I am having some difficulty trying to combine some properties over from one nif file to another in nifskope. Here is what I am trying to do:

-Take chains from the 'Trapmace01' and link them to clothes or weapons-

The main problem:

-The nifskope base model is not recognizing the link nodes, or NiTriShape of the chains(vice versa if I use the 'Trapmace01' as my base). Seems that once a node link is broken, the nif does not function. I need to figure out how to create link nodes and properties/references to the model/nifs I am connecting these chains to.

I already know how to create my own meshes, copy and paste and put them into the game world all working fine. However, I find myself looking at possibly needing to insert new nodes or block types to nifs that dont already have them within their Parent Block. My research shows me that it is possible but each object that I would do it for would likely have a specific way of doing it based on what nodes or blocks I am trying to nifmerge.

As of right now I am just trying to good ol' copy paste, edit and see method because I really dont know how parts of the nif are called into action or referenced when the properties are not already inherent in the base nif I am using. I feel that it would be better to ask instead of reinvent the wheel if there is a solution or method of 'property attachment' when attempting a nifmerge.

From what I understand this might be a complicated problem, so any help or methods of successful or unsuccessful nifmerges information would likely give me some clue for, what not to do, at least.

If you ever figure this out, please send me a message about it. I am currently trying to nifmerge Dawnbreaker and a circlet, and I know nothing about nifskope, so its crashing my CK when I try to load it.

Sure thing, Im getting the same issue. Direct crash.

I also want to put these chains onto chandliers so they might sway, and make huge hanging things that have platforms so when you jump on them they sway.

Dawnbreaker and circlet hmm. There are some people that did it in Oblivion I think with several pieces of armor (like the gladiator armors, merging helmets to pieces of armor).

I know when dealing with clothes there might be issues with bones being connected to the circlet. Depending on what your trying to do, it might be that either, if Dawnbreaker is the base, that the circlet node is disconnected from the head; If the circlet is the base nif then the Dawnbreaker would need an attachment node of some sort to the bones. Im not sure how to fix either or even if that is the root problem, but Im pretty sure that those two things would cause a problem, if nothiing else.

These nodes and property attachments are kind of a new area for me, but Im glad to be at this point from where I started

Here's what I'm actually trying to do, maybe you can shed some light on how to do this for me. Basically what I did is exclusively copy over the shiny part of dawnbreaker from the handle. What I want to do is the following:
Copy over the shiny part of dawnbreaker into a circlet.
Delete all the other parts of the circlet's physical form.
Increase the size of the shininess.
Make it so it doesn't take up a game-used item slot.

Have an angelic halo as an item.
Sounds cool, no?

Oh, and the circlet is the base.

Hmmm. Found something interesting, let me know if its relevant to you. When I copy/paste my branch over into the circlet, it excludes a NiTriShape node. Interestingly, while I can past that over as well, its children won't come with it. Any attempt to get its children back under it doesn't work (it comes in, but not as a child of my FX glowy node).
Thought this might mean more to you than it does to me/maybe is relevant to your problem as well.

That does sound cool. Have you taken a look at it a 3d modeling program? I use 3dsmax.

This might be a good area to learn some things for both of our problems. Since my issue is a weapon, it would probably be easier to attach new nodes to another weapon instead of something completely different. This might give me some insight to how whether or not our problems is because of different form types. Im going to play with it a bit and see what i can do on that end. Even if Im not successful doing replicating the effects to another weapon, Ill learn something

Keep me posted.

http://cs.elderscrolls.com/index.php/Working_With_Nifs_201_:_Practical_Use

I found this.

They attached fire to a sword using a node from a completely different object. This was for Oblivion but it gives me some insight as to the nifskope way of function might be in Skyrim for node attachment and property attachment. It is at least a good starting point. I did see fire on a sword in another mod. I think I might have that nif in my files. Ill check that out too.

You're a prince. I'll begin research as well.

