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?
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. :banghead:
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?
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.
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.
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?
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.
Ok, both of those, I believe, are mine. I'll take a look at that them.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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
(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.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/2iz6z61b0x9mjo0/Beta_Ray_Bill_Gren_v3R.7z/file
Try this. Just rename your start point to "Hammer_1"
You mean the start.nif cb? Or some node in nifskope?
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.
(https://i.imgur.com/wWNHLjp.jpg)
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 (http://www.mediafire.com/file/l8ehvgip3i4lat2/beta_ray_bill_sc.rar/file)
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?
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.
Is it possible to move towards the hammer and attach it there? Thats what im trying to do
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.
That was actually what I did, I created a second Weapon Node and attached it to the Hammer.
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.
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
Also dagblo I wish you a speedy recovery and hang in there mate. You have been through a lot and won many battles already.
I started over, got rid of that skope. I have some ideas to try.
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.
I hide the Weapon Node and see what direction it's facing.
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?
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.
It looked the same to me from first glance. CB, i dont want to waste your time or energy, i already immensely appreciate the effort. I think the safest way would be isolate the initial sparkles from the start.nif and hide them. Problem solved. Can this be done? If you dont recall which ones they are, you can see my first pic from the three i posted above.
The simplest thing would be just to delete the start.nif (or create a copy of the FX that has it deleted and have the character use that one).
Quote from: BentonGrey on July 16, 2020, 04:04:08 PM
The simplest thing would be just to delete the start.nif (or create a copy of the FX that has it deleted and have the character use that one).
Agreed
I thought about that Benton but the thing is only the first part of the start.nif in the first pic has the problem. The rest of the nif with the lightning frame that encompasses the hammer is pretty neat and starts directly from Stormbreaker.
Thats why i only want to isolate the initial sparks thay start off-place.
I really dont understand why moving the weapon node to a specific point doesnt work. I have tried it with 4 meshes and in-game it starts from the initial point before i moved it. It should hav been pretty easy, you move it on the weapon, you make sure there isnt a second weapon node, you put the fx to start from the weapon node, done. Yet it doesnt work.
If i create a new node and rename it weapon instead of the original weapon node, do you guys think it might work? If so, how can i create a new node in Nifskope?
I do a similar thing, import an object to the node where you need the fx spawn, then rename it weapon and it work as a start point, you could eventually scale the object to be hidden.
Nait, that sound like a solid plan but i dont know how to import objects to nifskope or scale them down.
Would it be too much trouble if you write a quick tutorial with steps :thumbup:? I promise that if i do it correctly once, there wont be a problem afterwards :lol:.
Ok its pretty simple,
Open the character file, there is a block list column, with all the NiNodes, open one, for example select with the mouse Bip01 LHand, with that selected go in file on the high left corner of the screen, go on import, import.Obj , select Ok to the question, select an object that you have exported , click open, there you probably see the object now, click on the object imported, now you see that is selected even in the menu, rename it weapon (double click on the name in the menu selection to rename), if you click on the object on the screen with the right mouse button it will open a menu, choose transform, then edit there you could scale and move the object, obviously save the character.nif when done (make a safe copy of your old character before change it. ) Probably the worst tutorial ever but im not to much a tutorial guy.
Thanks a ton Nait, i will try it and report back. My nifskope skills are very limited so we will see how it goes :thumbup:
Jim, it seems really intimidating and opaque, but you can develop a decent level of proficiency just by playing around and practicing with it.
I know Benton, it's just that there are so many variables and things i dont understand in coding since English isnt my first language. It's just terrifying :P. BTw, you got mail ;)
Quote from: naitvalis on July 19, 2020, 02:19:44 PM
Ok its pretty simple,
Open the character file, there is a block list column, with all the NiNodes, open one, for example select with the mouse Bip01 LHand, with that selected go in file on the high left corner of the screen, go on import, import.Obj , select Ok to the question, select an object that you have exported , click open, there you probably see the object now, click on the object imported, now you see that is selected even in the menu, rename it weapon (double click on the name in the menu selection to rename), if you click on the object on the screen with the right mouse button it will open a menu, choose transform, then edit there you could scale and move the object, obviously save the character.nif when done (make a safe copy of your old character before change it. ) Probably the worst tutorial ever but im not to much a tutorial guy.
Nait i have some problems with the imported object. When you say to select an object i have exported, what do you mean? Do i have to select a node from the mesh and export it? Does it have to be a different object? I have tried to export a node like right hand and every time i try to import it back it gives me an error like this:
Error: 12 invalid index(es) in block # 271 NiTriShapeData.Triangles
Error: 93 invalid index(es) in block # 276 NiTriShapeData.Triangles
Error: 20 invalid index(es) in block # 279 NiTriShapeData.Triangles
Ah...looks like i have forget the export phase, ok pick up a mesh, surely you have plenty of characters with capes, open one of them, select the cape ( left mouse click on the cape object in the screen with the model) now go on file in the right upper corner of the screen, click on export, export obj, reply ok to the question, name your object call it cape for example, save button, if you have a question reply ok, the object is now ready to be imported in another mesh.( Nodes are like points of the "skeleton" of the mesh where you could attach objects), nifskope looks little intimidating at all first but its very useful and much more simple of a full modelling 3d software .
Alright, so the cape appeared and it looks like that.
http://www.mediafire.com/view/c6bealsnqdle5b2/Capture_3.PNG/file (http://www.mediafire.com/view/c6bealsnqdle5b2/Capture_3.PNG/file)
The weapon:0 node is the imported object. So do i rename the weapon:0, weapon? And if so what should i name the original weapon node?
Yes rename the object weapon, try the mesh in game with various fx and see if the cape work as a starting point.
Does the object need to be imported to the node i wajt the fx to start from?
For example if i want to start from right hand do i need to import the cape in the right hand node?
This is how it works in :ff: you import the object to the node you need the fx spawned, for being more precise more closer to the point you need, for example if i import to the hand node i need an fx that start from the hand, with the object imported i could adjust the spawn point.(this is how i do, however looks like with some meshes this not work in :ffvstr:, Spydey and Zozma here helped me in discover this bug recently in my Orks release, our neighborhood friend also solved it
)