When armor meshes in-game have stray vertices going in all directions...

[Fredas]

I'm using several armor packs (for manga body) which altogether provide a complete package of vanilla armor.  But I keep running into a certain issue.  In Nifskope, there are no apparent issues.  But in-game, oftentimes there are vertices that are misplaced, giving the visual result of thin spikes coming off the armor and extending dozens of feet off-screen.

 

If it's going to happen with a given armor mesh, it's always the same vertices - not random.  Most of the time, the mesh loads without the issue.  Eventually it loads with the issue, and from that point on the only way to get rid of it again is to exit to menu.  I'll add that the problem pops up with special frequency in armor meshes where I have manually removed certain bits.  I'll also add that in a few cases, the mesh is so completely messed up in-game (while still looking fine in NifSkope) that it looks like some sort of shark mouth nightmare with hundreds of spikes protruding everywhere, and in those cases the phenomenon is actually 100% reliable.

 

I don't know a whole lot about NifSkope.  Certainly I don't know how to go about fixing something like this.  I've tried ol' reliable, "Update All Tangent Spaces", and a few others.  Nothing makes any difference.  I'll attach a couple of affected armors below so that if anyone knows what to do to fix things, they'll have something to work with.

 

some_manga_meshes.7z

[WraithSlayer]

Usually, spiky meshes like you're describing are a symptom of a dying or overheating GPU. Have you tried playing other (graphically demanding) games to see if they also get spikes?

[Fredas]

Usually, spiky meshes like you're describing are a symptom of a dying or overheating GPU. Have you tried playing other (graphically demanding) games to see if they also get spikes?

 

You're thinking about good old black / flickering triangles that have been a problem with overheating GPUs since the Voodoo2.  This isn't that.  The spikes, when they're present, don't come and go.  They stay, and they animate with the rest of the armor like they're a part of it.  It's definitely something wrong with the meshes themselves, but that something isn't one I can identify and personally fix using Nifskope.

 

As an example, in the archive I provided, there is a torso_nopants mesh.  In-game, a spike reliably extends from the button on the left arm's cuff.  Taking a look at the _0 and _1 meshes, I note that the button portion of the mesh has different numbers of "bones" associated with it between the two files - 20 in _0, 22 in _1.  This is possibly part of the problem.  But even if it is, I haven't a clue how to fix it.

[Dillpickle]

Usually caused by one of two things.

 

1: Mismatched NiTriShape order in the nif - 0 nif has order body, top, legs, 1 nif has body, legs, top. an easy fix to reorder NiTriShapes.

 

2. A difference in the number of vertices between the 0 and 1 mesh, not an easy fix, requiring blender or 3dsmax to sort out.

 

Unfortunately your meshes fall into the second scenario...

 

 

 

The daedric one should be an easy fix if you have working 0 and 1 nifs for the body used and replacing them.

 

The other one, trying to find the 1 extra amongst 6000+  vertices.... good luck with that.

[Fredas]

2. A difference in the number of vertices between the 0 and 1 mesh, not an easy fix, requiring blender or 3dsmax to sort out.

 

Unfortunately your meshes fall into the second scenario...

 

Thanks for the info.  Bummer.  The sad thing is that a very hefty chunk of the armors in the manga body packs suffer from these issues.  Still, given that I'm going to be staring at some of these armors for potentially a thousand hours, I think I can spare a little time, as long as it does ultimately prove fixable.  As in... as long as I can figure out what to do once I find a bad vertex.

 

Edit: I found the bad/extra vertex on the button.  Nifskope doesn't seem to provide the option to delete a single vertex.  I assume this is where Blender would come in.  In my experience, importing to / exporting from Blender carries a zillion extra complications that can give similarly undesirable results once Skyrim finally has to display the result.  I actually don't have a clue what the correct procedure is these days, nor how to delete the target vertex in any event.

 

Edit2: Managed to get the thing imported into Blender.  Doesn't seem like Blender gives you anything like a list of vertices that you can pick one by one, the way Nifskope does.  This is a problem, because the problem vertex is actually just a duplicate entry, meaning I can't simply select a vertex visually and try deleting that - it would delete at least two entries of the same vertex.