ACCEPTED Gemling Queen Dragon Claws (by Saerileth)

[Saerileth]

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.

[Ganda]

My circlet gem replacer is up, see here: link

... Woohooooooo! But seriously, youy're spoiling us :p

[torminater]

Wow, Looks gorgeous!!!

[EssArrBee]

Okay, here are some shots with no ENB, just regular lighting:

 

 

STEP->Gremling Solid->Gremling Transparent (only for the five claws that have transparency)

Diamond

Emerald

Glass

Ruby

Sapphire

 

 

 

I can't see the difference of the two Gremling versions. Definitely better than vanilla. I'll do the compares up against the other mod in another post.

[EssArrBee]

Okay, Gremling Queen compared to Improved Gemstone.

 

 

 

GM Solid->IG

Diamond

Emerald

Glass

Ruby

Sapphire

 

 

 

Now that I look at what IG does, I think I could use the meshes from it on top of GQ. I think it has really good meshes and fixes the Diamond Claw. I'll take some shots, shouldn't take to long.  Nope they don't work together.

[phryxolydian]

A very tiny difference can be appreciated on the diamond and emerald claws but one simply does not consciously look for these in-game. Perhaps it makes a difference when near a light source? But then again... aside from the Golden Claw, I can't remember looking at the claws in anyplace other than my inventory.

 

Ninja!

[phazer11]

Pity they don't work together. I'd love to have the textures and mesh edits of the Improved Gemstones on the paw portion but Saerileth's claws (the crystalline parts) blow IG's out of the water.

[Saerileth]

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

Edited May 30, 2014 by Saerileth

[Guest]

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

You love these words don't you?  Has anyone ever tried this on windows to make it look like there is something behind it? Some random person on a forum I was reading said some other game used this and it was impressive. I am not sure if it would work here.

Edited May 30, 2014 by Guest

[Saerileth]

: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

[Aiyen]

Main problem with ice and the subsurface textures is that they really really really I think I said really enough now... but really depends on the lighitng and color you are using. So essentially if you make one for one ENB preset then it will most likely only look good on stuff that is close to that. (I know I cannot release my ice textures since they just look absolutely abysmal with vanilla only post processing, or any lighting and color scheme that is close to it.)

 

Even subtle changes in saturation is enough to make it look just plain silly. That said it is a powerful shader that they have there, sadly they do not use it nearly enough, and most likely because it requires so much fine tuning. 

 

 

But who knows perhaps you can find those special special settings! I will dream of the day! :) 

[Saerileth]

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

[Aiyen]

Well I am sure prod would be happy if you make exclusive content for serenity! ;) 

 

Also sure there is going to be a load of other people who think otherwise! Hehe! I will just be happy to see what you make! If the ground work is done then a few tweaks here and there are easy enough to do! 

[TechAngel85]

My vote is on Gemling.

[DoubleYou]

Gemling is superior, and I'd recommend we accept it over Improved Gemstone. Sure, the handle edits on the Diamond claw are marvelous on IG, but the improvement of the stones on Gemling almost make you forget about that.