Tutorial adding Custom meshes to Fallout 4
First of all I have to admit that my English skills are pretty limited so don’t be to hard with me dear native speakers=)
It looks like only few of us know how to make custom meshes for Fallout 4 work in game properly and somehow this small group keeps their secrets to themselves. This is my attempt to change this abuse(sorry dear secret keepers).
At this stage the export and import tools have some limitations since at the moment there is plenty of undecoded data stored in new NIF format. Therefore the process for now is a bit cryptic, but the good news are, it is already possible to produce working stuff, even if it takes some effort.
I’m also sure that decoding NIF format by nifskope team will simplify the process. So sooner or later parts of this tutorial will get obsolete -> be clever and check the updates of working tools by yourself.
Abstract:
This tutorial will show you how to import and export rigged(f.e. armours) and not rigged(f.e. weapons) meshes for Fallout 4 with 3DS Max plugin and finalize the process in nifskope to make your models work in game.
Requirements:
This tutorial will definitely not cover the 3D modelling, texturing, rigging or weight panting process and is not intended to be for newbies.
The requirement for this tutorial is the ability of using any 3d modelling program, Nifskope and experience in modding for previous Bethesda games.
I will ignore any questions about how to use Blender, 3DS-Max, Photoshop and so on.
Tools needed:
1) 3DS Max 2016(should work with older version but I haven’t test it). If you are a student you can get your free version of Max directly from the homepage:
http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/3ds-max
2) 3DS Max nif plugin with fallout 4 support:
3) Nifskope NifSkope 2.0 Pre-Alpha 4 with initial fallout 4 support:
4) (optional) Blender for you dear blender fans like myself
5) (optional) Blender NIF plugin with fallout 3 or skyrim support:
or use the old Belnder version 2.49 which has more stable nif tools(This version is what i use)