NifSkope (by NifTools Devs)

[z929669]

Just providing a pointer to the NifTools site. I have been playing around with NifSkope in order to "fix" some of the "issues" I am assuming exist in the Soul Gems Differ meshes. I noticed that they have some decent documentation, but it is a bit outdated.

We generally need to collect relevant info on modding tools and resources, so I thought we could create the threads with pointers under this forum category and begin to share knowledge about these tools and resources .. this might also help to formulate bridges among the disparate modding-related communities out there.

Standard release and documentation --> NifTools - NifSkope | PyFFI | NifLib

New Alpha release (recommended)

 

NifTools IRC

 

AFK Dev Thread

[Neovalen]

Have had NIFScope for awhile now.... unfortunately to fix some issues I'm having I'd have to learn blender as well. Ug.

[z929669]

Have had NIFScope for awhile now.... unfortunately to fix some issues I'm having I'd have to learn blender as well. Ug.

Neither is for sissies :P

[statmonster]

To be able to use all three of Cabal's Glass textures and his ESPs with a custom mesh the key is to use NifSkope to replace the BSLighterShadingProperty of the mesh you want to use with the BSLighterShadingProperty pointing to the texture you want to use from another mesh. (Note the BSLighterShadingProperty's should point to a texture compatible with that mesh.)

 

1. Install aMidianborn Glass Variants or Lore versions using MO and install the mesh you want to use (such as the Female UNP Armor BBP meshes in SR).

2. Download and install NifSkope (https://sourceforge.net/projects/niftools/files/nifskope/) version 1.1.0

3. Navigate to the mesh you want to modify to use a different texture: For example ...\skyrim\Mod Organizer\mods\UNP Female Armors\meshes\armor\glass\f) and right click on cuirass_0.nif, select "Open with" and select NifSkope.exe. (Or just open if you have already associated .nif with NijSkope.). Reduce this window to 1/4 of your screen and stick it in the upper right. Below I call this the Target Nif.

4. Click Render > Settings > Add Folder > Choose a Folder > Folder and type in "F:\Games\Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\Mod Organizer\mods\aMidianBorn Book of Silence". (Replace F:\Games with the appropriate path for your Steam install.)

5. Click Render > Settings > Add Folder > Choose a Folder > Folder and type in "F:\Games\Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\Mod Organizer\mods\aMidianBorn Glass Armor". (Replace F:\Games with the appropriate path for your Steam install.)

6. Repeat as above to add any other textures you want to look at in NifSkope. (You can actually do this without being able to see the textures but it's easier and more reassuring to see them.)

7. Check "Look for Alternatives".

8. Open the mesh containing the texture you want to use on the above mesh. For example ...\skyrim\Mod Organizer\mods\aMidianBorn Glass Armor (Variants)\meshes\armor\Glassvariants\MWV\f\cuirass_0.nif. Reduce this window to 1/4 of your screen and stick it in the upper left. Below I call this the Source Nif.

9. Click on the 0 NiNode in the top left pane of Target Nif and the Source Nif. Make sure in the lower pane the text name (Curuiss_0.nif in this case) is the same for the Target Nif and the Source Nif. (In my case they were.) If it is not click the txt button in the Target Nif and edit the name in the poppup window so they are the same.

10. Click on the picture of the armor in the Target Nif. This will cause a blue highlighted line NiTriShape to appear in the left pane. (Clicking on the picture makes sure you get the right NiTriShape.)

11. Click on the triangle to the left of the NiTriShape expanding the text underneath.

12. Click on BSLighterShadingProperty - highlighting it.

13. Hit Ctrl Delete on your keyboard. (You've just blown away the target's link to its texture.)

14. Click on the picture of the armor in the Source Nif. This will cause a blue highlighted line NiTriShape to appear in the left pane.

15. Click on the triangle to the left of the NiTriShape expanding the text underneath.

16. Click on BSLighterShadingProperty - highlighting it.

17. Hit Ctrl C (You have added the Source texture to your clipboard.)

18. Click anywhere in the left pane of the Target Nif.

19. Hit Ctrl V (The source's texture will appear at the bottom of the left pane.)

20. Click on the NiTriShape in the Target Nif you had selected before.

21. Go to the lower pane and scroll all the way to the bottom. Click on the arrow to the left of properties.

22. Find a property below that has "none" for value. Double Click on "none" and edit to to have the number of the BSLighterShadingProperty at the very bottom of the left hand pane. (In my case it's 35). Hit enter.

23. In windows Explorer create a new set of folders and sub-folder folder in ...\skyrim\Mod Organizer\mods called \MODNAME\meshes\Armor\Glassvariants\MWV\f. (Replace MODNAME with whatever you want to call your mod.)

