[WIP] Worm's TESA Resource Contribution Project

[worm82075]

Hello all,

Well, after a nearly year long hiatus from the community I have returned with renewed fevor. I started with a small addon to my Solitude home and next thing i know I'm making a huge trophy room with 33 maniquins, wall space for every weapon in game and a library with 624 book capacity. This room requires a few things and after i started making them (had no plans of sharing them before i started) I found myself back at BSF. I decided the best thing to do was share the things I'm making for my own personal use with the rest of the community.

Currently I am not working so I have lots of time on my hands but that will likely change after the holidays. Since I can't always be around to maintain my files i thought it best to donate them to TESA. Also i'm making this thread here because it would be lost in obsurity at BSF, plus I want some feedback from individuals that are interested in this sort of thing(not many over there).

What I'm making:

1}Invisible Weapon Wall Racks---99% complete

These are designed to be weapon specific(though they don't have to be)

The set will be complete with:

• Place holder mesh(visable),
  
• 2 versions of the invisable rack so no matter which way you orient the handle, single egde blades can have their cutting edge oriented the way you want.
  
• image archive of in game orientation for every playable weapon in the game(104, IIRC)(sample) so you can get them just right with minimal trips back and forth between the game and the kit,
  
• Collision-less bolt/peg that can be placed under each weapon for a truly authentic look with no clipping through the weapon(if each rack is desiginated a specific weapon).
  

I have used the vanilla weapon floor rack for this set and have altered the orientation of the mace, to be upright and the bow to be vertical(paralell to the rack).

Note:Some of the vanilla weapons need to be fixed to work properly with weapon racks. The only weapon I was unable to get working is the woodcutter's axe. I will NOT be redistributing these fixes. I will however supply a list of fixes necessary and instructions on how to do it yourself using NifScope.

2}3D Alphabet Models---60% Complete

These will be collision-less and will include one of each character of the Daedric, Dwemeri, Falmer, Mage Script and Gaelic(only the most common charcters) fonts for use as book shelf and weapon display labels(and whatever else modder's can think of).

Each one will have several different materials available, each model will range between 250-850 polys and I plan to use vanilla textures for all of them.

Daedric A

I'm using the Skyrim TT fonts that were released by fmoritz to get the base shape of each character and the back side of each model is hollow so UV mapping is just a one click process easier.

Currently planned sets:

Gaelic(Skyrim Book Font)---100% complete default texture is gold (gold01.dds)

Pic 1 2 3

Daedric---100% complete Default texture is dark stone(architecture\skyhaventemple\skyhavenfloor01.dds)

Pic 1 2 3

Dwemeri, Falmer, Mage Script A-Z

3}Full Scale Static Models/Statues and Desktop Sized Statues Clutter---5% Complete

I plan to turn every statue in the vanilla game into a clutter object. I would also like to do one of each type of dragon but for this i will require some assistance posing them. If anyone has any information on how to do this (don't know if it's even possible) please tell me.

Update 1:

I have shifted my plans on this a bit. Using the loading menu meshes I will get my pre-posed dragons and then some. I can't help myself, i have to do them all.

I will make three versions of each mesh;

1. Full scale hi-res static. (one or more of these will make great showroom center pieces)
   
2. Full scale low-res static.(later on re-textures can make these look like stone statues)
   
3. 1/10th scale low-res clutter.
   

Some of the models, 6-7 of them are still rigged(will have to figure out how to remove the rigging without losing the pose) and will be denoted in the following list with an asterisk(*).

Along with making clutter objects from the statues and models, I will also be modifying them for more creative usage in show rooms. Such as Azura without her star, races without weapons, etc. Besides variants with object display in mind I'm also thinking on several aesthetic variants, like Mara minus the offering bowl. Also I will be removing the bases when possible and providing several platforms for pairing with them.(I tried to find a suitable vanilla mesh but there are NONE)

