Creating A Custom Weapon

Requirements

• Blender
• Gimp
• Gimp DDS plugin
• Gimp Normal Map Plugin
• DDS Converter
• Nifskope
• FO3 Archive Utility

Preparing

You need three meshes: the weapon base, the hammer and the magazine. Also get the required items above. Experience with Blender, Gimp, Nifskope, and the Garden of Eden Creation Kit is recommended.

Step 1: Blender

Get the required program.

Open up Blender.
Click on 'Add-> Mesh-> UVSphere'. Set segments to 4 and rings to 4. Click OK.
In your view the newly added mesh will not be visible. This is because it is covered up by the cube. However the mesh should be already selected and a set of arrows should be visible.
Left-Click on the green arrow and hold the mouse button down and move your mouse till your mesh is exactly above your cube.
Click on 'Add-> Mesh-> Cylinder'.
Set vertices to 6.
Left-Click on the green arrow of your newly created mesh and hold the mouse button down and move your mouse till it is exactly below your cube.
Repeat the following actions :

• Switch to Edit Mode.
• Left-Click Mesh-> UVUnwrap-> Unwrap (Smart Projections).
• Click OK.
• Switch the Window type to UV/Image Editor.
• Left-Click UVs-> Scripts-> Save UV Face Layout...
• Set size to 256.
• Click OK.

Now click on the Save UV (tga) button.

• Switch the Window type back to 3D View.
• Switch the mode to Object Mode.
• Select the cube by Right-Clicking on it.
• Switch to Edit Mode.
• Left-Click Mesh-> UVUnwrap-> Unwrap (Smart Projections).
• Click OK.
• Switch the Window type to UV/Image Editor.
• Left-Click UVs-> Scripts-> Save UV Face Layout...
• Set size to 256.
• Click OK.

Now click on the Save UV (tga) button.

• Switch the Window type back to 3D View.
• Switch the mode to Object Mode.
• Select the last mesh by Right-Clicking on it.
• Switch to Edit Mode.
• Left-Click Mesh-> UVUnwrap-> Unwrap (Smart Projections).
• Click OK.
• Switch the Window type to UV/Image Editor.
• Left-Click UVs-> Scripts-> Save UV Face Layout...
• Set size to 256.
• Click OK.

Now click on the Save UV (tga) button.

• Switch the Window type back to 3D View.
• Switch the mode to Object Mode.

You are done with exporting the textures. Now you are going to export all the meshes.

Left-Click on File-> Export-> Wavefront (.obj)... Name it I.obj

• click the Export Wavefront OBJ Button.
• Set it to triangulate.
• Unset it to Rotate X90.
• Set it to Normals.
• Click on the Export button.

Do the same for Love.obj and Elv.obj

Step 2: Creating normal maps.

Get the required program.

2. Open up GIMP.
Open _Sphere.tga. Texture it how you want. When you're done with texturing, Save the file as I.tga.
Uncheck RLE compression and set the Origin to Top left. Save it.

We are now going to do the normal map.
Layer-> Transparency-> Color to Alpha.
Set the color to 000000.Filters-> Map-> Normalmap.
Click on the 3D Preview Button.
Left click and hold the middle of the big white square until it is leaning back.
Click on the Rotate light button. Now click in the top left corner of the big white square and drag until your cursor is in the middle of it.
Switch to the Normalmap window and checkmark Wrap.
Set the Height source to Alpha. Now set the Scale to 6. And the filter to one of the following:

  1. 4 Sample – Very grainy. Use for rock or other rough textures.
  2. 3x3 – Grainy. Use for scratched metals or other rough textures.
  3. 5x5 – Smooth. Use for smooth metals and wood.
  4. 7x7 – Smoother. Use for cloth and furniture.
  5. 9x9 – Very Smooth. – Use for polished metal and gems. 

When you have done that click the Ok Button. File-> Save As. Set the name to I_n.tga and uncheck RLE Compression and make sure the origin is Top left. Click the Save button.

Do the same for _Cube.tga and _Elv.tga

Step 3: Converting to DDS

Get the required program.

Open DDS Converter 2.1.
Click on the Options button. Set the DXTc format to DXT3. Checkmark Build mipmaps and set the number to 9. Click OK.
Make sure the output format is DirectDraw Surface. Select the files and convert them.

• I.tga
• I_n.tga
• Love.tga
• Love_n.tga
• Elv.tga
• Elv_n.tga

when that is done, you can exit the program.

Step 4: Getting a similar nif file

Get the required program.

Use FO3 Archive Utility to extract 10mmPistol.nif

Step 5: Nifskope tweaking

Get the required program.

Open Nifskope.
Load the 10mmPistol.nif you extracted earlier.
View-> Show Blocks in List.

• Select NiHeader.
• Open Strings.
• Set 10MMPistol to Elv.
• Find 10MMPistol:0 and set it to Elv:0
• View-> Show Blocks in Tree.
• Find and Right-Click-> Block-> Remove Branch on all of the following:

1.
 1. Slide
 2. Trigger
 3. Catch 

Select BSFADENODE.
File-> Import-> Import OBJ. and choose OK. Find I.obj and the click the open button.
Select the newly created NiNode.
Now select the NiTriShape it has. Mesh-> Stripify.
Select the NiTriStripsData.
Set TSpace Flag to 16.
Then Right-Click-> Batch-> Update all tangent Spaces.
Now right click on NiTriStripsData and Right-Click-> Block-> Copy.
Then Right-Click on NiNode and Block-> Remove Branch. Finally find the Elv:0 NiTriStrips. Select it's NiTriStripsData and Right-Click-> Block -> Paste Over.
Select Elv:0's BSShaderTextureSet and for textures set the first to textures\I.dds set the second to textures\I_n.dds

• Do the same for Love replacing ##clip.
• Do the same for Elv replacing ##hammer.

File-> Save As. Goto Fallout 3's Data\meshes\ and name it Elv and then click the Save button.

One last thing to do is place all your .dds files in your textures folder of Fallout 3.

See Also

• Basic Guide: From Modeling Program to the GECK