Unit requests thread

[ChaosSlayer]

Oh thank you so much for showing me this! I don't think I saw this trick in any other tutorials.
I can now fix my other units that show up completely transparent instead of team color.

...And here on new question =)
I found this Middle Eastern machine gunner, which is apparently European guy with a new head attached on top. My question is - how do I remove the new head, to get the old guy back? =)
I tried simply deleting new head but them it refuses to texture the old head.
Once again thank you so much!

 

[clanky4]

Oh thank you so much for showing me this! I don't think I saw this trick in any other tutorials.
I can now fix my other units that show up completely transparent instead of team color.

...And here on new question =)
I found this Middle Eastern machine gunner, which is apparently European guy with a new head attached on top. My question is - how do I remove the new head, to get the old guy back? =)
I tried simply deleting new head but them it refuses to texture the old head.
Once again thank you so much!

No problem

The BIP Head node's scale is 0.1

Which means that the vertices that are linked with it, in this case the european guy's head, will only be 1/10th of their ordinary scale. Setting BIP Head's scale back to 1 should fix it.

 

[ChaosSlayer]

No problem

The BIP Head node's scale is 0.1

Which means that the vertices that are linked with it, in this case the european guy's head, will only be 1/10th of their ordinary scale. Setting BIP Head's scale back to 1 should fix it.

I got it working all nicely Thank you so much!
I will try to do some more head removals on my own


Here is another more complicated question (for me that is). I have this Asian Maceman, and I would like to have a pikeman based on his texture. So if I am correct you take maceman texture and wrap it around default pikeman? (like you have nicely done before!) Question is how to do that? I am looking for a step by step guide so I can learn to do this on my own =)
Thanks again!

 

[clanky4]

I got it working all nicely Thank you so much!
I will try to do some more head removals on my own


Here is another more complicated question (for me that is). I have this Asian Maceman, and I would like to have a pikeman based on his texture. So if I am correct you take maceman texture and wrap it around default pikeman? (like you have nicely done before!) Question is how to do that? I am looking for a step by step guide so I can learn to do this on my own =)
Thanks again!

Its always good to hear I helped remove someone's head

Sounds like a nif swap. Where you take one unit's mesh or weapon or whatever and put it(i know there is a more official term for it) onto another unit's rig or armature or skeleton.

Enclosed Instruction Book

Spoiler :

1.) Copy all the textures your going to need from both units and paste them into the folder for the new unit


2.) Open up the nif files for the units your nifswapping (the unit your getting the mesh from and the unit you want to put the mesh onto). Select the unit mesh you want on the new skeleton(maceman), right click it, go down to the Block submenu, and click Copy Branch


3.) In the pikeman file click on the other unit mesh to expand the Block List. Right Click on the MD NonAccum node and select Paste Branch, in the Blocks submenu.


4.) This particular mesh NiSkinInstance data for a bone that the pikeman skeleton does not have



4.5) Thus we will have to go back to the maceman file, click on the unit, expand the NiSkinInstance tree and find and rename the Shield Bone node to a bone that is nearby. (its on his right arm so I renamed it BIP L Forearm)


5.) Now that the bone name all match lets try copying the mesh over again. Right click the unit, select Copy Branch in the Block submenu


6.) In the Pikeman file Right click the MD NonAccum node, click Paste Branch in the Block submenu


7.) the Unit should appear about where the existing one is. Unless it is totally incompatible with the skeleton


8.) Remove the original unit(pikeman), Right click the mesh, and select Remove Branch in the Block submenu


9.) Save and your done


This next part isn't necessary but it allows you to see how the unit will move, and more importantly if it will work right with the new skeleton.


10.) Click the Spells tab, the Animation submenu, and finally the Attach .KF



11.) the window will open up in whatever folder the nif is in. Navigate to the folder in which you have the corresponding kfs for the unit and select one.


12.) the Kf works normally. the unit should be fine in game.

 

[ChaosSlayer]

Thank you so much for making this guide! I will get right down to it as soon as I get home tonight

 

[Kathy]

I am looking for an early submarine modell (but not as early as the Drebbel-Submarine I made once). Does anyone know an existing model or can create a one that could be used as CSS Hunley or another early industrial age submarine?

 

[ChaosSlayer]

Clanky4, your guide is amazing and got the unit working
Thank you again for all the help!
I shall now try to do some more conversions, but if I brake something I will run back for help

 

[ChaosSlayer]

And I am back with more questions
I am trying to attach a hat to this unit. I have aligned the hat perfectly in the niskope but in game it still ends up sitting in the middle of a unit.
Looking for an advise how to resolve this, or how to properly attach new "parts" to units (like new heads for example)

Thank You!

 

[clanky4]

The hat isn't attached to any of the armature's bones. So it will not move with the skeleton. It will just sit static in whatever position its in. There are two ways to fix it. Either assign the hat's vertices to one of the bones, or put the hat inside of a bone.

Enclosed Instruction Book

Spoiler :

1.) Note that the Unit's mesh has a NiSkinInstance node but that the hat's mesh does not. This means that the Unit's mesh will move with the skeleton but the hat won't


2.) Right click the hat's mesh and select Block, Copy Branch


3.) Right click on BIP Head in the unit's armature and select Block, Paste Branch


4.) Right click the newly pasted Hat and select Transform, Edit


5.) Adjust the Translation and Rotation as such to get the hat in its proper position.


