Anyone can give some tips for a newb that wants to try and edit/create skyrim armor?

[Nalessa]

Well I'm following this right now:
http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Creating_an_armour_for_Skyrim._Part_1
 
Got blender up and running with python and Nifskope installed as well, but I'm really confused at some parts.
 
It says for example to delete the BSLightingShaderProperty, but there might be more then one in the mesh.

I only found one for the body, one for the feet and one for the hands (I'm using UNPB) is that all for them?

 

Now next it also says I have to delete the skeleton (called a Scene root), but I have no idea how to select anything on the femalebody_0 that I loaded into blender.

 

I can move it around, tilt the camera around it, and if I keep the mouse down a menu appears with whole bunch of options, but I can't find a Scene root anywhere.

 

I know in the skyrim character folder there is a folder called "character assets female" and it has a .nif file in it called skeleton_female.

 

I suspect (but I'm stupid, so I'm probably wrong about it) this is the skeleton and it's loaded seperately from the body so the femalebody_0 I have loaded into blender is already without a skeleton, and the part about deleting Scene root only applies if you use standar vanilla skyrim body so I can just ignore this part?

 

Would like to make sure before I continue, don't want it to be all messed up!

 

(Sorry if this is not the right place to ask this, I just have no idea where I should ask this, Loverslab seems to have a bunch of awesome and nice modders in it, I'm just hoping someone can give a hand to someone that wants to try and learn how to make or mod clothes, maybe I can help out people if I ever get good enough at this!)

[kingkong]

what blender do you use  ?         i am familiar with blender 2.49 !

 

here you have every thing you need to know : http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Creating_an_armour_for_Skyrim._Part_1

[Nalessa]

Yeah, I'm using that blender I think, it's the one linked in that wiki, but I just need some help with the 2 things I said about the skeleton part and if I deleted all the shader thingies.

[kingkong]

for the bsshader...    you just need to look in all nitrishap/sitristrips if you removed it  and convert all bddimemberskin to niskininstance

  and do the heather thing ...          if not it is not loading in blender    !

 

if you loaded the object than you did well !!!

 

for the skeleton !      after loading in blender       you select object by clicking on it  with the right click   in your case you select one of the small lines appears in black and all the skeleton is highlight  than you press  'x'  a small window pops  and select 'erase objects'

[Zquad1]

I made a Blender Armor Conversions Tutorial a while back, your welcome to use it & if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

[Nalessa]

Thanks, got rid of the skeleton indeed but now I can't find 2 shading buttons "Smooth" and "Flat" in this guide here: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Normals_and_Shading

 

I have that uv sphere selected (can see the pinkish outlining of it) but I can't seem to find those option, tried pressing tab to change modes, and I can find a shader option down left, but I can't seem to find a smooth and flat button.

 

Also this part: "Return to the 3D view with  F11 . Ensure the UV sphere object is selected, and you are in Edit mode. Bring up the Properties shelf at the right side of the 3D view with  N  if it’s not already visible. Look for the Mesh Display panel, and find the settings for Normals"   If you check both icon boxes, the display of the UV sphere should change to look something like at righ

 

No idea how to get this to work, starting to think this wiki guide is for newer versions of blender and not the 2.59 one so some things are changed probably

 

(it does say applicable to blender 2.63 at top of the page, does this mean any version before it just doesn't have this option and I should just skip it?)

 

Heuh, your guide seems nice zquad, but I already got stuck at first line ... I don't see any weight_0 or 1 files in the meshes folder, it's all just femalebody_0 or dragonscalearmorf_1, or are these located somewhere else?

[Guest]

Every mesh with a working weightslider should normally have a _0 and a _1 mesh (0 is 0% and 1 is 100% weight on the slider). If you want the armor to scale to anything between 0 and 100 you'll have to create 2 meshes (with the exact same amount of polygons & vertices or it will explode in-game). I only do 100% weight stuff because I'm lazy but my guess is that you start with the _0 body, create your armor for that and then modify it for the _1 body (making an armor smaller/thinner is a lot harder imo).

[Zquad1]

Yes the Weight_0, Weight_1 Means Femalebody_0 & Femalebody_1. I named them Weight_0 & Weight_1 on purpose to not confuse people when converting Body &  or Armor weights BUT I guess I could of just put _0 & _1 instead.

 

Absurdity is right You MUST start with the _0 of the body or Armor your altering first IF you want a working weight slider.

 

For your case Load up your  dragonscalearmorf_0.nif & delete the BSlightingShaderProperty under all NiTriShape tree tabs & any NiAlphaProperties as well. Then Under Block Details Highlight NiHeader, & Open it's tree tab & Find "User Version" Highlight "User Version" & Under "Value" you will see a number it will be the number 12 change the number 12 to the number 11.

