Vampire Lord - New wings cause visual bugs

[Hopper25]

Hello everyone,

 

I must say I do enjoy mods that change Vampire Lord's appearance. The new wings by Grimoa are definitely one of my absolute favourites. Sadly, the new wings come with a visual bug that makes the vampire lord turn black instead of disintegrating when using the Bats power as in the vanilla game. Using the Mist Form power, on the other hand, turns him semi-transparent.

 

I have searched the Nexus thoroughly and found that one modder, that I sadly have no contact with, was able to resolve the issue via Nifskope but was unwillimg to share it unless the author of the mod gave him permission, which unfortunately never happened since she is away from nexus now...

 

Here is what I gathered from his findings:

 

i fixed the problem myself and redid all meshes, and the problem was in the NiControllerManager linking some sequences wrong which in return returned nil once the SubGraph command was trying to set a float on them which is a blend float, changing the blend properties of a NiAlphaProperty inside the .nif file

 

He even sent one user a more-less etailed instructions on how to achieve that:

 

What you need to do to fix the files is deleting the NiAlphaProperty from one NiTriShape by selecting Remove and then deleting the leftover node called BSNiAlphaPropertyTestRefController by selecting Remove Branch, repeat those steps for the NiControllerManager, after you did that open the original nif files of the vampire lord (Armor or Body) and expand a NiTriShape, highlight the the NiAlphaProperty and in the lower part were it says "Name", click on the txt sign and give the node a name, after that copy this NiAlphaProperty to every NiTriShape in the moded file (The Property should be expandable with some sub nodes, the eyes don't have those subnodes, so no changes are needed for the eyes), after that do the same thing for the NiControllerManager, just copy it over and it should be fixed. The only problem i had was doing those steps for the vampire lord king armor since the structure is kinda different so i took the normal naked bodys Alpha Propertys and controller manager and copied those over.

 

I have tried following the instructions myself, but, unfortunately in-game there was no real change. The only thing I did achieve was making the membrane from the VL'wings disappear.

 

I would be very grateful if anyone familiar with Nifskope enough helped me to resolve the issue. Surely, I could kinda go on without the fix, however, being a modder it bugs me that despite all the information that bug still remains unfixed...

 

Thank You in advance for any assistance.

[Hana]

Looks like the modder is aware of the issue and never attempted to determine the cause or fix it even.

 

If it's just a wings replacer then it should be set up exactly the same as the original. The easiest thing to do would be to open two instances of Nifskope. Load the DG vamp lord in one, and this new mesh in another. Then go through it block by block, line by line with a fine tooth comb. Make sure each line is the same as the original and each branch is set up the same. Manually make any changes to values required.

 

This way you know you've gone through it thoroughly rather than some confusing instructions of delete this, copy/paste that (seriously, those instructions make no sense).

 

If this doesn't fix the issue, then there's something deeper going on.

[Hopper25]

Well, the thing is it is not just a replacer. It expands the main VL's body where the wings are situated, adding some extra bones and it also adds and extra body part, that is a membrane...

[Hana]

Ahhh, you're going to make me download it, aren't you?

Right, so, what we have here are two archives; one is a change to vanilla, one is a new concept armor. They certainly are replacers, meant to replace the existing assets as opposed to a standalone new assets set. What they've done is basically removed the membrane from the armor meshes and added it to the basic body meshes and expanded them a bit. None of them have any new bones.

I've gone through and compared them to the originals and found some interesting findings so far. Since I cannot redistribute someone else's assets, I can only explain what's wrong and how to fix it. Feel free to share a link to this thread with anyone else with the issue. Fixing the issues requires an advanced knowledge of Nifskope and understanding of animated meshes but I'll try to be as detailed as possible. Prepare for wall of text...

[Hana]

I'll start with the VANILLA ARMOR archive (see below for the the "new" armor).

 

vampirelord.nif

- has new NiTriShape for the 'membrane' on the wings
- everything else is the same

Issues;

1) The new NiTriShape is named the same as the existing - VampireLordBody - that's a nono, surprised it works at all without CTDs. Needs to be added and renamed in Strings.

