Meshes/Skins wont work, even after converting.

[Havlo22]

 :ffvstr:

Getting back into the game, found a ton of meshes to go with the skins I want. Ninty percent of whatever I put into the game doesn't work/crashes everything when I try to select them. The rest either show up as a swirly black and white skin, or as a massive white box with a black "X" around it.

I've used Alex's Nif Tool, even converted some of the skins into .dds as I was told that would help. Nothing I try fixes this issue at all. The file paths are correct from what I can tell.

Any ideas?

This, incase you didn't know, is for Freedom Force V 3rd Reich.

**EDIT AND ADDITION**

This might be unrelated but the ones that do show up ingame don't look exactly like the screenshots. They look distorted, toothpick hands, massive clipping, off-color (I think, they looked about one-hundred times better in the screenshots and previews). Does this have anything to do with the problem I mentioned?

[JKCarrier]

Can you post the file paths for some of the meshes/skins that aren't showing up? Because it sounds like that might be at least part of the problem.

For the ones that look distorted, or crash the game, it sounds like they're not being converted properly. Alex's EZ converter has always worked for me, so I'm not sure what the issue might be there.

[Havlo22]

I'm using "EZNIFConverter" from Alex's site.

Example path: C:\Program Files\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\Custom\Art\library\characters\power_girl_t **Crashes to desktop**

Example Path Two: C:\Program Files\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\Custom\Art\library\characters\male_hulking **Big white box with black "X"**

I know FF came with male_hulking mesh, I had to DL it for FFV3rd. Been trying to get Gryphs GreenHulk skin to work, wont. Tried it without DLing the mesh as I figured it came with FFV3rd too but I guess it didn't as nothing would ever show up under custom, till now. White box black X Hulk ftw...

Example Path Three: C:\Program Files\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\Custom\Art\library\characters\male_teen_14 **Crashes to Desktop**

...and the list goes on.

My converting method: Load them up ingame first to see if they work, then convert the character.nif/Head.nif/and keysomething.nif if they don't.

[Previsionary]

Certain meshes dont work correctly with FFVTTR and some of the meshes that came with ff1 are some of the rare few.

It's easier to test for crashing meshes using ctool. Converting just the character nif using one of the 3 converters usually fixes it...if it's done correctly. I can tell you now that most of tommy's meshes will crash FFVTTR unless you convert them first. Also, don't bother with the head.nifs because I'm pretty sure you have no use for them at all and converting them isnt helping anything.

[JKCarrier]

Example Path Two: C:\Program Files\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\Custom\Art\library\characters\male_hulking **Big white box with black "X"**

What's inside the "male_hulking" folder? It should be:

library/characters/male_hulking/character.nif

but I'm wondering if you didn't end up with an extra folder or something like:

library/characters/male_hulking/male_hulking/character.nif

which would cause the white box.

[Havlo22]

So, what exactly should I do? Download and pray?

Out of the fifty-sixty meshes and skins i've downloaded only two work decently. Well... four actually. Deathstroke. Supermna_Modern, and male_heavy with the Killer Croc and Venom skins.

There's no way to fix the rest? No way to get them to work?

Are there any sites with a ton of FFV3rd skins and meshes? Most every site I go to is down/gone and there's thousands of Yahoo Groups to sort through.

Any ideas at all?

**EDIT AND ADDITION**

character.nif needs a foulder to itself? The file is inside the male_hulking folder.

[tommyboy]

Out of the thousands of meshes there are, only maybe twenty wont work in FFV3R.
What you have described sounds like you have meshes in the wrong place, or haven't nifconverted them (some need nifconverting twice) correctly.
If you have nifconverted those that need it (and contrary to what others may say, the majority of meshes, even mine, dont need it), and they are in the right place, with the right path, then pretty much every mesh works in FFV3R.

[Havlo22]

Then what's the issue? I've never seen this problem before.

Double check the paths? Make sure all the files are good? Nif Convert them twice?

I'm just wondering about the massive mesh issues.

Thing is, if I had them in the wrong place wouldn't they not show up at all?

