I have a question about importing a nif into 3ds max 2012 (64 bit), making my changes, and then exporting back to nif.

With the current way I'm doing it, it is invisible in game. I am unsure of what to do with my nif after exporting from max. I also am unsure of exactly what settings I should use when importing and exporting from max.

Here is a screenshot of my importing settings:
http://imageshack.us/a/img189/9220/importinginto3dsmax2012.png

Here is a screenshot of my export settings:
http://imageshack.us/a/img820/3657/exportfrom3dsmax2012.png


Here is a screenshot of the nif before making my changes:
http://imageshack.us/a/img546/8071/beforeimporting.png

Here is a screenshot of my nif after importing to 3ds max, making my changes, and than exported back to nif:
http://imageshack.us/a/img827/9604/afterexport.png




Does anyone have any idea of what I need to change to make this nif work?


Thanks

Steps you need to do:
get rid of all of those NiMaterial properties
right click on the root NiNode and convert it to BSFadeNode which is under the Bethesda menu when you right click and select convert
open a default nif, copy BSLightingShader property and copy it over into your nif so that it appears nested under each NiTriShape.

Note whenever you copy something make sure to "copy branch" and not just "copy" and the same applies for remove.
When you copy the entire branch, all the nodes that were nested in that branch also get copied. so everything remains intact. For instance the node immediately under the BSLightingShader Property is also needed to have your textures appear on your objects.

Here's a shameless plug for my team mod and it shows you what I'm talking about.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/Gbb5f.jpg[/img]

Notice that the first spot under the Texture set is for the diffuse dds file and the second is for the normal map.
I have a text file for the others that ill paste here as soon as i find it.


Edit: There is a new max nif plugin thats out, but its experimental at this stage. http://niftools.sourceforge.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=3845
Careful with that though and use at your own risk. It's working well for me.


Edit 2: This object won't have a collision mesh embedded into the nif. For this you need https://github.com/skyfox69/NifUtils/downloads.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/5622 a good tutorial for the import and export process.

Texture paths:

if (stristr(path, "\\menus"))	    return (!ch ? "User-interface element" : "Masking");  if (stristr(path, "\\faces"))	    return (!ch ? "Aging-map for faces" : "None");  if (stristr(path, "\\facemods"))	    return (!ch ? "Aging/tone-map for faces" : "None");  /* normal maps */  if (issuf(path, "_n") ||		  issuf(path, "_fn") ||		  issuf(path, "_xyz") ||		  issuf(path, "_xyzd")) {	    if (stristr(path, "landscapelod") ||	    stristr(path, "terrain"))		  return (!ch ? "World-space normal-map for terrain" : "None");	    return (!ch ? "Tangent-space normal-map" : "Specularity-map");  }  /* normal maps */  if (issuf(path, "_msn"))	    return (!ch ? "Model-space normal-map" : "None");  /* glow maps */  if (issuf(path, "_g") ||		  issuf(path, "_glow") ||		  issuf(path, "_emit"))	    return (!ch ? "Glow-color" : "Glow-mask");  /* hair gloss maps (l/rgb-only, greyscale) */  if (issuf(path, "_hh"))	    return (!ch ? "Gloss-map for hair" : "None");  /* hair detail maps (rgba) */  if (issuf(path, "_hl"))	    return (!ch ? "Detail-map for hair" : "Opacity");  /* metallic masks */  if (issuf(path, "_m"))	    return (!ch ? "Reflectivity-map for light-sources (greyscale)" : "None");  /* environment masks */  if (issuf(path, "_em") ||		  issuf(path, "_envmap") ||		  issuf(path, "_envmapmask"))	    return (!ch ? "Reflectivity-map for environment-maps (greyscale)" : "None");  /* environment maps */  if (issuf(path, "_e"))	    return (!ch ? "Environment-map" : "None");  /* shine maps */  if (issuf(path, "_s"))	    return (!ch ? "Specularity-map for skin" : "None");  /* skin maps */  if (issuf(path, "_sk"))	    return (!ch ? "Tone-map for flesh/skin" : "None");  /* backlist maps */  if (issuf(path, "_b") ||		  issuf(path, "_bl"))	    return (!ch ? "Backlight-map for fur/ice" : "None");  /* parallax maps */  if (issuf(path, "_p"))	    return (!ch ? "Parallax-map (greyscale)" : "None");  /* diffuse maps */  if (issuf(path, "_d"))	    return (!ch ? "Diffuse-color" : "Opacity");  /* haze maps */  if (issuf(path, "_h"))	    return (!ch ? "Haze-pattern" : "Unknown (please report)");  return (!ch ? "Color-map" : "Opacity or parallax-shift");

The above isn't my work. So don't give me credit.
I have no idea whose it actually is, and the fact that they wrote it in code is just adorable, and it makes a lot of sense. So have at it!

Thanks for the info man, I sorted out my issue. I really appreciate it