Saerileth

I agree, this is definitely a mod that "subjectively alters or contrasts with the style of vanilla Skyrim". As I said, apples and oranges, it's a completely different design from vanilla.

I'll quote Madcat about this: "From the name of the creator, I surmise that the White Phial may have actually been a pre-Sarthaal Falmer creation. "Curalmil" sounds like an elven name, not a nordic name. Maybe you can get some inspiration by studying their design motifs in Dawnguard." So Curalmil might have been a Snow Elf, even though he's entombed in a nordic crypt. The evidence is shaky though, and he does come back as a draugr, so... it's a matter of debate. It just gave me a good excuse to use pretty Dawnguard stuff, and I really didn't know which direction to take the design otherwise. One thing to note is that the mod requires Dawnguard. The meshes themselves wouldn't actually, but since I used modified pieces of Auriel's bow & shield I had to make the DLC a requirement for it to be hosted on Nexus. Which I did by packing everything into .bsa-archive and adding a blank .esp that will crash the game if loaded without Dawnguard. Now I don't know if this is an issue for STEP, but having an essentially useless plugin in your loadorder is pretty wasteful... unfortunately there isn't much I can do about it. You could unpack the archive, but I can't host it that way, and having the users do it themselves might be too complicated.

The difference is subtle, you just notice it outside of inventory when you hold the claw up against a strong contrast, you'll notice you can actually see through the crystals. But the transparent diamond is also a tiny bit glitchy in inventory view. Honestly, I can't get over how broken transparency is in this engine.

Looks like I'm late to the party! No one told me there was a thread about my White Phial Replacer :D Anyways, here's how it looks in vanilla: Don't think it really needs a compare as such, my phial as a completely different shape and design than the vanilla, it's not just a retexture. It's different, not just trying to be an improvement. So it'd be like comparing apples and oranges... it comes down to personal taste which you prefer.

Hey there kryptopyr :) Thanks! I'm not quite happy with the diamond claw panels myself, though I actually like the idea of giving diamonds a bit more shine than the less precious materials. The problem is that the panels are just in the texture, the mesh itself is not different from the others at all (which is why they look so flat and "painted on"). I've made do with what I could manage in NifSkope and the textures, but now that I've started to use Blender I may actually be able to do something about the mesh, like give the panels some real depth. I'll also take a closer look at IG's meshes to figure out what it does with the handle mesh, I honestly never noticed a difference. I use the metal textures from Ruins Clutter Improved myself, does IG include it's own? Can't promise an ETA though, rather busy with stuff I promised other people.

Well, it only needs to look good on Serenity for me... I don't think I'm ever going to change to anything else gain. :D

:D Love the Gremlin. I should rename myself! Yep, I sure do love the words as well, has such a nice ring to it. Subsurface parallax. :P About the windows - if you could get a screenshot of how it looks outside each window, say outside Breezehome in Whiterun for example (shouldn't be too hard to take with tfc), then distort/blur it enough that people don't notice it's actually static... you could get pretty stunning results, and I daresay close enough to fool the eye. It would even sort of work with day/night and different weather, because of emission. The problem is that as I said the glass (and the image behind it) can't be very clear, or people will notice that there isn't enough depth and the image moves too little as the angle changes. Also, you'd need one image for every window... pretty expensive. And this stuff is set in the meshes, so compatibility could be an issue. But I really gotta try this for a custom player home some day. Now, if you used a texture replacer like Gamwich's windows, which are designed to look thick and near-opaque, you could probably get away with one generic subsurface layer for all windows (or one for each hold maybe), as long as there's something there that changes with the angle of view... that could look really cool. This is how Bethesda does it with the glaciers by the way, it took me quite a while to figure out that what I see in the depths of the ice sheet is not in fact the ground, that it's just an illusion. With proper textures ice can be pretty amazing in this game. Too bad it doesn't work quite so well with icicles, but fortunately skysan has taken care of that with refraction. And I'm drifting off... where was I? Yes, windows. I'll talk to Gamwich, maybe the two of us can cook something up that could be added to his window replacer. Thanks for sending me on yet another modding spree :P

