Saerileth

@redirishlord: Let's say probably, I know myself too well for a maybe but as always, no promises. :D kryptopyr and I do have plans for CCOR, as she said. @kryptopyr: Dedicated textures would be awesome! I can't usually say what I prefer to sink my time into in advance, I tend to go with whichever fancy strikes me. We'lll see. @Garfink: Thank you. :) I got that mickey-vibe the moment I arranged the stones that way, this is why I flipped it upside down in the first place. Didn't want to mention it, because once you see it, you can't un-see it :D @phazer11: Almost missed your post. The chain you see is actually all in the textures/normal maps, those are from Jewels of the Nord in my screens. I hardly modified that part of the mesh, apart from smoothing things out a bit to make it look less blocky. I don't think it's supposed to be a simple chain link, more something fancy like this byzantine style: Dunno how the Dragonborn is supposed to craft that, those are usually machine-made. But hey - it's fantasy. Either way, if you use vanilla textures you'll get the default rope necklace, so I can't change it too much or it'll look strange for people without texture replacers.

But then wouldn't we have to adjust the smithing recipes to require more gemstones? Or would the Dragonborn sort of grind down one large gem into several smaller ones? Either way, I've kinda grown attached to this design... put a lot of work into it, and while flipping it is a matter of two clicks, changing the arrangement of stones can be rather time-consuming. But I really like your idea. Tell ye what, I'll stay with this for Gemling Queen Jewelry and make you a 6-ring version for CCOR later (by the way, haven't forgotten about all the other meshes I've promised you, I'll get on with that once my amulet replacer is done). I think I'll use Option 2 for the gold amethyst necklace and Option 1 for silver ruby/garnet. Adds a bit of variety, which can't hurt.

Need some feedback on the jeweled necklaces, folks: You'll notice I changed the layout of the gems to be slightly angled, no longer in one straight line. I feel it makes the jeweled amulets look more interesting than vanilla. Trouble is, I can't decide which side I wan't up. What do you think?

kryptopyr, you're totally right, didn't even notice they were different - this explains why SMIM uses a custom texture path. I'd have to completely redo the UV and keep an alternative version of all ring meshes up to date. Not gonna happen, so my ring module will never use AEterna or Jewels of the Nord textures.

Whoa, amulets are not released yet! That was just a teaser, It'll take some time yet to copy the new shape over to the other amulets, and I haven't even started on the equipped mesh yet. Fitting and rigging will be a pain. The amulets will be compatible with other texture replacers (e.g. Jewels of the Nord or AEterna Necklaces), same as my circlets will work with Better Circlets or AEterna. The problem with the rings is that SMIM uses a new, custom texture path (for reasons unknown), and I like those textures so I want to use them. This is why I included them in my archive. On the other hand it really irks me that I'm essentially forcing this choice on my users (and it's very inconsistent with my other modules). I could change the texture path back to vanilla, but then to use SMIM textures you'd have to manually move them to the correct location. Unless... I've got permission from Brumbek to include his textures, I could just write a FOMOD installer with a corresponding option. Then you would still be able to use Jewels of the Nord or AEterna rings. I don't think you can cut Jewels of the Nord just yet, it still retextures the amulets. I'd wager Brumbek will eventually release an improved version of those textures with SMIM though, the same as he did with the rings.

Amulet teaser: Improved the vanilla geometry by quite a bit, now the amulets are actually round. Also flattened the pendant out a bit, doesn't look half bad now, especially with the Jewels of the Nord textures. Poly-count is around 850, I think I'll leave it at that... I could smooth out the chain a bit, but I don't think it's really necessary.

Ok, improved vanilla it shall be first, then. Thanks for the feedback! :)

Then I guess I'll put off the optimisation for now, I sure as hell don't see much difference on my system. I may consider doing it if I decide to go over the gemstone shapes (give individual cuts to the different gems to distinguish them better), I'd have to re-rig the whole thing again anyway so it wouldn't be that much more work. About the amulets, I'm kind of torn. I don't really like the vanilla meshes, they look like keepsake lockets... it's not just the texture that irks me, the entire shape just isn't pretty. It's too clunky for my tastes, I prefer jewelry that is more subtle. Then again I don't know how people will like a replacer that completely changes the vanilla feel, plus it's very hard to get a design that will look nice on females and not stupid or girly on males. So I'm curious, would you guys prefer a completely custom, new design? Or should I just touch up the lockets (make them actually round) and do my magic with the gems? I've never actually modelled anything from scratch before, I'm curious what I can do.

Haven't quite started on the amulets yet, but I shall. Soon... ish. No promises, as always :P Jewels of the Nord meshes actually have higher poly-count than SMIM's, with visually almost no difference. You really shouldn't let them overwrite the SMIM rings, it's wasted performance. Personally I feel the SMIM meshes are already over the top, especially the equipped mesh - roughly 1200 triangles is quite a lot for an object you can't even get close enough to take screens of (and that's using tfc, they're hardly visible normally). Personally I have never noticed a performance drop though, been using Jewels of the Nord for ages now and never even noticed how insane it is until I opened a ring in NifSkope. But it might matter a lot to players with older hardware, so I've been trying to somewhat reduce the polygon madness. My inventory meshes have roughly the same poly-count as original SMIM (1160), this is because I lost most of what I gained on the metal band by duplicating the gems. The equipped mesh is down to 1002 triangles, but I'm pretty sure I could push it even lower and you wouldn't notice the difference. The question is, should I? It's a lot of work, and as of now I don't have good info on whether or not it really makes a difference. I want to be as performance friendly as possible without losing visual quality. I don't know how STEP handles this, should I include a seperate lower quality option?`Or just leave it as it is?

