SKYRIMLE SkyRealism - Shiny by MTichenor

[deathneko11]

SkyRealism - Shiny by MTichenor

 

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/48526/?tab=1&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fmoddescription%2F%3Fid%3D48526%26preview%3D&pUp=1Nexus Mod Page

 

Makes vanilla weapons and armor actually have a metallic shine to them.  This does so by tweaking the weapon and armor meshes and textures by messing with the environment mapping, and can be considered a "fix" as well as a mod.

 

This mod is semi compatible with Amidanborn Book of Silence by CAbal, but it will overwrite any mesh and texture edits by that and other armor mods.

 

For those that think armor mods like Amidianborn are too "clean", I would certainly recommend this for anyone that wants a nicer looking armor and weapon set in the game that is still 100% lore friendly.  Maybe a candidate for S.T.E.P.?

[DoYouEvenModBro]

It's cool. Some look better than others...but I don't think I want to lose Cabal's Textures :-/. 

[ZombieJack]

This is pretty interesting, some fierce competition against other armour mods though

[CaBaL]

"For those that think armor mods like Amidianborn are too "clean", I would certainly recommend this for anyone that wants a nicer looking armor and weapon set in the game that is still 100% lore friendly."

 

so...if amb are too clean you replace with more shining ones? interesting point of view.

anyway...it's not compatible with amb unlike description says, in any way,

 

on side note realistic shining...is not glass/diamond shining...particularry with medieval /norse inspired equipment...and it's not even a problem of oxidation or dirt... is a matter of materials, skyrim armor are supposed to be hammered by humans.... not created by machines, they cannot be a shining ferrari.

for a reference i suggest to look at some fiction/movie thing like LOTR ,Vikings, game of thrones... wich seems almost well made.

materials like moonstone cannot be reflective as ebony (obsidian_metal like)...moonstone is opalescent... not even shiny.

draugr armor/weaps are supposed to lay in a dungeon for centuries...

oricalcum is like this

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTFgzIuo-z90hCsTbGqic0HCPpw-o31hPbkIW_aGNuXYB6vmUS3_Q

even cleaned...is not shiny.

as i told to this mod author long time ago .... is a matter of engine, nifshadersettings, lighting, and use of NIF format that makes impossible proper material diversification as in other games.

in proper enb like mistveil or K or grim winter (particularry) my ....and any metal is shiny as it should

 

just to be precise...

(oh and countdown for usual ban begins...clearly).

[phazer11]

I completely agree with you Cabal mate TOO shiny. The only times medieval armor or weaponry got anywhere close to that level of shine was using animal grease and such and whetstones to sharpen and refine the blades.

[deathneko11]

"For those that think armor mods like Amidianborn are too "clean", I would certainly recommend this for anyone that wants a nicer looking armor and weapon set in the game that is still 100% lore friendly."

 

so...if amb are too clean you replace with more shining ones? interesting point of view.

anyway...it's not compatible with amb unlike description says, in any way,

 

I posted this pre-testing and the above statements were according to the mod author, including the statement of amb being "too clean".  I agree with you after some testing, your mod and this mod are NOT compatible whatsoever as most of his files overwrite yours.

 

(snip)

 

(oh and countdown for usual ban begins...clearly).

 

Actually this appears to be constructive criticism, which I agree with in parts.  On a realism scale, you are probably right on many of your details here but I confess that in my personal opinion after some testing, some of the armors from this mod look damn nice.  I say that they look nice in a way that does not mean better than amb, but good looking on the same scale, different function.  I understand we seek a lot of realism in skyrim but we have to remember that it is in the end a fantasy game, and there is no getting around that.

 

[CaBaL]

"For those that think armor mods like Amidianborn are too "clean", I would certainly recommend this for anyone that wants a nicer looking armor and weapon set in the game that is still 100% lore friendly."

