NifSkope for Mac

[sedna17]

NifSkope, which allows you to view and modify the models Civ uses for buildings/units/etc. can now be compiled and run on Mac OS X. I don't have a lot of experience actually using it to do modifications, so it is possible there are still bugs to actually using it, but this is a useful step forward.

I've posted versions of NifSkope (1.0.18) compiled for Intel and PPC at https://ssl.rapidshare.com/cgi-bin/collectorszone.cgi?savedfiles=1&forbiddenfiles=0. The download also contains a README file with some sketched out notes about the compile procedure if you'd rather compile it yourself. Let me know if anything doesn't work for you.

 

[Flintlock1415]

you may need this for nifskope to run; its Sedna's library. Put it in /opt/local/lib and it *should* work. (it fixed my problem)

And thanks again for the wonderful job!

 

[BTSformac]

download link appears to be broken. I think it timed out.

as it seems us three are the only mac users interested in modding, and since you two already have it, it may have been a long time since it has been downloaded.

 

[Flintlock1415]

I put it up on the file database here. Make sure you go through the readme file before starting the program. (I took the liberty of adding the part about the libpng file.)

 

[sedna17]

Thanks for re-uploading this Flintlock. For reference, the PowerPPC program no longer works for me (possibly related to a system upgrade), so it's clearly somehow rather fragile. If anyone really needs or wants this, I can attempt to compile a new version working, but I assume most people who ever want this will be on an Intel mac.

 

[Flintlock1415]

No problem. That sucks that it stopped working for you, though. Just curious, what are you running, Tiger or Leopard? I've got An intel iMac running Tiger, still working well (save for the occasional crash.)

Also, I find it odd that there isn't an undo function, but thats just a minor annoyance.
I just want to thank you again for doing this; I've put it to good use, and I hope others will soon be able to say the same!

 

[iggymnrr]

I was able to get NifSkope running via MacPorts on an intel iMac. Getting MacPorts running was a little tricky and looking at what it installed I see an installation of Python. Hmmm. I just did the blender tutorial and so now have 3 installs of Python (Leopard comes with one.) Myeh. I also see a "niftools" folder with "blender" and "pyffi" folders inside. Don't know this all means but everything is working... for what its worth.

 

[iggymnrr]

I'm finally getting around to working with Nifskope and need a verification of what I should be seeing when I open a .nif file. I'm running it on Leopard on a pentium iMac and when I open Nifskope and everything seems to be working fine. It was compiled through Macports and version appears to be 20.0.0.5. The library mentioned above is also in the correct directory (auto installed by Macports.) However, when I load a nif everything seems to be in order (menu functions work etc.) except the image is in black and white. Some nifs open with, say parts of the leader in color (jewelery) but mostly they are black and white. To all appearances its like there is some assets/texture directories its not finding. I unpacked all the fpk files maintaining the same directory structure (.i.e. folders: "assets0", "assets1" etc.) So what should I be seeing when I open a nif?

 

[sedna17]

You need to tell Nifskope where to look for textures.

Under Preferences go to the "rendering" tab and hit "add folder" type in ./ (because civ texture are typically in the same folder as the model).

 

[iggymnrr]

Thx. Never occurred to me to use the ./ trick. In comparing vanilla to warlords, is there any reason not to combine all 4 artpaks so that a given leaderheads stuff is all in one folder?

 

[Flintlock1415]

I'd leave everything where it is; it could be possible, but I wouldn't take the chance of completely screwing up. (You could make a copy of everything and put that in one folder, though.)

 

[j51]

Um, what exactly is "opt/local/lib"?

 

[AlanH]

/opt/local/lib/ is an invisible folder at the top level of your startup disk that is normally created when you use MacPorts to install Unix software on your Mac.

 

[j51]

Thanks! How do I go about doing that?

 

[AlanH]

Viewing or editing invisible folders? Use the Finder menu option Go->Go to Folder ..., and enter the folder path /opt/local/lib, and then you will see the contents of that folder. Or you can just enter /opt and you can navigate to subfolders as usual.

 

[Flintlock1415]

Maybe this will help?

 

[AlanH]

Ah! Not even an invisible directory, then!

 

[Flintlock1415]

Yea, I was confused when you were saying invisible, lol.

 

[AlanH]

Since I avoid MacPorts and its friends like the plague*, I don't have one to look at. I seemed to recall that it was invisible, like a lot of Unix-derived directories, and that was reinforced by the fact that the OP didn't seem to know how to get there.

* I have actually had a real case where installing some piece of *nix software rearranged my OS X path variables, and some apps could no longer find basic utilities like cd and ls!

 

[j51]

Hmmm... the /opt does not seem to exist on my mac. I'm using 10.5.8 if that helps.