How do I get rid of these black spots on my meshes?

[gooboo]

I've been adjusting some clothing and armor meshes for my characters, but for some reason some of them end up with these black spots on the textures in game, even though the textures appear fine when I'm editing the meshes in Blender or 3ds Max. 

 

I can't really figure out a reason why this is happening. At first I thought it had something to do with Blender, but when I tried editing the meshes in just 3ds Max (no exporting them to Blender at all) it still happened. I even tried importing a mesh, did no editing to it in 3ds Max whatsoever and simply re-exported it, and I still got black spots on the armor. Some clothing and armor I've done have worked just fine, but other times these black spots appear and I can't seem to find any pattern to any of it. I didn't edit the .dds files at all- these are all vanilla textures, and I don't get these black spots on any armor or clothing that hasn't been edited in a 3d program, so I don't think it's an error in my graphics card. 

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

[ousnius]

Use glorious Outfit Studio instead.

Just kidding, though it can be an option.

 

So when exactly does it happen? Import NIF into 3ds max, export NIF, boom?

EDIT: Yeah, just read that it does that.

 

Hmm, does it happen on vanilla meshes by Bethesda as well?

[gooboo]

The only meshes it's ever happened on were meshes I edited myself in a 3d program- it's not something I ever come across in the game otherwise. As I mentioned in my post I tried importing a mesh and then immediately exporting it without editing anything just to see if it is has any black spots or not and sure enough, some of the meshes did. I'm not sure what 3ds Max or Nifskope is doing that's causing this to happen. 

[moriarty]

It looks like your texture file.

If the mesh is  not mapped to them correctly you get mismatching parts or parts that are outside of the texture.

 

 

Try using bodyslide outfit studio to edit outfits, you can also see what stuff looks like before you put it in game.

http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/25/?

 

 

[gooboo]

I thought at first it might be a texture problem, but I didn't edit the uv maps or the .dds files for these meshes, so I'm not sure that's the issue. Unless nifskope or blender messed up the uv maps at some point during the import/export process.

 

Also, I'm not an expert on outfit studio or bodyslide but as far as I know it only lets you adjust the shape of the meshes using sliders, yes? Some of the outfits I'm modifying I'm removing  chunks of the outfit entirely, and I didn't think bodyslide was able to add or delete vertices and polygons in a mesh, but maybe I'm wrong.  

[Vioxsis]

Looks like split, back facing vertex normals to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Something is breaking them on import (hopefully) check your import settings.

 

To fix you need to weld the verts and align/unify the vertex normals.

[gooboo]

These are the import settings I've been using in 3ds Max. Are these the ones everyone else uses, or am I doing something wrong?

 

[Vioxsis]

By sections.

 

Import:

uncheck all, there's no need for any of them.

 

Geometry:

You can probably uncheck vertex colours as most if not all armour does not make use of it.

And check remove illegal faces

 

Animation:

Uncheck all, none of these are needed.

 

Miscellaneous:

Uncheck remove root node, its better to keep it.

 

 

Try them, if it still happens then in geometry uncheck auto smooth mesh and see what happens.

Also try in miscellaneous unchecking use niftools shader, it will use a standard blinn for the material.

 

[moriarty]

It surprising what you can actually do in outfit studio, even if you are using blender or 3d max it makes things a bit easier.

You can find and quick adjustments little problems.

 

uv mapping is a bit funny in some programs when it comes to fallout 4, thats why it was the 1st thing to pop in my head.

 

Just out of curiosity, do you import the nif into blender or use 3D max?

[ousnius]

It surprising what you can actually do in outfit studio, even if you are using blender or 3d max it makes things a bit easier.

You can find and quick adjustments little problems.

 

uv mapping is a bit funny in some programs when it comes to fallout 4, thats why it was the 1st thing to pop in my head.

 

Just out of curiosity, do you import the nif into blender or use 3D max?

 

The very most recent version of NifSkope allows UV editing for Fallout 4.

However, I don't know if Jonwd7 made a public release of that version yet.

[gooboo]

I'm importing the nif in 3ds Max, then exporting the nif into blender to do the work. 

[moriarty]

 

It surprising what you can actually do in outfit studio, even if you are using blender or 3d max it makes things a bit easier.

You can find and quick adjustments little problems.

 

uv mapping is a bit funny in some programs when it comes to fallout 4, thats why it was the 1st thing to pop in my head.

 

Just out of curiosity, do you import the nif into blender or use 3D max?

 

The very most recent version of NifSkope allows UV editing for Fallout 4.

However, I don't know if Jonwd7 made a public release of that version yet.

 

 

Wow that would be soooooooooooooooo amazingly help full.

Public release is on NifSkope 2.0 Pre-Alpha 5 at this time, hope to see that soone

[gooboo]

Okay, I tried the suggestions made earlier about un-checking certain things in the 3ds Max import window and still no success.

 

The first picture I tried all of the suggestions mentioned (except for disabling auto smooth), exported the nif to blender, sculpted the shape of the mesh a little, then re-exported the mesh from Blender back into 3ds Max, then from Max to Nifskope. The second picture I un-checked everything including the auto smooth and imported the mesh into 3ds Max, then immediately exported it again from Max without using Blender or changing the mesh at all. It looks worse than the first few pictures do as far as black spots go, so I'm not sure what's going on here, but I don't think it involves Blender or the .dds files.  

