Author Topic: Various Fx issues Part 2: moving the start.nif closer to the weapon. (Read 7094 times)

Jimaras8 · « **on:** May 03, 2020, 10:59:24 AM »

So, i had this idea to create this general thread for various FX issue i have instead of making a new one every 3 day. I love fx and they are a huge part of the visual language that i'm trying to create for my hero files. However, sometimes you come across some issues. So the first issue of the week is the Tsphere fx.

The Tsphere fx which was create for Mr Terrific has the issue of changing color between maps. It's black/blue on dark maps like the prison map and it gets pink it bright daylight maps like the park one. It's a great FX and i really need it for my night thrasher to update one of his attacks. Can it be fixed so it's black/dark blue in every map?

Cyber Burn · « **Reply #1 on:** May 20, 2020, 07:45:08 PM »

You are bringing up some interesting problems Jim. I've never seen an FX just switch colors like you're describing.

But then, I still can't replicate the problem you are having with Spymaster either.

BentonGrey · « **Reply #2 on:** May 20, 2020, 09:45:29 PM »

Huh........that is weird! I've seen FX that will react very differently to different lighting (FF1 FX can be very dark on some maps), but I haven't seen them go pink on some and not on others. That's strange. That SHOULD indicate a missing texture. Can you give us screenshots of them?

abenavides · « **Reply #3 on:** May 21, 2020, 12:55:28 AM »

I think this was a missing texture thing. (though not sure about the day/night thing - maybe a reflection or glow thing.
I sent J a fix for it.

Jimaras8 · « **Reply #4 on:** May 21, 2020, 06:34:20 AM »

So CB, the weapon nod doesnt appear to you? Thats weird, it appears as soon as he uses the animation even once.

Also Alex and CB, i dont know is its just me but some of your projectiles in the latest EZFX update appear white in game while they appear in their correct color in the power menu. Some examples are acid_bomb v1 and 2 and jokers grenade that has the HAHAHAHA end.nif.

abenavides · « **Reply #5 on:** June 03, 2020, 05:12:25 PM »

Hey, I was doing some work on a new EZFX and saw your note on the ones with problems from the last one.
I took a look just now I don't have 'acid_bomb' fx in EZFX - unless you mean some other name? Let me know.

Also - what's the name for the joker one?

Jimaras8 · « **Reply #6 on:** June 04, 2020, 10:13:56 AM »

Alex, the exact names are CB-AV_Battery_Acid_V2 and DOTFJoker_Gas_grenade. Maybe there are others but i havent checked them all. Test them in a map with daylight.

Cyber Burn · « **Reply #7 on:** June 04, 2020, 05:02:50 PM »

Ok, both of those, I believe, are mine. I'll take a look at that them.

Jimaras8 · « **Reply #8 on:** July 09, 2020, 06:17:43 PM »

So i have an issue with electro_beam_m_bolt and beta_ray_bill_gren. Both the mesh and the fx are fantastic but when im using his ranged animation for a bolt attack i notice the start.nif begins in front of his hammer instead of on top of it. Is there a way to move the start.nif and make it start directly on top of the hammer?

Tomorrow i will post some screenshots to help you understand. The core and end.nif work great and they arr both launched by the tip of the hammer like it should be.

daglob · « **Reply #9 on:** July 09, 2020, 09:58:13 PM »

Quote from: Jimaras8 on July 09, 2020, 06:17:43 PM

So i have an issue with electro_beam_m_bolt and beta_ray_bill_gren. Both the mesh and the fx are fantastic but when im using his ranged animation for a bolt attack i notice the start.nif begins in front of his hammer instead of on top of it. Is there a way to move the start.nif and make it start directly on top of the hammer?

Tomorrow i will post some screenshots to help you understand. The core and end.nif work great and they arr both launched by the tip of the hammer like it should be.

I have noticed that on some .nifs, the weapons node is in the wrong place. Open in Nifscope and choose "show all" from the menu; the weapons nodes is usually a little green box someplace in front of the figure. I had seen it behind the figure, to the left or the right, and in one (Firestar, maybe) it was below the mesh. I have moved them and it seemed to work, so you could conceivably move it closer. And, yes, while I can't do it, I believe you could add a node to the hammer called "Hammer". I could be wrong; someone with more Nifscope skills than I should be able to tell you.

