exporting help

[Wulfharth]

I was wondering if someone here could help me out. I'm dusting off my modelling skills so when they make the next elderscrolls game, I'll be ready.

I've made a sword in two pieces and I want one piece to be partially transparent and use a glow map, but my version of max won't work with the civ4 exporter. Therefore, no transparency. Does anyone here use the civ4 exporter, and would be willing to help? I also need help with the icon.

The concept is that it's a prototype of keening.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51273214@N05/4716668040/

If anyone here is interested I'd be happy to repay by doing some modelling work.

[TheImperialDragon]

That model looks really cool Wulfharth!

Hm, I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the civ4 exporter because I use blender... but I think I might know of another way to get transparency and glow map into your model. You'd need NIFSkope for adding transparency the way I'm about to suggest (it's a really good program for doing any NIF-related tweaking).

When you export a model with transparency, it normally adds a NiAlphaProperty to the model. What you could probably do in NIFSkope is manually add a NiAlphaProperty to your model. Right-click and insert a NiAlphaProperty, then go to the NiTriStrips/Shape of your blade (the part that should be transparent) and increase the "NumProperties" by one. Right click on the "Properties" drop-down-list, and click Array->Update. Now expand the properties list by clicking on the small arrow next to "Properties". If you've done everything right, you should see a list with properties, and a single empty slot in the column of numbers. Click that empty spot, and enter the index value of your NiAlphaProperty. I attached a screenshot (of one of my models) to help you out. In this case, I'm adding transparency to NiTriStrips with index 35, and my NiAlphaProperty has index 36.

If this doesn't work or if you need help, let me know. Note the texture you use must be at least partially transparent, or you're not likely to notice any difference in-game.

As for the glow map, I don't think there should be much involved - just create a greyscale image showing what parts you want to glow (black = no glow, white = a lot of glow, and grey is anything in between ), and name it [texturename]_g.dds.

For icons, there are a lot of tutorials on the CS wiki. Here's one for GIMP, for Paintshop pro, and photoshop.

[Wulfharth]

My man, you are ridiculously helpful.

I got the transparency going. I'm not sure if the glow map is being applied. I had the glow map working, but when I got the transparency to work, the glow map seemed to go away. It's very reflective, but not glowing. Maybe one mesh can't use both?

Anyway, the transparency is more important. Also, I got the icon to work as well.

Quid pro quo. You guys are more than welcome to use this sword if you want, and if you have a model that needs doing, let me know.

Is there a way to post an attachment over 500kb? I packaged everything with a testing esp and it's about 1500kb.

[sandor]

Originally posted by Wulfharth
Is there a way to post an attachment over 500kb? I packaged everything with a testing esp and it's about 1500kb.

Nice work!

You could upload the file to e.g. dropbox (http://www.dropbox.com/) using the public folder, right-click on your file for the link.

Originally posted by Wulfharth
You guys are more than welcome to use this sword.

Thank you!

[TheImperialDragon]

Originally posted by Wulfharth
I got the transparency going. I'm not sure if the glow map is being applied. I had the glow map working, but when I got the transparency to work, the glow map seemed to go away. It's very reflective, but not glowing. Maybe one mesh can't use both?

Hm, that's interesting. There is one way to tell for certain, and that's to remove the transparency (after creating a backup of course ). If the glow comes back, then I would say you're right and that's the cause. If not, then it might still be possible to have both, and we would need to investigate why the glow map isn't showing up.

Originally posted by Wulfharth
and if you have a model that needs doing, let me know.

What kind of models do you like doing? Clutter, architecture, plants...?

I actually need to learn how doors work, for the tileset I'm working on. I don't suppose you've done any before/know how they work?

Worst case scenario if I can't get any working is I'll probably just take one from Vanilla Oblivion and retexture/re-UV it.

[Wulfharth]

Doors. Can't say I've ever made one. I'm assuming your talking about animated opening doors, not load doors? If so, couldn't you use the creature tutorial? Import a vanilla door and repaint the vertices to a new model... or maybe snag the activator animations in Nifskope?

I'll model whatever you think you need the most. I'm not picky. If I think it's above my level, I'll let you know. So just point me in the direction of the concept art.

I'll try taking the transparency off and let you know the results.

That file site wouldn't let me create an account. They must be having trouble. So I chopped the file into manageable pieces.

[Wulfharth]

For the record. A model can have both. I created a version without the transparency, and added it to the esp. It didn't have glow, but the one with transparency did. I erased the second nif and the original retained it's glow. It's like it learned to apply the glow map. I would post the new nif and esp, but I didn't see much interest in the first one. Just thought you would want to know this for future reference.

[sandor]

Originally posted by Wulfharth
For the record. A model can have both. I created a version without the transparency, and added it to the esp. It didn't have glow, but the one with transparency did. I erased the second nif and the original retained it's glow. It's like it learned to apply the glow map. I would post the new nif and esp, but I didn't see much interest in the first one. Just thought you would want to know this for future reference.

Please post your update.

[Wulfharth]

Here you go.

Like I said, if there's anything you need made. I'm more than happy to do it.

I would like to be involved in this project. I'm not very experienced with the construction set, but I have some practice in on studio max. Should I claim something, or do you guys require more of a portfolio for your modders?

[sandor]

Thanks.

We could use more Imperial models like we saw in Morrowind.

Please check this link.

For modelling stuff it's best to contact TheImperialDragon.