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I am having issues with making a texture glossy. I am simply wanting to make part of the mesh extremely glossy while the rest retains a rather dull appearance.

if you are just joining this topic, then read starting at post http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1105781-normal-mapping-help/page__view__findpost__p__16212387

The shininess of a surface is controlled by the alpha value of the normal map. I very low alpha (mostly transparent) produces a dull surface while a high alpha (nearly opaque) produces a very shiny surface. Other things that affect the reflection from a surface require editing the mesh in NifSkope. These include the apply mode in the block details of the NITexturingProperty block and the material glossiness. The default apply mode is APPLY_MODULATE. You can use APPLY_HILIGHT to get an even shinier surface at some sacrifice of realism. To understand the effect of changing the glossiness and to know what .dds formats to use for each situation, see http://www.invision.tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/topic/1139-guest-workshop-texturing-101-by-vince/. Good luck.

Ah, yes! Thank you for that link, it was helpful! I now know what I am doing with my Normal Maps.
But, could you give me a link to making textures shinier using NIFscope. I am not too familiar with the programm so I would like to know how to use the "APPLY_..."
but again, thank you for the link and the help!

The Apply_.." module is located in the block below the texture path of said nif. Apply_Hilight is mainly used for reflecting items and Apply_Hilight2 is the use of Oblivions Parallax Shader.

NifSkope can be intimidating at first, but learning how to use it is a good way to increase your modding skills. There are several good tutorials on using NifSkope in the CS Wiki. A good place to start is: http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/NifSkope_Comprehensive_Guide on the Wiki. You will find that every block has Block Details. It's in the Block Details of the NiTexturingProperty block that you will find Apply Mode. As I noted before, the default is APPLY_MODULATE. If you want to experiment with shinier surfaces, you can change it to APPLY_HILIGHT. The other place to look is in the Block Details of the NiMaterialProperty block. You can change the Glossiness of the material there. BTW, the Ambient and Diffuse colors of the material make a difference in NifSkope, but have no effect in game.

thank you very much, this is really helpful! I'll get to reading soon, but I have another question - which I am sure will be answered in the tutorial on Nifscope, but for quick access, I just want to know if it is possible to change part of a Mesh to have...say...APPLY_HILIGHT while leaving the rest of the meshes material the same.
Like, for example if I had a helmet with a mouth piece (all in the same mesh) and I wanted the helmet to be shiny, but wanted the mouth piece to stay dull, would this be possible? Or does the APPLY_HILIGHT affect the whole mesh?

EDIT:
taking a quick skim through of the index (before starting my reading) I noticed the topic on a gloss texture, and I am wondering if I could make a gloss texture on the mesh, and if so how would I apply it to the mesh in NIFSkope?

Alright I read over almost that entire wiki, while it did help a little I still haven't quite achieved what I wanted to.
I noticed there was a glossiness slider in NifSkope, unfortunately it effects the entire mesh, while I am just trying to apply the gloss to one section. I played around in nif for awhile trying to figure out how to add a gloss map, but I cannot figure out how to add additional texture/data to a mesh by right clicking on the NiTexturingProperty under the NiTriShape. I played around here for a while. I first saw "Texture" which gave me a selection of different types of maps, unfortunately I don't think this is what I was looking for because there was no "gloss map" and for that matter, a option to choose to add a normal map.
So then I went to Node and selected "attach extra data", but of course nothing there was helpful at all.

So still I wonder how do you make a specific part of the model glossy, while keeping the rest dull (or at least less shiny by a noticeable degree). Can it be done with a gloss map? and if so, how do you apply a gloss map?

The alpha channel in the *_n.dds files is the gloss map. A gloss map is just a gray scale texture, the whiter areas are more shiny, the darker more dull. If an object is shiny all over then the object's gloss map is a solid white. Gimp is great at editing Alpha channels.

Are you confusing _n and _g?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but here's how I see it:

_n texture:
- creates 3D relief effect
- alpha channel controls shininess - black parts dull, white shiny, between well in between (shininess or reflection)
_g texture:
- controls glowing in dark, black parts don't glow, other do in that colour

For transparent textures, there's alpha channel of your regular texture.

Apply hilight in Nifskope gives you http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll54/pero_lozhach/Learning%20Blender/Clipboard01-4.jpg for a regular vanilla texture.

