If you want to know how to make a particular type of content. Or use a particular function with modding tools, or what have you. This is the place to ask.
Hi. Now this may sound like a joke but its not. My official religion is that of Dracos, effectively I beleive in a dragon god that litterally fights with and against other gods to save our world. I wanted to make a faction for it but the only resources I can find seems to be about modding objects, not factions. I was brought to the guild while looking for help and stumbling on thumblesteens anarchist factiony thing mod which brought me here. I basically just want to know where to start if I am to implement Dracos into the game.
If I'm correct you want to create a new faction and not replace any in the base game? If so that's a pretty big mod you are envisioning, I don't think there is any yet available on the Nexus, but I do know several people are working on such mods and it's a huge undertaking.
Of the bat I'd say take a look at the Rust Devil faction that was added to the game in the Automatron DLC. It's a small faction that adds one location and should be ideal to copy and use as a base to create your own faction.
Take a look at these for inspiration although they are not exactly what you are looking to do:
I do remember there was a mod that added a group of NPCs to a camp in Far Harbor, not sure if they were their own faction or something less complex. I was able to find it: Reaping Armor: http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/14939/?
What kind of resources and help are you looking for?
Hi. Now this may sound like a joke but its not. My official religion is that of Dracos, effectively I beleive in a dragon god that litterally fights with and against other gods to save our world. I wanted to make a faction for it but the only resources I can find seems to be about modding objects, not factions. I was brought to the guild while looking for help and stumbling on thumblesteens anarchist factiony thing mod which brought me here. I basically just want to know where to start if I am to implement Dracos into the game.
I hope here are some modders who could help: so there is this mod: http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/8936/? The autor of this great Armor Mod is to busy now and has no longer time to continue his work... you can read his comment here: "Hey everyone,
Sorry about the lack of updates lately, but I recently started a second full-time job and am trying to get through grad school at the same time. I'm not sure when I'll have a chance to make any new material or updates for quite some time, so I'm changing the permissions on all my mods so anyone can use and re-release them however they want. If, instead, someone is interested in becoming a co-author of these, just let me know and I'll get you added right away. I'd hate to see these mods to fall behind even more than they already have."
I'm getting ready to release my first mod, but I'm having trouble with one item in it. I'm trying to add collision to the Christmas lights found in Diamond City so I can add it to the workshop with the rest of my assets. Without the collision, it can be placed in-game, but the player can't pick it up to move it around or scrap it. I've tried copying the collision from another mesh in Nifskope to give it to the lights, but nothing I do seems to work (I'm 100% new to Nifskope and mesh editing). I also can't seem to get Blender to work on my computer to even attempt to add collision that way. Can someone help? Is there another way I can do this or should I just forget about my Xmas lights?
Hi, I just want some NPC to be flag protected in game. I've flagged other unique NPC's and it works fine, but on others doesn't seem to work. Want to flag random minuteman spawn protected. Doesn't seem to work on them. What hocus pocus am I missing here. Any idea how to make the minuteman protected, the ones you can call via flares to be specific.
Suppose to be a simple mod, doesn't seem to work at all.
I'm by no means familiarised enough with Fallout 4 to give a certain answer. But assuming that it shares similarities with the gamebryo generation of engines, could it simply be that they have the "no low level processing" flag checked? Or an equivalent thereof? I know that limits NPC functionality to a great extent.
Those NPCs will have their own entry, probably in the Leveled NPC category. Look for LCharMinutemen for a place to start. I can't really say which exactly, but that's where I'd start looking.
I'm trying to make my Painting Texture Replacer mod stand alone. Right now it just replaces the textures for the craftable vanilla paintings, but I figure it might be more useful (and less strange) if I add new paintings instead of replace textures on vanilla ones.
But here's my problem. I don't know much about using FO4Edit (I know enough to make some patches for myself but not much more), and specifically I don't know how to make a new craftable item that will be available through the building menu.
I've also been told that paintings specifically handles textures by reusing the same mesh multiple times but swapping the texture? I'm not quite sure if that's true (but from my digging in the mesh folder there seems to be less painting frame meshes than there are textures, but they're also scattered everywhere so it's hard to tell). If this is true how do I set up things up to work right?
Does anyone have any tutorials or resources to point me towards? Cause I'm guessing I'll need to get more familiar with Nifskope in addition to FO4Edit to do this, but I haven't had much luck in finding tutorials for these things.
Since I'm the only one here giving advice right now. Considering we've only been up for two days. I can't tell you much about FO4Edit. I've decided to wait for the GECK myself.
But once the GECK is out, which should probably be any day now from what Bethesda have announced. Then it will probably use the same methods as Skyrim's CK. In which case the standalone benefits would be tremendous. There's very little compatibility issues to be concerned about, and shouldn't even require any external script files.
And since that is indeed the case, yeah. Go for it, by all means.
And the process of making a new retextured static object is very simple. You just derive it from a current painting with the same texture by changing the baseid, which will prompt you to make a copy of the original data entry. You click yes, and then you have your object. You change whatever forms need changing, create the texture data. Which is a very simple and self explanatory procedure, and then assign it to your appropriate nodes in the mesh data.
