Creating Skyrim Armor in Blender Tutorial Series

[Hanaisse]

Hello ANTCJudgment, and welcome to TESA. Thank you for the kind words. I am glad I am able to help share my knowledge and that people find it useful.

Let me start with the second question, as it seems you may be confusing the skeleton with skin partitions, which are two different things. If your existing armour is full body covering - body, hands, feet, then it's perfectly all right for it to have just one skin partition of SBP_32_BODY. If you can't wear another pair of boots with it, for example, then you don't need an SBP_37_FEET partition. It all depends on how you want to set up your armour as a final result. I'll come back to the skeleton in a minute.

You also seem to be confusing NiTriShapes with skin partitions (BP_RIGHTARM, BP_LEFTLEG). Again, these are two different things. A NiTriShape is a section of your overall armour that you want to separate and distinguish in some way, a skin partition is a bunch of vertices grouped together as a body part. I know, it's very confusing. I assume you've read Part 1 and Part 2, but might be worth another read.

So, without seeing the armour mesh you're working with, I'm just taking a stab in the dark here. It sounds like it consists of one piece of armour, in one NiTriShape, covering all body parts, as one skin partition. And that's fine. Unless you're modifying it in a way that you do want more skin partitions, like making gloves and boots completely separate, then leave it as is.

As for the skeleton, are you absolutely sure it uses a custom skeleton? There are very few of them, the only one that comes to mind is XP32 Maximum Skeleton, and also others for um, more jiggly parts. If you use a custom skeleton in your armour, people will have to be using the custom skeleton as well. What you should be using is whatever skeleton the existing armour you have uses. Just import the armour again but use the "Import Skeleton Only.." option.

And yes, getting a clean skeleton is a pain in the tushy. On some projects I've had to close/reopen many times before it would work. Make sure your file doesn't have any traces of any other skeletons before you import.

If you need more help, or still don't understand, then I'm here. But I would need to see the armour files you're working with to provide more in depth advice.

[ANTCJudgment]

Hello ANTCJudgment, and welcome to TESA. Thank you for the kind words. I am glad I am able to help share my knowledge and that people find it useful.

Let me start with the second question, as it seems you may be confusing the skeleton with skin partitions, which are two different things. If your existing armour is full body covering - body, hands, feet, then it's perfectly all right for it to have just one skin partition of SBP_32_BODY. If you can't wear another pair of boots with it, for example, then you don't need an SBP_37_FEET partition. It all depends on how you want to set up your armour as a final result. I'll come back to the skeleton in a minute.

You also seem to be confusing NiTriShapes with skin partitions (BP_RIGHTARM, BP_LEFTLEG). Again, these are two different things. A NiTriShape is a section of your overall armour that you want to separate and distinguish in some way, a skin partition is a bunch of vertices grouped together as a body part. I know, it's very confusing. I assume you've read Part 1 and Part 2, but might be worth another read.

So, without seeing the armour mesh you're working with, I'm just taking a stab in the dark here. It sounds like it consists of one piece of armour, in one NiTriShape, covering all body parts, as one skin partition. And that's fine. Unless you're modifying it in a way that you do want more skin partitions, like making gloves and boots completely separate, then leave it as is.

As for the skeleton, are you absolutely sure it uses a custom skeleton? There are very few of them, the only one that comes to mind is XP32 Maximum Skeleton, and also others for um, more jiggly parts. If you use a custom skeleton in your armour, people will have to be using the custom skeleton as well. What you should be using is whatever skeleton the existing armour you have uses. Just import the armour again but use the "Import Skeleton Only.." option.

And yes, getting a clean skeleton is a pain in the tushy. On some projects I've had to close/reopen many times before it would work. Make sure your file doesn't have any traces of any other skeletons before you import.

If you need more help, or still don't understand, then I'm here. But I would need to see the armour files you're working with to provide more in depth advice.

Thanks for the in depth reply, just went through a hard drive crash. Seeing the meshes may be an issue now, as I am still trying to find my data through a recovery software that I am using...

