A plea for help

[amfanon]

I'm hoping this is the right place to put this.  Anyway...

 

I'm trying to figure out how to do two things.  First, I want to delete PART of a mesh in my armor (I use the Mandu armor for 7base bombshell from Kplant's conversion thread).  I've spent 5-6 hours trying to figure this out, but nothing I've found through my searches has worked.  The Mandu armor has multiple parts, but I want to remove the legs (starting at the upper thighs) and the main body is all ONE mesh.  Most guides only tell how to remove an entire part (which would esssentially remove most of the entire Mandu armor except the breatplate and detailing.  A few discuss how to make portions invisible by using either Outfit Studio's Zap slider or adding and modifying an alpha layer in Nifscope.  I tried both, but neither seemed to have any affect on the actual armor in game.  I'm at a loss.

 

There has got to be a way to do this (obviously), I just need a bit of help finding it

 

For reference, I have the following in support of my efforts:

 

1. Nifscope

2. Bodyslider (which I don't use as my model is 7base) and Outfit Studio

3. Gimp (an old version, but I can upgrade if necessary)

4. The CK (when it decides it likes me enough to open)

5. The ability to follow directions like a champ.

6. The art skills of a untallented 4-year-old even a mother wouldn't be proud of.

 

In case you're wondering, the primary motivation for this is to be able to use non-mandu boots (specifically with heels, love heels) with the mandu main armor.  Unfortunately, the mandu armor clips through virtually every 7base boot I've been able to find (I assume because the Mandu boots are ginormous, so you normally don't see it), and it would obviously be far easier to just modify the armor than to modify every pair of boots.

 

The second thing I would like to figure out how to do is how to convert non-HDT Highheel boots that already have heels into HDT versions.  I've already tried moving the z verticies down, then setting a custom HDT setting of the same amount, which get's the height right, but the visual results are a mangled boot.  I suspect the answer is that I'd actually have to redesign the shape of the boots, which obviously exceepts my talents as described above, so if true, I'm SOL.  Would be good to know though.

 

Many thanks in advance!

 

Edit:  Oh, and if anyone knows of a good way to find HDT compatible boots, that would be awesome.  Most mods that use HDT don't actually seem to mention it, so it's very hard to find them via normal searches.

 

Thanks again!

[shane4244]

I hope someone can give you another way to do this but more than likely your going to have to do it in 3dmax or blender since it's all one piece.

[blabba]

Bodyslide can get you pretty close to what you want...

 

You import the outfit using File -> Import Outfit

Create a zap slider and mask the parts you don't want.

Then export to .nif.

[amfanon]

Bodyslide can get you pretty close to what you want...

 

You import the outfit using File -> Import Outfit

Create a zap slider and mask the parts you don't want.

Then export to .nif.

 

Yeah, that's one of the steps I tried before.

 

More specifically I:

 

1. Unzipped the mod file.

2. In Outfit Studio, I loaded the .nif of the weight 1 outfit (my character is max weight).

3. Selected the BS layer (the main bodysuit part which contains the legs I want to delete.  Confirmed this by clicking the eye symbol next to BS, which made the bodysuit disappear then re-appear).

4. Selected brush: Mask.  Collored everything below the top fo the thighs black.

5. Selected invert mask.

6. Selected New Zip Slider.  Moved slider to 100%.

7. Moved the old nif to a new folder for safe keeping, saved the new zip slidered nif into the old folder.

8. Re-zipped the mod back up, added from file into NMM, and installed it as normal.

 

When I went in game, the outfit was completely unchanged.  The part that should have been invisible was 100% visible.

 

Did I do it wrong?

 

 

I hope someone can give you another way to do this but more than likely your going to have to do it in 3dmax or blender since it's all one piece.

 

I hope so too, cause as I mentioned, my artistic ability is...lacking.  Though, hopefully not much would be required to simply delete part of an outfit, as opposed to making a new one.  I would probably be screwed on modding the boots though

[blabba]

 

Bodyslide can get you pretty close to what you want...

 

You import the outfit using File -> Import Outfit

Create a zap slider and mask the parts you don't want.

Then export to .nif.

 

Yeah, that's one of the steps I tried before.

 

More specifically I:

 

1. Unzipped the mod file.

2. In Outfit Studio, I loaded the .nif of the weight 1 outfit (my character is max weight).

3. Selected the BS layer (the main bodysuit part which contains the legs I want to delete.  Confirmed this by clicking the eye symbol next to BS, which made the bodysuit disappear then re-appear).

4. Selected brush: Mask.  Collored everything below the top fo the thighs black.

5. Selected invert mask.

6. Selected New Zip Slider.  Moved slider to 100%.

7. Moved the old nif to a new folder for safe keeping, saved the new zip slidered nif into the old folder.

8. Re-zipped the mod back up, added from file into NMM, and installed it as normal.

 

When I went in game, the outfit was completely unchanged.  The part that should have been invisible was 100% visible.

 

Did I do it wrong?