Then, of course, you make a new entry for crafting. Which again, uses derivatives. Very simple work, and you're done. I can give you more detailed information when the GECK is out if you're interested. Unless you're in a hurry, but then I would suggest to check out some tutorials on FO4Edit, just google it, and then download a few standalone settlement crafting mods and open them up in FO4Edit and take a look at how they did it. You're always allowed to look inside files for educational purposes, no permission needed as long as you don't republish the files you look at. It's a good method.
Since we don't have a specific release date yet I'd prefer to not wait for the GECK (stupid as that may be), cause I honestly have my doubts on it getting released within the next month and a half.
But I'm going to see if I can't find a mod that essentially does what I want to do and see how it's set up, at the very least I'll get more familiar with the tools.
PS: I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but telling someone something is "simple" or "very simple" to do can be quite counter productive. if that person is currently struggling and not understanding what they're doing it can be very disheartening to be told that something is simple, because if they're struggling with something that's supposed simple, and seemingly everyone else has figured out, how will they ever figure out how to do more advanced things? While I'm not going to give up (I'm just going to go back and give myself a headache while watching videos that were technically made with skyrim in mind, cause right now most tutorials seem to be for skyrim...) I'd urge you to pay attention to your wording in the future, because it'd be quite sad if you (me, or anyone else really) caused someone to give up on modding cause we were careless with our choice of words.
But when we do get the GECK I hope more experienced people will start writing some good tutorials and such for noobs like myself to look over, cause right now there's a severe lack in resources teaching the basics (we're also in dire need of more detailed texture related tutorials, cause most of the ones available right now are either way to basic, or made for older games, and Fallout 4 does read textures differently that the older games).
Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that FO4Edit is simple. That's quite tricky, if anything. I just mean that the Creation Kit interface is very simple compared to most SDKs.
I think you will see that as well. It's on the same level as RPGMaker, basically. Very user friendly. That's all I meant.
I used the Skyrim Creation Kit a couple of times (when I could get it to work, it was kind of temperamental and my old computer had RAM issues, so it was prone to crashing), but I never got much into it cause the interface was kind of overwhelming. So many buttons and menus everywhere I always felt like one wrong click somewhere and I'd break everything. But at least it did have little notes on most stuff if you hovered the mouse over it.
But the comment on wording was more of a general thing, cause some people, especially younger people who are getting into these things can be quite easily discouraged, and I think we all need to remember that things only seem easy cause we already know how to do it (like photoshop doesn't seem difficult to me cause I've used it for a long time, but to someone who's never touched it? yhea it's intimidating).
That's actually a good point. I've done this stuff for at least eight years now, and every time I so much as look at the blender interface I feel like I'm on a different planet. It's easy to forget that.
But even so, on some level, I think if you want to be a successful modder. Then you need to have a certain drive and willpower. Because once you release mods, you need to deal with some very unpleasant people. It was easier when the Nexus had tougher moderators. People were polite then. But now, things have changed. Most people are good, the majority are great people. But for every ten good ones, you get one spoiled and entitled individual who will demand things, and criticise things they don't understand. They will blame you for their user errors. It's not an easy climate, particularly in the Fallout 4 Nexus.
But, then you release some more stuff, feeling motivated to show them up, and you get a fanbase. Then, suddenly you have some friends to come to the rescue when these people behave abusively. At that point, things are great, and good triumphs. But being small time is no fun. I hope the Guild will stick together and protect the newcomers, show them some support when people try to ruin their self esteem. But there are no guarantees. They need to have their own motivation.
But I guess this place should be like a refuge where people feel more safe. So I'll be sure to keep that in mind.
True, people do need to have have enough motivation and willpower to be able to handle the climate (or enough common sense to turn of the comments if they can't, but that also makes it very difficult to get feedback and improve), but having a bit of a safe haven can do wonders. Especially when the Nexus forums themselves can be anything but at times (I often feel like you need to walk on eggshells in there myself).
Either way, I'm gonna go put the logo for this place on my Whole Flags for now. It's nothing fancy in the least, just a simple edit of the alpha channels to remove the holes in the faction and us flags, but it's a start, right? :p
Actually, some of my favourite mods are simple ones that pay attention to detail. They can make the smallest feature stand out, and fill in a gap.
That being said, I made a flag mod myself that makes the flag more filthy and torn. So, you know... something for everyone, I guess.
Either way, I can gauge characters pretty well. I get the feeling you'll thrive here, and I'm happy you've decided to participate in the Guild. If you'd be willing to share your steps into learning how to develop more and more sophisticated graphical components, that would be fantastic. It's something I have very little knowledge in myself.
I'll see what I can do. I'm still at the stage of just bugging other people that seem to know what they're doing and asking if they're willing to give me some quick pointers or know how to edit X file without getting Y weird effect. But once I start feeling more confident with what I'm doing I'll most certainly share, assuming someone else hasn't beaten me to it by that point and generally has a better way of doing things. :p
Mind you I'm no digital artist or anything, just someone who's used photoshop for just long enough to be able to fake it halfway decently. :p
Hi NikitaDarkstar and everybody in this great Forum.
I will try to help how to achieve what you want.
I am not sure how familiar you are with using FO4Edit so I will try to explain it as a beginners guide.
If you want to reuse the same nif file. You need to do it in FO4Edit with Material Swap).
1-Look for how they do it by opening Fallout4.esm in Fo4Edit (choose none when it opens and select Fallout4.esm by ticking the box next to it).
