesn't see the crotch just an empty shell.

 

 

How do I make it so there is an actual body inside the outfit and how do i make an outfit properly transparent?

[Qviddhartha]

For transparency, inside the nif file, in the NiTriShape blocks where transparency is to be active, you need to make a couple changes.

You need to add or change the NiAlphaProperty in the NiTriShape block: flag 4845 (enable blending, src alpha, inv src alpha, enable testing, greater, 0).
And change the shader flags 2 in the BSLightingShaderProperty of the NiAlphaProperty to enable assume_shadowmask.

It's been a while since I've done it, so I may have forgotten some detail... Just ask and I'll take another look at my working examples.

[Aki K]

2 hours ago, pfB6cs said:

For transparency, inside the nif file, in the NiTriShape blocks where transparency is to be active, you need to make a couple changes.

You need to add or change the NiAlphaProperty in the NiTriShape block: flag 4845 (enable blending, src alpha, inv src alpha, enable testing, greater, 0).
And change the shader flags 2 in the BSLightingShaderProperty of the NiAlphaProperty to enable assume_shadowmask.

It's been a while since I've done it, so I may have forgotten some detail... Just ask and I'll take another look at my working examples.

Ok. So definitely more complex and probably something that requires some research and practice.

 

What about the hollow body issue? Know any fix for that? I want there to be an actual body under the bodysuit, even though the suit theoretically covers the whole body.

[Qviddhartha]

I've only done this sort of thing by following a YT tutorial on fitting clothes on an HDT body.

Best I can do is suggest a google search.

 

The issue you are likely encountering is that your clothes were fitted on a partial body (neck, hands, feet only).  So it's about switching the base body, and copying HDT bone weights.

Edited June 21, 2024 by pfB6cs

[Aki K]

Tried google. Most of the answers are unrelated or not quite what I'm asking.

[Kastagir]

1.  Body under cuirass/bodysuit.  Any item/armor/clothing that occupies the torso (slot 32) needs to include a body mesh if any part of the body is visible.  Since your bodysuit likely covered the crotch, the crotch portion of the body mesh was removed to avoid clipping.  You must include a body mesh in the .nif for it to be displayed, or you must change the slot used by the bodysuit so it doesn't replace the torso.  Only one .nif set to use slot 32 can be equipped at one time.  If you equip a cuirass/breastplate/bodysuit that uses slot 32, it will unequip the character's torso .nif and equip the cuirass/breastplate/bodysuit .nif in its place.  Therefore, if you want a body to display with the bodysuit, the bodysuit's .nif must include that body.

 

2.  Transparency.  You must edit the transparency of the portions of the texture you want to be partially or fully transparent.  Using Photoshop (or similar) you can do this with a selection mask and change the opacity of the selection.  Textures that include full or partial transparency must be saved in DXT5 to preserve the alpha channel.  DXT1 has no alpha so it won't work for this purpose.  Your .nif must have a NiAlphaProperty attached to the NiTriShape that needs transparency.  I would suggest using 4844 instead of 4845.  Using 4845 will not preserve transparency when viewed through various game shaders such as underwater, fog, smoke, etc.  Set Threshold to 128. 

 

Note.  It's not "verticles."  "Vertices" is the plural of "vertex."  A vertex is a single point on a polygon.  Skyrim uses 3-sided polygons (tri), so each polygon is a triangle.  Other games use 4-sided polygons (quad) of various shapes.

 

If you need more help try posting the .nif and texture (or just the name and a link to the outfit mod) and a brief description of what you're trying to accomplish. 

Edited June 23, 2024 by Kastagir
typos

[Aki K]

10 hours ago, Kastagir said:

1.  Body under cuirass/bodysuit.  Any item/armor/clothing that occupies the torso (slot 32) needs to include a body mesh if any part of the body is visible.  Since your bodysuit likely covered the crotch, the crotch portion of the body mesh was removed to avoid clipping.  You must include a body mesh in the .nif for it to be displayed, or you must change the slot used by the bodysuit so it doesn't replace the torso.  Only one .nif set to use slot 32 can be equipped at one time.  If you equip a cuirass/breastplate/bodysuit that uses slot 32, it will unequip the character's torso .nif and equip the cuirass/breastplate/bodysuit .nif in its place.  Therefore, if you want a body to display with the bodysuit, the bodysuit's .nif must include that body.