6.) Remove the old hat by right clicking it and selecting Block, Remove Branch

7.) Save and your done

 

[ChaosSlayer]

Ahh I was suspecting this - I was experimenting trying to attach it to a different spot but could never get it quite right. Thank you again for guiding me

 

[ChaosSlayer]

Ok I got another weird case. trying to re-texture a horseman, and the new guy doesn't want to sit on his horse. Rechecked it and redone it 3 times.

There are 3 nif files inside:
horseman.nif - the original unit I want to re-texture
swordsman_japan.nif - the original unit I am taking texture from.

horseman2.nif - the NEW guy I am trying to create and rides UNDER his horse for some reason.... (in game that is)

Could you please take a look?

 

[clanky4]

Ok I got another weird case. trying to re-texture a horseman, and the new guy doesn't want to sit on his horse. Rechecked it and redone it 3 times.

There are 3 nif files inside:
horseman.nif - the original unit I want to re-texture
swordsman_japan.nif - the original unit I am taking texture from.

horseman2.nif - the NEW guy I am trying to create and rides UNDER his horse for some reason.... (in game that is)

Could you please take a look?

I rather dislike these weird hierarchy units. Their simple existence confuses me. For this type of a nifswap you have to make sure that the rider your adding, in this case the asian swordsman, is in the same place as the existing rider. Try copying the swordsman and pasting him into the nif that still has the original rider. Position the swordsman as close to literally inside of the original rider as possible before deleting the original rider.

I found that a good position was 0,0,70

 

[ChaosSlayer]

Not sure what you mean by hierarchy units, but I will try adjusting the coordinates as you say
Thanks again!

 

[ChaosSlayer]

I got a new problem for today .

1. I have this horseman (knight animation) which suppose to have a normal wooden shield - but its shiny pink instead - and I can't seem to get rid of it.

2. my new pikeman suppose to have shiny armor - but doesn't. Tried giving him gloss map texture - but it become pink in game.

Looking for some advise how to fix these

Thank you very much

 

[clanky4]

I got a new problem for today .

1. I have this horseman (knight animation) which suppose to have a normal wooden shield - but its shiny pink instead - and I can't seem to get rid of it.

1.) Click on the shield.
2.) The shield's parent should be Knight_Sheild
3.) Remove the Environment Light node, it should be a child node of Knight_Sheild

Shiny issues are generally caused by Environment Light nodes being used with incompatible meshes.

2. my new pikeman suppose to have shiny armor - but doesn't. Tried giving him gloss map texture - but it become pink in game.

Looking for some advise how to fix these

Thank you very much

I'm not sure how to do this. I only know about getting rid of the shiny affects, not adding them.

 

[SaibotLieh]

2. my new pikeman suppose to have shiny armor - but doesn't. Tried giving him gloss map texture - but it become pink in game.

Like you will have to remove the Environment Light node for the wooden shield you will have to add an Environment Light node to add the "shinyness". You can copy&paste one of these nodes from a unit that already has one.

The node needs to be a child (not an effect!) of the Scene Root node and an effect (not child) of a parent node of the mesh which shall be shiny.

For example, if you look at your Asian horseman, the Scene Root node (5) had the Environment Light node (71) as child. The Knight_Sheild node (63) had the same Environment Light node as effect and is a parent node of the Shield mesh (Editable Mesh@#0 (64)).

 

[ChaosSlayer]

Thank You very much guys! I will get right to it!

UPDATE:

Ok shield work went fine

Armor not so much - the unit still just glossy pink

 

[SaibotLieh]

Thank You very much guys! I will get right to it!

UPDATE:

Ok shield work went fine

Armor not so much - the unit still just glossy pink

First thing I found is that you put in "chinese_swordsman128gloss", but it needs to be "chinese_swordsman128gloss.dds".

Second, the Environment Light node is still an Effect to the Scene Root node. If you leave it like this, there will also be a glossy effect to the shadow of the unit which will look rather strange.

Thirds, you will need to make the exact same Environment Light node an Effect of the parent node of the unit mesh. Copy&paste does not work, since now you have the node with the number 74 as a Child for the Scene Root node and a copy of that node with the number 72 as an Effect for the "MD NonAccum" node.

Forth, I do not know if it will work correctly using the "MD NonAccum" as parent node you add the Environment Light node as Effect to. I think you will need to create an additional NiNode between the "MD NonAccum" node and the "Editable Poly@#1" mesh node that will have the Environment Light node as Effect.

Sorry this sound complicated, but in fact it is rather easy, just hard to make sound easy.

 

[ChaosSlayer]

OK I have managed to achieve 2 effects:
In first case (with Environment Light) entire units shines
In 2nd case - only armor shines, but it is still very very bright like he is radioactive =)

 

[SaibotLieh]

OK I have managed to achieve 2 effects:
In first case (with Environment Light) entire units shines
In 2nd case - only armor shines, but it is still very very bright like he is radioactive =)

You should be able to get version one working doing this:

Spoiler :

For version two you added a glow effect instead of a gloss effect. You need to do something like this if you want to create a shader unit, but not for a non-shader unit.