For example "Painting_CanvasSwapToPaintingAbstract01 [MSWP:001CBF37]"
You can find it by pasting "1CBF37" (without quotes) in the FormID field (top left corner).
That Material swap is used in "workshop_PictureAbstractRect01Framed01A "Painting" [STAT:00249EBB]"
Again you can paste the Static FormID "00249EBB" and find it in FO4Edit
Next to this you can see also all the other paintings. They all swap the images in the "SetDressing\ConcMuseum\PictureAbstractRect01Framed01.nif" and for each they use a different Material Swap.
2-To make your own version
Copy any of the the statics as a new "Copy as new record into.." by right clicking on the left field under Form ID, give it a unique name
For Example:
"workshop_PictureAbstractRect01Framed01A" you could just call your own "works_PicAbs_SOME_NAME_YOU_LIKE"
Fo4Edit will create a new Static with your new name in it in a new plugin that you have to name also.
Go back to Material swap (first step explains it) and copy as new to your plugin, give it a fancy unique name without spaces :
I.e: PaintingAbstract01toMyBeautifullPainting.
3-Putting things together
Expand your new created esp FormID by clicking on it on the "+" box.
Now you have the 2 new FormIds Material Swap and Static
Expand the Material Swap and on the right side you will see all it's info.
BNAM - Base Material (this is the original in the nif file) setdressing\paintingsgeneric\PaintingCanvasLtSwap.BGSM and SNAM - Swap Material (this is the one you will create and it's going to replace the original) setdressing\paintingsgeneric\PaintingAbstract01.BGSM (here you need to change it to your own .BGSM - give it a unique name by right clicking this field and choose edit). Remember the new name or take note of it ( you will need it when creating a new .BGSM).
(*)After you have the changes in "SNAM - Swap Material" field - double click the FormID field on the right pane top, highlight it and copy it.
Expand your static field on the left and look on the right for "MODS - Material Swap",right click on it>> Edit and change it to your own Material Swap by pasting over the FormId you copied on the previous step.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Your new plugin now has a new Static with a new Material Swap
4-Creating a Constructible Object
Look in workshop_co_PictureFrames [COBJ:00097645]
Copy it as a new record into your plugin
On the right you'll see "workshopRecipe_PictureFrames "Painting" [FLST:00097646]"
this a list of Picture frames in the Vanilla Game
You can either create your FormId list (if you create several new Pic Frames) or use your static alone.
To create a new FormID List:
Look in "workshopRecipe_PictureFrames "Painting" [FLST:00097646]"
Copy it as a new record into your plugin, give it unique name.
Go back to your new FormId list and on the right look forLNAM - FormID - you'll see the list of the vanilla frames (you don't need that so delete each list name by clicking on it and pressing delete - there's no undo so becarefull when deleting things)
After deleting all the lists right click on the Form IDs field (on the right pane) on add a new one, it will create a new field with "NULL - Null Reference [00000000]"
Go back to your static or statics on the left and copy the FormId (same as in (*) in step 3 but this time copying a static FormId)
Go back to your FormId List and where it says "NULL - Null Reference [00000000]" right click it >> Edit and paste your static FormId
This process can be repeated for new created statics and you can create a list of several new Picture frames this way.
They will appear in game under the Workshop Menu >> Paintings
5-create your .BGSM
You'll need Material Editor from Osnious
You also need to extract setdressing\paintingsgeneric\PaintingCanvasLtSwap.BGSM
Use it as a template >> Change the name accordingly to what you create in FO4Edit
You'll need a folder structure in your Fallout 4 Data folder
Materials\Your Unique Materials Folder
Or you can use the existing named folder structure under Data
Create a folder called Materials
Open it and create a new one called "setdressing"
Open it and create a new one called "paintingsgeneric"
Copy "PaintingCanvasLtSwap.BGSM" to it
Copy and paste "PaintingCanvasLtSwap.BGSM" as many times you need new .BGSMs (one for each new Picture frame), rename it as in the fields created in FO4Edit
OFC you will need the Images (.dds files) with different names created in Data\Textures\Your Unique Pictures Folder
Open each of the new created .BGSM and change the path or paths to your new created "Data\Textures\Your Unique Pictures Folder\My fancy picture.dds"
("My fancy picture.dds" change it to your choosen file name)
Hi I would like to now how to change body mesh texture in specific outfit. For example lets take slinky drees. I want to have diffirent texture for body mesh in this outfit. I know how change texture for dress mesh just by changing texture to diffirent file in nifoscope. But changing body mesh texture in nifoscope doesnt change it in game. I understand why it is not changeing. Beacuse textures for body mashes in outfits are set up in ariginal esp file. So probalby i have to make esp file to change that texture, but how to do this? Or is it possible whitout esp?
I know that in New Vegas, you can do what you want to do using the GECK. I used it myself to create special armours for some supernatural races I was working on who had blue skin.
When the GECK comes out, and provided it still works, then I can show you how it's done.
There is this mod http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/3718/? - unique player This mod changes texture only for player body and it is done by esp file only. This is somehow similar but i dont know how to apply this to a specific outfit.
You could try building the outfit in the outfit studio with the body, export the nif file and then link the body in the nif to a new texture of your choosing. You will have to change both nif file and the material file for that body. Im pretty sure its possible, though i dont think that it will understand your skin color, so i'd assume you will have to replace it manually.