24. In the Target Nif click File > Save As then type in cuirass_0.nif. Close both .nifs.

25. Repeat 3 and 8-24 for cuirass_1.nif.

26. Repeat 3 and 8-24 for Thalmor instead of MWV.

27. Place your new mod lower down in MO's order than the other two you were working with. Open MO, activate your new mod and try it out in game.

 

To install Nifskope see Nightasy's tutorials especially 04, 05, 14 & 15:

 

He has lots of cool tutorials on working with armor - very good intro.

[statmonster]

Note that the actual code pointing to your texture is in BSSahderTextureSet, which you can see if you click on the little triangle to the left of BSLighterShaderProperty in the left pane of NifSkope. If you click on BSShaderTextureSet and click on the triangle to the left of Textures in the bottom pane you will see a bunch of strings in the Value column pointing to the textures your mesh uses.

 

It might be easier to directly edit these lines but I'm not sure if that would carry over all the data you want from the source.

[Iroha]

very interesting post, will track it:)

[z929669]

FYI,

 

Please see this thread. I'd like to merge this into that.

[statmonster]

FYI,

 

Please see this thread. I'd like to merge this into that.

Fine by me (if it matters). A couple of points:

 

1. I don't think your link goes where you are intending. It goes to a Mod Form setup page - that I have no idea how to use if I'm supposed to. 

This is the "Mod" form. To create a page with this form, enter the page name below; if a page with that name already exists, you will be sent to a form to edit that page. 

2. I am by no means an expert in this - others who know more about this topic probably have better ways to do this. In particular it might be better to directly edit the BSShaderTextureSet properties, though I am unsure if this can have unforeseen negative consequences when interacting with 3DS Max and its export errors.

[z929669]

Woops! I pasted the wrong link

 

Here is the proper link ... and I also corrected my previous ;)

[GrantSP]

Is it possible to select a texture from a *.nif and then export that texture?

 

I've found a spelling error in one of the vanilla meshes and went looking for it in the textures BSAs only to realise it was actually a mesh!

I'm fairly sure the mistake isn't intentional, ie. a spelling error to reflect the post-apocalyptic world. It is the poster for the Gourmand restaurant in the Ultra-Luxe Casino, restaurant is spelled: restaurnt

 

You can, if you are so inclined, check it by examining the formID 0017262e.

[TechAngel85]

When you load a mesh in Nifskope the texture isn't loaded with it. At least I've never seen it do that before. You have to load the texture manually. You can find the texture path for which the mesh uses though.

[z929669]

NifSkope searches for textures along a defined texture path ... game folder by default, so if using MO, be sure to set up MO to launch NifScope and it should work.

 

When loading meshes in NifSkope with texture paths correctly defined, you will see the NIFs with textures on them ... whatever is in the game folders. Pretty cool.

 

EDIT: I am pretty sure that you pick the texture path using the Resource Files link under File > Resource Files and/or also Render > Settings > Rendering (tab) ... I have never launced via MO, and it looks like we need to define a path to MO's virtual directory if possible. Otherwise, launching via MO does not seem to pass the virtual skyrim/Data path ... I wonder if DY or anyone else has experience with NifSkope via MO?

 

EDIT2: I was able to get textures loaded from BSA by setting the resource path manually under File > Resource Files (this is from Skyrim - Textures.bsa), but I am unable to allocate texture paths (to get custom textures) under Render > Settings > Rendering (tab) ... NifSkope does not autodetect my Skyrim ... not sure why. I even moved aMB Blade of woe meshes/textures folders under skyrim/Data to test if MO VD was the issue, but still no textures (but works with BSA assets).

 

Always worked before ... ?

[TechAngel85]

Ah, I never run it through MO. When I use Nifskope it's always to do some minor work that doesn't require the texture to be loaded. Good know to load it through MO, for future reference.

[zilav]

New version also reads textures from BSA archives (you need to add them in options) and has much better rendering for Skyrim like support for parallax and environment mapping.

https://github.com/jonwd7/nifskope/releases

[z929669]

please see edits to my previous ... I am dumbfounded.

[z929669]

UPDATE: The new Alpha pre 2 version works flawlessly with regard to getting textures from the MO virtual directory. You need run NifSkope from MO and then go to ...

Options > Settings > Resources > Paths

and let it autodetect your game directory (which will supply paths to all mod assets from the MO VD) and then let it autodetect your archives ...

Options > Settings > Resources > Archives

... done.

 

You will get all of your custom mod assets as well as any vanilla stuff that is not modded (I assume that resource prioritization adheres to game rules as managed by MO, and testing seems to indicate as much).

 

The interface is also much better in the Alpha version.

 

The devs have done an awesome job!