 

 

Sounds right, except for the invert mask thing in this case, mask = area to be removed.

 

So mask the part you want removed.

Oh yea, and you make the slider in OS, and do a 'save as' so it creates the zap slider/slidersets xml and stuff and then you use bodyslide (not Outfit Studio) to select the mesh and the zap slider and ctrl+click the create bodies button and the new nif file should show up in the local folder for you to move/edit with.

 

Honestly speaking this method is kinda roundabout and it's faster to do it if you just get max/blender setup but that's your call.

 

[amfanon]

 

 

Bodyslide can get you pretty close to what you want...

 

You import the outfit using File -> Import Outfit

Create a zap slider and mask the parts you don't want.

Then export to .nif.

 

Yeah, that's one of the steps I tried before.

 

More specifically I:

 

1. Unzipped the mod file.

2. In Outfit Studio, I loaded the .nif of the weight 1 outfit (my character is max weight).

3. Selected the BS layer (the main bodysuit part which contains the legs I want to delete.  Confirmed this by clicking the eye symbol next to BS, which made the bodysuit disappear then re-appear).

4. Selected brush: Mask.  Collored everything below the top fo the thighs black.

5. Selected invert mask.

6. Selected New Zip Slider.  Moved slider to 100%.

7. Moved the old nif to a new folder for safe keeping, saved the new zip slidered nif into the old folder.

8. Re-zipped the mod back up, added from file into NMM, and installed it as normal.

 

When I went in game, the outfit was completely unchanged.  The part that should have been invisible was 100% visible.

 

Did I do it wrong?

 

 

Sounds right, except for the invert mask thing in this case, mask = area to be removed.

 

So mask the part you want removed.

Oh yea, and you make the slider in OS, and do a 'save as' so it creates the zap slider/slidersets xml and stuff and then you use bodyslide (not Outfit Studio) to select the mesh and the zap slider and ctrl+click the create bodies button and the new nif file should show up in the local folder for you to move/edit with.

 

Honestly speaking this method is kinda roundabout and it's faster to do it if you just get max/blender setup but that's your call.

 

 

 

Even so, all that means (having used invert mask) is that everything BUT the legs should have disappered, right?  That didn't happen either.  Does it matter that I only modified the weight 1 nif, since my character is max weight?  It's also possible I just messed up, since it was my first attempt at using OS.  I may try agains tomorrow if I have time.  Speakign of which, is there a way to make the brush solid?  The diffusion towards the edge of the brush left a soft edge in the mask, and I want a hard cutoff if possible

 

I've never used 3d Max or blender.  Is it something I can learn in a few days (at least enough to just delete parts)?  Which would you recommend for a beginner (or do I need both)?

 

Continuing thanks for all the replies

[blabba]

Depends on the person, but for me 3DSMax seemed more noob friendly.

 

Deleting parts of a mesh is uper basic and you can probably get the hang of it after watching a quick intro tutorial. Like 1 hour tops I think.

[amfanon]

So it looks like 3Ds Max 2014 can't even import a .nif file.  Various threads suggest going back to an older version with an import plugin, either 2011, 12, or 13.  Is there any difference worth considering?

[amfanon]

I decided to use 2012, but holy crap this is complicated.  That aside, I managed to import the nif i want to edit, and isolate the part of the armor I want to edit from everything else, including the body underneath.   Polygon/mesh selection is annoying as hell, especially since it refuses to let me select certain vertices for no apparent reason that I can see.  I managed to get around that by having multiple select and delete modifiers, but that still leaves me with another problem: I can't figure out a select modifier that can make a straight line.  Everything I do selects by individual polygons, which ends up leaving a jagged edge.  Any ideas?

[Deedlit]

What you are looking its right here:

but try learn the tutorial first.

Nightasy Tutorials at Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL584C2169F65490DF

[amfanon]

What you are looking its right here:

but try learn the tutorial first.

Nightasy Tutorials at Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL584C2169F65490DF

 

That was definitely the help I needed with vertices.  Thanks!

 

Now the only problem I have is that I appear to have turned the armor black and my character's skin blue by using hte new mesh.  I assume I somehow messed up the textures by changing the mesh??  Any idea?

 

Note: It looks right in 3ds max, including the textures, and my settings match those in the import/export tutorial.

 

Edit:  Skin color seems to change based on light.  Sometimes it's blue, sometimes pitch black, sometimes almost skin tone (but lacking surface textures).  Armor color remains solid pitch black no matter what.

 

Edit2:  Screenshots

 

[amfanon]

A guy on the nexus modding forum suggest it could be a problem with the textures in the mod.  I haven't changed the textures in any way (didn't touch them).  I edited the main mesh layer to delete the legs, and replaced the underlying body layer with a Sevenbase Bombshell body.  Would either of those make the mod no longer play well with the existing textures?

[nekekami]

there is also the really easy\dirty way to do it in bodyslide...just grab all the parts you don't want visible with the grab tool and smash them into a tiny little ball and bury it inside the body where it wont be seen no matter how much the body contorts.