Don't understand NiSkinData

[cyberhart3883]

Hi. I'm still really new to modding - especially making my own. I've been trying to get a backpack I made work & have narrowed the issue down to something in the NiSkinData of the nif. Problem is I don't know what. I'd describe what's going on, but I have no clue how to even go about that. So, instead, I'll just upload my nif to here: backpack_1.nif

 

This thing has me utterly baffled & confused... I managed to get the display model for the menu to work (tested in game), but I can't seem to get the on character model to work. Please help!

 

Software I used to create the mesh is Cinema 4D Broadcast R15. I don't do good with any other modeling software as I'm not good with math. If I have to use something else please give *simple* instructions. Very, very simple instructions~ :3

 

NOTE: I got the nif from a different backpack mod. Specifically this: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/30986/?

[judge0]

http://niftools.sourceforge.net/wiki/NifSkope

 

Has tutorials on nifskope usage as well as explanations of the different NiNodes etc.

 

hope that helps.

[cyberhart3883]

The problem with the NifTools site is it's sevrely out of date. Also, when I went to install the plugin for 3ds Max, it only went up to 3ds Max 2009 & didn't even have Skyrim in its "create custom directories" list. Will it still work despite not having the option for Skyrim? Do I also have to get 3ds Max 2009 or earlier just to get the plugin working?

 

EDIT: I found these:

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/40209/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/5622/?

 

Would the tutorial still apply to those versions of the plugin?

[Seijin8]

I'll be happy to take a look at it when I get home from work in about 3 hours.

[cyberhart3883]

Thank you Seijin~ <3

[Seijin8]

Hah, you're welcome, but no promises as I am still learning myself.

[Seijin8]

Okay, I looked at it, and it is strange.  I am going to guess that the .nif export went bad somewhere, but it is really strange because Outfit Studio loaded it up just fine, though it couldn't export anything useful into the game.  All I am getting in-game or with nifskope are two pairs of discs with bad vertices/triangles.  Outfit studio shows what I assume is the correct model (some kind of Dwemer wheeled/geared apparatus?) but cannot export that into the game apparently.  Setting NiSkin to BSDismember was needed for me to get it into the game as an item at all, but I can't get the menu to display it properly at the same time, and I'm still only getting the pair of discs anyway, definitely not the full object that OS is seeing.

 

Sorry to say that I have no idea what is wrong with it.  Do you have an obj file that I could try to export through another program?

 

EDIT:  Exported as obj through OS into Blender (which I hate), and seeing if re-exporting will help.

 

EDIT2:  Got it through Blender into something recognizable without any texture data attached unfortunately.  Failing anything else, I'll upload that, though I don't know if it would be much use to you (I know little about texturing).

 

EDIT3 (final):  Yeah, it is definitely the SkinInstance, because with the fully developed model ready to go, adding the NiSkinInstance recreates the original problem.  Might be a severe bone weighting problem?

[cyberhart3883]

 

Okay, I looked at it, and it is strange.  I am going to guess that the .nif export went bad somewhere, but it is really strange because Outfit Studio loaded it up just fine, though it couldn't export anything useful into the game.  All I am getting in-game or with nifskope are two pairs of discs with bad vertices/triangles.  Outfit studio shows what I assume is the correct model (some kind of Dwemer wheeled/geared apparatus?) but cannot export that into the game apparently.

Yeah, it's this: AutobotBackpackObject.zip

 

 

Setting NiSkin to BSDismember was needed for me to get it into the game as an item at all, but I can't get the menu to display it properly at the same time, and I'm still only getting the pair of discs anyway, definitely not the full object that OS is seeing.

The menu & ground model is a separate nif, that 1 works. I thinkt the reason is it doesn't use any skin instances. Here that is: backpack_gnd.zip

 

 

Sorry to say that I have no idea what is wrong with it.  Do you have an obj file that I could try to export through another program?

See above.

 

 

EDIT2:  Got it through Blender into something recognizable without any texture data attached unfortunately.  Failing anything else, I'll upload that, though I don't know if it would be much use to you (I know little about texturing).

I've never known a nif to actually hold the textures in it, they're either in a folder or a bsa. Here's an upload of that: backpackTextures.zip

 

 

EDIT3 (final):  Yeah, it is definitely the SkinInstance, because with the fully developed model ready to go, adding the NiSkinInstance recreates the original problem.  Might be a severe bone weighting problem?

I don't think I made myself clear. I said at the bottom of my original post that I'd gotten the nif from another mod (this: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/30986/? ). Soecifically I used knapsackf_1.nif, so the nif I originally uplodaed is using the skin instance data from that nif. I figure I'm at a point where I need to make skin instance data specifically for the mesh I made. Problem is I don't know how to do that. I'd hoped that I could just edit the skin instance data already in the nif, but it's beyond looking like that's doable.

 

I found a version of the 3ds Max nif plugin for 3ds Max 2013, so I'm thinking of downgrading to that. Thanks for all you've done so far, though, it has been really helpful.

[cyberhart3883]

I've been mucking around in 3ds Max 2013 with the 2013 version of the nif plugin. I've been using Google for help & have even tried the dismemberment tutorial on NifTools. All that I've gone through so far has yet to produce a BSDismemberSkinInstance node in my nif, let alone a NiSkinData node.

 

At current I've been lead to a tutorial for doing this stuff in Blender. I'd like to not have to get more programs, but this is the only thing I've found so far that sounds really promising. Personally, though, I'd like to not have to get any more programs. So I'm debating on whether to give Blender a try or not. Should I give it a try & just forget about 3ds Max?