HOW TO: Import/modify/export LH

[Ekmek]

Guys, how come when I merge my new model (freshly exported out of blender) with the old model/animation, and I replace the old body mesh with the new one, the new body sort of flips sideways and warps considerably ?

what leader head are you using?

are you pasting the node in sceneroot?

screenshot?

 

[kevinman4404]

Oh, I didn't realize blender messes with the format. Instead of having to copy over just the mesh, I had to copy over everything starting two nodes up (unlike in this tutorial).

It is crashing when I choose the leader in-game, I have no clue what to do with it, if you have any suggestions, and if it's not too hijacking, please let me know

(it's a modified cochise head on a george washington body without the little tufty thing on his chest, and will later be retextured... the leader I'm making is Alexander McGillivray)

 

[Ekmek]

you need to deleton the skeleton of GW and export to nifjust the parts you need. then go new and import cochise then import the GW with no bones. then rig or join it. see my blender guide thread.

 

[kevinman4404]

Alright, thank you. But I am using Washington's animation. Would the process still be the same as what you wrote?

 

[Ekmek]

if you want adam's head on washington's body with wash's animation, that may cause major distortion because there are so many bones in the face. try pasting adams on to washington's skeleton in nifskope to see if it distorts. and please post these question in my blender guide thread. i dont want to hijack and the info here is old:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=267233

 

[Deon]

I have this problem: I've added a new "object" and when I exported it from 3ds max it's shown as a separate branch:

Spoiler :

What should I do so the new body and the helmet are the same branch?

 

[Flintlock1415]

It doesn't have to be one branch; it actually can be better anyway so you can assign it to a different texture source.

 

[Deon]

I was trying to follow the tutorial step-by-step (total newbie at leaderheads so please be patient ) and what should I do to import ALL parts from my exported-non-animated nif to the original one? This tutorial suggests to replace Children but I can do it with just a single NiTriStrips?

Also somehow by simple replacement of the body I've got teeth "floating in the air", could you join the #civfanatics chat channel please?

 

[Deon]

P.S. Sorry for the double post, it's in case you've read my previous ******** message and gave up (I've edited it already). I've managed to replace "main body", but what to do with "attachments", how to import them from unanimated NIF to animated and attach to the "main" body?

 

[Flintlock1415]

Just copy them to the same parent as the body, and as long as they are weighted properly, it should work.
Screenshots are also helpful.

 

[Deon]

Here we go:

Spoiler :

1) I open my modified nif and copy the branch:

2) I paste the branch and it appears under NiNode:

3) I open NiNode and find Children object for body:

4) I replace the number so the original body swaps with the imported:

5) I delete the unneeded branch:

6) In the game the teeth and eyeshades are animated (they float) but the body stands still:

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

So basically I've replaced the body but it lost animations. What do I do wrong?

Also where and how to put other brancher from the "clothed" file (with helmet) in the original NIF?

 

[Flintlock1415]

The body should be a child of 0NiNode.

If you still have problems, let me see the nif.

 

[Deon]

Image 3-4: replace 307 with 313 (child of 0NiNode). What's wrong there?

There's something wrong with these 2 values:

Spoiler :

Because imported body has just 1 instead of 2 there:

Spoiler :

When I replace the numbers for the new body with the numbers for the old body there for both values I get a nicely animated leaderhead however this replacement "lowers" the body so I recieve normal eyes and mouth animated in the air and the body animated underneath (it's translated down via the vertical axle).

P.S. I've managed to "fix" the translation by manual movement the body up and forth, however is there a way to automatically adjust the body position for the previous one?

 

[Deon]

I've spent some time in Blender (I decided to try it and to switch to it since it's coded in python) and I've modeled my leaderhead, but when I tried to export it (followed all instructions, LH is based on Gandhi) I've got a Python Error: something about "need more than 1 value to unpack",
here's the console log of the error:

It's a bit sad because I've spent a lot of time trying to solve it, but no avail.
I was going to finish this ghoul today (texture is a placeholder):

 

[Flintlock1415]

Wierd, I've never seen that one before. There has been some problems with the newer scripts lately, but I'd ask about this at this forum.

They will likely know what is wrong, and probably can fix it better than anyone here.

 

[Deon]

Thank you. It looks like I've broken some bones (poor Gandhi, everybody is hitting him ) but now I redid it and it works. First Citizen Linnette is my next try.

 

[Deon]

A question: in tutorial in the edited file the branch is called NiTriShape, but in my case it's called NiTriStrips. What's the difference?

 

[Flintlock1415]

I don't really remember, but NiTriStrips is just a stripified version of NiTriShape. They are similar, but one is more efficient than the other. (I'm sure someone else knows more, but don't worry too much about it.

 

[Deon]

I ask because I followed this tutorial step-by-step when I got Blender but when I replace my body mesh with a modified mesh it doesn't take skin instance from the original mesh, and if I apply it manually the model is stretched and twisted...

 

[Deon]

I will try to be more specific. I encounter 2 kinds of a problem

1) When my exported file has no Skin Instance, and when I replace original body mesh with mine, the skin instance remains on the OLD mesh, so attached new mesh has no skin instance (the field is empty). If I manually change the skin instance to the old one, it twists the model and in game it looks like a thousand of separated triangles.

2) I can export NIF from blender with skin instance etc, but it crashes the game (I use defaut export settings for Niftools CIV4 format). When I try to place the mesh on original one and apply old skin instance again it twists the model and breaks it in triangles.

P.S. I think I could miss something with import/export.

These are the settings:
Import:

Spoiler :

I am quite worried about "combine multi-material shapes" by default, won't it screw i.e. body + glasses combining it in one object?

Export:

Spoiler :

What is wrong there?