 

Now Find "User Version 2" &  Under "Value" you will see a number it will be the number 83 change the number 83 to the number 34.

 

Now save the .Nif in a location where you can find it Preferably is what I do is I create a Folder on my desk top & give the folder the armor mods name (like for yours I would name it "Dragon Scale Armor") & then I go into that folder & create 3 more new folders & I name them "New. Nifs"  "Originals" & Blender Files

 

New.Nifs:        Contain the .Nifs I have completed in Blender.

Original:           Contain the Meshes & Textures from the original Mod.

Blender Files:  Contain the UV Maps & All My Blender saves when Creating or alter bodies & Armors of that particular mod.

 

I call this My "Work Flow"

 

 

Notice: in the picture there is a Lone .Nif that is the .Nif that I use to get into Blender after I have Deleted the BSLightingShaderProperties.

 

 

Now I also Make a permanent Folder that contains the Body Mod or Mods I use the most onto my desk top because I will be using them every time I make or alter armors. the Pic has every piece (.nif) of my Body Mod with the BSLightingShaderProperties deleted so I can quickly load them up into Blender instead of deleting the BSLightingShaderProperties every single time I want to alter a piece of armor.

 

 

[Nalessa]

Ohh, yeah I know how to do that, was just wondering if weight_0 or something ment a different file hidden somewhere!

 

Already made a special blender file aswell with the 3 bodyparts in nif and blend format with the values changed and skeleton removed, just trying to learn all the million buttons of blender now -_-'

[Zquad1]

That's great & Welcome to the modding world!!!!   you will have soo much fun doing it,  like me I spend more time modding then actually playing the game. It's a trip!!!    

[Nalessa]

Hmnn I get stuck at step 53, when I try to export it says:

 

Export error: image type texture has no file loaded (Tex.001)

 

Ok now I'm completely lost, I thought I start over again, but when I load the body, all that shows up is the little black lines that you need to delete at the start, but the body itself isn't showing, same for the armor.

 

Used nifskope, loaded up original femalebody_0, did all the changing of user and deleting the bslighting thing, saved it, loaded it in blender and get the same thing

[Zquad1]

Try going back to step I think.... 20 & make sure you added textures for the UV map  it's possible you missed adding a texture to a piece of armor & it won't export unless the UV maps have a texture.--->

 

 

ok those Black lines are the Bones when importing the body again Make sure you re-select "Import Skeleton Only + Parent Selected" like so--->

 

 

[Nalessa]

Knew it had to be some weird option somewhere, since the cube when starting up was still appearing I suspected it's some option that hid the actual body, thanks!

 

Hopefully I get it right this time, I'm trying to make the dark string fit properly on a unp minimum weight body.

 

Belisario did a great job converting all the other stuff in the bondage straps collection he did and they all work fine with all weights except the dark string for some reason always makes my character full weight, so the rest of w/e I'm wearing clips.

 

Btw on step 12 with blender, if I press tab and go object mode, the uv button goes away from the bar, it only shows up when I am In edit mode, is it still ok to be in edit mode then and save uv face layout that way?

[Zquad1]

you won't really have a choice because it won't let you save the UV Map unless you press Tab.

[Nalessa]

Managed to succesfully do your little thing ^^

 

Although without form fitting though, that's the hardest part, figuring out bit by bit how to do things in blender is a pita, but I'm getting there slowly!

I was wondering though if there is a way to tilt objects btw?

 

Like the dark string has these rings between the straps, and on some parts the upper part of the ring for example is clipping into the body, and the lower part is floating above the body, is there a way to tilt that thing so I can tilt the upper part out of the body and the lower part more towards it so it is lying ontop of the body in one piece without clipping.

I know you can move the entire part on several axis, but then the upper part would be fine, but the lower part would be floating even further above the body, which is even worse!

 

Also, if I simply want to remove something on an existing armor (no conversion needed, it's an armor that works fine with unp) like a skull or a zipper or a strap that I don't like, do I have to do all of the stuff in your guide aswell, or can I simply load up the armor, remove whatever it is I don't like and then save it as a nif and it will work fine?

Like for example steel horned helmet, if I wanted to make one of the horns look like it's cut in two, can I simply load it up without needing to remove skeleton and such, delete some vertices on one the horns then save it again?

[Zquad1]

Ok when your wanting to move an object  like your wanting just Go into Edit Mode (the object's verticies should be Yellow)  tap the "R" Key once or tap "RR" twice those will let you rotate the object in different directions  or you can tap the "S" Key to Scale the object bigger or smaller.  If you are un-happy with the way you rotated or Scaled the object, tap Ctrl+Z keys to get it back to where you originally had it.

