Need help getting started Skyrim player home

[Badwolflabs]

Im planning on doing a Kajjit player home behind Whiterun but i need help sorting out the building assets

 

using a Blender > Nif export > Niftools > creation kit workflow does anybody have hints on where known working tools can be found (nif export destroys the mesh and im just doing floor tiles!)

 

 

 

[Hana]

Since you're using 2.77, first of all start here for the latest niftools plugin; here Remember, these are alpha development plugins and subject to a few hiccups (why I still use blender 2.49 lol).

Import/export of static objects should work just fine. Ensure all the nif shader info is filled in on each object. The documentation should be helpful.

Once you have it exported, it may require some minor clean up in NifSkope. Latest dev build of NifSkope can be found here.

Before you leave Blender you'll want to think about your collision mesh. I have no workflow for creating real collision in Blender, I use NifUtilsSuite for the job.  so I only create the skeletal structure. There's a straightforward tutorial for it here.

Once you've added your collision to your mesh, drop it in an appropriate folder in your Data folder and create a new static record in the CK pointing to it.

Voila.

Was there more details you were looking for?

[Badwolflabs]

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5398233/leoncairn/ctile.blend is the current blend (i have yet to start doing the nif options could you confirm the correct ones??)

 

will work with what you gave me shortly (time to go shopping)

 

 

[edit] 

 

already looked at most of that i do have an issue that the pics in the tutoiral are all 404d

 

 

just to confirm if i have A building tile template i can use it for ALL my building tiles correct??

 

 

oh and do i have to use a scale factor when i do the export??

[Hana]

That link didn't work for a download, it opened up the actual file I think, full of garbled text.

 

Anyway, let me get this straight .... you want to build your own tileset for your house? Hmm. I don't like to discourage people from trying things but in this case I strongly suggest you don't. You're leading down a road of months of work and headaches for very little reward. There's plenty of vanilla assets you can use and/or modify by either editing the existing mesh or sometimes just a retexture gives it a new look. Or, you could also use other modder's resources. For example, this farmhouse kit is one I'm currently using for a mod I'm working on.

 

That said, if you'd like to make you own, good luck. Not sure what you mean by a tile template. To build a tileset you basically need to build the entire house and cut it up into sections, as far as I know.

[Badwolflabs]

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5398233/leoncairn/ctile.7z <---- same file now 7zipped

 

 

the problem with existing sets i i need a complete set of 2 sided assets ( floor , side wall , corner wall , roof corner , roof side)   im planning on using the same assets for the interior and exterior (with some texture swaps)

 

do you know the correct nif settings for Skyrim and the correct scale?? (wanting to match a blender 4.2 meter with a Skyrim 4.2 meter)

 

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5398233/leoncairn/leoncairn.7z <---- partially setup blend file and a WIP tile (it does not show up when i import into the CK)

[Hana]

Oh I see, so a house that's open to the exterior, with no load door to the interior? Ok, I would still suggest you build everything at once, in one or two pieces, and not try to make it a tileset. Tilesets rely heavily on translation coordinates for exact snap-to placement.

 

I've looked at your files, here's some (hopefully) helpful info.

 

The standard settings would be; Bottom of Object panel (under Niftools Object Panel);

nif version: 20.2.0.7
user version: 12
user version 2: 83

Nif Root Node should be BSFadeNode
Always need a BSXFlags: 130
Consistency Flag: Static
Object Flag: 14


shader flags 1 - always Specular, Recieve Shadows, Cast Shadows, Own Emit, Remappable Textures, ZBuffer Test
shader flags 2 - always ZBuffer Write, EnvMap Light Fade (Vertex Colors if you've used it)

(I wish they would just make this default)
Everything else is optional and depends on the look you want to achieve. These can be added/changed in Nifskope.

Other fairly standard options include; In the Material panel;

Glossiness: 80 (hardness)
Specular Str 1.0 (spec intensity)
Lighting Effect 1 0.3
Lighting Effect 2 2.0
Again, all this can be changed in Nifskope.

Looking at your .nif, looks like you missed several shader flags so you should fix that up in Nifskope. Your collision is way off, it just looks like 2 planes inside your floor tile and it also doesn't completely cover it. For something this small I just usually use a copy of the exact same mesh for the collision mesh.

