NWN2 to NWN

[Legacy_Master Jax]

               I've always wondered if converting content form NWN2 is too difficult or laborious. There is a plethora of already available packs. Most of them released by Thegeorge, but the logical next step would have been to transform all custom models made by the community. This leads me to believe the proccess is a lot harder than it seems. I understand how that would be the case with creatures, but is it the same with things like placeables and weapons? Can anyone point me to a tutorial on the subject, if it exists? Thanks in advance!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Zwerkules]

               It's not hard at all. You're not making any new models, just copying existing work.
Why not many people do it? I think it is because those who would like to do it, don't know how and those who know how to do it, don't want to do it because it destroys creativity.
People already prefer using the (badly) converted NWN2 models instead of using new tilesets.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_TheOneBlackRider]

               As Zwerkules said: Not that difficult - at least not for placeables (in most cases):
Import it into (G) Max with the according NWN2-model importer.
Have the textures in the same directory. Use the NWN2-PackfileExplorer to find, which are used by the model.
It needs to be scaled up quiet a bit, so what I do is to also import a reference NWN1-model. This way, you've already got the Aurora base and the PWK set up.
Remove unneeded NWN2-meshes (C2/C3/W).
Scale the NWN2-model - (something around x10000). Don't forget to apply the Xform modifier first and do a Reset Xforms after scaling.
Link the NWN2-mesh to the Aurora base.
Add an Aurora Trimesh modifier to the NWN2-mesh.
Remove all the unneeded NWN1-parts (except the PWK-parts).
Rename the Aurora base + PWK-dummy (I like to use plc_o01, which is the "Arrow Filled Corpse", export it into the override folder and do a test by choosing that corpse model.
If you use the override, don't forget to copy the textures in there, too!)

If it exports nicely, you can start to reshape the PWK and all should be well.
Sometimes you'll need to weld verts, too, but check, if that messes up your model.

This is just the basic procedure. Some textures are not used by NWN1, so you could turn them off. It might also occur, that NWN1 has problems with the NWN2-DDS-format of the texture. Maybe you'll have to convert that, too.

This was written out of my head. Hopefully I didn't forget an essential part and I hope, that it gets you going.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Estelindis]

               It's not difficult, but I honestly don't think that the textures of NWN2 complement NWN that well.  I've only converted a couple of bits here and there, but I generally reskin everything.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Wall3T]

               Now that i know how to do it. I may eventually start a retexture project on all those placeables by thegeorge. The ugly grey colors just wont do anymore!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Zwerkules]

               

oOKyeOo wrote...

Now that i know how to do it. I may eventually start a retexture project on all those placeables by thegeorge. The ugly grey colors just wont do anymore!

They weren't the right textures anyway. Thegeorge used the textures that were meant for the tintable versions of the houses, so they lack all colour. There are textures with colours for the not tintable versions, but they are very blurred, so much that some parts of the texture are used for wood and metal at the same time because you can't tell the difference anyway.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Master Jax]

               Thanks for the feedback, guys! Errr... unfortunately, TheOneBlackRider, I use 3dsMax. Is the process similar in that one? Where do you get the nwn2 importer tool? I use the NWNMax scripts, but I think they only have NWN and The Witcher import options...
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_ShadowM]

               Here
Link

If you doing creatures and just want to break them into parts based it not bad
but if you want to leave them as skinmesh then it more work to realign the model to the animation
and bone rig them to the skinmesh.
NWN 2 creatures come in three version low , med and high detail models so grab the ones think will work with nwn1 and delete the others then grab the right texture.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Master Jax]

               Great!! Thanks a lot! Both for the link and the pointers!!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Bannor Bloodfist]

               

Estelindis wrote...

It's not difficult, but I honestly don't think that the textures of NWN2 complement NWN that well.  I've only converted a couple of bits here and there, but I generally reskin everything.

Unfortunately, I have to agree here... like 99% agreement.  I have seen a few, very few, that have been ported that actuallly work, but the styles used in NWN2 are starkly different from the base style of NWN and it makes them appear as a poorly ported object.  You end up with all sorts of scaling issues, lighting issues and colorization issues that without a complete reskin, they just don't look right.  Not really worth the enormous effort in my humble opinion.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_PLUSH HYENA of DOOM]

               Probably also have to agree, mostly.

I converted Neeshka's head to NWN1 (and if I can do it, anyone can) and spent quite a bit of time just hitting both model and texture with a brick until such time as they looked "at home" in NWN1.
Unless you have a really specific reason for wanting a certain NWN2 object (as I did with Neeshka), I'd just create something similar from scratch and/or using some suitable NWN1 material as a base.

(That said, I've completely retextured quite a lot of the buildings thegeorge converted and the results are mostly excellent, with one or two spectacularly rubbish exceptions. The models also needed some work since they still retained NWN2 data which NWN1 doesn't read, plus some of the ambient/diffuse/specular settings were weird (where there actually were any) and needed resetting, so sorting that stuff out too probably helped.)
               
               

               

                     Modifié par PLUSH HYENA of DOOM, 10 janvier 2014 - 07:44 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Zwerkules]

               

PLUSH HYENA of DOOM wrote...
(That said, I've completely retextured quite a lot of the buildings thegeorge converted and the results are mostly excellent, with one or two spectacularly rubbish exceptions. The models also needed some work since they still retained NWN2 data which NWN1 doesn't read, plus some of the ambient/diffuse/specular settings were weird (where there actually were any) and needed resetting, so sorting that stuff out too probably helped.)

Those models sometimes have the whole extra meshes from NWN2 in them which aren't needed and have a lot of polygons. Lots of them also have parts missing or in wrong positions.
Just because the models have already been converted from NWN2 to NWN1 doesn't mean using them as a base instead of converting the original models from NWN1 again will save you some time. Fixing the models will take more time then converting the original ones from NWN2 to NWN1.

Thegeorge did a better job of converting the smaller placeables. There's a pan in the wrong place in one of the kitchen placeables, but most of the other ones are okay.