*EDIT* PROBLEM SOLVED. THANKS TO THOSE THAT REPLIED.

Hallo there.

So I wanted to make a container version of the clean refrigerator. The problem I have with using the original clean refrigerator nif file is it doesn't seem to have the separate open and close animations you get when you interact with the grungy refrigerator nif (either in the geck preview window or in-game). There seems to be an embedded animation in the clean nif file, as I've seen it in NifScope, but it isn't utilized in GECK or in-game for some reason. I like the animation and I'd like to keep it, so I figured I'd make a GECK Texture Set that mimics the clean refrigerator and attach it to the grungy nif. I mostly works...its white now, but it doesn't have that lovely shine the original clean nif has.

Some specs.

Clean nif: meshes/clutter/fridge/refrigeratorclean.nif
Clean textures as far as I can figure out with NifScope: textures/clutter/questitems/fridge01_clean.dds <---(put in diffuse slot in Texture Set)
textures/clutter/questitems/fridge01_clean_n.dds <---(put in normal slot)
textures/effects/shinybright_e.dds <---(put in environment slot)

Grungy nif: meshes/clutter/fridge/fridgeclosed01.nif (I've also tried fridgeclosed02)
Grungy textures as far as I can tell: textures/clutter/fridge/fridge01.dds <---(put in diffuse slot)
textures/clutter/fridge/fridge01_n.dds <---(put in normal slot)

I've screwed around with all kinds of Texture Set combos with these textures and I can't seem to figure it out. If there is a way I could either get those open/close animations to work for the clean nif or get the lovely shininess to work for the retexed grungy nif, I would be most appreciative to hear it.

Also, it seems my in-game loading times increased ever since I extracted my bsa archives. Have I done something wrong, perhaps?

As far as I can tell, you're going about retexturing things the right way, so I'm not sure why it's not working. As for your load times increasing, that happens when you unpack the BSA archives into your Fallout3/Data folder. It's best to unpack them to another location. Once you find the .NIF(s) and/or texture(s) you want to use, copy it/them into your Data folder and rename it/them.

I have tried different things trying to get my refridgerator to have that 'reflective' quality, but no dice. I suspect there is sone setting in the NIF that gives it the reflective map. Perhaps someone will come along that knows how to do that.

Thanks for your prompt replies guys. Yes, I'm quite convinced it's the nif...some kind of reflective setting...I retextured the clean fridge nif with my custom texture pack, to see if it was indeed complete, and it looks the same as the original. If there are any of you out there with knowledge about shiny/reflective surfaces in nifs and how I might add/enable one one a non-shiny/reflective counterpart or, again, how I can incorporate latent animations into geck/game, you have my thanks in advance.

This is just a guess... but after looking at the two refrigerator NIFs, I noticed that the "clean" fridge NIF has an additional shader flag enabled in its BSShaderPPLightingProperty blocks.

In the refrigeratorclean.nif, look at blocks 10 and 33(they are both BSShaderPPLightingProperty blocks for the separate mesh parts). In the block details under "Shader Flags", they have a shader called "SF_Multiple_Textures" enabled. If you look at the corresponding shader flags in the "grunge/dirty" fridge... these shader flags are not enabled.

You might try enabling these shader flags in the BSShaderPPLightingProperty blocks for your modified "grunge" NIF file. I have no particular experience with or knowledge about what this shader flag does... but it's one difference I noticed in the material/texture related properties between the two NIFs.

Great guess. :foodndrink: Checking the differing texture boxes worked. Thank you, thank you, thank you. This also opens up what NifSkope can do to help retexture stuff.

Glad it worked for you.

I'm purely speculating, but perhaps the "SF_Multiple_Textures" flag was required in order for the NIF file to use the shinybright_e texture file.

I had tried adding the "SF_Multiple_Textures" already in my NIF and it did not add the 'reflective' look to the fridge. At least not in the CS.