Cyber Burn · « **Reply #10 on:** July 10, 2020, 04:18:19 AM »

Adding extra Weapon Nodes is pretty simple. Look at Gren's "Cable" Mesh as an example. He added extra Nodes for the Left Eye and Right Eye specifically for FX. I don't remember which Skopes it was for, but I've done it a few times myself as well. Just copy the existing Weapon Node, paste the copy where you want it, and rename to what you need it to be. When you're making your FX, have your starting point be from the new node.

daglob · « **Reply #11 on:** July 10, 2020, 04:31:33 AM »

Quote from: Cyber Burn on July 10, 2020, 04:18:19 AM

Adding extra Weapon Nodes is pretty simple. Look at Gren's "Cable" Mesh as an example. He added extra Nodes for the Left Eye and Right Eye specifically for FX. I don't remember which Skopes it was for, but I've done it a few times myself as well. Just copy the existing Weapon Node, paste the copy where you want it, and rename to what you need it to be. When you're making your FX, have your starting point be from the new node.

But can he stick it to the hammer?

Jimaras8 · « **Reply #12 on:** July 10, 2020, 09:21:17 AM »

Hold up guys i will post the link to some screenshot so it can become more clear.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/l8ehvgip3i4lat2/beta_ray_bill_sc.rar/file

So, in the first pic as you can see the start.nif starts a little bit in front of the hammer. Core.nif and end.nif are working perfectly as you can see in the last two pictures. What i want to do is have start.nif start directly from the tip of Stormbreaker like core and end.nif do instead of slightly in front of it. It's merely an aesthetic thing but i was wondering what would be the easiet way to do it since i'm really unfamiliar with nifskope.

Cyber Burn · « **Reply #13 on:** July 10, 2020, 03:39:24 PM »

http://www.mediafire.com/file/2iz6z61b0x9mjo0/Beta_Ray_Bill_Gren_v3R.7z/file

Try this. Just rename your start point to "Hammer_1"

Jimaras8 · « **Reply #14 on:** July 10, 2020, 04:17:33 PM »

You mean the start.nif cb? Or some node in nifskope?

Cyber Burn · « **Reply #15 on:** July 10, 2020, 07:39:21 PM »

I haven't pulled my game out to check to see if this works, but this is what I am talking about. I've already edited the Beta Ray Bill Mesh to accommodate this. That's what I previously posted. So, using FFEdit, technically, this should work. Make a copy of the actual "Electro_Beam_M_Bolt" FX in the generic folder, and rename it to "Electro_Beam_M_Bolt_2". This is just in case changes need to be made to that FX.

Jimaras8 · « **Reply #16 on:** July 11, 2020, 09:53:40 AM »

CB i did all of that but it still doesnt work properly. The start.nif starts from below his arm now. Here are screenshots i took. The core.nif still launches right, i only put the Hammer_1 to the start node like you suggested. Launch and core nodes are still attached to weapon. I saw your new node in nifskope and it's right on the tip of Stormbreaker so in theory it should have launched from there.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/l8ehvgip3i4lat2/beta_ray_bill_sc.rar/file

Jimaras8 · « **Reply #17 on:** July 11, 2020, 10:21:53 AM »

Quote from: daglob on July 09, 2020, 09:58:13 PM

Quote from: Jimaras8 on July 09, 2020, 06:17:43 PM
So i have an issue with electro_beam_m_bolt and beta_ray_bill_gren. Both the mesh and the fx are fantastic but when im using his ranged animation for a bolt attack i notice the start.nif begins in front of his hammer instead of on top of it. Is there a way to move the start.nif and make it start directly on top of the hammer?

Tomorrow i will post some screenshots to help you understand. The core and end.nif work great and they arr both launched by the tip of the hammer like it should be.

I have noticed that on some .nifs, the weapons node is in the wrong place. Open in Nifscope and choose "show all" from the menu; the weapons nodes is usually a little green box someplace in front of the figure. I had seen it behind the figure, to the left or the right, and in one (Firestar, maybe) it was below the mesh. I have moved them and it seemed to work, so you could conceivably move it closer. And, yes, while I can't do it, I believe you could add a node to the hammer called "Hammer". I could be wrong; someone with more Nifscope skills than I should be able to tell you.

