TechAngel85
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Everything posted by TechAngel85
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That can be done with the specular maps so when the light hits the skin it looks more textured. I still have the tutorial pulled up that shows this: The key is finding a skin texture with a continuous pattern so it doesn't look tiled.
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Thanks, Shadriss! About to have to head to know. I've been working on this all morning. I'm basically going in by hand and removing the blotchy issues on the texture. I think it's suppose to simulate dirt; however, it's just causing stretching so I've decided to tone it down as much as possible. Hopefully this all works out and my efforts will not be for nothing!
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DROPPED Xenius Character Enhancement (by Xenius)
TechAngel85 replied to stoppingby4now's topic in Skyrim LE Mods
It's all being discussed here: https://forum.step-project.com/topic/4772-nsfw-step-female-body-replacer/?p=93293 You can read back a few pages to see what is currently being implemented/tested. I'm doing a lot of the work by hand in Photoshop with the assets STEP has permission to use. By the time I'm done, it'll basically be a new mod. We install the most vanilla-friendly version of Better Males so it pairs nicely with the game. That's the same goal with the Female Overhaul. The main issue with XCE are the desaturated faces which gives them a grey hue. -
Though it is a bit higher in the red spectrum (only know this due to having to tweak the color when merging), it doesn't appear that red on my monitor. It's more of a sunkissed look that too red. The only way to combat this would be to have two versions; one for vanilla and one for ENB. Because tweaking it too much away from what it is now would cause vanilla to be "ghost-like" and too white. Tweaking the SSS might be a better option; however, I do want to keep the ENB tweaks to a minimum if we decided to implement one. That is just for user friendliness purposes. We have several armor replacement mods in STEP now that would have to be compatible. It's just not something we'll be doing. If you're keeping up with this thread, you can I'm making good progress on a custom solution that works with vanilla. One another note: The specular maps look much better when made from the normal that defines the muscle tone so it looks like I'll be making one for each. This will take some time as much of it has to be edited by hand. The first one took me at least 2 hrs before it was final. I'm just doing this all with Photoshop.
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DROPPED Xenius Character Enhancement (by Xenius)
TechAngel85 replied to stoppingby4now's topic in Skyrim LE Mods
You would be correct. I've never noticed it before because I've never checked before. You can safely install No More Blocky Faces after XCE; however, I would hide all the conflicts that are present with Better Males. Honestly, there is little difference between the HRDLC and XCE when in-game. Hopefully, XCE will be going away with 2.3.0 as we're putting together a Female Overhaul similar to Better Males. -
That is just the normal I picked from the installer I made. There are 6 different options to choose from with varying muscle tone so those will not be edited. I am looking to add one more to the mix, if I hear back from the author will permission to do so. The navel has been pulled straight from Mature Skin. I didn't like the navel on WindsongHS's texture which was essentially vanilla so I blended Mature's Skin into the texture and corrected the color so it would match. Before doing this the girl looked like she was 2-3 months pregnant. It's far better than it was at least. Yes, I'm considering making a new specular map for each tone available instead of a 'universal' one. I'm thinking that would provide the best look for each option. I'll post the new FOMOD when the textures are more ready. This was just an update of how it was going. I'll continue to post a few as I get things done. Translucent??? Not sure what you're meaning here. Translucence implies transparency of which she is clearly not. I'm just using the default settings from that ENB. As for the ENB in general, it's the one I've advocating for STEP. It's really quite perfect for us.
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Remove XP32 Maximum Skeleton from STEP 2.3.0
TechAngel85 replied to SmaugNogardeht's question in General Skyrim LE Support
But he's not talking about just installing Core. -
And here's the progress: Full Size: https://i.imgur.com/74HNGUW.jpg (ignore the hands/wrists...had the wrong file loaded) So far... Body and hands specular maps reduced by 25%Face specular map reduced by 50%Fixed muscle tones not workingShadowing and stretching mostly fixed on stomach area by merging assets (it's great to have full permission to use these assets!)Next up is fixing the shoulder and thigh areas and updating the body specular map since the body texture has changed. EDIT: I've done enough work on this already that it could almost be considered an entirely new mod.
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Yeah...I've been playing with the body. It's not exactly great. In fact, it's not that good at all. It almost needs a new texture as it really looks like WindsongHS wasn't finished with it. There's a lot of stuff going on with it that just doesn't need to be there. The level of detail just isn't on par with the face. The arms and torso are terrible and because they're terrible they're making the normals for the muscle tone not behave correctly and look bad as well. If you open the texture up in photoshop, she actually looks pregnant with where the shadowing is going on! I haven't found a solution yet. The face is looking great, but going to have to see what can be done with the body.
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I've been playing around for a bit. I've reduced the specular maps on the body and hands by 25% and by 50% on the face/neck to provide a more natural glow/shine in the sunlight (not fully tested in all lighting yet). I've also re-toned the lips to have a more natural look when viewed without makeup. The original lips looked a bit too much like makeup. Now they're far more natural. Consequently, the various lip shades also look better as well with the new tone. I'd like to do the same around the eyes; however, my skill level isn't there yet. Here is a pic of the face so far: I turned the spotlight off for this shot so this is the game's actual evening lighting (about 5PM). Using Vividian Vanilla ENB.
