[Tut] Nifscope

[The_Coyote]

it´s like mechaerik wrote, as long a bone is affected by an animation in most cases changing the position in nifscope will do nothing, the animation will reset your changes.

the trick is not to link this part of the mesh to the bone in the target nif but to add a new bone [with different name] to this target node as child and link the part of the model to this new node [simply rename the bone in the source nif before your copy the mesh (and don´t save after you changed the name )]. The position, rotation, scale of this new node can be changed to fix your problem nad because the new bone is still a child of the 'old' target bone it´s also affected by the animation of this bone

 

[Tholish]

I did look at your tutorial, which seemed pretty good. It mostly talked about how to make an animation, but not how the unit knows which animation to use for a given action. For instance, if I wanted to make Axemen able to Chop, how would I make the attack animation serve for that worker action?

 

[Ekmek]

I did look at your tutorial, which seemed pretty good. It mostly talked about how to make an animation, but not how the unit knows which animation to use for a given action. For instance, if I wanted to make Axemen able to Chop, how would I make the attack animation serve for that worker action?

if you only wnat them to chop you can just add it to the worker nif - but if you want it to fight and chop wood you'll need to add the animation

 

[The_Coyote]

your problem it´s not covered here because it can´t be done in nifscope - you will need the kfm editor: the changes must be done there,

for every different work animations there are fixed event codes und there must be added to / are in the kfm [check the worker.kfm] with the info which kf which should be used for this [if there is none for a action the unit can perform they should use a 'standard' one - no idea which will it in this case - or none], to allow the unit to chop is done in the xml

eg in your case, the event codes are [in this brackets is the number of frames for this sequence recommend in the worker flowchart]: start chop(1059 [15]) - chop (1060 [20-60]) - end chop_rest(1061 [60-120]). Now you could use fortify for start chop, fight for chop, chop_rest - not sure, perhaps fortify idle or also an attack] and add entries for the chop event codes with links to this animations to the axeman.kfm.

 

[mechaerik]

KonverterFM has the event codes and allows you to modify the kfm's references to the kf files.

 

[ambrox62]

A quick question:
I learned how to flip UV (select mesh->select NiTriShapeData->select UV Sets->click rx->Mesh->Flip UV)
Is there also a way (or a workaround) to scale it (proportionally reduce/enlarge)? It might be a useful tool to collapse several dds into a single one, or to make room into a full dds.

 

[The_Coyote]

not an option i know so far, you can edit the UV [RMB NiTriShape -> texture -> edit UV (be sure that not teamcolour.bmp is the base map - the base map texture is used as background)], but there i dont´know a way to scale or rotate, only to move the points. For easy jobs it´s enough, for more 'complicate' ones i use blender

 

[esvath]

I hope there is no penalty for ressurecting a tutorial thread

I have a probem. I tried to attach a glowing effect (as in greatprophet.dds IIRC) to a mage staff. I did it in nifscope. I planted the effect in BIP keshikweapon and the preview looks good. The glow stay right in front of the staff, just the way I like it.

But when I play the game, the glow is not in front of the staff. Instead it fall several mm from the right place. What should I do to attach it properly? And will the glow moves when the staff moves as per the animation?

Thanks!

 

[The_Coyote]

can you please attach your nif, it´s much easier to say what you tried and what went wrong if i can see it

edit: to clarify things, the glowing of the great person is an attachable (placeholder node and attachable name is: Attachable_Prophet_Highlight), to add the glow to another unit you must add the attachable there and activate it (via adding a placeholder node in the nif and adding the entry to the attachable node in the nif). Sometimes the visibility is controlled with a NiVisController (changing the boolean value in the animation files). And btw, the prophet glow is not really centered considering the placeholder node

Also to have the glow effect in front of your unit, you must have the placeholder node in the tree (considering the order if you expand the children of the master node) below the unit, eg in the regular great person you must move the entire BIP under the mesh of the Great Person

edit2: i fear this is not really understandable without knowing what to do

 

[Manifold]

After my first skin work, i now started to change a weapon with nifskope. I read a tutorial and fit the new weapon in the unit nif. There it lay on ground. So i moved it with Translation and Rotation in position. Also i checked how to delete the old weapon, but i cannot get the new weapon on the position of the old weapon in the tree

What should i do to get "56" to "28"? Or is this the wrong question? Thanks in advance!