List of planned meshes

Alduin + Wall-----------Model: Hi = 21439 tri ----- Lo =

Argonian----------------Model: Hi = 14457 tri ----- Lo =

Azura--------------------Statue: Hi = 2254 tri ------ Lo =

Brown Bear-------------Model: Hi = 5704 tri ------ Lo =

Bothiah-----------------Statue: Hi = 3629 tri ------- Lo =

Breton Female*-------Model: Hi = 12937 tri ----- Lo =

Bronze Dragon--------Model: Hi = 13416 tri ----- Lo =

Churus------------------Model: Hi = 7497 tri ------ Lo =

Clavicus Vile-----------Statue: Hi = 3372 tri ------ Lo =

Cow----------------------Model: Hi = 4578 tri ------ Lo =

Dark Elf Male*----------Model: Hi = 9956 tri ----- Lo =

Deer---------------------Model: Hi = 4266 tri ------ Lo =

Dibella-------------------Statue: Hi = 1194 tri ----- Lo =

Dog----------------------Model: Hi = 5920 tri ----- Lo =

Dragon Preist----------Model: Hi = 8100 tri ----- Lo =

Draugr Female--------Model: Hi = 15974 tri ----- Lo =

Draugr Male------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Dwarven Armor---------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Dwarven Spider--------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Dwemer Sphere

Centurian 1-------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Dwemer Sphere

Centurian 2-------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Dwemer Steam

Centurian 1-------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Dwemer Steam

Centurian 2-------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Empire Logo------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Eysgramor--------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Falmer King------------Statue: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Falmer 1----------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Falmer 2----------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Frost Atronach--------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Frostbite Spider-------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Frost Dragon-----------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Giant---------------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Hagraven---------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

High Elf male*----------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Horker-------------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Horse and Rider-------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Horse--------------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Imperial Female*------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Kajiit Female-----------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Mage--------------------Statue: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Malacath---------------Statue: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Mammoth--------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Mara--------------------Statue: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Mask Alter--------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Meridia-----------------Statue: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

MudCrab---------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Namira------------------Statue: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Nocturnal---------------Statue: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Nord Male*-------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Odahviing--------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Orc Male*--------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Redgaurd Male*------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Sabre Cat-------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Skeever----------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Skeleton---------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Slaughterfish----------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Spriggan---------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Swamp Dragon-------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Talos--------------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Troll Cave--------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Troll Ice ----------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Troll Ice Feeding-----Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Werewolf---------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Wolf 1-------------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Wolf 2-------------------Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

Wood Elf Female*----Model: Hi = tri ----- Lo =

I will update this post with my progress on these items, any additional details, new items and/ or changes in the roadmap. Thanks for reading and any input you may have.

[Hanaisse]

Hi Worm!

Glad to see you aboard. As you know I'm already very interested in this and happy to see your contributions. They look fantastic. And I'll be sure to help keep you on track.

The new idea of the desk size statues is wonderful, a fantastic clutter item everyone will want. I'm honestly not sure how to pose items but there is a tool to convert the animation files (hkx) to a format Blender will see (kf) so you could play with that. (search for ConvertUI on Nexus, I don't have the link handy)

Have a

[InsanitySorrow]

Searching for ConvertUI brings up no results, instead it's named convert-xml-hkx-kf.

Link

[worm82075]

Hmmm, I have had zero luck with Blender 2.49b so i am using 2.65. As far as i can tell you don't need any animations to manipulate the character armature in Blender. I may just import the dragon shape and follow a tutorial for creating a skeleton from scratch. Then I'll just manually pose the skeleton(as if i were making an animation) and just export the resulting shape.

I don't know, none of this may even be possible but i'll cross that bridge when i get to it. Thanks for your replys and Merry Christmas.

[donnato]

Ok, I tried to import the Skyrim dragon.nif to blender 2.49 with the "import skeleton only + parent selected" button ticked. Failed with the usual "Python script error" popup. In the console the last listing stated... Value error: string too long <0x00010000 at 0x0000003A> . Sorry

[grond]

Don did you prepare the nif for importing?

[donnato]

Nope, just ripped it out by the roots..

[InsanitySorrow]

You have to prep the NIF before importing:

1. In the NiHeader edit the values - User Version to 11, User Version 2 - 37 or 34
   
2. Remove BSBoneLODExtraData
   
3. Remove BSBound
   
4. Remove ALL collision nodes, including the capsules
   
5. Save NIF, Nifskope will ask if it has a corrupt NIF tree, don't worry about that.
   
6. Import into Blender 2.49b using Nifscripts
   

[worm82075]

It worked, mostly. The armature didn't retain any parentage, and a few bones are missing but at least it saved me a lot of work creating it from scratch. Thanks IS.