 

[Vioxsis]

Did you try welding the vertex and unifying the normals?

[moriarty]

Okay, I tried the suggestions made earlier about un-checking certain things in the 3ds Max import window and still no success.

 

The first picture I tried all of the suggestions mentioned (except for disabling auto smooth), exported the nif to blender, sculpted the shape of the mesh a little, then re-exported the mesh from Blender back into 3ds Max, then from Max to Nifskope. The second picture I un-checked everything including the auto smooth and imported the mesh into 3ds Max, then immediately exported it again from Max without using Blender or changing the mesh at all. It looks worse than the first few pictures do as far as black spots go, so I'm not sure what's going on here, but I don't think it involves Blender or the .dds files.  

 

blackspots2.jpg

 

Do you have a sample of the nif file you can upload so we can have a look and try and help hands on??

 

This is fascinating to me AND MUST BE SOLVED.

 

[gooboo]

I'm not nearly as good at using 3ds Max as I am Blender, so I might be wrong here, but I couldn't find anything abnormal looking with the normals. I'm also not entirely sure what to look for, however. It's kind of a mess.

 

 

Here are two .nif files for people to look at. the Fbody.nif is the .nif I imported then immediately exported from 3ds Max without modifying anything, so it's basically the vanilla mesh except it's got some big ugly black spots on the front of the suit when I actually play it in game.

 

The Fbody2.nif is the suit I'm actually working on and trying to get to work properly. It's the leotard version of the BOS outfit in the very first post I made, but it's got some smaller black spots on the front and back of the suit. 

 

armor.rar

 

I would like to thank everyone for their help so far. I'd really like to figure out why my nifs are doing this so I can release some mods for my Curvygirl body.

[moriarty]

I'm not nearly as good at using 3ds Max as I am Blender, so I might be wrong here, but I couldn't find anything abnormal looking with the normals. I'm also not entirely sure what to look for, however. It's kind of a mess.

 

normal1.jpg

 

Here are two .nif files for people to look at. the Fbody.nif is the .nif I imported then immediately exported from 3ds Max without modifying anything, so it's basically the vanilla mesh except it's got some big ugly black spots on the front of the suit when I actually play it in game.

 

The Fbody2.nif is the suit I'm actually working on and trying to get to work properly. It's the leotard version of the BOS outfit in the very first post I made, but it's got some smaller black spots on the front and back of the suit. 

 

armor.rar

 

I would like to thank everyone for their help so far. I'd really like to figure out why my nifs are doing this so I can release some mods for my Curvygirl body.

 

Still looking into it but seems like something to do with this!!

textures\Shared\Cubemaps\mipblur_DefaultOutside1.dds

[moriarty]

Ok its a problem with

textures\Shared\Cubemaps\mipblur_DefaultOutside1.dds

seems the mapping for it is off!!

 

If you want a quick fix use nifskope and simply remove it.

 

And I figured this out with BodySlide outfit studio XD

 

I do hope this helps.

 

 

 

 

[gooboo]

What does the cubemap do, exactly?

[Vioxsis]

Its a type of environment map, its the reflection you see on metal, glass, water stuff like that.

 

[gooboo]

Do the cubemaps use the same uv map that the other texture files use? Does anyone have any idea how I would go about fixing it?

[moriarty]

Its the environmental mapping.

Kind of effect light reflection and shine.

It will affect the look of it, if you remove it. (Not a lot from what i can see, but don't quote me on that)

 

Iv not really delved too deep into it myself.

 

This may help explain it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snYFPss2_jI

 

This is a kind of example

https://youtu.be/PjGCtnEDDeU?t=1m30s

 

 

I had a look around to see what may help you, as my skills are very mismatched and self torte.

This may be completely the wrong thing to help you, as I'm just posting this before going to bed and have not watched it. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPgqoPXfWco

 

Sorry if I'm confusing you more, i'm bad at explaining things.

[gooboo]

I deleted the cubemap texture from the .nif in nifskope and started the game and... no good. The black spots are still there. 

[moriarty]

First things first

 

Watch this.

Its not a tutorial video, it is how I have started to go at this problem trying to help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-DlCdhsIIU

 

Now remember when I said bodyslide/outfit studio was amazing.

Try this and see what happens.

 

 

1. Get BodySlide and install it
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/25/?

2. Start BodySlide

3. click on outfit studio in the bottom right

4. Drag your nif into the new window. (Use the nif you have not removed mipblur_DefaultOutside1.dds)

5. go to - file -export -export nif, and save as the name you use in the place you would like it to be.

6. close BodySlide.

 

7. test......

If it works then..
Basically what this is doing is tweeking it a bit and converting your nif to work in fallout 4.

"I think"

 

If not....

well I'm stumped for for the moment

 

Let me know if this does anything, as I have tried this 4 times now and it has worked everytime.

 

 

[gooboo]

Well, the outfit studio method seemed to work- I don't have any black spots on my clothing or armor meshes after opening them in outfit studio and then just exporting them. I have no idea why my computer seems to require outfit studio in order for the textures to work, but whatever, I'll go with it. 

 

Thanks  to everyone for helping me out.