I believe its all about one propertie of that body mesh inside outfit nif. Body mesh which is recognazible by game that it is actuall player body to replace... Maybe changing this priepertie in nifoskope would prevent the game not to swap bodies... But which propertie is it ...?!
I find which property changes texture over body mesh to default femalebody_d.dds texture. It is "skin tint" property in material which can be disabled in material editor. Disabling this options couses mesh to display desired texture but shading is completly diffirent.
My next problem is how to make "skin tint" material which is not interpreted by the game to swap tetures?.
I know it is possible to make skin material with custom texture but i dont know how to do this. http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/8841/? this mod does this - there is material for quiet body which has good shader and display custom texture but material editor crashed after i opened that materil!!! WT?!
Once the GECK is out, why don't you just make a new humanoid race with the new body mesh?
Granted, all outfits worn by said race would have to be custom made, but surely that's better than all these workarounds now that Bethesda have finally added a proper way of giving NPCs custom meshes and rigging?
I've been trying to get started with retexturing for several years now, and I always get stopped because of a general lack of easy-to-use information. It seems that all tutorials fall into one of two categories; either it's a real basic video that tells you generically how to open and save the files, or it's a wall of jargon that assumes you already know what you're doing when it comes to actually trying to do something.
I'll give you an example that's causing my to just throw my hands up and proclaim "A wizard musta done it". I want to change the texture on the workshoppowerconnector, found in setdressing\power, so that I can basically make an new item that uses the same model just with a new texture. After much googling around and playing with FO4Edit, BAE, NifSkope, and Gimp w/DDS I finally managed to figure out what the model was (workshoppowerconnectorwall01.nif), and which texture I want to change (PowerSwitchBox01_d.dds). Now I have a new problem; what part of that texture is actually being used for the nif in question? That texture file contains textures for a lot more than just this particular item.
All attempts to find information lead to an eternal google-circle, and often when whatever information I can find gets to the part where it should have the information I'm looking for it ends there (usually with the statement that such things are beyond the scope of that article/video/whatever)...and back to fruitless searching I go.
This is the reason that prolific mod authors get swamped with us reg'lar users requesting features. There is a serious lack of easily-accessed DETAILED information to allow us to learn it ourselves. This has been an ongoing problem for years now. It doesn't help that requests for such information usually get responded to with "find a tutorial".
I understand that there is a lot of stuff to learn, but flailing around at random hoping to find something that works (and failing far more often than succeeding) makes most people just give up (see pestering prolific authors for more stuff).
Loading 3d object to any 3d program will allow u to check its uvw map. Then u will be able to check what part of texture is used by this object.
In 3d studio max for instance import file and select desired object, then add modyfier - unwarp uvw map, then click edit button, new window will popup with all polygons of that object placed on 2d flat squere. In right upper corner u can add desired texture.
spawn is there any chance you'd be willing to share some basic links, tutorials, or information on how to set up a 3D program (I'm guessing 3D max studio since that's the one you mentioned) to where it will A) handle nifs (I've given up on getting Blender to do that), and B) just some of the quick, helpful tools and tricks people can use to do things like finding what part of a texture file and such a mesh uses. You seems to know what you're talking about, and I'm quite curious about this as well.
digitaltrucker, sadly I can't help with this specific problem, cause my approach so far has been "well it looks like this part of the file does what I want to do, so lets try that and see what happens" it's a pretty tedious approach, isn't it?
Ah, looks like the term 'uvw map' is what was missing from my google searches. I think I'm going to post a suggestion on we can address standardizing, simplifying, and improving tutorials. If we're gonna have standards let's go all the way, no?
Well, looks like it will have to be left to the wizards. $185 a month for 3DS is just ridiculous for a hobbyist, and apparently trying to use Blender is like trying to push a rope.
It should NOT have to take hours and hours of searching and searching and downloading this and that and this again because it was the wrong thing and putting this into that only to find out that none of it works anyway.
U can use Caliente outfit studio to export nif mesh to .OBJ formt which is readable by 3ds max and Blender. As soon as digitaltrucker only wants to check how uvw map of an object looks like, all he need to to is to load .obj into 3ds max or blender. Ive already said how to check uvw map in 3ds max, in Blender u got to set one of the windows to show uvw map and by selecting object it will show up.
U cen export mesh from 3ds MAX back to obj or blender, and than load it to outfit studio. But if u want it in the game u should probably prepere it for that in outfit studio. U must find tutorial how to do this...
This sounds like a great idea! I'm using this game to start learning modding, but of course I'm floundering due to how early in Fallout 4 modding we are. That being said, I can help with pulling together the tutorials from other games that helped me start off modeling and such.
That would be fantastic. Especially since, once we've assembled a working model of this Guild Branch, we will move to other games and platforms.
In fact, if you're familiar with a specific game in particular, I could let you represent the branch for it. Basically doing what I do around here. Obviously, it's a commitment, but you seem excited to participate.
I'm actually brand new to modding, so I wouldn't be a very good rep I'm afraid! Thanks so much for the offer though. I'm just excited to really be a part of the modding community, I have so many ideas I want to accomplish but I'm very intimidated by modding and so this seems like the perfect solution.
Well, of course. I didn't think you'd do it right away. I just mean it's a distant possibility once you've gotten the hang of things. If you're interested, that is. I'm just saying there's lots you can do if you want to participate.
