So I'm currently developing a mod that consists of adding Custom Meshed weapons to Fallout New Vegas. I have completed a couple of them and have transferred them to NifSkope.

I'm relatively new to modding, but more specifically adding brand new weapon meshes to FNV. So I was wondering if anyone could give me any tips for assigning the nodes needed for the weapon to work properly in the game. (Like the Sighting Node, Projectile Node...etc )

I would use a vanilla weapon as an outline in NifSkope and simply copy the NiTriStripsData from my custom mesh over to the vanilla model, but I have many individual meshes other than the body of the weapon and the ammo clip; which require their own branch and NiTriStripsData from what I understand. The reason why I have so many different branches for each separate mesh is because whenever I would combine meshes in Blender and transfer that mesh to NifSkope, the gun looks like its missing polygons. It would almost seem see-through at some angles. So I just had to keep them separate. ( Note: I'm using Blender 2.7, and currently, there isn't a Nif Plug-in that works for it. So I had to import the models to NifSkope as a 3ds file. )

If there's anyone that could give me some instructions or point me in the right direction with assigning nodes, I would greatly appreciate it. ( Or give me info on how to make custom weapon meshes work properly in FNV. )

Concerning the "missing" polygons, you could add or copy a stencil property. What you said sounds to me like this could solve the issue. Also for the individual meshes, you can just copy and paste the weapon body nitristrip and just copy the individual nitristripsdata, as long as they don't have to be animated or such thing. So for example you can have as many "Ninemm:0" (if I take the 9mm pistol as example) nitristrips branches as you want.

@Murdock wrote:

Concerning the "missing" polygons, you could add or copy a stencil property. What you said sounds to me like this could solve the issue. Also for the individual meshes, you can just copy and paste the weapon body nitristrip and just copy the individual nitristripsdata, as long as they don't have to be animated or such thing. So for example you can have as many "Ninemm:0" (if I take the 9mm pistol as example) nitristrips branches as you want.

Gotcha. Thanks for your help!

I ended up opening up "10mmsubmachinegun" on NifSkope, deleting all of the branches from the vanilla file, and importing my custom mesh to that vanilla nif. That allowed me to assign the nodes I needed, since the vanilla nif is preloaded with all that information.

One last thing if it's okay: Right now, I have 2 NifSkope windows open: one containing the 10mmsubmachinegun, and the other containing my custom smg. The last thing I have to do is assign a reload animation for my magazine. So I decided to simply copy the "NiNode Magazine animation branch" from the vanilla file, to my custom mesh file. It seems to work, but the only problem I'm having is that the branch was loaded outside of my BSFadeNode. And from previous trail and error, I figured out that GECK crashes whenever you import a weapon mesh that has more than 1 master Parent Node.

So is there anyway I can paste that NiNode animation branch as a child node under my BSFadeNode?

You should allways import your custom weapon to a vanilla weapon with the same or similiar reload animation. So if you have a custom revolver, you should import your custom mesh to the vanilla revolver file. This way, you should end up with similiar meshes like cylinder and speedloader for example. And in my experience you should allways just copy the nitristripsdata, not an entire branch. So don't delete anything from the vanilla file, just replace the nitristripsdata with your custom mesh, redirect to the right textures and you should be fine. Be aware of magazines and other animated branches because the ninodes are often transformed, so you have to make the "negative" transform to your mesh and then apply and copy.

Don't import into 2.7 via 3DS: instead, use 2.49b w/ Nifscripts, import, save .blend file, then reopen in 2.7 if ou want to do that.

If there's 'missing' polygons, NEVER use the stencil property. Instead, in Blender, select all the polys and force all normals to face outside (Ctrl-N).

Other than that, ditto on what Murdock said.

Thanks for the help guys, I really do appreciate it.

I ended up following your instructions and finally got it working. GECK doesn't crash and I already tested out the weapons in the game. Works like a charm.

You have my gratitude.

i am currently having issues with a weapon mod i am working, on so far everything is fine on nifskope but when i added it on geck took a look at the preview the barrel is missing, also the weapon i am trying to make is a rifle that uses the spinning animation of the minigun on the barrel.
everything is working on nifskope when i test it there. but when i look at it on geck the barrel is missing. can anyone here help me on this?