Looking through that tutorial, they very clearly outline what to do to add flames to something (something I've dearly wanted to know how to do for some time now). The thing is, it doesn't work that way for Skyrim apparently. It says to simply copy paste, edit the number of children in the root node. and blammo its done. Not that simple in skyrim I'm afraid.

Ya, I have tried all sorts of things similar to this. I wish there was a wiki like this for Skyrim. That would really help out, or even break down of how these nif files are constructed and rooted from. I think that much of that is lack of knowledge on my part though.

I know there is a way to do it, just gotta keep trying, experimenting, and researching... unless someone comes along with a some wisdom lol.

Ok so far it looks like the NiNode can be called, created but that attaching in a copy/past and setting child/parent relationships seems to have no bearing on the node's proper function without either deleting some connecting node that needs to be removed or adding another node that calls the proper funtions of that particular node. I could be putting too much thought into it. Its likely something simple though.

What would be great is a Node definitions table or something like that. Most are self explanitory but several seem somewhat elusive or ambiguous. Back to trial and error.
It could be that some of the issues can be solved by the 3d editors and nifskope combined. I did try this with the chains but a lot of the information did not carry through on the export.

The nifskope forums seem to have someone looking for the same answers but noone has replied to him/her yet...

Oh god, I'm trying to do something like this as well!

The specific problem I am trying to solve RIGHT NOW is how to switch which animation is a default idle animation, if such a thing is possible, so that I don't need a script to run the animation.
This, I believe, is a NIF file animation, not a havok-based one.

I've been successful so far, in replacing one mesh with another - Right click an NiTriShape, Block->Copy Branch, open the other file, Delete an existing NiTriShape, paste the branch in ...
NifScope seems to adjust the arrays automatically to include the branch when I paste it in ...

OK I found it!
Ok What I did is this:

I had both nifs open in the nif nifskope.
When you first load up the nif on the Block Details(you can bring this up at anytime by Spells/Batch/Update All Tangent Spaces), at the bottom, there is a whole bunch of Nodes.
Open up the NiHeader.
In this list you find an area of:

Num Strings
Max String String Length
Strings

-Have both nifs open the Strings. There you will see a list of properties and or fx or whatever the nif has.
-You want to see which effects or properties you will attach to the nif you are editing, using the copy and paste method.
This is like DawnbreakerSwordFX, GLowMesh12 etc...

-So you increase the number of Num Strings to how many properties you want to carry over. Refresh with that Green Recycle Arrow button.
You will then see a whole bunch of empty slots under the Strings.

-There you will type in the properties exactly as they are written (i.e. 'DawnbreakerSwordFx', 'GLowMesh12' etc...)
-After that Copy and Paste your Node as you normally would, then call the number (from the strings list and it is not numbered) in the Value area of the block list. You will know if you have the right number once you press Enter(the one by your right pinky on the keyboard not the other one)
The value with show you the String property once you press Enter.

-Do this for all the remaining properties that are not properly attached and there it is. You carried over the properties from one nif to the other! Awesome.

So far it did not crash the CK and showed the proper effects from the Dawnbreaker on my Mace. This is an awesome step in the right direction!
Ill probably create a better step by step list, i was just excited and had to get this out asap.

Thou art god surely.

Hmmm. I did as you said, and I definitely got some results. But not all good. I did it and it loaded both in the CK and in game just fine, except the only parts of my item I can see are the normal circlet. The wisps I added didn't render at all. Any ideas?

Oh, also the wisps show up in inventory, but not in the third person when in the world.

This is going to seem silly but, how do you add pictures here? XD

Hmm did this with a weapon so when changing forms there might be some slight differences. Im going to try to do the circlet/halo.

Oh I only copied and pasted the NiNode branch from the Dawnbreaker over to the mace. I was using my mace as a base nif that I saved to.

The weapon came out with no problems and didnt see the wisps in the inventory.

