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How hard would it be to port some game rips in New Vegas?


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Hello there! I decided to open this thread to ask if such a thing would be even possible for someone like me with 0 experience. I know that creating an armor from scratch is difficult but how hard it is to port it when you have already the model already extracted and posted on sites like Deviantart?

 

I'm asking this cause I would like to get some armors/races in my game, but I have no idea on how this can be done.

 

Thanks in advance for help :)

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How hard it is? I guess only you can answer to a question like this. The first step is to read tons of stuff around and learn to do it. After that, you'll be able to come back and say something like "pfft, that was so easy!" or "damn, that was so hard!".

 

If you have zero experience, it could be that you still have some kind of related experience (3d programs / textures) that could help you a lot in the process.

 

If you have zero experience at all, I'd say it's not easy.

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How hard it is? I guess only you can answer to a question like this. The first step is to read tons of stuff around and learn to do it. After that, you'll be able to come back and say something like "pfft, that was so easy!" or "damn, that was so hard!".

 

If you have zero experience, it could be that you still have some kind of related experience (3d programs / textures) that could help you a lot in the process.

 

If you have zero experience at all, I'd say it's not easy.

Thanks for answering! Any tutorial you would reccomend to port some existing stuff into fallout?

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Thanks for answering! Any tutorial you would reccomend to port some existing stuff into fallout?

 

 

I'm not sure if there's a specific tutorial for porting, because it depends by many factors (like the game from where you're porting). Personally, I think it would make more sense to "split" the required knowledge in two - you should know how to properly import an armor from a generic game to Blender, and then you should know how to properly rig it and export for New Vegas.

 

For the second part, this is the (old) tutorial I used years ago, maybe today there's something better, but it worked well for me:

http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Creating_an_armour_for_Fallout._Part_1

 

But for the first part, google is your friend usually. I'll make you a very generic case. Let's say you want an armor from game X, you must first understand in which format it is (i.e. fallout meshes are .nif, but it's the only game using them). After that, you must see if you can extract these datas from the game. Then, you must see if you can import them in Blender directly, or you need an extra script, in this case you should roam in the Blender site, look for the script, install it and try. After the model is in Blender, it's all about rigging and export, and the above tutorial should help in that.

 

I'm sorry this is very vague, but it's because the whole subject is pretty big and requires more infos. For example, in your case, you have the armors but in which format? do you have textures too?

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I haven't done it... however, I know of people that did and some conversations that come up in the work required.

 

Ripping from a non similar game. (example Mass Effect to Fallout 4)

First you need to break the game and capture the assets "live" as I understand it. there are tools that can do this but they are hard to find and setup etc. You will have to do the research. More on that later. Then after capturing the files.. you have to rip them completely apart. See they won't work as each game has different meshes, textures, skeleton, sound flies (formats you get the picture) then after ward you have to convert them individual. SEe you had to rip them first so taht you could convert them as converters won't rip the entire "set" if you will. Then you have to "build" it again. Take what you gotten cut, trim and otherwise work the textures around your own meshes, make the conversions for the skeletons or such. basically "rig" the model (referencing armors, NPC etc) which is quite time consuming from my understanding. Then you have to create the necessary records for the game to recognize the new assets to import them into the game.

 

Finally, you can only use it for yourself maybe send it to a friend or two but not upload it to most mods sites as they will ban you as soon as they figure out you have ripped content. There are so few mods sites that will allow such content and then, that content has to follow very strict guidelines on what, where etc and of course if any company decides to contact any mod site holding these assets and tell them to remove them... *poof* they are gone.

 

TL;DR1 a shit ton of work. Might be better to re-create the assets from scratch. Inspired content made from scratch can be uploaded freely to most if not all mod sites. Distributed freely, and can be modified, converted to the newer games (in this case Fallout to Skyrim, to fallout 4 etc) easier as you have the raw files and less work capturing, ripping and converting.

