Ok, so I have a custom creature made but I can't seem to figure out how to make and export havok in 3ds max (and if I make it in blender I get faced with so many problems like the creature getting stuck or losing its bsx flag or getting stretched along the screen like chewed gum).

I recently got told that it is possible to copy Havok from one of Bethesda's creatures and so I wanted to try that out.

The problem however is that I can't seem to figure out how to do that. I tried the usual 'Copy Block' and then 'make child of bone' technique on the capsules but they don't show up in the new skeleton at all. SO I wanted to ask if there was a good tutorial on this ... or maybe someone can just briefly tell me how to make it work.

there is really anything to it. rclick copy branch. paste branch into your nif. and just hook it up as a collision object to one of your bone ninodes. the tweak from there, rinse and repeat

Am I supposed to assign it as a collision object somewhere? If yes how?

Just to clarify.

I right click on a capsule in an original creature and select 'Copy Branch'. In another window with my new skeleton I right click on Scene Root and select 'Paste Branch'. I then make the new entry a child of one of the bones ... but still the capsule doesn't become visible.

Precisely what more am I supposed to do.

collision objects aren't set up as a child to ninodes, they are set up as the collision object for the ninode, they have their own specific entry. look at a vanilla nif, or just the block details of any ninode untill you see collision object.

unless you want to go about creating the other necessary blocks entirely in nifskope, copy branch the whole bhkBlendCollisionObject as well, not just a capsule shape

Ok ... so I tried what you said but had problems copying the whole bhkBlendCollisionObject branch (some errors about failed parent link and something about a constraint)

So ... I did the following:

- deleted the constraint in the source file
- copy/pasted the whole node/bone to my file
- in my file, deleted copied the parent node to leave an orphaned bhkBlendCollisionObject
- assigned this bhkBlendCollisionObject to my bone as a collision object


A green capsule finally showed up and I was able to change its radius and ending coordinates to make it fit my bone.


However I don't really think that it worked out. I still could not loot the corpse ... and the dead creature returns to standing position when I reload the game.

What am I doing wrong?


Does it have something to do with the contraint?

Did you hook up the bhkBlendCollisionObject "twice", or otherwise do the "two way" hook up required?

You need to assign the bhkBlendCollisionObject to the NiNode it is under, by going to Block Details for that NiNode, then entering the Nifskope number of the bhkBlendCollisionObject in that NiNode's "Collision" field. BUT.....you also need to go into Block Details of the bhkBlendCollisionObject, then enter the Nifskope number of that collision's parent NiNode in the "Target" field - hence you need to hook up the collision "two ways", for it to act right.

As for the dead creature returning to standing position: you might have put the bhkblendcollisionobject on the wrong bone. Try putting the collisionobject on the bone that comes right after the Bip01 NonAccum bone (which might be a spine of pelvis bone, in your case).

Overall, you're gonna eventually need to use those constraint objects, if you have collision on more than one bone/NiNode. Constraints link bones together, so that when the creature dies, the bones can move and bend, but still stay joined together. If you have no constraints, but have the bhkblendcollisionobject on more than one bone, those bones with collision will start to stretch in infinity in the game upon creature death, causing massive mesh contortions.

I'll send you a download in a few minutes. You'll find it helpful.

Koniption