There's an image tag button in the font bar when you post.

ok I replicated the circlet and added the light to it. I did get good results with the Ground object in both the CK and the Gameworld. However, when I put on the circlet the light disappeared. I edited once again and scaled the NiNode to 2. The light did become brighter in the CK with the ground object and in the rendering of the 'wearing' object in the CK but in the gameworld it was gone, only when i equiped the circlet. I did even move it out away from the circlet, thinking that my head was blocking the light. I kept the circlet model where it was at, the only thing I added was the effects from the Dawnbreaker.

I didnt edit the KajitAA nor the ArgonianAA but I was using a Darkelf for the test so that shouldn't have mattered. Well i have to get some sleep. Ill figure out the picture thing and rewrite better instructions tomorrow.

Well Im glad to have gotten this much progress so far. Thanks for your help. Ill make sure to keep you posted on more and when i post the detailed instructions for this 'Nifmerger' first step, since there are none for Skyrim yet. Im thinking that others may already have figured this out but I feel accomplished anyway lol.

For the adding of strings - rather than editing the array manually, I think you can let NifSkope do it for you.

After you've pasted a property, or anything that holds a string, you will see a field like
Name string Txt
And the "Txt" is a small image. What it actually holds in the field is a link to the array that you are editing.
However, if you click on the little Txt image (not the space next to it), you will get a dialog box telling you to "Select a string or enter a new one", and displaying all the strings in that array.
You can type a new one, and NifScope will add it to the array automatically.


I would be very grateful if you could help me with my problem ...
I am working with the guardian stones.
There is a separate nif for each stone. For now I just want to get one to work.
It contains two animation "AnimPlay" and "AnimIdle". Now I think THIS is what is called a "Nif file animation". As in, I don't think it uses Havok ???
In the preview window in the CK, those animations are displayed as being nif animations, not Havok ones.

AnimPlay is the animation of the blue beam that plays when you activate a stone. I would like it to be the default animation that plays all the time, and to have it constantly loop.
I'm not even sure that AnimIdle fulfills that role ...
But AnimPlay is launched via script.

I've been trying to get it to loop - setting everything I could from CLAMP to LOOP. And yet the animation still stops after it plays. It doesn't loop...
I know that my changes to the file are having an effect, because I've successfully made a mesh replacement.

I don't know what to do next ... in oblivion, apparently setting the name of the animation to "Idle" should work. Setting it to "AnimIdle" here doesn't seem to do anything. I might try "Idle" next. But in any case, for it to work properly it has to be a LOOPING animation.

Basically my Halo is complete and everything, but it won't render ingame. Do you think you could take a look at it if I posted it up on nexus?

Tune_on_a_Dime
So from what I gather you want to have that beam shining up to the sky constantly from a particular source? Sounds like something I did for Fall Out where I took an animation and attached it to the person in a constant animation loop. I had to make it an object and attach that object to the person. Perhaps that if you create an object with this animation active and place the object where you want the animation to be. Ill definatly like to help. Ill start looking at it and see what I can do with that animation.

II Ducey
For sure, send it to Nexus and I'll dl it and take a look at it. It will be later tonite when I can start on looking at it. Ill keep you posted on my progress.

Thanks! Here it is. Feel free to check out my mod if you like, but its still buggy/in the works. There is a cool physics toy in the testroom though (coc tbjtestroom), so that's fun. http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=11805

Yes, I want a constant beam shining ... the main thing I need is for it not to be done via script.
Perhaps I should explain exactly what I'm working on:
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=11177
My mod adds beams of light to crimson nirnroots. Currently it is done via a script which means it doesn't work for anyone who has already been to Blackreach (because the game saves them as using a different script).
In theory I should be able to turn it into a simple mesh replacer that will have no save game issues...

I'll keep messing about with settings - and ty very much if for your help! I don't know how to create the object with the animation active ... not without a script - that is my problem for now. Don't know which animation settings to change ...

BTW that was a non-working version, I've updated it such that it should work now. Although, I'm not entirely sure the scripts are unpacking properly...