 

TL;DR 2 :P If you have content from a similar game (mod) like from Fallout NV and want it in Fallout 4 or Skyrim SE etc. It is much, much more easier than creating the content from scratch. May people with little info and experience go through converting from one game to another (Bethesda games) and that should be easy enough and there should be some tutorials around her to do so. Still a lot of work and still can't upload it to a mod site unless you can get permission form the author but much easier  than ripping say assets from Mass Effect to use in Fallout 4.

 

First step get into the GECK / CK whatever and make some changes. Do some of the tutorials provided by Bethesda and get use to what is being done and asked of you. Get really comfortable. Then practice converting a body from one type to another in the same game. Fix the glitches and such then you should only need ot learn how to convert the textures etc to the new games format. (FAllout NV to fallout 4 for example. )

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Well it really depends on if you rip the stuff yourself or download it from another place that someone else has already done it. You can literally find thousands of files on deviant art of stuff that has been taken from other games. Many are in .XPS form and you'll need the .XPS addon for blender which is nice as it comes with it's own rigged skeleton that is attached to the outfit which will help you when you port your body into it and allow you to somewhat get the arms and legs positioned to where you want them at.

 

I port many things from deviant art to my skyrim game for my player character. Depending on what tools the gmae has for you to use will tell you how hard it will be. Skyrims outfit studio helps a lot when porting things into the game not sure if the outfit studio for fallout NV ever came out or not I know there were tests being done at one time.

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Thanks for answering! Any tutorial you would reccomend to port some existing stuff into fallout?

 

 

I'm not sure if there's a specific tutorial for porting, because it depends by many factors (like the game from where you're porting). Personally, I think it would make more sense to "split" the required knowledge in two - you should know how to properly import an armor from a generic game to Blender, and then you should know how to properly rig it and export for New Vegas.

 

For the second part, this is the (old) tutorial I used years ago, maybe today there's something better, but it worked well for me:

http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Creating_an_armour_for_Fallout._Part_1

 

But for the first part, google is your friend usually. I'll make you a very generic case. Let's say you want an armor from game X, you must first understand in which format it is (i.e. fallout meshes are .nif, but it's the only game using them). After that, you must see if you can extract these datas from the game. Then, you must see if you can import them in Blender directly, or you need an extra script, in this case you should roam in the Blender site, look for the script, install it and try. After the model is in Blender, it's all about rigging and export, and the above tutorial should help in that.

 

I'm sorry this is very vague, but it's because the whole subject is pretty big and requires more infos. For example, in your case, you have the armors but in which format? do you have textures too?

 

Thanks for the tutorial I'll have a look at it after understanding all the setup I need to do the job :) . I haven't a specific format in mind because I just opened this thread after seeing some game rips for new vegas that apparently were done using blender

 

 

Eh i'm not trying to ripping it from a game, as I get it sites like DA have a lot of this stuff

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Thanks for answering! Any tutorial you would reccomend to port some existing stuff into fallout?

 

 

I'm not sure if there's a specific tutorial for porting, because it depends by many factors (like the game from where you're porting). Personally, I think it would make more sense to "split" the required knowledge in two - you should know how to properly import an armor from a generic game to Blender, and then you should know how to properly rig it and export for New Vegas.

 

For the second part, this is the (old) tutorial I used years ago, maybe today there's something better, but it worked well for me:

http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Creating_an_armour_for_Fallout._Part_1

 

But for the first part, google is your friend usually. I'll make you a very generic case. Let's say you want an armor from game X, you must first understand in which format it is (i.e. fallout meshes are .nif, but it's the only game using them). After that, you must see if you can extract these datas from the game. Then, you must see if you can import them in Blender directly, or you need an extra script, in this case you should roam in the Blender site, look for the script, install it and try. After the model is in Blender, it's all about rigging and export, and the above tutorial should help in that.

 

I'm sorry this is very vague, but it's because the whole subject is pretty big and requires more infos. For example, in your case, you have the armors but in which format? do you have textures too?

