Created a new spider, need help with the skeleton. Any advice is appreciated!

[Jatts]

Hello!  This is my first time getting into Skyrim modding and I wanted to try bringing different types/species of spiders into Skyrim, sadly there are almost no mods that do this (just mods that remove spiders, or some re-textures) so I guess I'll have to do it!  lol

 

So I started off with taking a frostbite spider and reshaping him to look more like a wolf spider.  I have attached a picture of him, if you would like to see.  I am really happy with how it came out so I hope I can get the skeleton working.

 

The problem is, now I need to fit a skeleton with him but he is different than the frostbite spider and not the same shape.  Do I have to edit the skeleton or can I leave it as is?  If so, how?  I also looked up ways to create a new skeleton instead, but I came up with nothing on Google.....

 

I've worked with trying to rig models a few times in the past, with Gmod and source.  Although it has always been a pain in the ass.... so I really do appreciate any help at all.  I really want to bring this spider to life!  BTW, I am using 3ds Max 2012.

[Kestrix]

He is beautiful, in a creepy spider way.

[Jatts]

Thank you very much for the compliment!  : )

 

Still, I would appreciate it if there was someone out there who can help.  I pretty much have everything else under control when it comes to completing this, added to the Creation Kit and I also unwrapped the UV for texturing.  However as I expected, the skeleton is indeed messing up the animations a bit.  All I want is a push into the right direction.  Mostly I want to weight the bones to the mesh, I've done so in the past but that was 3ds max 8 with source models.  But I can't seem to figure it out here specifically.... I would really really like any hints at all.  Google has come up with nothing for me, related to Skyrim and 3ds max.  All I get is guides about clothing.  :/  Plus once I know how, I still have to worry about the skeleton not matching up anyways.

 

Also I was completely ignored on the Nexus, so this is my last chance here.  Or I'll have to scrap any mod ideas I had for Skyrim....

[Kestrix]

A stupid question, but did you delete the old skeleton after editing it and copied over a new one from an unaltered frostbite? Otherwise this is what I found:

 

http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/702503-creatures-with-custom-skeletons-and-animations-to-skyrim/

http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/624251-progress-in-behavior-filesalmost-done/

http://niftools.sourceforge.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=3293&start=0

 

The only other thing I can suggest is taking a look at the spider-ish creatures in Moonpath or Skyrim Immersive Creatures/Monster Mod and see if they have a skeleton that's similar. Or ask one of those mod authors if they have any tips on how to do it.

 

Edit: It looks like you could find an answer/help on the nif tools forum as it seems people there have done custom meshes.

 

http://niftools.sourceforge.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=38&sid=b1250c4c2aaeddfbf23ef25b466d57bb

[Jatts]

A stupid question, but did you delete the old skeleton after editing it and copied over a new one from an unaltered frostbite?

 

Thanks for the reply!  Well what I did was I followed this tutorial on how to create a new creature by altering existing Skyrim models.  It seemed like a simple thing to start off with, before moving on to modeling itself.

 

 

In this tutorial he left the skeleton alone and did not alter it at all, so I did the same.  So yeah, I am still using an unaltered frostbite spider skeleton.  Although for my situation, it wasn't a simple body swap and the overall shape is shorter and longer than the frostbite spider.  I will attach another pic to give you an idea of how he looks compared to the original skeleton.

 

 

The only other thing I can suggest is taking a look at the spider-ish creatures in Moonpath or Skyrim Immersive Creatures/Monster Mod and see if they have a skeleton that's similar. Or ask one of those mod authors if they have any tips on how to do it.

 

I actually thought of doing such a thing, but normally I like to try keeping to myself when I try to create something.  But if all else fails, I will look into this and ask for help.

 

Anyways, I will look into those links you have provided and I'll give an update if I manage to figure anything out.  BTW I finally found out how to paint weights with 3ds Max 2012, so that is a step in the right direction!  Thanks again for responding, anything helps.  : )

 

Edit:  Also I thought I'd add, I am completely willing to make a new skeleton/animations for this if I really need to.  I've messed with keyframes and animations in the past (plus found a nice Skyrim tutorial for such a thing).  Although if not, that's good too!

[blabba]

 

I actually thought of doing such a thing, but normally I like to try keeping to myself when I try to create something.  But if all else fails, I will look into this and ask for help.

 

Anyways, I will look into those links you have provided and I'll give an update if I manage to figure anything out.  BTW I finally found out how to paint weights with 3ds Max 2012, so that is a step in the right direction!  Thanks again for responding, anything helps.  : )

 

Edit:  Also I thought I'd add, I am completely willing to make a new skeleton/animations for this if I really need to.  I've messed with keyframes and animations in the past (plus found a nice Skyrim tutorial for such a thing).  Although if not, that's good too!

 

 

I'm not a skeleton or animation genius....

But if you play around with the scales and positions, you could possibly use the same frostbite skeleton and animations maybe... hopefully.

 

I'd say take up the frost bite skeleton, and just move the bones to match your new mesh's position. Then load up a test animation and see if it works out that way. If not, then we can probably assume it'll be easier creating a new skeleton and animations for it.