 

It already has a body when opened in bodyslide, but it ceases to be visible outside of bodyslide. How do I make sure it includes the body mesh? (I can fix clipping myself. That much is somewhat easy for me.

 

[Kastagir]

11 minutes ago, Aki K said:

It already has a body when opened in bodyslide, but it ceases to be visible outside of bodyslide. How do I make sure it includes the body mesh? (I can fix clipping myself. That much is somewhat easy for me.

Does the body have a texture in Outfit Studio or is it blank/covered with something that says "no image?"  Perhaps you should upload a screenshot or the .nif itself.

[Aki K]

On 6/23/2024 at 12:13 PM, Kastagir said:

Does the body have a texture in Outfit Studio or is it blank/covered with something that says "no image?"  Perhaps you should upload a screenshot or the .nif itself.

So here's the thing. If I open outfit studio there is a body, but the body isn't highlighted in green text. But by adding a body and then saving over the .nif (and not just saving it as a project) I was able to get the outfit to finally work and have a body..

 

However! While the outfit looks perfectly normal in bodyslide with zero clipping, in game the clipping is horrendous. I tried making sure the bones were the same, they are. Not 100% sure how to fix this and make it look good, but I have some ideas. I can shrink most of the body inside the suit without adjusting suit proportions. Really I just wanted the body so I could expose some specific spots, so it won't be a big deal if the unexposed body is deformed AF.

 

EDIT: Nevermind. The body is missing again. WTF?!

Edited June 26, 2024 by Aki K

[Kastagir]

1 hour ago, Aki K said:

However! While the outfit looks perfectly normal in bodyslide with zero clipping, in game the clipping is horrendous. I tried making sure the bones were the same, they are.

 

What do you mean "making sure the bones were the same?"  Did you copy the bone weights from the reference body?  Did you export with reference?  If you don't, the body won't be exported to the .nif.  The proper way to do this is:

1.  Set the body as reference (assuming you've set up the weight slider)

2.  Copy bone weights to the outfit

3.  Fix any clipping at 0 weight, then edit the 100 weight slider and fix any clipping there.

4.  Remove any portions of the body mesh hidden by the outfit so they won't clip under various animations.

5.  Export the .nif with reference

 

I don't know what process you're using, so I can't offer more help without more info.  Post the .nif that isn't showing the body, or at least a screenshot of it from Nifskope.  Or provide more info on your workflow (what body reference are you using in Outfit Studio, are you copying bone weights, are you exporting with reference, etc).

[Aki K]

16 hours ago, Kastagir said:

 

What do you mean "making sure the bones were the same?"  Did you copy the bone weights from the reference body?  Did you export with reference?  If you don't, the body won't be exported to the .nif.  The proper way to do this is:

1.  Set the body as reference (assuming you've set up the weight slider)

2.  Copy bone weights to the outfit

3.  Fix any clipping at 0 weight, then edit the 100 weight slider and fix any clipping there.

4.  Remove any portions of the body mesh hidden by the outfit so they won't clip under various animations.

5.  Export the .nif with reference

 

I don't know what process you're using, so I can't offer more help without more info.  Post the .nif that isn't showing the body, or at least a screenshot of it from Nifskope.  Or provide more info on your workflow (what body reference are you using in Outfit Studio, are you copying bone weights, are you exporting with reference, etc).

Copied bone weights from the reference body, yes. And yes I exported with reference body. I basically did all of the above and it still didn't work. Not sure. Maybe the outfit I'm trying to modify is unusual in some way?

[Kastagir]

Since you won't upload the .nif or a screenshot it's difficult to provide more help.  Are you perhaps playing a custom race?  If so, that race must be enabled on the outfit's Armor AddOn record for it to display in-game.  If that's not the issue then to receive more help you're going to have to provide the .nif for anyone to know what's wrong with it.