(Continued...)

Now that the moveable collision mesh is where it needs to be, there are a few "maintenance" issues to take care of for your model before your final product is ready to use.

A) Make sure flags are set to “14” where necessary
The flags on the “0 NiNode” and your model's NiTriStrips should be set to “14”. I have read in other tutorials that this is done for proper collision handling and that if it is not done it can cause crashes. Here is the picture of where the flag is on the main “NiNode” {Sample Picture 16} and on my model's NiTriStrips. {Sample Picture 17} Double click on the number next to the flag and type it in to change it.

B) Smooth Normals
To give a cleaner, more even lighting on your mesh once it's ingame, we will “Smooth Normals.” Right Click on your model's NiTriStrips block and do “Mesh” and “Smooth Normals”. When the little box pops up just press the “smooth” button, leaving the default values as-is {Sample Picture 18} .

C) Adjust Ambient, Diffuse and Specular Color
Expand your model's NiTriStrips block and click on find where it says “NiMaterialProperty”. Below in the block details, you will see a section where Ambient, Diffuse and Specular Color is specified. Generally, I like to change these settings so that they are the same as Bethesda objects. Most Bethesda objects I’ve seen have these settings set to “white” so that is what I will do here. Next to Ambient, Diffuse and Specular color, double click on the # you see next to the colored circles. This will open up 3 boxes to let you change the numbers associated with the color setting. For Ambient, Diffuse and Specular, change “R”, “G” and “B” to “1” this will change it to white (AKA #ffffff {Sample Picture 20} {Sample Picture 21} .

D) Adjust settings “Use Mipmaps”
Within your model's NiTriStrip there is a block called “NiTexturingProperty”. Expand that property and click on “NiSourceTexture” In the block details towards the bottom, find “Use Mipmaps” and double click on “MIP_FMT_DEFAULT”, use the drop-down arrow, find and change it to “MIP_FMT_YES”. This is to make sure that your mesh will use the mip maps of your .DDS texture. (Mip maps will prevent your texture from appearing too blurry when your mesh is viewed from a distance).{Sample Picture 22}

Save your .nif file, time to test it!

Now you can load up your .nif file and test it in game. Although my Poly the Pig model is not square, the square moveable collision mesh on it achieves most of what I needed. I can move her around in the game. I can place her on her side or standing on her legs {Sample Picture 23}

Since the collision mesh is square there will be some oddities, such as, this amazing snout balancing trick {Sample Picture 24} . There are lots of other collision mesh shapes on other Bethesda items. You might find something else that suits your mesh better. Experiment. Go forth and fill Tamriel with clutter!

I hope this tutorial was of help to you!