It's fubar'd. Not working properly at all because the shape and the skeleton both have undeletable data which ties one to the other but aren't connected. When i get to this I'll be throwing away all of the original rigging and doing it from scratch.

[Hanaisse]

Have you tried importing them seperately?

Start with a dragon mesh, delete the skeleton, import dragon mesh again but only with "import skeleton only and parent selected" (making sure the original dragon is selected).

I find trying to work with a skeleton that comes with a mesh on import to be wonky at best so redo the rigging anyway.

[worm82075]

Yeah, i tried it several ways, worked on it for the better part of 6 hrs. The biggest issue with trying to mate the two together is the fact the skeleton is 1/10 the size of the shape. No matter which one I resize to the other when attempting to wieght the verts they revert to their original size regardless of any attempts to 'apply' translation. I've decided that it will be less time consuming to just build the armature from scratch(which can be much simpler than the existing skeleton since it's just for posing) and doing so at the size the shape imports at will allow a quick swap and pose of each type.

[Hanaisse]

Erm, the dragon and the existing skeleton import just fine. In fact, you don't even need to do what I said above, it's perfectly pose-able as is. You weren't trying to import an actual skeleton.nif were you?

Anyway, the biggest issue you're going to face is scaling and reducing poly count to a decent level. I don't want 10k poly clutter items sitting on my bookshelves, please. But, finish your other projects and worry about this later.

[worm82075]

You weren't trying to import an actual skeleton.nif were you?

Yeah, that's exactly what i did. I don't know what i'm doing at all when it comes to importing rigged models so ya i'll get to that later using a step by step guide.

I'm thinking I would like to do two resolutions of the creature statues(yep, now thinking others besides dragons). One at full res and static for life size and another at 25-35% for the clutter object. I was just thinking how awesome it would be to have a life size alduin statue in my showroom.

In other news I restarted the gealic font set because i just wasn't happy with the resolution.

I do have a better work flow going now, I'm using project from view to unwrap so all i have to do is strech the sides out from the edge. Takes about 10-15 min from start to export now.

[Hanaisse]

Looking good.

[worm82075]

You know, a lot of people are going to be using these in their mods and to have 20 copies of them in your data folder seems...unreasonable. You know what we need for things like this is an ESM similar to COBL. Much like COBL I could see lots of things in this esm along with these letters such as the collection of books from previous games, ingriedents from previous games, etc. I'd like to take it one step further though and have a library statics and tilesets too.

Thoughts?

[worm82075]

The gaelic set is complete and game ready. There are 70 characters in the set.

I'm in the process of adding the gaelic set to the CK and it would appear that alternate texture sets can only be applied to base objects. If i want my letters to have 5 different textures then i have to make 350 base objects. Am I doing something wrong here?

[Hanaisse]

Are you creating them just to test? Create base objects with one texture applied then create all other textures as texture sets.

If you have the meshes and textures done, that's all that's needed for the Kit. Being a resource, people can put them in the CK themselves, choosing just what they need rather than having a dependant esp that you've already applied to the CK.

[worm82075]

I am first and formost creating these for myself so yes i am adding them to an esp. Found lots of errors that needed fixing too so it's good that i did anyway. I will likely use them in other projects besides my proudspire addon and i certainly don't want to add 500 objects to an esp in one sitting, more than once. Even if no one else is interested I will have a common library in my load order with all of my standalone assets in it. If I ever release any mods such as homes or dungeons then the common libray(SkyCAL) will be a requirement. I will of course release the models alone(they use vanilla textures) as a resource as promised.

[worm82075]

Here's an update.

The gaelic font set is complete - 74 meshes with a default texture of gold

http://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/gallery/image/24193-gaelic-alphabet-01/

http://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/gallery/image/24194-gaelic-alphabet-02/

http://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/gallery/image/24195-gaelic-alphabet-03/

The Daedric font set is complete - 26 meshes with a default texture of dark stone

http://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/gallery/image/24190-daedric-alphabet-01/

http://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/gallery/image/24191-daedric-alphabet-02/

http://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/gallery/image/24192-daedric-alphabet-03/

Anybody have any ideas what might be causing the artifacts on my meshes. could it be from setting all vertex colors to white. i tried to leave them off but they would just appear black in the CK so I updated the array and turned them all white.

[Hanaisse]

These look awesome, Worm!

You need a for all that.

(personally, I would just turn vertex colours off and make sure you remove the option from Shader Flags 2)