Improved Gemstones does mesh edits on the handle? I never noticed that when I looked over his files. Maybe there's something there that I can incorporate into my meshes (if I get permission, that is). I also fix the panels on the diamond claw in my own manner, if you look closely you can see the metal pattern from the other claws shining through the crystal layer. It's a very subtle effect and greatly depends on lighting, but it's there (and I prefer it to just slapping the pattern into the normals like IG does). It's not real transparency, it's a subsurface parallax. Might require some tweaking yet, I'm not quite happy with the diamond claw as it is but people keep distracting me with pretty jewelry work :D @EssArrBee: Minor thing, but it's Gemling Queen... I'm not a Gremlin :P

My fomod-installer is up, and it includes the new ring textures by Gamwich. They come in several variations, I'll post some comparison screens below. Could someone check if the installer is really working as intended? I did test it, but the coding is a bit tricky. Better safe than sorry. SMIM textures: Gamwich's textures: The combined version uses the finer, more detailed option 1 for the gold rings, and the heavier knotwork from option 2 for silver. The textures also come in two different resolutions, 2048x1024 (same as SMIM) or 1024x512. Personally I think a 2k texture is massively overkill for such a small object, you really can't see the difference ingame, but some people are peculiar about their high-res needs. @Aiyen: That looks lovely. A bit too purple for my tastes (I'm extremely sensitive to purple, and just don't like that colour very much), but definitely an improvement over vanilla.

Don't worry, I'm not easily offended. ;) True, I should be able to do some pretty efficient batch testing with the flasks. Making the models themselves isn't that hard either (except that I'm running a bit low on inspiration, so I really do need a break), what's really time consuming is getting pretty normal maps and textures on them. Texturing isn't my strong suit anyways, it's a bit of a love-hate-relationship - fun when things go my way, infuriating when they don't. At least the regular potions aren't white, which is a damn annoying colour to work with (technically it isn't even a colour, I know). Like I said, I'm tempted, but don't get your hopes up. I might start on some of the other unique potions like the Philter of Phantom, if I can find the time and the muse strikes me. By the way, I love crystal! Gotta check out that Azura replacer you mentioned right away, is it released yet? On a less off-topic note, got the coding for the fomod-installer done (I think, if it all works as intended). Now I'm waiting for two small things from another modder that I want to include, should be up and running soon.

All the potions? Good grief, you wouldn't believe how much work just the one was :P I'm tempted, but I don't think that's gonna happen anytime soon (as in, this year).

I released a new mod, White Phial Replacer. This is what's been taking up all my free time lately, so I apologise for neglecting Gemling Queen Jewelry. I'll have that fomod installer I promised y'all up tomorrow if all goes well.

Yes, there will be a fomod installer with all options, soonish. I want to include Gamwich's new ring texture, and I'm kinda too busy to upload those right now.

@DoubleYou: Actually the generic rings would be covered by SMIM (or does STEP let JotN overwrite that?), I totally forgot to include those in my ring module because they don't have gems. I'll add them when I upload Gamwich's new ring textures and package everything into an all-in-one fomod installer.

There will be a Gamwich option for the rings as well soon. I'll put up compares when I have the time, though there the choice will be between SMIM and Gamwich only, there is no vanilla or JotN option for my rings.

Forgot to label them, the upper image is Gamwich's retexture (my optional file), the lower one is JotN. Edit: Here are some cleaned up comparison shots. All images taken with Gemling Queen Jewelry meshes, only the texture varies. Using the 1k version of Gamwich's texture, can't remember which version of JotN it was.

Those are the textures for the craftable rings and necklaces (e.g. Gold Ring, Silver Emerald Ring, Gold Jeweled Necklace, Silver Necklace - just to make sure we're all talking about the same thing). In other words, those are the textures for the items that I replace meshes for. Now the ring textures (genericrings.dds, genericrings_n.dds) are no longer used at all if my ring module is installed, because SMIM changed the UV map of the rings (the layout of the texture). I use SMIM textures at a custom texture location. As for the amulets, the new optional file on my mod page replaces exactly those two remaining files (genericamulets.dds and genericamulets_n.dds) so if STEP chooses to include those you can cut Jewels of the Nord. Not saying you should, it really comes down to personal taste... I really like pfaffendrill's textures as well, so if you do decide to remove JotN, could you add a note to the installation instructions that those can still be used? I'd really like people to know that they have a choice here. But it might make things a bit too complicated. I'll put up comparison screens tonight if I get the time. In the meantime, I do have these: They're not quite side-by-side, but close enough.