 

[mechaerik]

Paste the NiTriShapes into the NiNode "Warrior Club".

 

[Manifold]

Did it Thanks

 

[The_Coyote]

just for info (because it´s good to know): if you look again in the tutorial (page 6), you will see the children array - there you can change the children of a node (in your case you hade to change the child of node 26)

 

[esvath]

Hello, I am back with new problem

I am reskinning this wonderful amazon horse archer. After done with the reskinning, I want to delete the horse, and leave the amazon intact. I did itu successfully. The problem is, I couldn't find any animation compatible with this.

I open another nif, delete the model (and leave the nodes intact), then copy the amazon model into it. I succeed. But when I use the new nif in a game, the model didn't show up at all!

Would please, someone help me : a) find a proper animation or b) make the model works?

Thanks.

(the models are attached).

 

[The_Coyote]

copied the model in the ancient spy nif (it looked like you wanted to use the animation). No exact idea why your try did not worked, but if you compare your version with a vanilla nif you will see a lot of differences.

Also your model was already bone transplanted in the horsearcher nif. If you look at the bip you can see that to every bip node of the ride a second node with the same name exists (this can´t be done if you use nifscope - it´s a result of a bone transplantion with sceneviewer), the model itself is rigged to the transplanted nodes. If you look at the forearms you see that this have a changed position compared to the forearm node of the normal skeleton. At least this nodes have also to be transplanted in the target nif before you copy the mesh (with changed unique names before you copy them).

working with custom units as base is sometimes a bit tricky - first you have to understand what was done and afterwards you can do what you want

 

[SaibotLieh]

Hello, I am back with new problem

I am reskinning this wonderful amazon horse archer. After done with the reskinning, I want to delete the horse, and leave the amazon intact. I did itu successfully. The problem is, I couldn't find any animation compatible with this.

I open another nif, delete the model (and leave the nodes intact), then copy the amazon model into it. I succeed. But when I use the new nif in a game, the model didn't show up at all!

Would please, someone help me : a) find a proper animation or b) make the model works?

Thanks.

(the models are attached).

copied the model in the ancient spy nif (it looked like you wanted to use the animation). No exact idea why your try did not worked, but if you compare your version with a vanilla nif you will see a lot of differences.

Also your model was already bone transplanted in the horsearcher nif. If you look at the bip you can see that to every bip node of the ride a second node with the same name exists (this can´t be done if you use nifscope - it´s a result of a bone transplantion with sceneviewer), the model itself is rigged to the transplanted nodes. If you look at the forearms you see that this have a changed position compared to the forearm node of the normal skeleton. At least this nodes have also to be transplanted in the target nif before you copy the mesh (with changed unique names before you copy them).

working with custom units as base is sometimes a bit tricky - first you have to understand what was done and afterwards you can do what you want

Changing the position of the node was the essential thing I had to do to make the my units look feminine. Practially all my units have the modern spy model as basis, so to undo my rigging with the nodes they'll have to be switched with the female spy nodes.
The horsed archer btw might not be fitting for use without the horse. The skirt I added drapes nicely down the side of the horse, but I'm pretty certain that it won't look right when used for a foot-based unit. The normal amazon archer is supposed to wear the same type of skirt, maybe this unit is better suited for your modifications.

 

[esvath]

Wow! It works! Thanks, The_Coyote. Is there any tutorials about rigging and making animations?

@SaibotLieh
The head is prettier in the horse archer version ;p

 

[esvath]

Oh yeah, the problem with my original ancientspy is that she was buried under the land-portion of the screen. Thus, she was not showing up.

I tried to rotate her but the results were unsatisfactory. I couldn't make her stand up right in game screen. After trying for about two hours, I gave up

 

[SaibotLieh]

The head is prettier in the horse archer version ;p

If it is only about the head I could switch them for you if you like. It's pretty easy for me now.

 

[esvath]

If it is only about the head I could switch them for you if you like. It's pretty easy for me now.

Oh yesssss... pleassssee... b