[XB1/SE] Fixing Visible Editor Markers in Meshes

[Arthmoor]

It's been nearly 5 years now since Special Edition was releases and mods became possible for console users for the firs time. This brought with it a number of new issues unique to the platform when using modified assets. One of those is that if a mesh you're editing has an editor marker attached, the XBox will render this visibly when it's not supposed to. This is due to a rednering bug in the code fork used for the XB1. It may be an issue on PS4 as well but modified assets cannot be used in mods for the PS4 so we may never know.

Fortunately this issue has a quick and simple fix that will stop the console from rendering the markers while at the same time leaving them visible to PC users who are using the CK. A previous topic on this issue was originally posted by Nico coiN back in 2016 when we knew next to nothing about what was going on. For reference, his post is here: https://www.afkmods.com/index.php?/topic/4844-xbox-one-tutorial-removing-orange-square-patches-from-sawmills/

Thanks to Soulmancer, who inquired about this on Nico's mod page on Bethesda.net, I took a quick look at the same affected mesh.

Download a copy of Nifskope here: https://github.com/niftools/nifskope/releases/tag/v2.0.dev7

For this topic, I'll use a door from Castle Volkihar, in the Dawnguard DLC.

meshes\dlc01\dungeons\castle\lghalls\casexfreelgdoor01.nif

Open this mesh in Nifskope and you'll see this when you turn on the option to display markers (the red one that looks like a Google Maps pin).

Those 2 orange "flaps" are the editor markers which tell you which direction the doors will open, and it's only supposed to be a visual aid for use in the CK.

In order to correct the problem of them being visible on console, open the node tree as shown, select the one where it specifies Editor Marker, then highlight the part where it says "Flags" in the bottom left corner. Click on the little flag icon and you should see a selection menu like this:

Check the box at the very top, where it says "Hidden" (I had already done it before taking the screenshot, it will normally not be checked).

Click accept. The markers will no longer be displayed in NIfskope, but don't worry, the CK will still see them.

Save the nif file to the folder you keep your mod's files in for distribution. That's all there is to it. The markers will no longer be visible to console users.

Thanks to Tarshana and her crew at Tarsh Gaming for confirmation that this setting fixes the issue on XBox.

[Nico coiN]

I have updated my mod description with the following:

Quote

NOTE (2021/05/27):
Arthmoor may have found a less invasive solution to solve this issue. It is described here: https://www.afkmods.com/index.php?/topic/5805-xb1se-fixing-visible-editor-markers-in-meshes/
I am unable to check if this new technique is effective in every mesh requiring it, because I don't own any XBOX console. If this new technique works and if Arthmoor implements it directly in USSEP, then my actual technique becomes obsolete and I should recommend to not use it anymore.