 

Yesterday, I isolated the problem to the skeleton, I simply couldn't get a clean one imported. I guess, should I find this file, I will keep trying to get a clean one imported in. I'm pretty sure that this armour doesn't use "jiggly bits". If you say that I should use the skeleton that the armour uses, I will try that, since that is something that I don't think that I did, and will get back to you if I make any progress. Right now, however, the question is if I can recover my data, and by extension my modified meshes, in the first place, so will definitely address some of the things that you have suggested. As to me confusing things (like NiTriShapes)... Yeah... I was pretty tired when I wrote that, so sorry for any confusion caused. 

 

I hope I can recover my stuff, I had spent a good amount of time on those meshes...

[Hanaisse]

Oh dear, it's horrible when that happens. I hope you can recover, and I'll still be around for support when you do.

[Nungordam]

Hi Hanaisse, I followed your tutorial and it worked really well, but I'm now on my second attempt to create an armour, and I'm running into an issue. Everytime I export the .nif from blender, only a few nodes get exported instead of the whole skeleton. I've tried using imported skeletons from different nifs, I've made sure they're clean, I've even started over entirely from scratch, but nothing seems to solve the issue. Any idea what could be causing this? Let me know if you need more info. Thanks.  

[Hanaisse]

Welcome to TESA, Nungordam.

 

No, I've not heard of this issue before. Besides making sure you have everything selected using "A" before exporting, not sure what it could be. Hm, perhaps your export settings were changed somehow? Could you provide some pics of your stuff in Blender before export and what comes out in NifSkope?

[delta19]

ran in to a problem with my exported nif.

 

the bs properties is greyed out deniying me the ablity add the bslightingshaderproperty in to the right area

[Hanaisse]

Well, you won't have a BSLightingShaderProperty on export. You have to add one. Where did yours come from?

 

Also make sure you changed the User Version to 12 and the User Version 2 to 83 in the NiHeader block.

[delta19]

Well, you won't have a BSLightingShaderProperty on export. You have to add one. Where did yours come from?

 

Also make sure you changed the User Version to 12 and the User Version 2 to 83 in the NiHeader block.

 

 

i did all that and it didnt work i ended up just wiping my temp data and shutting down for the night, seems to have fixed it.

 

now to find a good way to make armor...

[Charlatan]

Hello people of TES Alliance !

 

I am sorry to bring this topic up again, but I tried everything logical - and some illogical things - and cannot get the _1 model to work. I am always stuck with the Vertex Count mismatch error message, despite not actively changing the count in any way. It should be noted that in this case it's not an armor model, but a body model.

 

 

This is the shortest, most direct way for me to go from working model to error:

 

1.) Open the model as I created it in Blender, in _0  size  (at this point the exported model works perfectly)

2.) Import the _1 feet and hands to have a measure of the required changes, in a new object(model still works)

3.) Save the model in a new .blend file

4.)a Only use the normal scale function in EDIT mode to fit them, no other option than scaling with "S" used, hide feet/hands (exported model differs, claims to have 8 vertices less)

4.)b Only use the scale along normals in EDIT mode to fit them, no other option than scaling with "ALT+S" used, hide feet/hands (exported model differs, claims to have 12 vertices less)

5.) Go to TESAlliance and ask for help :<

 

Additional Notes:

=> Between _0 and _1, I did not do anything to vertices else than what 4a and 4b say. I did not delete, merge, join, split, seperate, face, extrude, copy or duplicate anything.

=> In Nifskope, I saw that between _0 and _1, the amount of vertices for each bone in the NiSkinData is different. And the file size is massively larger (50% larger)

 

I'm experienced with all Skyrim Modding tasks and can ensure I did not make a conscious mistake. The most likely cases are either a) very stupid little oversight b) body models need different handling / export options

 

Thanks in advance for your time

[Hellpig]

Hi, I have just recently gotten into skyrim modding, and this thread has been a godsent. I am at Part 5 right now, and i noticed that after exporting from blender, my BSDismemberSkinInstance have multiple entries of the same partition. For example, the Body for the armour has three  BP_TORSO entries, each of them controlling different parts of the torso area.