Hi I was looking for help on getting Nifskope and Blender running on my PC?
System:
Windows 10 64-bit
16 GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce GT 755m SLI
Programs:
3DS Max 2016
Maya 2016
Photoshop CC 2015
Notepad++
Downloaded from the Nexus Fallout 4:
Material Editor
Bethesda Archive Extractor
F4SE (not downloaded from the Nexus, but was directed to it from there)
I haven't downloaded the latest versions of Blender and Nifskope yet because I was a little confused what versions of those worked with FO4 and in conjunction with the programs I already have on my PC.
I don't think program compatibility is much of an issue. Granted, I haven't work much with blender. I have done some edits with nifskope when needed, though. Your choice and conjunction of software is really a matter of preference. I have photoshop, for instance, if I want to do more sophisticated texture work. But I like the interface and functionality of paint.net for simpler jobs due to how it's a timesaver in many ways.
Maya is a software I am completely unfamiliar with, since I'm poor.
Your system specs look good, they'll reduce loading time and allow you to use multiple applications at once. Photoshop can cause a bit of stress on the hardware, even on higher end computers. You might also want to check if you have a 32 bit or 64 bit system. If it's 32 bit, then your ram basically becomes useless, I'm afraid. But even so, it's not too noticeable for most of the aforementioned software.
I haven't used F4SE yet since, well, I can't possibly see how there's any content available for it at this time. Aside from the odd plugin, I suppose.
BAE is about as basic as programs get. Which isn't a criticism, but rather a good and practical implementation. Could use some interface upgrades, content filtering would be nice. But it should have no issues at all.
As for Nifskope and Blender having proper versions for Fallout 4, it's all very trial and error at this stage from what I've gathered. I believe they have an alpha build that can be used. I never got it to work myself, lots of error messages. But others have reported that it works fine, not to mention all the 3d models on The Nexus that demonstrates it's functionality quite well.
I think this thread might be helpful on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/FalloutMods/comments/3tx140/fo4_nifskope_20dev4_initial_fallout_4_support/
Good luck, mate. Hopefully you'll get further than I did.
For Nifskope you'll want the 2.0 pre-alpha build which can be found here: https://github.com/niftools/nifskope/releases don't worry to much about the "pre-alpha" name, it's stable and it works. Just make sure you get 2.0 and not 1.2, cause 1.2 can't read Fallout 4's nifs.
As for Blender, I've been trying to get it set up on my computer, and I've managed to get it installed and running (you'll need Blender, python 2.6 I think it is PyFFI, and a plugin that lets it read nif files) but I haven't gotten it to the point of being able to open a nif file. It just keeps throwing errors at me, and at this point I'm not convinced Blender can open a nif file yet. But if you want to give it a go you can find Blender here: https://www.blender.org/download/ it's install file will tell you what version of python and pyffi (make sure that the version of this you download is for the right python version, it might not be the latest version) you need and even link you to the downloads for each. But make sure you have time to experiment a bit cause it can be tedious to get it to work.
You can find the Blender nif plugin here: https://github.com/niftools/blender_nif_plugin/releases but as I said, I don't think it works with Fallout 4's nifs at this time (I could be wrong though and just not be doing something right on my end).
But other than Blenders questionable nif compatibility right now I think you should be fine. But since you already have 3DS Max you may want to look in to nif plugins for that, cause from what I've been reading around the forums and such it may be your best bet.
Modding Help (53 comments)
If I'm correct you want to create a new faction and not replace any in the base game? If so that's a pretty big mod you are envisioning, I don't think there is any yet available on the Nexus, but I do know several people are working on such mods and it's a huge undertaking.
Of the bat I'd say take a look at the Rust Devil faction that was added to the game in the Automatron DLC. It's a small faction that adds one location and should be ideal to copy and use as a base to create your own faction.
Take a look at these for inspiration although they are not exactly what you are looking to do:
Gunners Overhaul: http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/15054/?
I do remember there was a mod that added a group of NPCs to a camp in Far Harbor, not sure if they were their own faction or something less complex.
I was able to find it: Reaping Armor: http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/14939/?
What kind of resources and help are you looking for?
I hope here are some modders who could help: so there is this mod: http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/8936/?
The autor of this great Armor Mod is to busy now and has no longer time to continue his work...
you can read his comment here:
"Hey everyone,
Sorry about the lack of updates lately, but I recently started a second full-time job and am trying to get through grad school at the same time. I'm not sure when I'll have a chance to make any new material or updates for quite some time, so I'm changing the permissions on all my mods so anyone can use and re-release them however they want. If, instead, someone is interested in becoming a co-author of these, just let me know and I'll get you added right away. I'd hate to see these mods to fall behind even more than they already have."
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/8936/?tab=4&&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Ffallout4%2Fajax%2Fcomments%2F%3Fmod_id%3D8936%26page%3D1%26sort%3DDESC%26pid%3D0%26thread_id%3D3719660&pUp=1
So if here are some modders who can continue this work...
I'm getting ready to release my first mod, but I'm having trouble with one item in it. I'm trying to add collision to the Christmas lights found in Diamond City so I can add it to the workshop with the rest of my assets. Without the collision, it can be placed in-game, but the player can't pick it up to move it around or scrap it. I've tried copying the collision from another mesh in Nifskope to give it to the lights, but nothing I do seems to work (I'm 100% new to Nifskope and mesh editing). I also can't seem to get Blender to work on my computer to even attempt to add collision that way. Can someone help? Is there another way I can do this or should I just forget about my Xmas lights?
