Fallout 4 - 3ds Max or Blender?

[ElectricSheep]

Since Skyrim was not my cup of tea, I'm not up to the with the current .nif plugins status. Hence my question: which apps is likely to get better support when the game comes out, Blender or 3ds Max? From what I gathered, Blender users are still stuck with an obsolete 2.49 and workarounds are necessary to get an exported .nif to cooperate with the game environment. Dunno about 3ds Max.

 

I can manage in both programs, but on the following week I plan to train my kung fu a bit and I'm not sure which of the two should be my apps of choice. I'm more used to Blender, but I won't be able to do much with it without proper scripts. Do you guys have some insight?

[gregathit]

Hard to tell, it will all depend on if they fall back to FNV for bodies, skeletons and processes (doubtful) or if they build off of Skyrim (more likely).

If Skyrim, then probably 3d max.  However, one can hope that with a new game, there will be enough interest for someone (ready rocket scientist level coder) to take the time to update the import/export features for the newest version of blender, as it has some really awesome features.

[Guest]

All the meshes for a 3D game folow the basic requirements of a DirectX application. Nodes, Vertex, Triangles, UV maps.

The Bethesda custom gamebryo is not an exception. Beth used the NIF container to store this information (with a huge amount of extension added by this company.)

 

Now, for sure it will not be the native format of 3D Studio, or Maya, or Blender.

It will be just a matter of creating a conversion tool to convert the NIF-like meshes in the native format of the 3D tool. (And vice versa.)

 

Which tool will get support first? Nobody knows.

[RitualClarity]

I hope it is blender and works well with it. It is free and I would like to start playing around with some of the stuff. I don't think I can get the other programs.

[Vortec]

 I might be wrong but Nifscripts for Blender are around 3-4 years old and aren't being updated, so i'd guess it won't be Blender which sucks as i want to learn more modeling.

[Guest]

 I might be wrong but Nifscripts for Blender are around 3-4 years old and aren't being updated, so i'd guess it won't be Blender which sucks as i want to learn more modeling.

 

The latest NIfTools for blender were released in April 2015. And they work just fine with the latest version of Blender (no need for the obsolete 2.49)

But on 3D Studio is the same story. The "official ones" are 3 or 4 years old. But people (like the awesome @blabba did some new pulgins to work with recent versions of 3D studio.

 

let's say: first somebody needs to understand the new NIF format and de-chiper it. (And the 3D tool does not matter at this point.)

Then import/eport plugins can be done, but it is just a matter of preferences if Blender or 3D studio will come first (it will be a "competition" between Blabba and Antono0998.)

[RitualClarity]

 

 I might be wrong but Nifscripts for Blender are around 3-4 years old and aren't being updated, so i'd guess it won't be Blender which sucks as i want to learn more modeling.

 

The latest NIfTools for blender were released in April 2015. And they work just fine with the latest version of Blender (no need for the obsolete 2.49)

But on 3D Studio is the same story. The "official ones" are 3 or 4 years old. But people (like the awesome @blabba did some new pulgins to work with recent versions of 3D studio.

 

let's say: first somebody needs to understand the new NIF format and de-chiper it. (And the 3D tool does not matter at this point.)

Then import/eport plugins can be done, but it is just a matter of preferences if Blender or 3D studio will come first (it will be a "competition" between Blabba and Antono0998.)

 

 

A bit off topic.

I can download the lastest Blender, the Niftools (is there an link.. fee free to send by PM if desired) and be able to get in and dirty with these file in Fallout, and Skyrim? (perhaps Oblivion as well)  Because for me to even begin to start with anything modding related I need the toolbox(s) to access these files.

 

[Guest]

 

A bit off topic.

I can download the lastest Blender, the Niftools (is there an link.. fee free to send by PM if desired) and be able to get in and dirty with these file in Fallout, and Skyrim? (perhaps Oblivion as well)  Because for me to even begin to start with anything modding related I need the toolbox(s) to access these files.

 

 

 

Here you go: https://github.com/niftools/blender_nif_plugin

of course it is not for "end-users", you need to get the correct files and install them in Blender.

I used them with Blender 2.76 and they work pretty well.

Just be sure you add an empty object before exporting, and be sure you set Skyrim as format (it is not the default.)

I never tried with format different from Skyrim.

 

Bodies, Statics, and Armors work well.

I had some problems with the weighting of Armors, but you can tweak them with ']  wonderful tool Body Slide.

[D_ManXX2]

CPU that is just for meshes scripts if you want to build animations that new nifscript won't work. So in all it is still not ready.

[ousnius]

CPU that is just for meshes scripts if you want to build animations that new nifscript won't work. So in all it is still not ready.

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/62065/

 

Things like the Mesh Injector from there aren't needed anymore with the new NIF plugins, but the rest is helpful, especially the .blend project for animating.

[Guest Mogie56]

"The Figment" with the advent of FO4 updated the nif import/export plugin for 3ds max and it will work for most versions up to and including 3DS Max 2016<-standard and design have been combined.

[Babzero]

 

 

 

Trying:

https://github.com/figment/max_nif_plugin/releases/tag/3.8.0

 

Every Armor piece\s have this BS Subindex modifier?.

Some armor pieces show and some don't on my part [My head hurts].

[Halstrom]

You also might want to have a moderator move this to the Fallout 4 forum rather than FO3/NV Forum