 

Thanks for the tutorial I'll have a look at it after understanding all the setup I need to do the job :) . I haven't a specific format in mind because I just opened this thread after seeing some game rips for new vegas that apparently were done using blender

 

 

Eh i'm not trying to ripping it from a game, as I get it sites like DA have a lot of this stuff

 

 

I was being complete. :) Just in case you or someone else was thinking of ripping from a game. converting as mentioned above with the excellent additional info is easier depending on what format it is in when you get it.

 

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You'll only find that out after downloading the file and finding out if there are any plugins or addons for the file format for blender. SFM files I don't think there are any addons for that format .OBJ works .XPS - generic item mesh need addon and the list goes on and on you will just have to see if there is a addon for them so that you can get them into blender and then export them out in whatever format you need. 

 

This one that I ported came in .XPS format I got it into blender separated what I didn't want fused it back together exported it in .OBJ and then loaded it into outfit studio.

 

 

post-25667-0-83344700-1496089862_thumb.jpg

 

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You'll only find that out after downloading the file and finding out if there are any plugins or addons for the file format for blender. SFM files I don't think there are any addons for that format .OBJ works .XPS - generic item mesh need addon and the list goes on and on you will just have to see if there is a addon for them so that you can get them into blender and then export them out in whatever format you need. 

 

This one that I ported came in .XPS format I got it into blender separated what I didn't want fused it back together exported it in .OBJ and then loaded it into outfit studio.

 

 

 

Thanks, I just downloaded what I needed, the file extensions are generic.item.mesh, mesh.ascii and mesh.org.

I can open the first two just fine after installing xps viewer while the last one I'm not sure what it is. Which one should I use between these 3? Also there are many other files in the folder like tga. jpg and pgn.

Also I read that I shouldn't use the newest version of blender but instead I should look for version 2.49, is that true?

 

Had a look at the tutorial that was linked here before and I'm vaguely lost, since many parts can be skipped. I don't think I should adjust the armor for now, since it's a bodysuit and for now I just want to see how it is in game.

Does that mean I should only paint the weights? 

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TGA JPG and PNG are image formats - those are probably the textures. You must convert them in .DDS in order to be readable by NV. You can use NVidia free plugin for Photoshop or if you use GIMP there's a plugin for that too.

 

But there's a good probability that you must create a "material" too, in Blender. I hope that after the port the model will keep the UV, in that case you must only tell which texture it has to use, since as it is now it won't be readed.

 

Also usually you have 2 textures - one is violet, this is the normal map. If you lack the normal map, you can create it on your own using specific tools, but this is a detail you will be able to do as last step once you see that the model work.

 

You're right, there are many steps you don't need in that tutorial, you only need to catch the "concept". But you should still adjust it, because you don't know which size it is. So you should still import it in blender along with a vanilla body and up/down scale to find the right proportions. After that, the rigging part is pretty easy, there's a script that will do automatically both in Blender or installing Gerra's script, but we'll catch it later.

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TGA JPG and PNG are image formats - those are probably the textures. You must convert them in .DDS in order to be readable by NV. You can use NVidia free plugin for Photoshop or if you use GIMP there's a plugin for that too.

 

But there's a good probability that you must create a "material" too, in Blender. I hope that after the port the model will keep the UV, in that case you must only tell which texture it has to use, since as it is now it won't be readed.

 

Also usually you have 2 textures - one is violet, this is the normal map. If you lack the normal map, you can create it on your own using specific tools, but this is a detail you will be able to do as last step once you see that the model work.

 

You're right, there are many steps you don't need in that tutorial, you only need to catch the "concept". But you should still adjust it, because you don't know which size it is. So you should still import it in blender along with a vanilla body and up/down scale to find the right proportions. After that, the rigging part is pretty easy, there's a script that will do automatically both in Blender or installing Gerra's script, but we'll catch it later.

Alright, so one step at time :) . I assume the texture conversion is 100% necessary and I already checked online. First result that came in google was a site like this: https://online-converting.com/image/convert2dds/ would it be enough or is it better to get either gimp or the other nvdia plugin you talked about?