Daglob do you know how is it possible to move it? I'm asking in case CB's method doesnt work out. I can see the weapon nod in th mesh, it's a little in front of Bill. How can i move it closer to him?

daglob · « **Reply #18 on:** July 11, 2020, 03:35:57 PM »

Load the .nif in Nifscope. Have the Block Details window displaying. Select Render>Show All (or show hidden) from the menu. All the bips and bonding boxes should appear. Someplace around the of the character should be a little box, usually green but not necessarily. If you click on it, it should highlight the node in the Block Details and you can be sure it is the weapons node, although, I just loaded The Blob and the name is "Box". Anyway, select Transform>Edit, and you will get a window with Translation, Rotation, and Scale. Changing the number for the x, y, and z boxes will move the box around. Sometimes the box will move parallel to the axies on the mesh, other times they seem to move to some strange kind of dimensional setting that perhaps only a Galifreyan could accurately handle.

Jimaras8 · « **Reply #19 on:** July 11, 2020, 04:52:04 PM »

Is it possible to move towards the hammer and attach it there? Thats what im trying to do

daglob · « **Reply #20 on:** July 11, 2020, 05:07:58 PM »

You can move it toward the hammer (or where it will be when he poses for the attack), but I don't know how to attach it. As I said, I believe it is possible, but I don't know how to do it.

Cyber Burn · « **Reply #21 on:** July 11, 2020, 07:28:06 PM »

That was actually what I did, I created a second Weapon Node and attached it to the Hammer.

daglob · « **Reply #22 on:** July 11, 2020, 07:31:17 PM »

Quote from: Cyber Burn on July 11, 2020, 07:28:06 PM

That was actually what I did, I created a second Weapon Node and attached it to the Hammer.

When I am not sick from chemo, this is something I would like to learn.

Jimaras8 · « **Reply #23 on:** July 11, 2020, 07:46:01 PM »

Quote from: Cyber Burn on July 11, 2020, 07:28:06 PM

That was actually what I did, I created a second Weapon Node and attached it to the Hammer.

I know cb and I saw it in Nifskope. It's exactly where it should be but if you downloaded the pics you see it starts from somewhere under his arm. You are far more experienced than me is if you review them you will know what I'm talking about

Jimaras8 · « **Reply #24 on:** July 11, 2020, 07:47:12 PM »

Also dagblo I wish you a speedy recovery and hang in there mate. You have been through a lot and won many battles already.

Cyber Burn · « **Reply #25 on:** July 12, 2020, 09:08:48 PM »

I started over, got rid of that skope. I have some ideas to try.

Jimaras8 · « **Reply #26 on:** July 13, 2020, 06:44:11 PM »

That's great CB. I tried to move the node o a couple more meshes and the changes dont appear i game. Crystal_INK has it in her hip and i moved i close to the head but the FX still launch from the hip when i put them on weapon in FFEdit. I'm not sure why it doesn't work.

Cyber Burn · « **Reply #27 on:** July 13, 2020, 09:51:52 PM »

I hide the Weapon Node and see what direction it’s facing.

Jimaras8 · « **Reply #28 on:** July 14, 2020, 10:30:25 AM »

CB, i have tought of a temporary solutation in case it cant be fixed. As you now, the issue is with the first pic and the sparkles that appear in front of the hammer. The rest of the fx works great. Is there a way to find those sparkles in the start.nif and hide them like i can hide the weapon node in Nifskope?

Cyber Burn · « **Reply #29 on:** July 15, 2020, 11:39:33 PM »

http://www.mediafire.com/file/cecw5kxagg0hmhe/Beta_Ray_Bill_Gren_v3R_V2.7z/file

Try this one and for your Node Attachment Point, use the "Weapon" Node for "Start".

Unfortunately, I'm getting ready to move, so most of my PC stuff is already packed up, which means I can't verify any of what I'm doing.

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Author Topic: Various Fx issues Part 2: moving the start.nif closer to the weapon. (Read 7094 times)