Furniture Collision

[Seniosh]

Ok, so i've been making a foray into modelling, and i figure, lets start out with a bench, shall we? Benches are nice and simple, a simple model with simple collision, right? apparantly not.

I've tried 3 different collision setups on my model, and the CS rejects all of them. Error message in screenshot, it's the same message for all 3 models.

Ok, so the first thing i tried was collision using the workaround for the 2.10 exporter plugin problems Thread Here Well it didn't work, see? So i think, well maybe this doesn't work for furniture, and maybe i did it wrong.

So i thought i'd try a different method, one that i KNEW worked ingame. I basically copied the method used to make StFurnDunRichBench01, as seen in screenshot 2. The collision looks identical doesn't it? Except that mine doesn't work.

Well at this point i was pretty frustrated, so i says to myself: self, maybe we should just copy the collision bethesda used in their model. So i did. Here's the part i think something gets weird at; I couldn't copy the entire collision branch, i could only copy from bhkRigidBodyT, downwards. That meant that i had to add in my owh bhkCollisionObject.

And it STILL didn't work. So this points to one of two things. Either i'm taking it into the CS wrong, or the collision is messed up at bhkCollisionObject, and i don't know why.

For those of you who've managed to read this, thank you i applaud your endurance :applause:
I only hope that someone knows why this doesn't work, or can suggest a different solution. If anyone wants the model i'm using, more screenshots, ect. please let me know. I just can't figure this out on my own.

Seniosh has attached these images (downsized versions):

Bench2.jpg (24 KB), Bench3.jpg (149 KB)

[Razorwing]

I don't think it's a good idea to create bhkCollisionObject and bhkRigidBody blocks through Nifskope. I did it a few times in the past and it didn't work out so well, and I didn't pursue it because I get those blocks in working order from either the exporter or from a Bethesda nif.

The first step is to find a suitable model to piggy your furniture on. If you made a bench it should be a bench, if it's a chair it should be a chair, and so on. Because it saves trouble if the furniture markers are already the way you want them to be. Then import the furniture you chose into 3D Studio Max and ensure that 1) the seat is at the same place as it is on the Bethesda nif and 2) that the feet of your furniture end at the same place as Bethesda's.

Once you're done, go ahead and delete the Bethesda chair. Then create collision like you would normally do, if you opt for creating collision in 3D Studio Max, and export the model as a new nif. Personally I prefer to create collision in Nifskope unless it's a very complicated job or I just don't want to spend time on it right then. If you use more than one texture it's a good idea to first attach all the meshes to one another and then group it and export like the image below. That creates an extra NiNode which makes it much easier to move over the mesh pieces to the Bethesda nif.

Ok, now open up the nif you want to use for piggying. I used Oblivion's lowerclasschair01. Remove the branches 22, 28 and 34. (Block > Remove Branch) Then go up to the main NiNode, set the Num Children to 1 and update the Children array. I've saved the nif as "step 2".

Open the model you exported, select the NiNode with your meshes in it, right-click then Block > Copy Branch. Go over to the Bethesda nif and Block > Paste Branch. I've saved the nif as "step 3".

If you had created collision in 3D Studio Max you would now have done the same thing for the collision. Copy the bhkListshape (or whichever block was under the bhkRigidBody block), paste it in the Bethesda nif, delete the old block, and hook it up as the child of the bhkRigidBody. You might have to modify the Translation info to get it to match the outline of your chair.

I hope I made sense

"Step 4" has the finished nif. I opted for deleting the capsules and modifying the existing boxes and then added three new ones and positioned them with bhkConvexTransformShape blocks.

[attachment=8262]forseniosh.7z (67 KB)[/attachment]

[Seniosh]

Awesome! It worked, in the cs at least. No crashing or anything. Thanks for the explaination of piggybacking!

Here's the model in the cs, with horrible stand-in textures.

Seniosh has attached this image (downsized version):

Bench1.jpg (11.33 KB)