I was hoping I'd be able to make something more than just cool areas and a few crafty scrips this time around, but I've tried for going on 5 years now to figure out Nifskope and I've never been able to do more than replace texture paths, and even that I don't know how I'm doing it, just that I am. Why would they stick with this backwards, unnecessarily complex program that (to be honest) plain svcks as far as UI and accessibility goes.

Nifskope is a 3rd party program to allow modders to create new nifs. It's something that has had a lot of work put into it and, just because you can't figure out, others have done beautiful things with it. By going with nifs, it will reduce the time needed for people to jump in and start creating whole new assets for Skyrim. I, for one, am glad.

I know what it is...

The jist of this topic seems to be "Although there are many modders that can work with this format, I personally have issue learning it. Because of this, I want everyone to have to learn how to use new tools and new formats all over again."

If you have trouble understanding, why not learn from those who do?

Apparently not enough...

Using nothing but a few tutorials, I managed to get two new models into Oblivion. The first was a sword. The second was hair. The hair svcked once I got it in game, but I managed to do it. It's really not that hard.

Sorry. You're pretty much alone in your dismay at the announcement that TES5 will use the NIF format.

I love NIFSkope. It's a lifesaver for everything NIF.

You need to work more with other game engines or 3rd party mod tools! Saying nifskope svcks and is too complex is the most silly thing I have read today. And it's april fools day.
:facepalm:

all it is showing you a display of the contents of the nif model format. Everything you are looking at is pretty damn close to almost every other games data you get in game model formats. I wish all games had this apps power! you just don't know what you are looking at. There isn't a really better way to display the nodes and tree hierarchy except in nodes on a tree hierarchy. you just don't know how good you got it!

with the amounts of functionally I have rarely seen in any app of this sort. really. name any other current gen 3rd party app that goes as far as nifskope can, and is as easy to use... try bet you can't! would you rather a command line piece of turd? because that's more common that you think, and they usually only do very basic data changes on flags and strings. in nifskope you can edit nearly every thing... yes everything to do with the asset it opens up. you can completely animate objects or create particle systems from scratch, change ANY data field.

nifskope is so great an asset to the mod community it'll be a massive shame that it wouldn't continue to be of use to bethesda's mod community.
not only that, it's not just people cna use it, the prog is so far along in development, it took many years to get it to it's current state. I remember back in the days...

you stole my thunder I was going to reply the very same thing.


To me, nifSkope itself is more of a "finishing touch" app. Most of my asset manipulation is done in Blender, so it is the nifTools and scripts I can't live without.

One this is for certain, no other company caters to the mod community like Bethesda. Not only do they provide the very tool they use to create the game (the CS/GECK), I haven't found any other game whose assets as easy to extract and work with, and as well organized, as it is the case with Beth's game assets, and this is in great part due to the use of .nifs.

This was both brilliant and welcome news

I'm completel with Ghogiel on this.

Phinius, sorry you're having troubles using NifSkope. What sorts of things are you wanting to do, and what sorts of things do you find difficult to do in NifSkope?

I am delighted with this, Thanks Todd with all my heart, I can only hope that the actual tools like Nifskope and the NIF exporter/importer from the good people at NIFTools will be compatable with the Skyrim NIF format ( can we get some sort of ideias about Bethie's plans relating to this? ).
If so or if it will be a simple job to adapt these tools then we can only hope to start creating new content from day one, and that is amazing.

I never learned nifskope, but I never really added new models. So, from a third party perspective, I think keeping it is smarter, since I think it would be better than making those who know it learn something new, along with those who don't. Plus, I am not aware of any technical downsides to using nif's, so I'm fine with this.

Using a more common file format that doesn't need special exporters and tools would be a lot more friendly than a format that's been around long enough to have some people acclimated to it.

Imagine if they used .obj files - everyone and their brother who knows anything about modelling can make an .obj. So...it wouldn't take any time at all for modders to get cracking making models with a more common file format. Honestly, I don't actually care one way or the other but to claim NIF is better because Elder Scrolls modders are used to it...is just strange.

:EDIT: And also - it's strange that Bethesda never released a way to make dealing with NIFs easier. Seems lame-ish to rely upon modders to make all the tools they need to mod someone elses game. By that logic they should be alright with cracking open the Morrowind engine so modders could go truly nuts.

That's certainly what it sounds like to me. I've never done any work with modeling for Oblivion and Morrowind myself, but others seem to be able to do it pretty well, so if you have troubles with it, maybe you should consider that the problem is on your end and not with the format. And unless you've tried modeling in other formats and have had much less trouble, how do you know using another format would make things easier? And for all I know, you have, if you have, hen you can say the .nif format is unnecessarily complex, otherwise, though, maybe you should take the time to understand what other formats are like before criticizing one.

As for me, I'd say that if the .nif format still suits Bethesda's needs, then there's really no need to change it, as changing it means modders need to learn a new format, and may also need new tools, and I'm sure that if Bethesda actually felt they would best be served by using another format, they would do so, but if they can stick to the same one, I'm sure they'd rather do so, after all, it's probably easier for them to stick with a format they're used to as well.

OBJ flat out is woefully insufficient for the job of game models.

NIF is better here because we are used to it. It may not be better for other games, but it works for BGS games.

The reason they didn't release an exporter plugin of any kind for Oblivion or Fallout is believed to be related to restrictive usage terms for middleware too embedded in the in-house exporter plugin's code.

I can understand your pain. My modelling program of choice, Maya, isn't exactly supported by nifTools or their exporter. That means I'm forced to either model in a program I don't know as well, or use a bit of a more round-about way to get my files into .nif format. Still, I am glad that they are sticking with the same file format. It's familiar and I have figured out ways to deal with it.

It would be nice if they did release tools to make it easier, though.

I'm a complete useless guy regarding models, and still I've used NifSkope extensively in my modding days, mostly to do static, havok-proof objects and correct erroneous texture paths.

So, if the .nif format allows for complex hi-res models and animations, then I reiterate that you're pretty much alone.

Hooray for NetImmerse! This is good news, because it makes planning ahead much easier. This made my next 8 months

You do realize this means all the creepy six mods and ridiculous chainmail bikinis will find their way into Skyrim almost immediately, right?

I cried too..

from joy

We all know they were going to eventually, anyways, so ultimately what difference does it make?

So does, crossbows, spears and combat animations.

I wonder if Bethesda is going to use the same shaders that blend the close and distant land seams, and use it for neck, hand, feet seams.

And what do we know about the new tree systems, is Speedtree totally replaced with the in-house models? are these animarted NIF's?