Will inventory compares be enough, or do you need game world shots? It's very time-consuming to get two exactly matching shots of an item with two different textures...

I've uploaded a new amulet retexture made by Gamwich to my optional files. He made it specifically for my different gemstone placement in the jeweled necklaces. Screens: With this Gemling Queen Jewelry can fully replace Jewels of the Nords. The textures are completely optional though, if you like JotN better you can still use that.

The amulet module is up, finally! I need a break, fitting and rigging these things is damn tedious. Here's some comparison shots: Also managed to take decent screens of the rings at last:

I know, I just get very frustrated when things don't go my way, and currently all my modding projects are on hold because of one thing or another not working. Doesn't make a good combination with my extreme impatience. :D I actually found solutions to both my current problems after I calmed down, by doing some better aimed research (the trouble with google is finding the right search words to get the answers you need). So maybe I should spend more time trying to solve things on my own and less time whining. XD Yeah, I noticed Nexus forums is a bit disorganised. For starters, it seems people can't decide whether mod questions belong in Mod Talk or Mod Troubleshooting - as a result, both are swamped with threads asking about load order. I still think there's a shortage of tutorials for certain things. There's an abundance of them covering the easy stuff, like first steps in the CK, but when I'm faced with an unusual problem or need information about a specific detail, I usually end up figuring it out myself. I can kind of understand that, writing tutorials takes time, and they don't get downloads or endorsements. The even harder part is actually finding the information, even if it's out there. So I'll go ahead with a good example - I'm going to put up a new forum tab on my Gemling Queen Jewelry page where I will post WIP stuff of all my current projects, and whenever I overcome a particular hurdle that I cannot find information about anywhere else, I'll write down my findings. Maybe someone will find it helpful. Well, enough off topic. The amulet release will be delayed for a few days, because I need to fit four kinds of necklaces (plain, normal, and two kinds of jeweled) to the high weight body by hand. This will take time. Fortunately I've got some free time on my hands over Easter. :)

@Kuldebar: I don't quite understand what you're getting at. The amulets I am currently working with (e.g. Gold Diamond Necklace) look just fine in vanilla, they scale nicely with the weight slider. Anyway, my problem has nothing to do with clipping of the body, it's just that the _0 and _1 meshes don't match. I'm not getting any help at all on the Nexus forums, which is rather disappointing - it's not the first time my posts have been completely ignored. I can't be the only one having this problem, someone must know how to make proper, matching low/high weight meshes, or there wouldn't be so many custom armor mods out there. I remember the Morrowind crowd used to be a lot more helpful... nowadays modders don't share their "trade secrets" anymore. Edit: I had the solution right in front of my eyes, and just didn't see it - instead of searching for "weight slider" or "rigging" I should've just looked for armor modelling tutorials. Found one that puts it quite nicely - I cannot just mix and match different parts for the _1 mesh, naturally they will become mismatched. I need to take my _0 mesh and manually match it to the high weight body. This will be tedious, but I'm getting used to the fact that nothing is ever simple with Skyrim.

Actually, rigging changes everything about how the mesh is applied to the body. Skyrim uses a BSDismemberedSkin node that stores for each vertex of your mesh where it goes when this or that bone moves. This is why I need to re-rig the amulets and rings every single time I change something, the moment I add a new vertex I would be missing this information. For the amulets Skyrim actually has two different meshes, one for 0 weight and one for 100. It interpolates between the two for any weight inbetween. Now my guess is somehow my meshes got mismatched, so now Skyrim is confused about which face goes where. But how to fix it? No idea. Let's see if someone on the Nexus forums is willing to help. Hope the technobabble isn't too confusing. Skyrim's engine is peculiar indeed, and I am way too impatient to deal with all this tedious stuff. I just wan't to mod! Argh.

Folks, I've hit a wall with the equipped amulet meshes. They look just fine on 0 and 100 weight, but inbetween this happens: I have no idea why this is happening or how to fix it. This is frustrating to no end... I like modelling, but I really, really hate rigging.

Leave it to american culture to brand a simple arrangements of dots into our cultural memory so deeply that the design is ruined for all other purposes. -.- At least I can argue that nords wouldn't know about Mickey. :D