 

As for scale ... umm, not sure. You could always import a vanilla farmhouse to use as a reference.

[Badwolflabs]

Oh I see, so a house that's open to the exterior, with no load door to the interior? Ok, I would still suggest you build everything at once, in one or two pieces, and not try to make it a tileset. Tilesets rely heavily on translation coordinates for exact snap-to placement...

Other fairly standard options include; In the Material panel;

Glossiness: 80 (hardness)

Specular Str 1.0 (spec intensity)

Lighting Effect 1 0.3

Lighting Effect 2 2.0

Again, all this can be changed in Nifskope.

Looking at your .nif, looks like you missed several shader flags so you should fix that up in Nifskope. Your collision is way off, it just looks like 2 planes inside your floor tile and it also doesn't completely cover it. For something this small I just usually use a copy of the exact same mesh for the collision mesh.

 

okay i used nifutilssuite (btw is there a newer than nearly 3 years old version??) to add the collison mesh (chunkmerge) and i did use a copy to build the collision mesh.

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5398233/leoncairn/ctile.nif is my current trial tile could i get some details on the flags (im having an issue where the tile is invisible if there is anything behind it problem.

[Hana]

Ok, a few things to clean up..

Shader Flags;
-remove SF2 vertex colors flag - only req'd if your model does in fact use vertex colors as indicated in the NiTriShapeData branch - Vertex Colors Y/N. If these two settings don't match, your mesh will show as black.
-add zbuffer_test to SF1


Missing a normal map texture (probably causing the invisibility issues)

Collision looks good now however there's no material set
- expand bhkCollisionObject to reach the bhkCompressedMeshShapeData
- find Chunk Materials in block details
- expand, double click in the value field of Skyrim Material, use the drop down list to find the material you want


The BSXFlags is improper and not connected to the node, was this added afterward or exported like this?
- under the BSFadeNode, change Num Extra Data List to 1
- click on the double green arrows on the line below Extra Data List
- now expand Extra Data List
- input the line number of the BSXFlags


Now that we've connected it we need to adjust its settings, but first we need to move it. BSXFlags should always be the second line in the heirarchy.
- highlight the line BSXFlags, hold CTRL and use the UP Arrow until the line number reaches 1, that's where we want it (you'll see all the lines shift as the line number changes, don't panic), also don't worry that it's still listed at the bottom, it'll fix itself if you save and reload

- with BSXFlags still highlighted look in the Block Details and click the little flag
- check Enable Collision and accept
- double click the value field beside the flag and input 130
- click on txt on the line above, select BSX from the list to change it's name... bad things happen if this branch is not named properly


Now it should be good to go.

[Badwolflabs]

okay i think i have a useable tile now. a bit of a suggestion in the next revision could you please have a presaved shard that has all this setup before hand??

[Badwolflabs]

i went ahead and whipped up some very basic tiles for the set (lots of cheating all the geo is the same tile)

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5398233/leoncairn/liontiles.7z

 

 

just did some play testing and im falling through the tiles debug help please??

[Hana]

The meshes are mostly fine, just a couple of things;

 

liontile.nif - missing normal map
liontileWL.nif - BSXFlags misnamed must be BSX, missing normal maps
lionWLCnr.nif - BSXFlags misnamed must be BSX, missing normal maps

 

Once I fixed those I tested all the tiles in game and everything works good.

[Badwolflabs]

The meshes are mostly fine, just a couple of things;

 

liontile.nif - missing normal map

liontileWL.nif - BSXFlags misnamed must be BSX, missing normal maps

lionWLCnr.nif - BSXFlags misnamed must be BSX, missing normal maps

 

Once I fixed those I tested all the tiles in game and everything works good.

is there a way you could send me your fixed copies??   (as a side note suggestions on a nice set of blend into the land textures??)

[Hana]

Here are the three files.

 

As for blending into the landscape, I'm assuming you want the floor tiles to look like the surrounding land? That would entirely depend on where you want to place your house, then just change your texture to the landscape texture around it. Or use dirt, a dirt floor in an open house would most likely look better.

liontile.nif

lionwl.nif

lionwlcnr.nif