Magnetic measurements, specific heat and inelastic neutron scattering experiments have been performed on the tetragonal PrNi2Si2 and TbNi2Si2 compounds. From a global analysis of these data, the crystal field parameters have been determined. In both compounds, the groundstate is a nonmagnetic singlet, explaining the existence of amplitude modulated magnetic structures. A modulated-field model accounts quantitatively for the observed properties in the ordered phase.