Editing .nifs in Blender

wharuh · Powder Monkey Posts: 16 **154 Gold** -

How, if at all possible, would one edit a .nif file in Blender?

(And no, that light grey highlighted .kf file isn't the one I tried to open. I tried to open the e1 governor.nif file.)

NASSAU · Seaman Posts: 223 **4819 Gold** -

You get the import export plugin from nif,site.

However Blender at times distorts the model upon export,nothing can be done at the moment.

There is a whole thread about rank dependent nif files which deals with the Blender\nif issue.

Should answer any questions you have.

And welcome to the wonderful world of nif!

ROYFOXS thread rank dependent nifs
http://hookedonpirates.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4857
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NASSAU · Seaman Posts: 223 **4819 Gold** -

I was in a hurry last night and did not have time to explain better.

However depending on what you want to mod,you can edit a lot with just the nifscope.

Since I don't know exactly what you want to edit,I can not give you any more information.

But my suggestion still stands,read that thread and ,download nifscope if you have not already.

If you get stuck or feel you need a quick answer ,pm me,I've had some time to post here recently but that is not always the case.

Good Luck,and welcome to HOP,....lots of great folks here!
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Gmatt · Swabbie Posts: 61 **403 Gold** -

NASSAU · Seaman Posts: 223 **4819 Gold** -

You are correct indeed GMatt,

It is in fact an armature problem,however as I explain in Royfoxs thread,neither Blender nor NIF,have it in the works to correct at the moment.

To move ahead ,NIF has to move up from the 'functioning Beta' stage to a more substantial program.Something that is not likely to occur any time soon.And even if it did progress past the experimental stage ,there is no support planned for a game that has been for all intent purposes abandoned.

Rupert Little Bear ,said it best,at least a dozen times,The best we can do is let this game die.

He is right.When at long last the powers have milked all they can,and leave it to the open source community .then ..only then will real change be possible.

As for me ,well I am within four files of total character swapout.
However,for me I've reached the crossroads,I have so little time,that I am finding it hard to justify spending hours trying to modify (without breaking the EULA),a game that has garnered so little company support.

There are companies out there who love catering to their modders,and provide them with amazing support.

So if I ever get off my laptop,and back at my desk,I'll have to decide what project I want to mod,which may mean for pirates CHUBAN!

Good Luck on the new career,it is an exciting time to get into CG!
Willem of Nassau!!
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Gmatt · Swabbie Posts: 61 **403 Gold** -

NASSAU · Seaman Posts: 223 **4819 Gold** -

Blender uses a nif made importer and there is the problem.

If you notice when you load a ship in Nifscope,it cuts off the information because nifscope can't handle it,the file is too big.

Since it can't read it properly it cannot export it properly to blender,or 3ds max for that matter.

And yes though nif is not labeled a Beta ,the developers will tell you on their forum that it is an experimental work in progress.(a beta)

This is because gamebryo is not very forthcoming with their source code,or any information for that matter.

And while firaxis may have issued an sdk for civ,I hardly think that qualifies as 'tremendous support'.(and does not help pirates at all)

It is better than a lot of companies though I will grant you that.

However lets not forget,the two major modding tools for Civ are,Python and Nif.Both open source projects developed independently of firaxis.

Anyway while that is all good,there is better..and right now...I'm at a point where it is either or....no time for both!

NASSAU!!
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loki59 · Rigger Posts: 1082 **24252 Gold** -

Hey Gmatt, little bit off topic here, Qoute:"and edges, an possibilly (<-- How do you spell that word? Mozzila keeps telling me it is wrong..)" when Mozilla underlines a misspelled word, right click on it and you'll get a list of possible corrections. Anyway keep up the good work with the Blender, You'll figure it out. Smile

Gmatt · Swabbie Posts: 61 **403 Gold** -

NASSAU · Seaman Posts: 223 **4819 Gold** -

Ah I get it,

Gmatt,I think you have confused NIF format,a product of Gambryo,and NIF Scope,the open source community program set up to hack into the format.

Gambryo's engine,and native format is a stable product well past the beta stage .However they as far as I know do not issue tools or source code for their proprietary work.

NIFSCOPE,on the other hand,is an open source ,trial and error,program written by a group of gamers,with the intent purpose of finding ways to hack into the Gambryo engine.Therefore ,it is and without developers support,will remain in Beta.

And again let me clarify,Firaxis is a great company,but and get this ,CIV IV is moddable not just because the designers made it that way,but because open source created a toolset,to mod it.

You can make something moddable,but without the tools to work with ,that is kinda useless.

Wheras there are companies(well at least one) that went way beyond that to reach out to their mod community.Which is fantastic from the viewpiont of someone who spends much more time modding than playing.

It all boils down to time.Given enough time,problems like these are just challenges to overcome.Not enough time and they become annoyances,that really are better off avoided.

NASSAU!
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Gmatt · Swabbie Posts: 61 **403 Gold** -

Ah I see.

Yeah, I though you meant the NIF format. Razz

Well I do find Civ 4 quit moddable as all you needed right from the start is notepad to edit the XML, and Python, and to me that means nice and moddable. Right off the bat you can add new units, and if you have a dds reader you can change the skins. Most of the mods for Civ 4 I have seen do not use the SDK (Which I do not even know what it does..)
But I have definitely modded it..

With Civ 3 I downloaded hundreds of units, albeit I was younger and had no sense of structuring them, and I never did play a game with all the units.
With Civ 4 I have done a fair amount, but nothing in comparison to some..

NASSAU · Seaman Posts: 223 **4819 Gold** -

Well thats what I mean the 'SDK' is PYTHON and the Civ core.

Python is an open source programming language developed independently of firaxis.

Handing you a crescent wrench to tighten a bolt,and having the makers of the bolt show you how to use the wrench ,are two different things.

And again this makes Firaxis good because,most companies do not hand you the wrench in the first place.

So the question isn't is Firaxis idea of support good,the question is with my time limits,is there a company who's idea of support is better?...yes.

So yeah I could stick with Firaxis who is giving me moddability to,a game
I am not even playing!!!???...(this is a pirates forum ,not a gosh I should be playing Civ and then I will be happy forum).And all the while lets be honest,Firaxis is saying take a hike to those people who are not playing their best seller!

Or,maybe find someone who still cares about EVERY product they sell.

Heck,so many good folks I enjoy talking to here,is the only thing that makes that descision hard..at all.
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Gmatt · Swabbie Posts: 61 **403 Gold** -

Hmm, Python.. Yeah, I never dug into that much as it looked too complicated..

Yes, both Pirates! And Civ 4 are amazing games, I just wish we could have had a little more Civ 4 in Pirates! (Other than the land battles which uses the same grid lines. Razz

)

Wow we got off topic..

To get back on topic.. I will experiment more soon, but I have a head-cold, and it is hard to do much with one of them.. (Though I did manage to get 3 consecutive Ship of the Line to add to my first one. Razz

)

NASSAU · Seaman Posts: 223 **4819 Gold** -

Yeah,off topic in only the way that a discussion about blender and nif,in a thread about blender and nif can be....

Now you are giving me a head cold! Razz

Anyway congrats on the SOTL,

And you might want to rethink learning Python,you are going to need it,later.
Especially with blender whose scripts are written...in python!

Enjoy your weekend..NASSAU!
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Gmatt · Swabbie Posts: 61 **403 Gold** -

Yes, I saw they were written in Python..
Do you know any good Python Tutorials? I would like to learn, but when I first looked at Python a couple years ago, it scared me and the bad memory has sticked with me ever since.

But I do want to try to learn..

You enjoy your weekend too. Sailor