Hello,
I'm trying to make a static meshes (I'm building a castle) with 3ds max 2012.
I'm using this utilty: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=5622
However I'm stuck
I cannot succesfully create nif for static meshes.
Tryed all tutorial to how to do but it not works. I can see the exported NIF in nifskope but not it CK. It is displayed as blank!

Please I need help to how to make Static Meshes with 3ds max 2012 or I've to know that the niftools is a broken project...
You can give me alternative way to make static meshes (not bodies or weapons) instead of 3ds max 2012

Thank you very much!

Same situation here. Unfortunately, as you can see http://niftools.sourceforge.net/forum/, development appears to have stopped.

If someone with the knowledge and skills wants to help, please visit thehttp://niftools.sourceforge.net/forum/.

You'll be remembered as the greatest modder ever.

There's no problem with adding objects to the game with max. Its exporters don't support compressed collisions though (currently even Blender doesn't support that)

I don't know what exporter you use, but if you see the nif in NifSkope and not in CK or game, then I suspect you may use Figment's latest 3.7.3 version. And to make the story short - this version just breaks things very badly. I use 3.7.1 version myself, and have no any problems with statics, though some tweaks in NifSkope in BSLightingShaderProperty block are usually needed anyway.

Thanks man! And yes, I'm using the figment version. I'll try ASAP the 3.7.1 version, but this one supports 3ds max 2012? Or the 2011?
Thanks again!

Also, make sure you've typed in 'yes' in the Has Vertex line in NiTriShapeData.

Well! Something now works! I can see my model (untextured) into CK and with "collision" unchecked in the max exporter dialog because if is checked, the CK crashes.

What I have to do now?

Thank you.

Already set to yes

This is my situation at this moment:
If I export with collision checked: CK crashes
If I export without collision checked: CK says that a mesh, in this case Cylinder014, is marked for eye reflectio, but is not skinned.
base texture path starts with directly \architecture\... With nifskope I changed it with textures\architecture\...

What I'm wrong?

Thank you.

Same issue here. Not being able to export from max and import/export to game in nifskope is a serious hindrance.

Hello,
any news?

The only thing ive been able to do is:

- import without collision (otherwise it crashes 3dsmax)
- modify the mesh and export (and not forget to adjust data in nifskope)
- replace original NiTriShape with new one

and it works. But its VERY limiting. The old collision must be pretty close to want you need not to end up with "invisible walls" around your new nif.

Its kind of frustrating to see people being able to make armors and weapons, but the most basic thing, we cant.

Well meo... Due I'm very newbie with nifskope and niftools can you explain more detailed what do you do?

- import without collision (otherwise it crashes 3dsmax)
What do you mean? Import an existing vanilla static nif skyrim into 3ds max?

- modify the mesh and export (and not forget to adjust data in nifskope)
And can I add my own texture/material? If yes what exact parameters I've to do in Material Editor?
What exactly I have to do with nifskope?

- replace original NiTriShape with new one
How and what?

Sorry for these questions but I'm really stuck with this.
Thank you very much!

I had a look over at the nifskope forums and no work is being done on either the max or blender exporters so far as I can tell. For mesogea this is a halt and wait issue. I am carrying on with lots of other stuff on Mesogea but no statics can be ported across until one or the other program is able to succesfully and simply export, and until nifskope is capable of opening these exported nifs and putting them simply into the game.

From what I understand from the posts on that forum, there's some work on Blender importer/exporter. Though the priority to support Skyrim is currently very low. Because the plans are to rewrite all the old code from Blender 2.49 to Blender 2.5+. And newer Blender differs significaly from previous versions in many aspects. After the whole code will be converted only then some work on Skyrim will start. And forum is pretty dead as all (one, two?) developers use IRC channel for communication...

@MannyGT: heres how i made my http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=12104 resource.

1- After unpacking the BSAs, import largeimperialtent01.nif in 3dsmax. You can capture the mesh texture using the eyedropper tool in the Material Editor and then change the diffuse map with your own.

2- Edit and removed the imperial crest and red ribbon. Then export as nif, make sure Collision and Generate Strips are uncheck, and that Root Node Type is set to BSFadeNode

3- Open two instances of NifSkope, one with the vanilla largeimperialtent01.nif, the other with your new nif.

4- First go to BSShaderTextureSet and fix your texture paths, should look like this textures\architecture\tents\largeimperialtent.dds (do both)

5- Then in BSLightingShaderProperty, make sure the shader flags are the same as the original (by comparing to the vanilla nif opened in the other nifskope). Change UV Scale to X 1.0000 Y 1.0000. Emissive Multiple to 1. And Texture Clamp Mode to WRAP_S_WRAP_T. Save.

6- Select the NiTriShape and Ctrl+C it (copy). Go back to the nifskope with the vanilla nif, select BSFadeNode and Ctrl+V it (paste). Delete Ctrl+Del the old one. Save to a new name.

7- Put in your skyrim\date\meshes\... folder and import in CK. Your done.

Like i said though, this is only for light modification of existing meshes. As of now, im not wasting any time trying to make crappy collision for a new mesh. Im waiting for a proper niftools plugin.

At this moment this is the ONE "how-to-do" to have a custom static mesh.

Thank you very much! I'll try tonight!