 

I checked my blend file and I only have 1 BP_TORSO vertex group. So, did i mess up somewhere? Do I need to fix it? And if so, how do I do it.

[Hanaisse]

Hellpig;

No, you didn't mess up. The Blender export script does. This happened because previous games had a limit of 18 bones per partition. Skyrim requires more (up to 60 for some creatures). So once it hits the limit of 18 it automatically creates another partition.

There are two things you can do here;

1) Continue as is. Multiple DismemberSkinInstance partitions won't hurt anything. Just label them all SBP_32_Body and it's fine. Remove the flag PF_START_NET_BONESET for the other two partitions.

2) To fix this on export from Blender, on the Export screen, change "Max Bones" to 28, which should be enough for armour meshes.

Charlatan;

Well that's something I've never heard of before. You have me stumped, I can't imagine where those lost vertices went as your process sounds perfectly fine. Are you absolutely sure BEFORE export that your vertices count is the same? My first thought is, again, the export scripts doing strange things as it likes to do now and then when we don't appease it with pagan rituals.
I know the NifTools guys would cringe if they read this and berate me for still using this antiquated process so this is what I'm going to recommend...well, two things actually..

 

1) Feel free to PM me, and attach your .blend models (both 0 and 1). I can test and see if I get the same results, or perhaps see if I can find the oversight causing the lost verts.

2) Update to the latest Blender - 2.72 I believe. There is an updated NifScripts that work on any version over 2.6x, that is actively being developed and can now handle exporting of Skyrim nifs properly, including partitions, weights, rigging. I believe the only thing it can't do at the moment is work with animations. Read the user documentation here on how to install.
I have not yet tried this myself, so I won't be able to help you with a workflow. It's on my ToDo list and this entire tutorial will be rewritten when I do.
 

[Hellpig]

Hi, thanks for the reply, I actually just took the nif and put it into the game, and it worked fine. So i guess thats just one of the many things about skyrim modding that has no answer, haha.

 

I will take a look at the new Blender though, that does look helpful.

[Charlatan]

Charlatan;

Well that's something I've never heard of before. You... *cut*

 

Thanks for the offer ! I am a bit busy currently but I will come back to the PM offer in time gladly

 

For Blender 2.72: Ah damnit, so the time has come to get used to the new Blender interface I suppose. I have stalled it as long as possible, I think the new one is too similar to 3DSMAX which I am allergic to.

[hanz00]

Hi Hanaisse,

I hope you've been doing well,

First, I would like to thank you for your amazing tutorial, it has guide and help so many people on the internet (like myself). Thank you for your hardwork

However i'm sorry for my incompetence, because it seems like i'm stuck in step 4,

So my trouble is when after I imported the armor mesh into blender, the mesh is in T-Pose not A-pose like in the tutorial...

Is it okay to just continuing with the next step or should i change it to A-pose (which I don't know how)  

 

Thank you again Hanaisse and i'm sorry for the trouble

[Hanaisse]

Hi hanz00! Welcome to TESA. Thanks for the kind words.

 

I'm guessing you're trying to convert some armour from another game? (Oblivion I know uses the T-pose) Just don't release your mod to others! That's a no-no.

You cannot continue on until you've edited the mesh to fit the Skyrim body. Do a google search for Blender tutorials on how to edit meshes. There's a ton of them out there.

 

Good luck!

[hanz00]

Hi hanz00! Welcome to TESA. Thanks for the kind words.

 

I'm guessing you're trying to convert some armour from another game? (Oblivion I know uses the T-pose) Just don't release your mod to others! That's a no-no.

You cannot continue on until you've edited the mesh to fit the Skyrim body. Do a google search for Blender tutorials on how to edit meshes. There's a ton of them out there.