 

so...if amb are too clean you replace with more shining ones? interesting point of view.

anyway...it's not compatible with amb unlike description says, in any way,

 

I posted this pre-testing and the above statements were according to the mod author, including the statement of amb being "too clean".  I agree with you after some testing, your mod and this mod are NOT compatible whatsoever as most of his files overwrite yours.

 

(snip)

 

(oh and countdown for usual ban begins...clearly).

 

Actually this appears to be constructive criticism, which I agree with in parts.  On a realism scale, you are probably right on many of your details here but I confess that in my personal opinion after some testing, some of the armors from this mod look damn nice.  I say that they look nice in a way that does not mean better than amb, but good looking on the same scale, different function.  I understand we seek a lot of realism in skyrim but we have to remember that it is in the end a fantasy game, and there is no getting around that.

lol... hey turn off that yellow mate...i'm getting tanned :D  .

seriously now

(why i'm writing here...when i promised myself to not do it anymore? Mistery...or pause from actual work on mods..i tend to do some...hopefully somebody will arrive soon to shout up my comments...no matter if is a civil discussion...or my reply to an insult...monster alzahimerd/nerd ex comical clowns are always vigilant)

 

ANywaaaaaAy...or annie's WAY... or annie is away (for long because is dead and we need to wait resurrection of deads in THAT blessed day when corruption of corpses will turn into GRACE? nobody knows...and nobody cares...really nobody cares)

 

"REALISTIC" is a two sided bladeword when we talk about about games

....what is more realistic? a render that shows actual real life or a "fiction" thing that simulate reality?

i guess both when done in the correct way

 BUT...always a but...or a butt...or a butthead...or beavis *cabal send cabal to f*@K himself,for the chronicles*

realistic in a game is imo something that belongs to a REALITY plane.

if bethesda creates a "reality" in skyrim ... but even more in fallout with a (lemme say) cheap way (NIF files and a pictorical look on everything) we (modders)should follow this direction and stay in the artistic direction of the game .

reality...or realism is what stands in an artistical "plane" 

 

 

to try to make things like exactly taken from real life in skyrim when skyrim is supposed to be "pictorical" without even the proper "tools" for it is pointless (and must be done in a proper way... not just brightening nifsettings and env ) because... the engine works for a different "reality plane"

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAnd (and is annie's friend).... if a texture or a model stands out like a turd on the christmass table we cannot talk about realism.

 

Kierkegaard docet

[torminater]

The Author refrains from making all materials shiny, so orithalcum is not altered by this Mod.

[z929669]

I need to test it myself, but MTichenor does good work, and I like almost everything he puts out. His thing is realism, and this mod is consistent with his previous work. He does mention that orithalcum and iron are left alone, since Bethesda already seemed to indicate a non-shiny intent for those.

 

Moonstone should not be shiny, as it would be more opalescent, like milky glass-stone or something. It is pretty clear though that anything made of a hard and smooth material can be polished, and owners of such hand-crafted and valuable pieces would most certainly have cared for them using water, oils, sand, clay, etc. It is pretty easy to polish things using commonly found materials in the env.

 

As I said on the Nexus thread, I hope that weapons and armor modders consider adopting some of his resources into their work (or at least these ideas).

 

Let's see about testing this one ....

 

EDIT: I just noticed that all of the armor types are parsed into separate downloads so that people can use whatever and test whatever without having to grab everything ... for testing, we will obviously need to look at each armor type in its own right and ask ourselves if looks good and makes sense. If it does, then we will need to compare against the AMB standard. These will need to be compatible with the rest of the game as far as look goes, too.

[CaBaL]

... about the idea of meshes included in shiny for other mods... seems at least complicate for plain vanilla replacers,problem is compatibility with body types , mesh ups, weapons reshape and so on.

CBBE ,better shaped weapons, immersive armors...they all ...and similar mods would need meshes files ad hoc.

if i can make a suggestion a tutorial for users to explain which values should be tweaked...would help.

when i released blades set with tweaked meshes for a decent specularity i had no problem, since cbbe unp and stuff do not touch blades....for hide or steel and others heavily used by immersive armors and god knos how many others...is instead pretty complicate.

