Finally! The more detailed non-place holder textures are applied and the dagger is in game as a replacer! Thanks to everyone who gave me feedback and advice!
Just search for the Scarlet Dawn Armor here on Nexus, I downloaded it a long time ago, don't remember the specific link, plus its not in my recent history.
The texture paths you have sit in the .nif's are incorrect. You have it set to "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\data\textures\weapons\elven\elvendagger.dds" when it shout simply be "textures\weapons\elven\elvendagger.dds". But even the "textures\" part is optional, and not needed!
I just checked out your mesh. Great stuff. You do have a billion vertices though. I'm messin with it right now. Tryin to smash it into the Skyrim shaped hole. I use 3DS Max 2012.
Amazing. The cord on the handle alone has over 98 thousand vertices. I get crazy errors just tryin to optimize it. I'm pretty sure that therein squats the toad. If you can bring that number down I think you will be in business. I might try splittin it up and junk, but I'm already losing interest.
I didn't realize that was the case. Given that, I agree with MurdermiesteR: the poly count of your model is the issue here. The standard way that 3d objects are made for games nowadays is you make a high-poly (sculpted, modeled, or both), then a low-poly, then you bake various maps (normal!!, height, convexity, curvature, ambient occlusion, etc.). If you want a quick low-poly without much hassle, you can try zremesher, provided you have zbrush 4r6. Look into how to bake maps, specifically normal maps. Personally, I use a program called xNormal to bake most of my maps.
I don't know how relevant this piece of info is, however, the max tri count using the 3ds Max niftools plugin is around 70k tris, per export. I would aim for a poly count of around 70k tris at most. And remember, less is better: 70k tris is the max.
ok, so too many vertices and too high a poly... i'll try Zremesher, if not this weekend i'll give it a go at building it low poly. i will also look into how to use Xnormal and baking maps.. thanks for the help anyway. Was a learning process, and i doubt practice will hurt me much in this area, but how was the texturing? decent? crap?
Texturing is alright, it's your first go at it. The textures are a bit too muddy and under defined.
You will never nail the textures your first time. Personally, I think that texturing and material definition is the hardest part. Modeling (hard surface) is easy in comparison, especially sculpting (organic).
I can't stress this enough, use material references when making textures and materials. I wouldn't worry too much about it right now because you are just getting started, however, it's something to know for the future.
What issue are you having, specifically? If you are trying to import an obj into Nifskope, from what I here that feature has some issues. All I know is that a few of the niftools devs have something along the lines of "don't use obj import" in red letters in their sigs on the niftools forums. If that is what you are having issues with, I would recommend looking around for a compatible version of the niftools 3ds max plugin. With that you can export from 3ds max directly to a nif file, although it's not without it's own issues.
Sadly, since i use 3dsmax 2014, there is no niftool plug-in that i am aware of.. i just keep getting "invalid indexes" nif. triangles or something no matter how i try to import it in.. i downloaded blender just to try a tutorial and bringing it into nifskope, and actually got more errors than previously. I'm assuming i did something wrong in the geometry cause i can import other OBJ resources from other modders and they work fine.. i've done many DSR patches this way.. but i spent more than an entire weekend learning on that dagger, so as i got frustrated, maybe i'll do better next time. i can screenshot my errors if that helps.
Do you have the Niftools import/export plugin for Max? Not the modified ones found here on the Nexus, but the one from Sourceforge? Those will work. But, you can simply export the mesh even in pieces if you select them and hit Export Selected. Export the blood and scabbard separately. Export them as obj files, then import them into an existing dagger and rebuild them in NifSkope. That's how I do all my weapons, except for bows.
Mr. Dave, to my understanding the Niftools import/export plugins for max do not work with max 2014.. if i'm mistake please let me know.. that might make life easier
I use Max9. I stayed with it due to all of the things that Autodesk totally ruined in later versions. But, there have been a few people I have tutored online who use later versions and they didn't give any indication that it didn't work with 2014.
Either way, you don't need any plugins for Max when doing weapons.
you have a valid point, i just hate the elven dagger in game.. maybe i'll try doing another and making it for a silver dagger.. see if i can get something right.
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I don't know how relevant this piece of info is, however, the max tri count using the 3ds Max niftools plugin is around 70k tris, per export. I would aim for a poly count of around 70k tris at most. And remember, less is better: 70k tris is the max.
You will never nail the textures your first time. Personally, I think that texturing and material definition is the hardest part. Modeling (hard surface) is easy in comparison, especially sculpting (organic).
I can't stress this enough, use material references when making textures and materials. I wouldn't worry too much about it right now because you are just getting started, however, it's something to know for the future.
Looks like a good start.
What issue are you having, specifically? If you are trying to import an obj into Nifskope, from what I here that feature has some issues. All I know is that a few of the niftools devs have something along the lines of "don't use obj import" in red letters in their sigs on the niftools forums. If that is what you are having issues with, I would recommend looking around for a compatible version of the niftools 3ds max plugin. With that you can export from 3ds max directly to a nif file, although it's not without it's own issues.
Those will work.
But, you can simply export the mesh even in pieces if you select them and hit Export Selected. Export the blood and scabbard separately. Export them as obj files, then import them into an existing dagger and rebuild them in NifSkope. That's how I do all my weapons, except for bows.
Either way, you don't need any plugins for Max when doing weapons.
A Silver dagger.
Mostly because the "smokey" texture of the blade reminds me of the vanilla silver swords.
Just an idea. I like the dagger though in any case - as long as you can get the size and feel right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hYHj2Dy49s
here you go man if you watch this carefully there shouldnt be questions any more