Normal Mapping

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SchvanysEpitome
Posts: 22
Joined: 05 Nov 2017, 08:06

Normal Mapping

Post by SchvanysEpitome »

I have read the normal mapping guide on the OpenMW Documentation page numerous times. Even though I have successfully enabled normal mapping through simple means (renaming _nm.dds to _n.dds) of a few mods like Mesh Improvements Optimized and Apel Asura Coast and Sheogorath Region Retexture, I come across an issue. For Apel to correctly display the normal mapping, I had to delete the meshes folder even though I already renamed _nm.dds to _n.dds. For MIO, all I had to do was rename nm to n and it worked fine, I did not have to delete the meshes folder. What I do not understand is how are we able to delete the meshes folder yet keep the mod intact? Or are we sacrificing anything to get the normal mapping to work?

Further reading the different ways of using normal maps, I did not understand any other method. I tried fixing Suran Underworld v3 (specifically the Sotonhorian armor; it looks extremely silver which I am assuming it is the cause of fake bump maps) by first, renaming _gm.dds (I honestly have no clue what _gm.dds is but it resembled the pattern of _nm.dds so I tried it) to n to no avail and secondly, by deleting the Sotonhorian meshes folder resulting in missing meshes (yellow exclamation marks).

Please help me understand.

Just from what I am guessing, say I wanted to convert The Neverhalls to OpenMW, I would have to name all _nm.dds to _n.dds, then use NifSkope to open each .nif file and delete each NiTextureEffect block? What about all the .tga files?
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lysol
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Location: Sweden

Re: Normal Mapping

Post by lysol »

SchvanysEpitome wrote: 15 Nov 2017, 07:38 Just from what I am guessing, say I wanted to convert The Neverhalls to OpenMW, I would have to name all _nm.dds to _n.dds, then use NifSkope to open each .nif file and delete each NiTextureEffect block? What about all the .tga files?
Bingo, here's your answer. A big problem with the fake bump mapping variant is that you had to "activate" it in a .nif-file. So if you just wanted to retexture a vanilla asset and add normal mapping, you still had to edit all the meshes, adding the NiTextureEffect-block to it and include the meshes in your download. Since a mod like this is basically a retexture mod that includes .nif files (model files) only to activate the normal mapping, then it works just fine to just delete the included .nif files.

However: If the included .nif file(s) is actually a new model, meaning it is not just an edited vanilla model included to make normal maps work, then you have to go to these .nif files and remove the NiTextureEffect block, while also make sure the normal map .dds files is correctly named *_n.dds.

So basically:
  • Retexture mods only need renaming of .dds:es to *_n.dds and removing of the included .nif files
  • New assets with new models need renaming of .dds:es to *_n.dds and editing of the relevant .nif files to remove the NiTextureEffect
I'll try to find the time to have a look at the mods you mentioned to see what you need to do with them to make them work.

EDIT: Oh, and tga files are just texture files with another file format. It should be the same with them as with the dds.
SchvanysEpitome
Posts: 22
Joined: 05 Nov 2017, 08:06

Re: Normal Mapping

Post by SchvanysEpitome »

lysol wrote: 15 Nov 2017, 08:31 So basically:
  • Retexture mods only need renaming of .dds:es to *_n.dds and removing of the included .nif files
  • New assets with new models need renaming of .dds:es to *_n.dds and editing of the relevant .nif files to remove the NiTextureEffect
I'll try to find the time to have a look at the mods you mentioned to see what you need to do with them to make them work.
Thank you, I am slowly starting to piece it together as I have never done this before. That would be very helpful.
pol3waf
Posts: 4
Joined: 25 Mar 2014, 17:14

Re: Normal Mapping

Post by pol3waf »

Hey there :)

Are you on Linux? I would need some time, but I wrote some bash script that would convert all textures and name them properly.
Unfortunately this process takes some time (40-60 minutes on my system) and you couldn't pause and resume the process. So i started to rewrite the script and broke it along the way. I don't have any spare time right now but next week I should be able to complete it.

The results are not perfect but I like it. I've only tested it with the water coloured texture pack though.
SchvanysEpitome
Posts: 22
Joined: 05 Nov 2017, 08:06

Re: Normal Mapping

Post by SchvanysEpitome »

I happen to be on Windows
SchvanysEpitome
Posts: 22
Joined: 05 Nov 2017, 08:06

Re: Normal Mapping

Post by SchvanysEpitome »

I was able to fix the Sotonhorian armor in Suran Underworld by just deleting the texture property in each nif. However, I did the same for The Neverhalls/Forgottenhalls but only for partial success. There is no more shininess but I believe the normal mapping is not working and I fell through a certain floor mesh.

EDIT: I tested the same exact spot where I fell through the floor and it happened on a completely vanilla Neverhalls. So I am just having trouble getting the normal mapping to work.
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akortunov
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Re: Normal Mapping

Post by akortunov »

Does NiTextureEffect have any use in OpenMW? Can we just ignore such nodes (and maybe make this behaviour configurable) to prevent shining without touching mesh files?
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lysol
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Re: Normal Mapping

Post by lysol »

akortunov wrote: 16 Nov 2017, 05:45 Does NiTextureEffect have any use in OpenMW? Can we just ignore such nodes (and maybe make this behaviour configurable) to prevent shining without touching mesh files?
Well, theoretically it is meant to be used for environmental maps, and some people might want to use those.
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Capostrophic
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Joined: 22 Feb 2016, 20:32

Re: Normal Mapping

Post by Capostrophic »

It's meant for spherical mapping, and it has been implemented in 0.39.0 specifically to support the reflection effects replacers may utilize. Dropping its support yet again isn't very useful. Some replacers, like Pherim's Real Reflective Weapons, look perfectly fine in OpenMW, in fact.
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lysol
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Location: Sweden

Re: Normal Mapping

Post by lysol »

Capostrophic wrote: 16 Nov 2017, 10:28 Some replacers, like Pherim's Real Reflective Weapons, look perfectly fine in OpenMW, in fact.
Right, and this replacer would, ironically, look rather dull with MCP I suppose?
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