Open TAOS File

[quevy]

Hi, first of all, I'm new here, hello to all.
I wanted to graphically modify some TAOS buildings to create others, I had no difficulty opening the normal game files with Nifskope, but I can't open the expansion ones. I read on a github that there are versions issues and they can't be opened. Can you help me or should I give up?

[Dr.MonaLisa]

Hi. From what I remember, the issue is that AOS nif files are actually an older version than they have defined in file (?)
https://github.com/niftools/nifxml/issu ... -324013761

I think the workaround for it was editing the .nif file using Notepad++ and simply replacing the incorrect version number (making it look like it's older one). After that Nifskope should be able to open it.

[quevy]

First of all, thanks for the reply. I already found that answer on the web, I already tried to edit the input version with notepad, but the result doesn't change, the rest of the text is scrambled.

[Loewenherz]

With 3D Ripper DX you could steal the buildings and units of the add-on. There are not many objects and the few new .kf animations for AoS can fortunately also be used and transferred for EE2 3D Models.

Apart from that, the AoS 3D graphics unfortunately don't open and no one from Nifskope has bothered to fix that. NifSkope thinks that this is a new version of the Gamebryo engine .nif file, but it is still the version of EE2 with some small changes, which are already enough to cause some problems when opening. Hence this problem. Mad Doc must have slipped in some kind of change. No idea why.

[Dr.MonaLisa]

I'm sure I opened AOS nifs with Nifskope before. I'll try to remember how when I come back home in a few days.

[Loewenherz]

I could not open the files in Blender and 3D Max either. So far nothing has worked.

But that's not the end of the world. Most of the 3D graphics are only for the Africans and the 3 campaigns anyway.

[Dr.MonaLisa]

So, changing the version from "10.2.0.0" to "10.1.0.0" in Notepad++ actually helps, but it's stil not fully functional.

For example, this part appears when the version is "10.1.0.0":

Screenshot 2023-08-02 070509.png (56.87 KiB) Viewed 860 times

It helps a little bit more with exporting textures from "EE2X_textures.zip\cache\texcache" to dds or tga. Generally, when the file is version "10.2.0.0", that "0 NifNode" doesn't show up, so it's impossible to export to texture.

Keep in mind that testing different Nifskope versions is tricky. If there are multiple Nifskope versions on PC, opening the .nif file with double click will usually always link to 1 version. So to fix it, it's better to open "NifSkope.exe" from the expected version folder, and then loading .nif using the "File -> Load..." (CTRL+O) option.

[quevy]

Here I am, sorry but I left for the holidays and I'm back only now.

But that's not the end of the world. Most of the 3D graphics are only for the Africans.

These were exactly the ones that interested me.

So, changing the version from "10.2.0.0" to "10.1.0.0" in Notepad++ actually helps, but it's stil not fully functional.

For example, this part appears when the version is "10.1.0.0":

Screenshot 2023-08-02 070509.png

It helps a little bit more with exporting textures from "EE2X_textures.zip\cache\texcache" to dds or tga. Generally, when the file is version "10.2.0.0", that "0 NifNode" doesn't show up, so it's impossible to export to texture.

Keep in mind that testing different Nifskope versions is tricky. If there are multiple Nifskope versions on PC, opening the .nif file with double click will usually always link to 1 version. So to fix it, it's better to open "NifSkope.exe" from the expected version folder, and then loading .nif using the "File -> Load..." (CTRL+O) option.

I also made different tests before writing this post with different versions, but none of them got the result