New higher-poly Vanilla underwear WIP - strange line in mesh?

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

I have found the point at which the lower meshes broke -

 

(*Attachment removed - FD)

 

See the straps here on the panty are okay in the earlier file? The reason I had to re-do this mesh was that the UV & smoothing for the panty itself was broken & I had to re-do them. The skin also needed re-doing & I reshaped it for a better look, which led to the later version. Can I salvage the later version or do I need to go back & start from scratch with an earlier one?

 

I cannot work out when the normals on the top broke...

[Vioxsis]

 

 

*Theru's exporter for 2012 provided at that link contains several .txt files and a single NifPlugins.dlu. The "ReadMe" instructions talk about several other files which do not seem to be included:

 

"    Installation

    ------------

    

    Installer:

        The installer will configure the plugins for whichever releases

        you have available on your machine.  It will also optionally configure

        texture paths for various games that we know there settings for.

    

    Copy NifPlugins.dlu, to your 3dsmax\plugins directory.

    Copy MaxNifTools.ini to your 3dsmax\plugcfg directory.

    

    gmax notes:

       NifPlugins.dlu goes in gmax\plugin folder

       MaxNifTools.ini goes in gmax\plugCFG folder

       winmm.dll goes in gmax folder where gmax.exe is located.

         Do not place it in the windows system folder."

 

 

Is there a separate installer of some kind parked off somewhere else by Theru?

 

 

 

She only uploaded the files that where edited, the readme is referring to the installer from TheFigment's exporter since you already have it installed just replace the NifPlugins.dlu and MaxNifTools.ini with the ones by Theru.

If i remember corectly 2012 didn't have an ini file (she forgot to pack it), you can take the one out the 2011 version an use that.

 

I have found the point at which the lower meshes broke -

 

See the straps here on the panty are okay in the earlier file? The reason I had to re-do this mesh was that the UV & smoothing for the panty itself was broken & I had to re-do them. The skin also needed re-doing & I reshaped it for a better look, which led to the later version. Can I salvage the later version or do I need to go back & start from scratch with an earlier one?

 

I cannot work out when the normals on the top broke...

You can salvage it, to fix the normals is really easy.

 

Add an Edit Normal modifier above the edit mesh/poly, you should now see loads of blue lines sticking out the mesh from each vertex.

 

 

Select them all (they turn red when selected) and press the unify button, you should see them all move in to place.

Right click the edit normals modifier and collapse to it.

 

This completely overrides smoothing groups, its not that much of a problem if you are just using 1 but if you are using any more than that they will need to be redone.

 

But if its your exporter that is breaking them (most likely) then as soon as you click export they won't be facing the same way you had them in max.

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

Thanks! Replaced the necessary files!

 

... but now 3dsMax will not display textures & is showing a diamond shape at the end of all my bones, and when I search Google to try and manually fix the problems in Max I keep getting sent to discussions about NifSkope or directed to TheFigment's installer...

 

 

Ugh!

 

*Just tried "Customize > configure user paths > external files" & tried adding new folders to the list, bumping them to the top of the list but it doesn't seem to work.

 

 

[Vioxsis]

Sadly, if i remember correctly, there is nothing you can do to fix those 2 problems, i remember trying everything to fix them but i could not do it using theru's .dlu.

At the time there was only 2 plugins to choose from and 1 was breaking my meshes on export, so that left just this one. In the end i just assigned the textures by hand and i got used to the bones to the point where i now prefer them that way (easier to select and move).

 

This one came out much later http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/40209/? and i never got the chance to test it so i don't know how well it works, but it might be worth trying out.. you never know it might just have all the good bits of the other 2.

 

 

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

Ugh. Okay, switched back to TheFigment's exporter, and crossing my fingers...

 

Okay - I *THINK* I got this fixed... I think. I will need to check it in-game on my other, better Skyrim install with better graphics & bigger screen to be sure, but I think this might be a winner. I hope.

 

Did the EditNormals on all the pieces, and then did a UVWUnwrap on all the pieces. I did a dummy run of the whole process first, and did a UVWUnwrap to take a look & noticed some little lines creeping back in at the places where the straps joined the top, so I figured it couldn't hurt to re-do them while I was at it.

 

(*attachment removed - FD)

[Vioxsis]

All the normals look correct to me, all are facing the proper way with none of them flipped.

Looks as though its fixed.  

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

All the normals look correct to me, all are facing the proper way with none of them flipped.

Looks as though its fixed.

 

Okay - I have FINALLY finished all of my meshes!!!!

 

It took a few attempts to get the _1 meshes shaped so that I was happy with them (that, and the first couple of attempts kept exploding in-game), plus I tested out the UVs with a large number of armour & clothing textures until I found the right ones. I'm really happy with the final result - and thanks to Vioxis's help I am releasing three separate texture variants: original two-tone, brown cloth, and black cloth!

 

 

 

 

 

Vioxis, thank-you so very much for ALL of your help with this!! You have really gone above & beyond, and the knowledge you have taught me in the process of working through all this is invaluable!! I am very, very grateful indeed for your help, and I will be giving you joint credit on this release - I know it's not much, but it's my own small way of thanking you for all you have done here!!

 

(*Please excuse my crappy pics of the final result - I'm on my laptop!)

 

 

 

EDIT: Mod posted, with due public acknowledgement & credit! Thanks again, Vioxis!!