 

Good luck!

 

Thank you  for the warm welcome Hanaisse

Yupp lol, don't worry it's only for private use

Now that's where i'm having trouble at, i can't seem to find any tutorial about turning a mesh into A-pose.. the only thing i found is a tutorial on how to pose a model with .mhx extension (MakeHuman) and that include bones

 

P.s I use blender 2.49b to import the nif but used v 2.73a to edit the mesh with, is that ok?

thanks Hanaisse

Edited February 5, 2015 by hanz00

[hanz00]

Update 1:
 
I think i found the tutorial  
but it seems it didn't work out

(*only the bones changed, the mesh stays the same)
 
I'm sorry for troubling you Hana
 
P.s i use Growlf's Oblivion Universal Skeleton Nif for the skeleton since i don't have Oblivion in my laptop

Edited February 5, 2015 by Hanaisse
Removed link.

[Hanaisse]

I was suggesting you search for Blender Basic tutorials on editing meshes, but you've found the 3rd party converter tool.

Moving this discussion into PM's as it's no longer relevant to my tutorial.

[hanz00]

I was suggesting you search for Blender Basic tutorials on editing meshes, but you've found the 3rd party converter tool.

Moving this discussion into PM's as it's no longer relevant to my tutorial.

Oops, sorry about that Hana

[ANTCJudgment]

Hi Hana,

 

you may remember me from above, I had that hard drive crash. Suffice to say, I didn't recover my data, and only now am getting back into Skyrim modding. I managed to sort out that previous issue that I was having, but I have run into a new one in the process. Now, whenever I export my mesh from Blender, I get 4 skin partitions (2 BP_TORSOs instead of one) instead of the expected 3 (BP_TORSO, BP_RIGHTARM and BP_LEFTLEG). I noticed a pretty old posting from you on some other site about this exact same problem way back in 2012, and over there you talked about a specific "workflow" that fixes this problem. Could you please elaborate on what exactly that was?

 

Thanks for all the help and guidance so far. Really, I wouldn't have gotten into modding if it were not for this guide, so thank you for that.

[Hanaisse]

Hi ANTC, welcome back! Sorry about the losses but happy to see you haven't given up.

 

Hmm, I don't recall this old post you mention but there's a simple solution to your issue. It's the same problem Hellpig had and I'm giving you the same answer.

Either option works.

[ANTCJudgment]

Oh, thanks! Apparently I wasn't looking hard enough on this thread itself. I'll try this and let you know the result.

[fenderracing]

i need help when i'm on import nif and i click ok i get this on the console
Blender NIF Scripts 2.5.4 (running on Blender 249, PyFFI 2.1.4)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Apps\Blender\.blender\scripts\bpymodules\nif_common.py", line 1227, i
n gui_button_event
self.gui_exit()
File "C:\Apps\Blender\.blender\scripts\bpymodules\nif_common.py", line 1579, i
n gui_exit
self.callback(**self.config)
File "C:\Apps\Blender\.blender\scripts\import\import_nif.py", line 3749, in co
nfig_callback
importer = NifImport(**config)
File "C:\Apps\Blender\.blender\scripts\import\import_nif.py", line 166, in __i
nit__
niffile = open(self.filename, "rb"
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'C:\\Apps\\Blender\\import.nif'

 

i followed this install tutorial http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Installation_of_Blender, and been trying to do this for 4 days please help

[Hanaisse]

Hmm. First of all you're installing outdated programs according to that first line. Uninstall everything you've installed so far and go to this page to get the latest requirements.

 

In the Installation section, there are links to download Python 2.6.6, Blender 2.49b, PyFFI 2.1.11 and the Blender Nif Scripts 2.5.9. Install all four in that order and try again. If you're still having trouble we can continue troubleshooting from there.

[Sangheili15]

I am having trouble, where would MaleBody_0 be found? I've tried searching it in Meshes, but only armor shows up. No animals either! Also, do you know how to get nifconvert?