 

best of luck to author

[z929669]

A tutorial is a great idea. Agree that this kind of mesh modification (not to mention textures even) is a gigantic task that probably should not be done for anything but the vanilla (fixed) meshes for certain objects only. Otherwise, it seems like a method to be shared with each modder to incorporate into their own mods as they see fit (ex., if you wanted to make a version of steel plate or elven or whatever that reflected the env, it might be a good variant).

 

So perhaps this is more a method than a mod ... but we should keep our eye on this to see where he goes with it. It sounds like jewelry may be done ... ?

[Aiyen]

To my understanding then the engine is also severely outdated when it comes to what materials etc. you can assign to meshes, hence you will always have issues with stuff looking like proper metal and wood, since they would share settings, that would make it impossible for either to look like it should. You just have to find a middle path and make both look decent.

[CaBaL]

To my understanding then the engine is also severely outdated when it comes to what materials etc. you can assign to meshes' date=' hence you will always have issues with stuff looking like proper metal and wood, since they would share settings, that would make it impossible for either to look like it should. You just have to find a middle path and make both look decent.[/quote']

not exactly...long story made short

other engines scenario is :

a model... with a generic material applied usually to all the volume/surface,

then:

a) diffuse map to manage JUST colors

b) normal map to "pretend" polygons of hi-poly on a low poly ready for game

c) enviromental/cube map to manage reflections color...clearly with a mask to "modulate" the thing

D) SPECULAR MAP to create materials....why specular makes materials? because with colors you can neutralize or enhance  reflection...example: specularity of wood is neutral... simply reflects light... if wood is brown a specular with its opposite color (cyan blue) can neutralize diffuse map influence and reflection will be neutral.

metal and conductors instead have colored reflections, for phisical status, so a specular map with almost same color of metal will give a proper metallic reflection.

(this is the very interesting reading of the day https://www.manufato.com/?p=902 )

 

skyrim engine:

a) color diffuse map as above

b) normal map...as above but MASKED with an alpha (is what we call specular in skyrim...is not a proper specular since does not have colors... it just masks lucid normal map)

c) env/cube as above 

hey...wait... the materials?

materials are set in nif files... quantity and color of reflections, actually a nif can manage a material for each ni-tri shape... for any piece in other words....actually a nif could manage xnumber of different materials

 BUT

to make things faster bethesda artists do not sub divide models in many parts...as many as materials: leather, steel,wood, ambrosia, opium whatelse..... they set 1-2 pieces with 2 materials when we are lucky....and normal map mask (alpha) tries to do the rest in conjunction with env... but it's never totally precise, particularry for armors with more than a material (almost all).

 

the barrier is not  the engine itself...tecnically capable.... but  the way models get ready for game... from hi to low poly....problem is somehow lazyness.

 

 

.... an usefull troll.

[Aiyen]

Ah thanks for that explaination Cabal! Makes more sense to me now!

Thought it was an engine limitation that was the reason they had done that since not even high end armors looked cool.

If it is just a mesh issue, then I guess it is just a question of waiting for someone to fill in the details, and doing it properly. But yeah doing meshes like that properly, and even more so nifs is a pain... at least when ya do not have the proper tools!

[CaBaL]

we need some sort of smim for armors,with fixed uvmaps,specularity and so, maybe to add into unofficial skyrim patch since it seems to move in ths direction for few pieces... at this point ANY mesh tweak for body replacement would point on it and not on vanilla fails , making compatibility for mods like shiny actually possible and reducing to 0 problems with textures remakes.... finally we can slap over models some good textures (hint hint...amb!) and voilà.... job done.... better than crysis.

but should be planned at the very beginning of things for a whole community big project...but you know..people too busy thinking about small standalone projects an not about big things....

 

now it's kind of late...we'll see i guess for FO4 if something similar could be done.