The ring module is up. No screens at the moment, I'm on my laptop and won't be home until Friday. Have fun!

Yay, finally got this bugger rigged properly! I also reduced poly-count by almost 200 on the equipped mesh (inventory art is still the same), but I think maybe I should go even lower. The result still has about 1000 polygons, which I think is just too much on an object you can hardly see. This screen is the closest I have managed to get to the ring using tfc, anything closer will clip with the camera. So the extra polygons really don't pay off much. Now I need some sleep... it's 3am here.

Well, my circlet meshes are already compatible with other texture replacers out there, at least concerning the metal parts and the gemstones I don't cover (onyx and moonstone). I don't see a reason to package those textures with my mod if you can just as easily download them from their respective mod page (assuming I even get permission), it's just a lot of hassle for me to maintain it all. I will not add the option to use existing gemstone textures (e.g. the AEterna sapphires) with my meshes, those textures were not designed for Madcat's two-layer reflections - they have (static) highlights embedded in the textures, but the sparkling should really be left to the inner layer of my meshes, where they can change dynamically with light and movement. Besides, it would require a lot of boring copy-pasting to make it work. Now the ring meshes are slightly more complicated, because Brumbek changed the texture path of his meshes. Making the rings compatible with AEterna and Jewels of the Nord as well as keeping the SMIM textures as an option may prove difficult.

Thanks for the feedback everyone :) Working hard on the rings, but having a tiny bit of trouble getting the skinned mesh to work (the one you actually see on your character when equipped, the sreen is just the inventory art). I'm sure it'll sort itself out. Those are indeed Brumbek's meshes, but I may actually make some minor changes. The poly-count is insane for such a small object, and while I agree that it looks much better than vanilla (which is more an octagon than actually round), I think I can save some performance while preserving the shape.

Comparison screenshot: These shots were all taken with vanilla lighting, no ENB and no other mods active. Only compares the gemstone textures / meshes, the circlets themselves (the metal parts) are all from Better Circlets HQ. I have an animated comparison on my mod page, but Gimp successfully butchered all quality while exporting, and Nexus' imagesize limit took what was left, so there's not much point posting it here.

Thanks everyone for the nice feedback. I'll see if I can get some comparison screens for the gems up soonish. @WilliamImm: In retrospect I can't remember why I chose the name, I couldn't be more dissimilar to her character. It sure is pretty, but by golly Saerileth must be the most annoying adorable NPC I have ever had in my party. I never had the heart to uninstall her to date, but I find myself avoiding the Temple District just so I won't have to meet her. :D

Now that you mention it, I am using Realistic Smoke and Embers. I'll have to ask skysan for more details on what exactly is causing problems.

Thanks guys for all the positive feedback! I'll have to take some better screens without ENB, the refraction really shines in bright light or when backlit. I feel I should mention though that there is a very minor bug with the transparent version, when viewed against a fire or other particle effect the claws go entirely transparent. They are also invisible under water (just the claws, the solid parts show just fine). This is the main reason I'm keeping up the solid version. My circlet gem replacer is up, see here: link All hail Noobsayer for sending me on this particular modding spree. :D

Inventory will not show the refraction effect. Just the way the engine works, nothing I can do about that... I don't particularly mind though, it showcases my textures for a change. Their detail gets lost a bit with transparency and refraction.

To prevent items from havoking between loads, I set up my testing arrangements in the CK and tag them as "don't havok settle". Then I only need to make sure not to touch anything ingame and I get nice, identical shots. I'll do a before/after comparison for the latest version, had some for the initial release but was too lazy to keep them up to date.

Nice screens, Noobsayer! I rather like what the ENB does with the scene, which one is it? And thank you for the feedback. :)

Shiny, I got a badge. :) Thanks! Edit: v3.0 just went live, it includes new and improved transparency and *drumroll* refractions!

Thanks! If by knowing the subject you mean gemstones, well I make jewelry as a hobby so I've seen a few (though no diamonds, those are above my payroll). I love pretty gems, they're a passion of mine. :)

@rootsrat: Actually I've been reading along for quite a while. Thanks everyone for the kind words, I really appreciate the feedback. :) As for the transparency of gemstones, it really depends on the purity of the stone and the craftmanship. A high quality, precision cut stone is highly reflective and very transparent, especially diamonds. Though I find it rather hard to believe that the ancient nords would have had the tools to cut one of the hardest stones known to mankind that smoothly, and where would they have found a pure diamond the size of my fist? On the other hand there's magic, so the question of realism is kind of moot. It just doesn't seem to fit the otherwise rather crude art in their burial sites. A rough-cut stone would have toolmarks and impurities that catch the light and refract it, so the transparency would be much subtler. The stone would only pick up the background colour but distort any clear image. This is the way I have chosen to go with my replacer, it just feels much more natural to me and it gives me more interesting details to put into the textures. The problem is that Skyrim's engine does not really support real refractions, and I have not yet found a way to distort the image that passes throgh the claws. At the moment I am not very happy with the transparent version, it makes the gemstones look flat and cheap. It's still very much a work in progress, at the moment I'm experimenting with the subsurface layers used in the the glacier meshes to create a better illusion of depth. Skadi and Skysan seem to have found a way to implement pseudo-refractions (here and here), so I'm looking into that as well.