Suppose to be a simple mod, doesn't seem to work at all.
But here's my problem. I don't know much about using FO4Edit (I know enough to make some patches for myself but not much more), and specifically I don't know how to make a new craftable item that will be available through the building menu.
I've also been told that paintings specifically handles textures by reusing the same mesh multiple times but swapping the texture? I'm not quite sure if that's true (but from my digging in the mesh folder there seems to be less painting frame meshes than there are textures, but they're also scattered everywhere so it's hard to tell). If this is true how do I set up things up to work right?
Does anyone have any tutorials or resources to point me towards? Cause I'm guessing I'll need to get more familiar with Nifskope in addition to FO4Edit to do this, but I haven't had much luck in finding tutorials for these things.
But once the GECK is out, which should probably be any day now from what Bethesda have announced. Then it will probably use the same methods as Skyrim's CK. In which case the standalone benefits would be tremendous. There's very little compatibility issues to be concerned about, and shouldn't even require any external script files.
And since that is indeed the case, yeah. Go for it, by all means.
And the process of making a new retextured static object is very simple. You just derive it from a current painting with the same texture by changing the baseid, which will prompt you to make a copy of the original data entry. You click yes, and then you have your object. You change whatever forms need changing, create the texture data. Which is a very simple and self explanatory procedure, and then assign it to your appropriate nodes in the mesh data.
Then, of course, you make a new entry for crafting. Which again, uses derivatives. Very simple work, and you're done. I can give you more detailed information when the GECK is out if you're interested. Unless you're in a hurry, but then I would suggest to check out some tutorials on FO4Edit, just google it, and then download a few standalone settlement crafting mods and open them up in FO4Edit and take a look at how they did it. You're always allowed to look inside files for educational purposes, no permission needed as long as you don't republish the files you look at. It's a good method.
But I'm going to see if I can't find a mod that essentially does what I want to do and see how it's set up, at the very least I'll get more familiar with the tools.
PS: I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but telling someone something is "simple" or "very simple" to do can be quite counter productive. if that person is currently struggling and not understanding what they're doing it can be very disheartening to be told that something is simple, because if they're struggling with something that's supposed simple, and seemingly everyone else has figured out, how will they ever figure out how to do more advanced things?
While I'm not going to give up (I'm just going to go back and give myself a headache while watching videos that were technically made with skyrim in mind, cause right now most tutorials seem to be for skyrim...) I'd urge you to pay attention to your wording in the future, because it'd be quite sad if you (me, or anyone else really) caused someone to give up on modding cause we were careless with our choice of words.
But when we do get the GECK I hope more experienced people will start writing some good tutorials and such for noobs like myself to look over, cause right now there's a severe lack in resources teaching the basics (we're also in dire need of more detailed texture related tutorials, cause most of the ones available right now are either way to basic, or made for older games, and Fallout 4 does read textures differently that the older games).
I think you will see that as well. It's on the same level as RPGMaker, basically. Very user friendly. That's all I meant.
But the comment on wording was more of a general thing, cause some people, especially younger people who are getting into these things can be quite easily discouraged, and I think we all need to remember that things only seem easy cause we already know how to do it (like photoshop doesn't seem difficult to me cause I've used it for a long time, but to someone who's never touched it? yhea it's intimidating).
But even so, on some level, I think if you want to be a successful modder. Then you need to have a certain drive and willpower. Because once you release mods, you need to deal with some very unpleasant people. It was easier when the Nexus had tougher moderators. People were polite then. But now, things have changed. Most people are good, the majority are great people. But for every ten good ones, you get one spoiled and entitled individual who will demand things, and criticise things they don't understand. They will blame you for their user errors. It's not an easy climate, particularly in the Fallout 4 Nexus.
But, then you release some more stuff, feeling motivated to show them up, and you get a fanbase. Then, suddenly you have some friends to come to the rescue when these people behave abusively. At that point, things are great, and good triumphs. But being small time is no fun. I hope the Guild will stick together and protect the newcomers, show them some support when people try to ruin their self esteem. But there are no guarantees. They need to have their own motivation.
But I guess this place should be like a refuge where people feel more safe. So I'll be sure to keep that in mind.
Either way, I'm gonna go put the logo for this place on my Whole Flags for now. It's nothing fancy in the least, just a simple edit of the alpha channels to remove the holes in the faction and us flags, but it's a start, right? :p
That being said, I made a flag mod myself that makes the flag more filthy and torn. So, you know... something for everyone, I guess.
Either way, I can gauge characters pretty well. I get the feeling you'll thrive here, and I'm happy you've decided to participate in the Guild. If you'd be willing to share your steps into learning how to develop more and more sophisticated graphical components, that would be fantastic. It's something I have very little knowledge in myself.
Mind you I'm no digital artist or anything, just someone who's used photoshop for just long enough to be able to fake it halfway decently. :p
Biggest scheme out there. A monkey can do it, and they get paid fortunes by ignorant corporate jackals. It's beautiful.
I will try to help how to achieve what you want.
I am not sure how familiar you are with using FO4Edit so I will try to explain it as a beginners guide.