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Yeah, from the author's description, what he did there was super simple (I haven't downloaded the files to look at them). I'm wanting something a bit more complex than just a blank/black texture file. Skin naturally has a bit of shine to it due to natural oils; however, the amount that some skin textures apply is too much. From what I've read and video tutorials I've watched specular maps are more sensitive than some authors realize so a little goes a long way. Adding detail to the specular maps is also a great way to add realistic detail that is mainly visible when the light hits it...such as scratches on armor and weapons, shiny minerals on the surface of rock, etc. From my short time of research, specular maps can be a lot more than just a black and white version of the image.
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There is surprising very little information about textures specifically for Skyrim when it comes to the realm of creating/editing them. Luckily most of the information out there is universal and can mainly be applied to any moddable game. I think I know enough now to start being a bit dangerous. The STEP team really needs someone that can navigate some of this stuff even on a basic level so I'm going to try to learn a bit. I've edited the specular map of the face to about the same level as Mature Skin's. This will reduce the shine from the lighting on the face to a more realistic level. I will probably look into doing the same to the body. EDIT: Oh, vanilla underwear is now back and we'll be able to drop the mod Better Freckles if this all works out. WindsongHS has a freckles file and it's quite nice/subtle. He's also include a new female vampire face that I'll have to compare to vanilla and XCE-Dawnguard. Lots of potential is included here!
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Can anyone tell be what causes the shine on the skin and point me to the texture involved? Thanks!
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Remove XP32 Maximum Skeleton from STEP 2.3.0
TechAngel85 replied to SmaugNogardeht's question in General Skyrim LE Support
STEP 2.3.0 is no where NEAR ready to be used! None of the Staff is even using it. You should NOT be using that Guide yet! It will be several months before it is even released. -
Do NOT post links to this mod on this thread unless the link is provided directly by the author. Thus, the author will have to post it here if he wants it shared in an other way besides Nexus.
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ACCEPTED aMidianBorn Book of Silence (by CaBaL)
TechAngel85 replied to EisDrache's topic in Skyrim LE Mods
Install the entire mod (all the choices). We only provide direction where there are multiple options (such as black fur or white fur, etc). If it's between an option and none then chose the option. -
I've heard back from WingsongHS, he's given up permission to use his assets. He also said, he's already complete 2.0beta of his mod but will not have time to upload it until September (he still has to write the description and it's very hard for him because he's Korean. I've offered to help if he needs it.)So now I can start playing around with those textures that will fit the vanilla body and see what I can come up with.
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Not adding a replacer that requires also replacing the armor.
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That ESP in WSCO is optional in the FOMOD installer. It doesn't have to be installed. Besides if we obtained permissions, it wouldn't matter anyway since we'd be using loose assets. I really wish use had a texture guru on Staff. We have permissions for some wonderful files/mods if we had someone that could make it all work the way we wanted. WSCO face textures are the same res as Mature Skin's too...2048x. In that picture I posted above the shots were taken in race menu with the menu elements toggled off. So the spotlight was on for all the shots. You'd rarely look that bright in the actual game...but that just goes to show how dark the Mature Skin face textures really are since they had a spotlight on them when compared to vanilla and WSCO. They're quite dark.
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Opening up the WSCO BSA for females reveals that it's pretty much just FemFeet meshes and a custom skin designed for the female body. This is exactly what we were trying to accomplish with the compilation that was put together but with Mature Skin which wasn't working for NPCs because of it being designed for UNP. WSCO does work on NPCs because it's designed for vanilla. As far as I know, this is the only skin texture that is designed around a FemFeet/Vanilla combination. Everything thing else seems to be UNP/CBBE/ADEC (or whatever that other one is) which all require armor replacement mods to work properly.
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I've said it once and I'm going to say it again, WSCO is the only mod that works 100% because it is designed for the vanilla body! I think Z dismissed it mainly due to the makeup on the face; however, seeing he was advocating Mature Skin in his compilation, I find that point moot. Mature Skin is just as much "made up" as WSCO. We can still use the muscle tone options with WSCO as well. I'll admit, it's not perfect, but it's something and it's better than plain vanilla for the moment. I've been in contact with the WSCO author so I can ask him if we can use the assets. If so, the new underwear and take a hike and we can play around with various assets to find something more ideal.
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I'm giving up for the time being... I've tried different skin textures, hiding files and even installed a UNP body replacer. Nothing! There are always neck seems on the NPCs. The PC looks great, but the NPCs are being stubborn as they are somehow rendered differently or something. Makes no sense to me whey the PC would look perfect but the NPCs don't...they're all using the same files!
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Yeah, I've been aware of it but been too busy with work to play with it. I took some time today and it would seem as if they just isn't going to work. Having the head and body textures separated it just a nightmare for vanilla as it seems like the game is rendering them in different shades. I'll play some more later to see if I can find a solution.
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Oh, I've set up three personal presets. The one I mentioned above, one for strictly gaming and one for movies. I loaded up several games and movies to balance each of those two out. It took about 40 mins to calibrate each preset to where I was happy with them. But you're right, the included default presets are usually horrible.
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This is why I like vanilla version so much. It's close to the original game but just richer and "fixed". As for the TV commit, I have to say...I have an IPS monitor and without having to switch presets all the time when I enter a game (because I usually forget), most of the ENBs I've tried have been overly done for my current monitor settings (which is a balance between "good for everyday" vs "good for gaming"). I'll admit that the only time I remember to change the preset is for movies. The vanilla version works perfect for my current preset. This IPS if more sensitive to contrast and saturation than I expected it to be...but that's not a bad thing! PS: I'm advocating in include the vanilla version in an Official STEP Pack. (teaser)
