Noob Question Alert!!!

[Cyber Burn]

I know that Hexxing is just hiding/unhiding, or re-sizing pieces of a mesh. But what exactly is a Hex Editor and how does one work? It seems that I know I should know this, but I have always used Nifskope, so I'm just kind of curious as to what this is. Thanks in advance.

[detourne_me]

Oh wow,  I haven't thought about hexing for a while.
Umm think about this. All meshes and Keyframes are just strings of information, correct?
well, hex is short for hexadecimal, it's a base 16 number system, from 0-9, a-f... 16 numbers.
when we used to use a hex editing program, like (oh its been a while) XV32? I think ?
we would see a nice big wall of information,  on one side we would see a lot of sets of numbers, and on the other, some characters, letters, etc.   We'd have to search fro something like a Bip node... maybe Bip01 Head, and then look for the corresponding numbers that told us the position of that node.   We'd be able to alter the numbers to move, hide/unhide, and alter that part of the mesh.  usually hiding and unhiding was easiest,  also shrinking/growing nodes wasn't too bad either.

When it came to hexing keyframes, just before NifSkope really took off, we were able to copy and paste parts of keyframe sets into each other.  That kind of editing is the basis for m25's keyframe editing tool.  m25's tools have really helped out!

[Cyber Burn]

Wow...That sounds really complex. It makes me really appreciate Nifskope that much more, I don't know if I would be able to really give back to the community if I had to try and use a Hex Editor. Thanks for the info DM, I've heard reference to Hex Editors, but had no point of reference for them.

[detourne_me]

I can't remember so well, but there was at one time a small program someone made,  maybe AlexFF or M25 called mesh editor (i think)   it was a standalone program for editing only character.nif files,  it was interesting to work with too.
Real trial and error type stuff.   You'd make a change, then load up ctool to see what the change was, close ctool, go back undo the change and try again.

hahaha. it's kinda crazy to think of some of the real pioneering hex editing some people were doing.  people like KennX, JKC, and cmdrkoenig came out with cool stuff.

[Cyber Burn]

Hearing how these guys created the stuff they did, I am really impressed. I have a major respect for all of our content creators in the community, but this just sounds wild. I really want to take a look at one of these hexxing programs, if nothing more than just to check them out.

[spydermann93]

I can't remember so well, but there was at one time a small program someone made,  maybe AlexFF or M25 called mesh editor (i think)   it was a standalone program for editing only character.nif files,  it was interesting to work with too.
Real trial and error type stuff.   You'd make a change, then load up ctool to see what the change was, close ctool, go back undo the change and try again.

hahaha. it's kinda crazy to think of some of the real pioneering hex editing some people were doing.  people like KennX, JKC, and cmdrkoenig came out with cool stuff.

I actually think that I have that tool. It came with one of Tommyboy's meshes.

[Cyber Burn]

I had previously found a file called "Mesh Editor" in the Legion Mod by Tommyboy, all this time I had no clue what it was and after opening it up, I still have no clue how to use it. Seeing some of the old hexxes on FXForce, I just have to say that I am really impressed with what these guys did.

[Symon]

Hexing with an editor required a great deal of patience and trial and error.
hex@xtin.org's mesh editor was a huge stride forwards.
NifSkope made it possible to take scalpels to meshes and keyframes. The NifTools exporters keep meshing alive.

[Cyber Burn]

Just out of curiosity, is there a limit to how many characters (Letters, Numbers, Etc.) that could be in a Mesh's or Skin's name?

For example:

Zaran_Gren (10 Characters)

Atlantean_Krang_FFvt3R (22 Characters)

With my newer Skopes, I've been adding "_FFvt3R" to the end of the name so that there is no question as to which game it is for. I'm also trying to label my Skopes so that there is no confusion as to who the Character is. It doesn't appear that I've hit a limit yet, but I was wondering if anyone knew if there was one.

[spydermann93]

I'm not sure that there is a limit.

The longest folder name that I have is "Male_Battlesuit_flyingdroid_testcharacter(RED)" (47 characters), and I have no issue using it.

[Cyber Burn]

Very cool, thanks Spyder! 

[Cyber Burn]

I did a search, but didn't really come up with anything that seems to work. Is there a Noob's guide to taking Screen Shots? Every time I try to take a Screen Shot so I can preview an FX, I end up with a solid Black image. Does anyone know what I might be doing wrong?

[spydermann93]

FRAPS is a good one.

You can choose a key on your keyboard to act as the Screenshot key (I use F10), and you can dictate where the screenshots are saved.

[Cyber Burn]

Thanks Spyder, I'll check that out. 

[Cyber Burn]

Thank you again Spyder, I was able to get this to work. I can finally preview FX right.