I would like to begin by saying that Psymoniser apparently hasn't been active since 2012, so a PM is out of the question.





I was wondering if I might get some help with solving an issue with the meshes included in Psymoniser's [url=http://mw.modhistory.com/download-45-6053]Azura replacer[/url. Azura lacks her neck and upper torso underneath her gown; this appears to be an issue with the alpha settings of Azura.nif and XAzura.nif.



I don't really have the know-how to know why it is, but if a new NiAlphaProperty is added to Azura.nif with the flag set to 4845, her neck appears, but the collar of her gown is very jagged and one can see through it to the wall behind her, rather than the translucent appearance it has in NifSkope.



I'm more than a little lost, and I don't think that I'm going about fixing this in the "proper" way. Any help would be appreciated, since while it's otherwise a lovely mod, it takes some of the power out of the main game and Tribunal's endings when Azura's head is floating.

try this:
1. open Meshes\r\XAzura.nif in nifskope, with menu option view\blocklist\show blocks in list
2. right click NiAlphaProperty node, flags, set enable testing, greater or equal, no sorter (leave rest unchanged)
3. (here is the tricky part) change alpha test threshold, I think 16 <= value <= 32 could work, it will skip a small part of fading but should be a good compromise
4. do the same with Meshes\r\Azura.nif

I've not tested in game only from CS this way (save the dummy temp mod as you may need to reload it in CS for rendered changes to update):
1. replace animation of azura spirit activator with the Meshes\r\XAzura.nif so it is visible
2. right click "azura spirit" , info, double click cell

[EDIT]I think it could not work well if there are other meshes with transparency in the background though, engine limits similar to when submerged

This is caused by alpha blending a regular object which uses z-buffering. This means whatever is drawn first (the gown) will block rendering of things behind it, like the body. While this is normally solved with alpha test on the gown, the alpha channel in the gown texture is made incorrectly for this purpose.

Instead you can force the body to be rendered before the gown, by setting in Meshes\r\XAzura.nif the block id 2 NiAlphaProperty in to No Sorter (flags 8429). The other NiAlphaProperties should not be changed. This is one of few times that No Sorter alpha is a reasonable solution.

Once she appears, it's fine, but while the activator is enabled, her torso can be seen floating in midair before she fades in.