 

About the material, how do I know for certain that it has to be created, any way to check? Sorry probably I stupid question but have to ask regardless

 

As a final question, before I start should I downgrade to blender 2,49b? Many guides I read says it's the best for importing/exporting stuff and they do even go as far as saying to not get the lastest version of blender since it lacks the nif plugin if I've understood correctly

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I never used it, but it seems having all the necessary things. Use DXT3/5 if you use Alpha, DXT1 if you don't, check the result in game and see if you like it. Texture size must be square of 2, as it remembers you, like 256x256, 512x512 etc.

 

We still didn't mention it, but a very useful tool to install is nifskope, it will help you a lot with NV meshes in general, like you can change a texture with a click.

 

I do use 2.49. I know there are updated nifscipts but I never tried myself and... probably I should, one day, or in the next life. I'd love to have 7 lives like cats.

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I never used it, but it seems having all the necessary things. Use DXT3/5 if you use Alpha, DXT1 if you don't, check the result in game and see if you like it. Texture size must be square of 2, as it remembers you, like 256x256, 512x512 etc.

 

We still didn't mention it, but a very useful tool to install is nifskope, it will help you a lot with NV meshes in general, like you can change a texture with a click.

 

I do use 2.49. I know there are updated nifscipts but I never tried myself and... probably I should, one day, or in the next life. I'd love to have 7 lives like cats.

What is alpha?:D . Isn't texture size the final resolution of the texture? If so wouldn't make sense to give something like 1024x1024 or more?

 

Yes, I have nifskope already. I think I used it for skyrim a couuple of times, it does crash a lot too on this pc.

 

I wish but you know I'm not sure how worth my 7 lives would be :P

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Alpha is transparency.

 

The resolution is something you'll have to decide, just remember it must keep that ratio 1024x1024, 2048x2048, 4096x4096 etc.

 

Scusa ma tu non... o forse mi sbaglio...

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Alpha is transparency.

 

The resolution is something you'll have to decide, just remember it must keep that ratio 1024x1024, 2048x2048, 4096x4096 etc.

 

Scusa ma tu non... o forse mi sbaglio...

Hmm transparency, like an invisible texture? Oh my I'm such a newbie :c 

What about generate minimaps and dpi? About resolution wouldn't it depend on what kind of texture I have? I mean if I have let's say a shitty texture wouldn't be pointless to put it at 4096 for example?

 

Eh non saprei, può darsi c: , io di certo ti conosco già da un altro forum :)

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Alpha is a fourth channel, from black to white, which handles what part of texture must be shown or not.

Mipmaps should be generated, usually.

Resolution depends by the texture you have, but I'm not sure that every game stores textures maintaining these size ratios.

 

Se avrai problemi e non riesci ad uscirne, mandami il materiale e provo a dare un'occhiata anch'io. Ora torno in chat "di là"... ;)

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If you download paint-net (it's free but might need plugin to load .DDS but it might come with it built in now) you won't even need a convert to .DDS thing as you can save a JPG TGA as .DDS you'll also have to resize them to match a compatible one for your game. I have used generic.item.mesh mesh.ascii and XPS before I think they are mostly the same but a few things different I think depending on what you are doing. 

 

You can use alpha transparency to make part of a outfit invisible. The way I do it is by loading the texture file into gimp2 lasso the area that I want to make transparent click on the eraser and adjust the 0pacity down to something like 5 or 10 adjust the size of the eraser to cover more ground and then hold down the mouse button and erase a area some. Next go to the overwrite .DDS file and overwrite it and load the outfit up into nifskope and right click the outfit and go to node - attach property - attach NiAlphaProperty and what you erased in the texture will appear in nifskope. If it's a skyrim nif you'll have to add the NiAlphaProperty to both the _0 and _1 nifs for it to appear in game.

 

I'm using blender 2.78c not sure if there is a nif import for it or not yet as I haven't checked but the older ones had it as I could import nifs into blender. There is a thread somewhere that had the up to date nif import plugins.

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