If you want to reuse the same nif file.
You need to do it in FO4Edit with Material Swap).
1-Look for how they do it by opening Fallout4.esm in Fo4Edit (choose none when it opens and select Fallout4.esm by ticking the box next to it).
For example "Painting_CanvasSwapToPaintingAbstract01 [MSWP:001CBF37]"
You can find it by pasting "1CBF37" (without quotes) in the FormID field (top left corner).
That Material swap is used in "workshop_PictureAbstractRect01Framed01A "Painting" [STAT:00249EBB]"
Again you can paste the Static FormID "00249EBB" and find it in FO4Edit
Next to this you can see also all the other paintings. They all swap the images in the "SetDressing\ConcMuseum\PictureAbstractRect01Framed01.nif" and for each they use a different Material Swap.
2-To make your own version
Copy any of the the statics as a new "Copy as new record into.." by right clicking on the left field under Form ID, give it a unique name
For Example:
"workshop_PictureAbstractRect01Framed01A" you could just call your own "works_PicAbs_SOME_NAME_YOU_LIKE"
Fo4Edit will create a new Static with your new name in it in a new plugin that you have to name also.
Go back to Material swap (first step explains it) and copy as new to your plugin, give it a fancy unique name without spaces :
I.e: PaintingAbstract01toMyBeautifullPainting.
3-Putting things together
Expand your new created esp FormID by clicking on it on the "+" box.
Now you have the 2 new FormIds Material Swap and Static
Expand the Material Swap and on the right side you will see all it's info.
BNAM - Base Material (this is the original in the nif file)
setdressing\paintingsgeneric\PaintingCanvasLtSwap.BGSM
and
SNAM - Swap Material (this is the one you will create and it's going to replace the original)
setdressing\paintingsgeneric\PaintingAbstract01.BGSM (here you need to change it to your own .BGSM - give it a unique name by right clicking this field and choose edit). Remember the new name or take note of it ( you will need it when creating a new .BGSM).
(*)After you have the changes in "SNAM - Swap Material" field - double click the FormID field on the right pane top, highlight it and copy it.
Expand your static field on the left and look on the right for "MODS - Material Swap",right click on it>> Edit and change it to your own Material Swap by pasting over the FormId you copied on the previous step.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Your new plugin now has a new Static with a new Material Swap
4-Creating a Constructible Object
Look in workshop_co_PictureFrames [COBJ:00097645]
Copy it as a new record into your plugin
On the right you'll see "workshopRecipe_PictureFrames "Painting" [FLST:00097646]"
this a list of Picture frames in the Vanilla Game
You can either create your FormId list (if you create several new Pic Frames) or use your static alone.
To create a new FormID List:
Look in "workshopRecipe_PictureFrames "Painting" [FLST:00097646]"
Copy it as a new record into your plugin, give it unique name.
Go back to your new FormId list and on the right look forLNAM - FormID - you'll see the list of the vanilla frames
(you don't need that so delete each list name by clicking on it and pressing delete - there's no undo so becarefull when deleting things)
After deleting all the lists right click on the Form IDs field (on the right pane) on add a new one, it will create a new field with "NULL - Null Reference [00000000]"
Go back to your static or statics on the left and copy the FormId (same as in (*) in step 3 but this time copying a static FormId)
Go back to your FormId List and where it says "NULL - Null Reference [00000000]" right click it >> Edit and paste your static FormId
This process can be repeated for new created statics and you can create a list of several new Picture frames this way.
They will appear in game under the Workshop Menu >> Paintings
5-create your .BGSM
You'll need Material Editor from Osnious
You also need to extract setdressing\paintingsgeneric\PaintingCanvasLtSwap.BGSM
Use it as a template >> Change the name accordingly to what you create in FO4Edit
You'll need a folder structure in your Fallout 4 Data folder
Materials\Your Unique Materials Folder
Or you can use the existing named folder structure under Data
Create a folder called Materials
Open it and create a new one called "setdressing"
Open it and create a new one called "paintingsgeneric"
Copy "PaintingCanvasLtSwap.BGSM" to it
Copy and paste "PaintingCanvasLtSwap.BGSM" as many times you need new .BGSMs (one for each new Picture frame),
rename it as in the fields created in FO4Edit
OFC you will need the Images (.dds files) with different names created in Data\Textures\Your Unique Pictures Folder
Open each of the new created .BGSM and change the path or paths to your new created "Data\Textures\Your Unique Pictures Folder\My fancy picture.dds"
("My fancy picture.dds" change it to your choosen file name)
I hope this helps.
For example lets take slinky drees. I want to have diffirent texture for body mesh in this outfit. I know how change texture for dress mesh just by changing texture to diffirent file in nifoscope.
But changing body mesh texture in nifoscope doesnt change it in game.
I understand why it is not changeing. Beacuse textures for body mashes in outfits are set up in ariginal esp file. So probalby i have to make esp file to change that texture, but how to do this? Or is it possible whitout esp?
When the GECK comes out, and provided it still works, then I can show you how it's done.
This mod changes texture only for player body and it is done by esp file only. This is somehow similar but i dont know how to apply this to a specific outfit.
Maybe changing this priepertie in nifoskope would prevent the game not to swap bodies...
But which propertie is it ...?!