  - go to Header
  - find line Num Strings and increase the value by 1
  - find line Strings and click the double green arrows to add the new entry
  - expand the Strings block, scroll down to the bottom blank entry, double click in the value column and name it, oh I dunno, VampireLordWings
  - now go back to the Block List, highlight the NiTriShape that is for the wings
  - in the block details, find the top line Name and click on the Txt
  - in the popup box, scroll down to find our new name VampireLordWings, click on that and click ok

2) New mesh doesn't play proper animation at all

  - Expand NiControllerManager branch
  - Highlight on NiDefaultAVObjectPalette. Here we can see the issue;
    - the original has 63 Objs - 60 bones, plus the root NiNode, plus 2 NiTriShape = 63
    - the new says it has 63 Objs BUT - 60 bones, plus the root NiNode, only 1 NiTriShape for eyes = 62

      - The existing NiTriShape VampireLordBody has an entry in Objs list, but missing its # so not showing
        up in the list of Objs
        - Expand Objs
        - Find the entry for VampireLordBody (should be 6 or 7 up from the bottom of the list), expand it
        - In AV Object add the NiTriShape # (30)

      - Need an additional entry for the new NiTriShape (after its name is changed)
        - Change Num Objs to 64 and click green arrows
        - A new blank Objs branch is added to the bottom of the list, expand it
        - Add the NiTriShape number (23) of VampireLordWings in AV Object
        - In the Name field type the exact name VampireLordWings

Now we've fixed the animation, but the new 'wings membrane' is not included. We need to go deeper.

  - Expand the block NiControllerManager
  - Expand the first NiControllerSequence named PartA
  - in the Block Details find the line Num Controlled Blocks and change that to 2
  - on the line Controlled Blocks, click the double green arrows then expand the block
  - There should now be 2 Controlled Blocks entries, one named VampireLordBody and one blank
  - Expand both blocks and we'll now fill in the blank entry by copying how the first one is set up
    - Interpolator - enter 5
    - Controller - enter 7
    - Priority leave blank
    - Node Name - we now have string entries so click on Txt and select our new VampireLordWings
    - Property Type - click on Txt and select the fourth entry (string 4) NiAlphaProperty
    - Controller Type - click on Txt and select the fifth entry (string 5) BSNiAlphaPropertyTestRefController

  - Do the same for the 2nd NiControllerSequence named PartB
    - note the differences; Interpolator is now 11

Getting closer..

  - Expand the NiTriShape branches for the wings and the body
  - Under the wings branch, highlight the NiAlphaProperty, right click > Block > Remove Branch
  - Highlight the NiTriShape block for the wings, go down to BSProperties and expand it
  - In the now blank second entry, enter the same number of the NiAlphaProperty under the body NiTriShape
     THIS IS IMPORTANT for it to be the same! DO NOT COPY/PASTE THE NIALPHAPROPERTY!

The vampirelord.nif now animates properly in Nifskope. Whether this has any change in game and/or fixes the issues people are having I don't know. Someone will have to test it as I won't.
 
3) NiTriShapes for 'body' and 'wings' - under NiTriShapeData, change from CT_Mutable to CT_Static (this bugs me to no end)


vampirelordarmor.nif

- all they've done is removed the membrane that used to be here and moved it to the vampirelord.nif, this should be fine, animation works


vampirelordfemale.nif

- has new NiTriShape for the 'membrane' on the wings
- everything else is the same

Issues;

1) The new NiTriShape is named the same as the existing - FemaleBase - that's a nono. Needs to be added and renamed in Strings.
  - Follow above instructions under vampirelord.nif

2) New mesh plays animation but does not include the new 'wings membrane'
   - Follow above instructions under vampirelord.nif. Yes, everything in point 2.

3) This body is partitioned different than the male version, with 2 partitions - forearms (for the wings) and body (for the body) ... the new mesh has only 1 partition for the body that includes everything. Whether that's going to make a difference or not who knows but it is absolutely not fixable in Nifskope.

4) NiTriShapes for 'body' and 'wings' - under NiTriShapeData, change from CT_Mutable to CT_Static

 

vampirelordfemalebasearmor.nif

- all they've done is removed the membrane that used to be here and moved it to the vampirelordfemale.nif, this should be fine, animation works


vampirelordfemalequeenarmor.nif

- all they've done is removed the membrane that used to be here, this should be fine, animation works


vampirelordkingarmor.nif

- all they've done is removed the membrane that used to be here, this should be fine, animation works

[Hana]

(new armor instructions to come)

[Hopper25]

I did all the points step by step and the Vampire Lord now disappears properly. Amazing!

 

During Mist Form the membrane is still a tiny bit visible but just berely. Probably just a texture thing.

 

However, even though the body disappears as it should, both the regular and King's armors are still visible just like the body previously. The only difference between them is that the King's cape also seems to disappear properly, while the pants, spine and crown parts are still visible.

[Hana]

Ok, good, thanks for testing.

 

Are you using vanilla or the 'new' armor?

[Hopper25]

For now just the vanilla one

[Hopper25]

Hello Hana,

 

How are you?

[Hana]

Lol, good Got sidetracked but should be looking at this stuff over the weekend sometime.

[Hopper25]

Thank You, actually just wanted to know how you are

Wondered if you would know why the wing membrane texture is still semi-visibl when using the Mist power. It disappears completely when using the Bats power... Could that be the texture not saved properly?