Also, ILOVEYOUOMFG UR AWESOME TOMMY! I love your stuff! You're a GOD! Holy crap it's like Brad Pitt just answered one of my threads! *screams*

[tommyboy]

1. Install character tool2 if you havent already. It's a quicker way to check if a mesh works than running the game.
2. Yes, double check the paths. Use the few that DO work as your example of how the others should be set up.
3. Yes, you may need to nifconvert meshes more than once. I don't know why, but sometimes you do. Not most, but some.

A white cube (with a cross, usually) is almost always the mesh isn't in the place where the game is looking. Make sure there is a "standard" skin in the "skins" directory of each mesh.
FFV3R is a bit odd in that there are a number of places you can put meshes. In "documents and settings" etc. In "library/characters", in "custom_characters". When you are starting out its easy to make mistakes as to where you put them, or unzipping files without the paths set correctly. Just look at the ones that work, and the ones that dont, you'll spot the difference at some point.

(And I'm just another poster like you, who likes the game, and happens to have had time to make a few things).   

[Havlo22]

BIG ISSUE now.

Nothing works! I Nif Converted them all again and even the meshes that worked before now don't! The only mesh/skin that works out of them ALL now is Superman_Modern!

The very awesome/stable Venom/Killer Croc skins don't work and the mesh has the white box thing. Most crash now.

**ADDITON**

The Brad Pitt thing was just me being hyper. But seriously, you're awesome. Gonna try your tips in a few minutes... will post here the results.

[Havlo22]

Alrighty. Found the Mod Tools. Opened the Nifs with the thing that comes with it and most would not open. Gave an error. Superman_Modern was the only working one. Ones that use to work in game, as I said, no longer work and cannot be opened with the tool.

**EDIT AND ADDITON**

Tested the files with the Mod Tools on two different rigs, same deal. The ones that work (all but Deathstroke and Doomsday) look horrible, nothing like the screenshots. The rest either don't work or crash the NIF and Character Tools on both rigs.

The rigs have different setups.

Specs for my main rig (if it matters): Athlon X2 3800+ | August DirectX 9.0c | 1GB RAM | Geforce 7800 GT with newest drivers

Secondary Rig: Intel 2.8GHz | God Only Knows DirectX 9.0c | 1GB RAM | Geforce 7800 GT OCed with 93. drivers

Thing that really gets me is how meshes/skins that worked before now crash the game and Character Tools when I attempt to load them. I really can't understand that. Gonna do a spyware/virus scan...

[tommyboy]

I wouldn't worry about the nif viewer thing, it's not that useful. Charactertool2 is the one most of us use.
And it seems very odd that ones that had worked now dont. I'm wondering if there is a problem with your nifconverter.
Try downloading the EZNifconverter from Alexs site again, and re-install it, because it definitely shouldn't be BREAKING meshes.
It may be worth downloading a Mod or two, (Premonitioner does some great ones) and seeing if the meshes in them work for you, as they should install to the correct places.
Personally I almost NEVER install meshes in the unmodded game itself, I always have them in a Mod directory (under Modname/art/library/characters/ where "Modname" is the name of the Mod), as I prefer to leave the main game unchanged in case of problems. That way in a worst case scenario I can just delete the Mod directory rather than the whole game. So i have one huge Mod that is really not much more than hundreds of meshes and some danger room maps, and I do all my rumbling in there.

[Havlo22]

Did what you said and checked a few things. List convert was breaking them all to heck. If I convert them one-by-one they, for the most part, are fine and work well enough.

Problem eighty-five percent solved.

[tommyboy]

Good to hear you are getting somewhere. I hope you can sort them all out eventually..

[Havlo22]

Only one that's really giving me Hell is male_longjacket_open_FX. It works, but it streaches like mad.

[GogglesPizanno]

Usually when they stretch its more likely to be a problem with the Keyframes and not the mesh.
I know I had that problem with one of the Wolverine Meshes.
Are you processing the keyframes with the mesh when you nifconvert?

You can also try swapping out the keyframe file for another compatible set to see if that fixes it.