Disabling this options couses mesh to display desired texture but shading is completly diffirent.
My next problem is how to make "skin tint" material which is not interpreted by the game to swap tetures?.
I know it is possible to make skin material with custom texture but i dont know how to do this.
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/8841/? this mod does this - there is material for quiet body which has good shader and display custom texture but material editor crashed after i opened that materil!!! WT?!
Granted, all outfits worn by said race would have to be custom made, but surely that's better than all these workarounds now that Bethesda have finally added a proper way of giving NPCs custom meshes and rigging?
I'll give you an example that's causing my to just throw my hands up and proclaim "A wizard musta done it". I want to change the texture on the workshoppowerconnector, found in setdressing\power, so that I can basically make an new item that uses the same model just with a new texture. After much googling around and playing with FO4Edit, BAE, NifSkope, and Gimp w/DDS I finally managed to figure out what the model was (workshoppowerconnectorwall01.nif), and which texture I want to change (PowerSwitchBox01_d.dds). Now I have a new problem; what part of that texture is actually being used for the nif in question? That texture file contains textures for a lot more than just this particular item.
All attempts to find information lead to an eternal google-circle, and often when whatever information I can find gets to the part where it should have the information I'm looking for it ends there (usually with the statement that such things are beyond the scope of that article/video/whatever)...and back to fruitless searching I go.
This is the reason that prolific mod authors get swamped with us reg'lar users requesting features. There is a serious lack of easily-accessed DETAILED information to allow us to learn it ourselves. This has been an ongoing problem for years now. It doesn't help that requests for such information usually get responded to with "find a tutorial".
I understand that there is a lot of stuff to learn, but flailing around at random hoping to find something that works (and failing far more often than succeeding) makes most people just give up (see pestering prolific authors for more stuff).
In 3d studio max for instance import file and select desired object, then add modyfier - unwarp uvw map, then click edit button, new window will popup with all polygons of that object placed on 2d flat squere. In right upper corner u can add desired texture.
digitaltrucker, sadly I can't help with this specific problem, cause my approach so far has been "well it looks like this part of the file does what I want to do, so lets try that and see what happens" it's a pretty tedious approach, isn't it?
Well, looks like it will have to be left to the wizards. $185 a month for 3DS is just ridiculous for a hobbyist, and apparently trying to use Blender is like trying to push a rope.
It should NOT have to take hours and hours of searching and searching and downloading this and that and this again because it was the wrong thing and putting this into that only to find out that none of it works anyway.
Can't wait to be a part of this!
In fact, if you're familiar with a specific game in particular, I could let you represent the branch for it. Basically doing what I do around here. Obviously, it's a commitment, but you seem excited to participate.
System:
Windows 10 64-bit
16 GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce GT 755m SLI
Programs:
3DS Max 2016
Maya 2016
Photoshop CC 2015
Notepad++
Downloaded from the Nexus Fallout 4:
Material Editor
Bethesda Archive Extractor
F4SE (not downloaded from the Nexus, but was directed to it from there)
I haven't downloaded the latest versions of Blender and Nifskope yet because I was a little confused what versions of those worked with FO4 and in conjunction with the programs I already have on my PC.
Maya is a software I am completely unfamiliar with, since I'm poor.
Your system specs look good, they'll reduce loading time and allow you to use multiple applications at once. Photoshop can cause a bit of stress on the hardware, even on higher end computers. You might also want to check if you have a 32 bit or 64 bit system. If it's 32 bit, then your ram basically becomes useless, I'm afraid. But even so, it's not too noticeable for most of the aforementioned software.
I haven't used F4SE yet since, well, I can't possibly see how there's any content available for it at this time. Aside from the odd plugin, I suppose.
BAE is about as basic as programs get. Which isn't a criticism, but rather a good and practical implementation. Could use some interface upgrades, content filtering would be nice. But it should have no issues at all.
As for Nifskope and Blender having proper versions for Fallout 4, it's all very trial and error at this stage from what I've gathered. I believe they have an alpha build that can be used. I never got it to work myself, lots of error messages. But others have reported that it works fine, not to mention all the 3d models on The Nexus that demonstrates it's functionality quite well.
I think this thread might be helpful on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/FalloutMods/comments/3tx140/fo4_nifskope_20dev4_initial_fallout_4_support/
Good luck, mate. Hopefully you'll get further than I did.
As for Blender, I've been trying to get it set up on my computer, and I've managed to get it installed and running (you'll need Blender, python 2.6 I think it is PyFFI, and a plugin that lets it read nif files) but I haven't gotten it to the point of being able to open a nif file. It just keeps throwing errors at me, and at this point I'm not convinced Blender can open a nif file yet. But if you want to give it a go you can find Blender here: https://www.blender.org/download/ it's install file will tell you what version of python and pyffi (make sure that the version of this you download is for the right python version, it might not be the latest version) you need and even link you to the downloads for each. But make sure you have time to experiment a bit cause it can be tedious to get it to work.
You can find the Blender nif plugin here: https://github.com/niftools/blender_nif_plugin/releases but as I said, I don't think it works with Fallout 4's nifs at this time (I could be wrong though and just not be doing something right on my end).
But other than Blenders questionable nif compatibility right now I think you should be fine. But since you already have 3DS Max you may want to look in to nif plugins for that, cause from what I've been reading around the forums and such it may be your best bet.