Since I've been talking about bethesda modding a lot lately I thought I'd shed a little insight on the process of what it takes to create and implement a new piece of clothing or armor into the game. This doesn't include the hours of work spent creating the model, rigging the model, adding weights and bone details to the model, texturing the model (specular, normal, and diffuse maps all required), etc., just the part that I do for her.
Helping le girlfriend get some of her outfit into Fallout 4. Been working on it most of the day. Have to assign all of the technical values to the nif (which basically is bethesda's way of combining the mesh, the textures, and the material files) to make it functional in game and act properly. Has to be done for both genders and for the world object version (the one that you'd see sitting on a shelf). Here's the process for one of the easier to implement pieces: a hat.
The process starts by assigning branches and texture/material data to the mesh. This is what it looks like after the branches are put in.
Then I need to assign material and texture data to the mesh. Material information is stored in a .bgsm file which is created using the three texture files related to the mesh.
Once the material file is generated, I have to point the nif to it in the game's data files.
Texture data then needs to be assigned to the mesh, much the same way as the material data is assigned. Since this is a test, we're missing normal and specular maps. They'll be added after testing.
Next we have to go into the creation kit and create item data so that we can put it in the game. First, I have to create a new form ID so that the new hat doesn't overwrite an existing one. This is where the world model data and stats are added.
After that, I have to create the AA entry so that the game has somewhere to look for the worn model and slot data.
Finally, we can add a container to the game to put the hat into so we can test it in the game.
Now we can go to the location of that safe I placed in-game and retrieve the hat..
All looks good so far. What's the world object look like?
That's not quite right... how about the equipped piece?
Huh... back to the drawing board.