 

you can remove any thing you want. like if you want to remove a Piece of a piece of armor just  make sure your in Edit Mode (Verticies should be Blue) tap the "B" key & drag the cursor over the verticies you want to delete & once they are selected tap the "X" key & select  "Veticies"  like so--->

 

 

 

if you want  to delete the whole piece select it in  "Object Mode"  & tap the "X" Key  a prompt will come up asking you if you wan to "Erase selected object(s)" just click on the prompt to delete the piece. like So--->

 

 

 

always remember----> "CTRL+ Z" is your best friend when you mess up.

 

but if your wanting to delete something without going into Blender, go into nifskope & select the piece you want to delete & either Press "CTRL_ Delete" or right click & go to "Block" & then "Remove Branch" then save your .nif

 

But be careful  sometimes if you delete something it can cause a conflict rendering the .nif useless but granted it's a rarity.

[Nalessa]

Thanks, just what I needed, finishing up on form fitting right now, hopefully it'll look somewhat decent ^^

[Zquad1]

your Welcome!!

[Nalessa]

Got some problems when I go back to nifskop with the new NIF I made.

 

The blender part went fine, but when I go back to nifskope, well user version 2 has somehow changed itself from 34 to 11, don't know if this matter, but I can still change it to 83.

 

And I have no NiTrishape trees anywhere under NiNode in the Block list, I do have 3 NiTriStrips trees instead, but in these are none of the files I'm supposed to delete like BSShaderPPLightingProperty, NiMaterialProperty, & NiSpecularProperty ... 

 

No idea why the NiTrishape trees are gone all of a sudden, I only deleted the BSLighting Shaderproperties at the start, nothing more, anyone know what can cause this?

[Zquad1]

ok make sure you did a proper bone weight copy, when your doing the bone weight copy you have to first select the body then hold down the  "Shift" Key & then select the additional pieces of armor Make sure also your in Object mode when selecting the body & armor pieces, BUT you MUST select the body First. if you don't then you will get .Nifs that are incomplete & you will have to go re-do the bone weight copy.

[Nalessa]

Ok, gonna give that a try.

 

Made a save that only goes up to the form fitting part and just to be sure, I'll delete the body and re-import a new femalebody that I took through nifskope and has the Trishape tree and has the proper user values!

[Zquad1]

good idea!!!

[Nalessa]

Still same situation

 

I did it like you said, I click body, then shift click one part of the armor (there's only 2 parts, the straps is one part and the metal bits is the other part), do the bone weight copy, wait untill done.

 

Then deselect everything, click body, shift click the second part of the armor, do bone weight copy and wait untill done ...

 

For the re-importing of the skeleton only, I have to use the skeleton of the femalebody_0 (the minimum weight) right?

 

The original version I took the armor from was the unp max weight (the dark string uses the max weight body for both ds_0 and ds_1, that's why I wanted to add a proper minimum weight version for the ds_0 one so it won't cause my body to change when equipping it), I don't have to use the skeleton that the old max weight one uses, do I?

[Zquad1]

Still same situation

 

I did it like you said, I click body, then shift click one part of the armor (there's only 2 parts, the straps is one part and the metal bits is the other part), do the bone weight copy, wait untill done.

 

Then deselect everything, click body, shift click the second part of the armor, do bone weight copy and wait untill done ...

 

For the re-importing of the skeleton only, I have to use the skeleton of the femalebody_0 (the minimum weight) right?

 

The original version I took the armor from was the unp max weight (the dark string uses the max weight body for both ds_0 and ds_1, that's why I wanted to add a proper minimum weight version for the ds_0 one so it won't cause my body to change when equipping it), I don't have to use the skeleton that the old max weight one uses, do I?

 

here is a tip you don't have to do each piece of armor individually when doing the bone weight copy, just select the Body & Hold down the "Shift Key" & Click on every piece of armor untill every piece is selected & then do the bone weight copy therefor you can cut down a huge amount of time by doing this.

 

Yes use the _0  Skeleton from the FemaleBody _0.

 

you can basicly start from any weight meaning if you Only have  say "HotDress.Nif" you can import it & make a HotDress_0 & a HotDress_1 & that goes also for if you only have a HotDress _1 but no HotDress _0 You will just have to form fit it to the body.

 

No you do not have to use the Skeleton from the original mod infact I recommend NOT using the Skeleton from the original because thee Original mods Skeleton was mode for that body Not yours that's why your doing a conversion.

 

ok if your getting the same thing, did you Delete the Vertex Groups from the Body? when prepping for the Bone weight Copy?

 

 

[Nalessa]

Nope, only deleted the vertex from the armor, didn't touch the ones on the body