Hi all

First of all, apologies if this has been asked before and I've missed it, though I have been looking around for a solution.

Warning: I am pretty much a Blender virgin. But I can find my way around it, mostly. Thus when I embarked on my silly quest of fixing up some meshes from an old, discontinued mod, I ran into some... expected problems. I figured out the first problem after lots of searching and experimenting. I'm quite proud of it! The issue was that the meshes appeared bright and unshaded ingame. I'm happy to say I've fixed that all up, so I've made some progress, at least.

However, one problem remains; when I export the edited Nif file, it seems to mess up the whole object... its orientation is wrong, and it appears the skeleton is also broken. I've not tested ingame yet, but that's how it appears in the CK. Instead of standing up, it is laying down and its limbs detatched/oddly positioned.

I am using the default MW export options, though I have tried toggling a few different buttons hoping to hit the jackpot. No luck so far.

Here's what I'm using. I got all the versions recommended by the installers, so I could be sure they were compatible:

-Blender 2.49b
-Python 2.6
-PyFFI 2.1.4
-Blender Nif Scripts 2.5.4


P.S. To clarify what I'm doing, I have some pre-made Nif files of creatures (bipedal) that already work in the game, their only problem being the ultra-bright unshadedness. So I import these into Blender using Default settings, but when I make my edits and re-export the Nif, that's when it messes up. I do not make any changes to the skeleton or mesh itself; the only thing I've touched are the UV and Material settings.


I'd really appreciate if someone could point me in the right direction, as I'm quite excited to be working on this and hope to see it all working ingame eventually.

thanks!

Though I managed to bypass this issue using Nifskope, I'm still keen to find a way to export successfully from Blender so that I might be able to make other, more complex edits in future. Luckily all I needed to do in this instance was modify a single value, but if I need to make any changes to the polys or UVs themselves I'll be stuck.

Any help would be appreciated!

Still banging my head against this today. I think I've found the root of the problem, I just don't know how to fix it.


On the original NIF file, when I open it in Nifskope, it has "16 NiNode" which opens into two further entries, "17 NiStringExtraData" and "0 NiNode". That "0 NiNode" opens up into the rest of the guts of the file. This file works fine ingame.

But on my Blender-exported file, the structure is different. Or rather, numbered different, as there appears to be no other difference between them. At the top, instead of 16, it is 0. Then the NiStringExtraData is 1, and the NiNode containing the rest is numbered 2.


So, the Blender file is clearly messed up somehow, but how do I re-number the nodes in Nifskope so that they match the original file's structure? I'm aware of how hacky this solution is, but without a better solution, this is what I'll have to do every time I export from Blender.

Eh, scratch that. Seems it's more than just a numbering issue, the skeleton itself does get horribly corrupted.

Does nobody really have any idea why Blender is messing this up for me? At this point I'd appreciate any reply, even if it is to say "I don't know".

I had a similar problem with the texturing matey. All the textures looked white washed in game rather than as I desired.

I wasn't using Blender as I really can't stand it but in fact was using 3DS Max. The problem there was that the version was not compatible....

I have no overcome the issue by modelling in Wings 3D and exporting as Obj then using Milkshape to attach the textures and also export as a nif file.

It appears to work spot on.

Now I have 3DS and no use for it lol I could have just done everything for free (well I count the miniscule cost of Milkshape as free)!!

Good luck.

Can you post a screenshot of your Import and Export settings for NIFs in Blender?