Ntom, what Corthian and washington say is correct. There is no separate gloss map (like we have all said, it's the alpha channel of the normal map). There is a reference to a _g.dds gloss map in the Wiki entry Reskinning Rudiments1, but that's an error. The _g is for glow maps that, as washington said, glow in the dark. Understand that this Wiki entry was made three years ago when we all knew less. If you want to see some practical examples of varying shininess, look at the normal maps for some of the vanilla Oblivion chests. You will see that they are nearly opaque near the bright parts (metal locks, etc.) and nearly transparent in the areas of the wood and leather parts.

okay, this is beginning to be hard to understand...
So, if I want to get something glossy, like the frame of the picture that Washington has, I would use the APPLY_HILIGHT, then using the normal mapping I would make what I want shiny by making it opaque, and make what I want dull but making it transparent, correct?

Correct - to answer your earlier question - to make just a portion of the model have the gloss effect you will want to separate the model into separate Nitristrips (easiest way is to assign a seperate texture for export so the exporter will leave as seperate tristrips and then change back to use the same texture after exporting) since the Apply mode setting will affect the entire Nitristrip but by separating the model into 2 or more tristrips you can then change the Apply mode independently on the separate pieces (ie. make your mouthpiece one Tristrip and use apply_modulate and then make the Helmet a separate tristrip and use Apply_highlight --- though with helmets this means you can not use the conformulator since it only works on single tristrips)

you lost me at tristrip

Ok then a quick photo to explain --- http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc189/JDFanning_bucket/celtic.jpg


If you look at the screenie you will see that the Blade is highlighted in the render window -- if you look at the block list you'll see the 9 Nitristrip is highlighted -- in the model I made the sword as 3 pieces (one is the blade - one is the wooden handle - and one is the 2 handle pieces) -- by doing it this way I can now go in and make the blade only glossy by clicking on the 12 Nitexturing property and then in the block Details going to Apply mode and selecting Apply_highlight and that will oly make the blade shiny leaving the other 2 Nittristrips (the handle pieces) with the Apply_modulate setting !!

hmmmm...it appears the model I am editing doesn't have a NiTriStrip. (btw, nice sword) all I see starting at the top:
0 NiNode (with more under that:)


so...I suppose I could trying using a normal map with the alpha channel and apply the APPLY_HILIGHT to the entire thing....maybe that will work?

Sorry -- the Nitristrips and NitriShapes are essentially the same (just means the vertices are arranged a bit differently - Strips are a bit more optimized and shapes are usually used when there is weight painting or skinning info) - so the model you listed has just a single Nitrishape and therefore just a single Nitexturing property that covers the entire model.

The various NiNodes under the 7 NiSkinInstance Property are because the model is skinned to the Biped model.

So trying to change just a portion of that model would require importing into a 3d modeling program and seperating the parts you want separate from the other parts and then reexporting so that you could then change the apply mode on just those portions.

But yes an edited normal map with changes made to the alpha channel to darken the portions you do not want to have much of the effect and lightening those portions you want glossy should work. (Be sure to save the texture in DXT3 or DXT5 so that the alpha channel will be saved - DXT1 does not save the alpha info so it makes smaller files but willl not work properly in this case !!)

well...thats too much to change a model to fit my personal taste....so I guess applying just one section of glossiness to a model using this model would not be probable?

Try changing the setting on the entire model and then adjust the normal map alpha channel to darken the parts that you do not want glossy and lighten the parts you do want glossy and by playing with it you should be able to get the effect you are looking for (it's just a bit tougher since you have to play with the various brightness levels instead of being able to just adjust the setting on separate parts) -- For an idea of how to do this - Here is a pic of the alpha channel of the glass helmet normal map that shows the same type of settings where the metal parts are not really glossy but the glass parts are ! ( http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc189/JDFanning_bucket/helm.jpg )

Hey thank you alot!! I'll work on it, ofcourse I will be busy all weekend so who knows if I will be able to get around to it this weekend, but thank you a lot for your help.

Okay, well the APPLY_HILIGHT worked...maybe a bit too much...or maybe not enough. It is hard to say.
In game, things look normal...you know, the light is creating pretty dull hi-lights like the object is dull. Well that is good on most of the model, but there is still one part of it I want it to be glossy - and I mean really glossy.
Well I took a look in the inventory menu and BAM! It's GLOSSY. I mean...way too glossy, and EVERYTHING is glossy. So perhaps I need to play around with the normal map more? But to me, the part I did want glossy, even in the menu did not have strong highlight on it. It was glossy, most definitely but there were not strong highlights. So am I doing things right, or are there things I need to adjust? Just play with my normal map more?