Working with Nifskope

[Daeris]

Hi

 

I want to remove the beams from a ceiling piece in Riften;  "riffmsmsecondmid01"   This is a mid ceiling piece which has beams in the shape of a cross beneath it.  It's these beams I want to remove.

 

What I've done;

 

1) Followed the tutorials on this site to export from skyrim to blender and back again.

 

2) Went into NifSkope and removed the branches I'm supposed to, e.g. collision branches etc

 

3) Saved as a new nif.

 

4) Downloaded Blender 24.9, Python, PyffI, Blender Nif Scripts 2.5.8, NifConvert, Chunkmerge and NIfUtilsSuite.

 

5) Imported new nif into Blender and straight out again as an .obj

 

6) Imported into Zbrush to pinch the beams away and exported as an .obj

 

7) Imported into Blender 2.49 and exported , selecting "Morrowind" (as it said on tutorial) and saved as a nif on my desktop

 

8) Ran the nifconvert.exe.  Set the first box to point to my new nif.  Set the second box to save to desktop with new name.  Set the third box to a folder where I keep all the Skyrim BSAs and pointed to the orignal ceiling mesh (riffmsmsecondmid01) Set the fourth box to the TESV.exe in the Skyrim folder.

 

9) Worked once, since then the nif convert crashes and gives me "TODO: <File description> has stopped working

 

10) Loaded the nif 'as is' into nifskope and the tree is a mess.  No collision data, and instead of there being two surfaces which can be retextured there is only one.

 

11) Trying to replace mesh in original nif using a 3ds export from Blender, instead of a nif.

 

12) Have successfully replaced the mesh but the tree and texture details are still wrong.  There is still only one texture surface, and I don't know how to change the NiTexturingProperty branches to BSLightingShaderProperty branches under the appropriate NiTriShape branch. 

 

 

Any help, pointing out where I'm going wrong, if my file pathways are horrible etc, is welcome

 

Dae

Edited August 15, 2014 by Daeris

[Tamira]

Use this tutorial to prepare your Skyrim nif for the import to Blender:

http://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/tutorials/article/123-3d-craftworks-importing-assets-into-blender/

 

Remove the NiTriShapes that you don't need so only a single NiTriShape remains.

Remove the Collision and the BSLightingShaderproperty. Save under a new name.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Aok4DriePsqTPqXVYRkFdvvaJFz2-0h-4j1klvvreaM?feat=directlink

Import it to Blender. Go into edit mode. Use the B button to create bounds around the part you want to be removed:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/E5WijVYki6jlyvJiMrERd_vaJFz2-0h-4j1klvvreaM?feat=directlink

Then click DEL to delete the selected vertices. If making a bound box is not possible you have to remove the vertices in small selections.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/0tKFlff-D92WoKBhV8P1JPvaJFz2-0h-4j1klvvreaM?feat=directlink

Scale up to x 10 (hit S and 10, then click LMB) as the export settings export it at 1/10 resized.

Go back to Object mode, highlight and export as 3ds file.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/42ZxkMOlo9_pii4bgU6ej_vaJFz2-0h-4j1klvvreaM?feat=directlink

Load your original nif in Nifskope. Highlight the mesh (=NiTriShape) that you want replaced and choose -> import 3ds, select your previously stored 3ds file and it will replace the old NiTriShape.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/DUAcloS4Ewh4GUgWrQZ9C_vaJFz2-0h-4j1klvvreaM?feat=directlink

Now you only have to remove the parts of the beams that have remained, like this:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/YpTEGoVzyAnQT1ye96iG4_vaJFz2-0h-4j1klvvreaM?feat=directlink

 

Save under a new name.

 

If you know how to add textures and materials in Blender ( I do not really),  you can export directly as Fallout nif, and then use NifConvert to Skyrim format and you have your piece as a Skyrim nif, from where you can copy the NiTriShape to your original and delete the old one.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Tamira

[Daeris]

I've nearly got it.  I've replaced the mesh successfully but the new mesh hasn't got a texture.  I think my Nifskope list isn't right.  My tree looks like this;

 

0 BSFadeNode

     1BSXFlags

     6hkCollisionObject

     7NiTriShape (Replaced Mesh)                   

          8 NiTriShapeData

          15NiMaterialProperty                    None

     11 NiShape

9 BSLightingShaderProperty

    10 BSShaderTextureSet

 

It's exactly what I wanted to do, except it has no texture in Nifskope, any ideas?  I'm sure that "NiMaterialProperty" needs to go and it needs a LightingShader there instead, but it's not, it's at the bottom of the list! I really appreciate your help and guide, it's made it sooo much easier.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Daeris

[Tamira]

I've nearly got it.  I've replaced the mesh successfully but it's not got a texture.  I think my Nifskope list isn't right.  My tree looks like this;

 

0 BSFadeNode

     1BSXFlags

     6hkCollisionObject

     7NiTriShape (Replaced Mesh)                   

          8 NiTriShapeData

          15NiMaterialProperty                    None

     11 NiShape

9 BSLightingShaderProperty

    10 BSShaderTextureSet

 

It's exactly what I wanted to do, except it has no texture in Nif, any ideas?  I really appreciate your guide, it's made it sooo much easier

You must have missed a step or mistaken something.

Where does the NiMaterialProperty come from? Did you texture it in Blender or what? If you export it as 3ds file this is not needed.

Did you use the original Nif for the import of the 3ds file? The 3ds will only replace the NiTriShapeData and keep the BSLightingShaderProperty, at least it does in my test nif.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zivcdkekcttuwsh/NEWrifrmsmsecondmid01.nif

I have not tested it in the game but it should work.

[Daeris]

I've no idea where NiMaterialProperty came from!  I took everything out, double checked against your images to make sure, and no texturing in Blender, but I probably did something somewhere as a lot of the interfaces are new to me. 

 

I can't say how much I appreciate your help though, thank you very much.  Maybe I'll figure out the last step when I'm not tired at the end of a long day!

 

Again thank you very much.

[Tamira]

Did you make sure you used the original Skyrim file as basic object, not any of your previously created test nifs?

[Daeris]

Yeah, I knew it was the original I was supposed to use because your image had the beams on and showed me how to remove them.    I really don't know what I did.  I opened the original, removed everything except the one triShape, renamed and imported into Blender.  It took me a little while to get rid of the vertices but I did, using B select and delete.  Then back into object mode, highlighted the mesh and exported as 3ds.  I'll do it again in a bit, see if I get the right result.

[Tamira]

You can still copy the original BSLightingShaderProperty from the original Nif to that NiTriShape (and remove the NiMaterialProperty of course).

 

On another note: After removing the beams there will still remain the original collision for these. If this is a problem, you can run your nif through NifUtils/ChunkMerge and let it create a new collision for the new nif.