[NSFW] STEP Female Body Replacer

[kryptopyr]

So why does the CBBE body transfer through to the vanilla armor when other body replacers don't?  I thought the problem was that the vanilla armors use the vanilla body?

 

Also, maybe the lighting in those shots, but the shadows on her lower abdomen make her look rather anorexic (it really looks like her abdomen is drawn in tightly under her ribcage).  The back view is pretty nice, but I agree with torminator that a smaller option would be better.

[TechAngel85]

That has been the problem and as you can see there is a body mass change when the armor is equipped. The lighting effect on the skin also changes when the armor is equipped.

 

Adding in the normals from Battle Harded Body will go a long way in fixing some of that body shape.

 

I will test out CBBE later today for myself and see how this is working (or not working) compared to the compilation I've tossed together so far (which is only lacking a proper skin atm).

 

EDIT:

Just did a quick test. The Vanilla Body option of CBBE does seem to be working. (there is only a very slight difference in the body from being equipped with armor and not being equipped...barely noticeable) The trick is going to be finding a skin texture that works because the default skin is terrible that comes with CBBE. It's way to perfect and smooth. I'll take some compares later between this CBBE option and of the vanilla compilation I put together in a bit. The vanilla compilation might be better down the road for better pack compatibility though. We shall see.

[z929669]

@Kryptopyr

The body is changing when equipping armor (I chose Forsworn, since it is one vanilla armor likely to reveal body-mesh incompat ... if you look carefully at the belly, upper arms and chest, you will see that the body does change. there are just no seams). It turns out that the vanilla-type CBBE body maps nicely to vanilla-type forearms and ankles.

 

@Tech

BHB will not affect body shape, since it is only a normal map ... and it is applied to the CBBE vanilla mesh in those screens already. I also don't like the ribcage, and that is a combination of the mesh and the texture mapping. I have a whole gamut of testing to do with many different texture sets as well as mesh alterations using bodyslide.

 

Goal is to create a combo that works with STEP-vanilla and also looks good. Then we can bundle as a mod (at least the mesh anyway). XCE has some great face/head improvements that are also lost with CBBE and other body mods. Unfortunately, XCE color is corps-ish. Lots of testing yet to do.

[TechAngel85]

I've tested out Mature Skin for CBBE and it is working well without any seems (just from a quick look).

 

I think the ultimate goal should be to have a mod that can be installed and played without the need for any in-game or third party tool alterations (much like Better Males). For that reason, I didn't even install BodySlide or TexBlend (or whatever those tools that come with CBBE are). That has also been my goal in the compilation I tossed together as well. Simply install and you're good to go. CBBE does seem to be working without the use of these tools. There is just a slight body change from equipping armors; however, that is going to be there no matter what unless the vanilla armors are altered as well. Even if you get close with BodySlide it's still not going to be perfect and some change will be noticeable. I'll toss together those compares later today after my workout.

 

I'll be deleting the compares in the OP if no one as any objections as they are no longer of any relevance since we've found out that none of them work with vanilla.

 

EDIT:

For those of you that need it... To view textures up close:

• Open console (~)
• Type: tfc
• Hit Enter
• Type: sucsm 2
• Hit Enter
• Close console (~)

You'll now be able to fly around slowly to look at the textures on the body.

 

EDIT2:

There is some slight stretching on the abs and biceps with the Mature Skin/BHB combo. Mature Skin simply doesn't like to work with anything but the bases it was designed for. The author is MIA too. Sad day... :: I'm not sure if the stretching is a texture or normal map issue or I'd contact the BHB author to see if it can be worked out.

[z929669]

There are lots and lots of textures for CBBE (see BI Phenotypes for starters) ... also, I think the CBBE nevernude option allows us to use any nude textures without needing to worry about undies :P

[kryptopyr]

@Tech

I would vote to keep the compares up.  You've already put the work into creating them, and there may be players or pack authors who are looking for a more complete body replacer (including armors), and having the comparisions here makes for a nice general reference.  It also makes it easier for anyone who references this thread in the future to have at the comparisons available to view when following the discussion to see how STEP arrived at whatever its eventual solution will be.  (another option: maybe remove them from the OP and move them back to the specific posts discussing them)

[TechAngel85]

@Z, Before you dive too far into CBBE, I have something else you should check out. The body is 100% vanilla compatible from what I can tell. There is no change in the body when equipping armors. Mod: Windsong Skyrim Character Overhaul (the author of SG Textures pointed me to it)Version: WSCO Occidental Vanilla Body v1

 

Install for Female Only in the installer. Once installed, go to the file tree in MO and hide the Textures/Actors/Character/eyes and the Textures/Actors/Character/hair folders so they are not overwriting the STEP mods. For the BHB mod use the XCE compatible version.

 

I think you'll be impressed with how vanilla friendly this is without all the need for BodySlide and hard work.

[z929669]

Good find.

 

I'll check this one out first

[z929669]

Vanilla options do look good.

 

• Need someone to check the plugins and what exactly they are doing. I read on the discussion page that there may be problems forwarding USKP changes and mounted combat bugs. There may also be some NPC issues introduced by one or more of the plugins.
• Also, this may obviate Better Males, so I think we should compare male changes from this mod with that mod

[TechAngel85]

 

Vanilla options do look good.

 

• Need someone to check the plugins and what exactly they are doing. I read on the discussion page that there may be problems forwarding USKP changes and mounted combat bugs. There may also be some NPC issues introduced by one or more of the plugins.
• Also, this may obviate Better Males, so I think we should compare male changes from this mod with that mod

 

I was going to post over on the discussion thread, but I see you have that handled.

 

The NPC ESP obviously includes the changes for NPCs; however, what changes is the question. Texture replacements will also affect the NPCs and those are provided via the BSA/loose files (if extracted)...so I'm assuming the author made some additional changes that required an ESP. I'll be interested to know as well.

 

I'm not 100% certain here either, but the other ESP I suspect changes the character selection presets (I didn't see those in the file structure so I assumed the ESP provided them).

[TechAngel85]

I'm a complete novice with TES5Edit but I did open up the NPC ESP. It seems to simply be altering some NPCs appearances (eye color, facial feature shapes, etc); however, it does make at least one larger change. It changes Serana from Nord to Imperial as well as altering some of her skill levels (some it increases/some it decreases). I'm unsure if these would be desirable changes.

 

The NPC appearance may have be altered to smooth out features, make them work with alterations from the mod, etc. Most of Serana's changes seem to be preference unless the Lore behind her character support these changes.

 

The main ESP seems to be mostly as I predicted, preset changes. It does; however, include some custom paths for meshes and textures from what I can tell. This is most likely how the author has provided a better textural separation of some of the races (elf races it would seem). To keep these we'd need to keep this ESP.

 

From my estimation, we can disable the NPC ESP but should keep the main ESP. I've sent PMs out to some more qualified users here on the forums to investigate though. So I'll await their replies.

 

EDIT:

Upon looking at it further...I would suspect the desireable changes could be merged into the STEP Patches and the ESPs deactivated; however, if someone were to want to use a different body overhaul (such as UNP or CBBE) merging these into the Patches might have adverse affects for those installs. I will lean to SRB for comment on that. If they can't be merged, it looks as though it would be easy to make a patch or our own ESP (with permission from the author of course) to exclude/reverse any of the undesirable changes.

[EssArrBee]

I don't see a problem with the ESPs, but they cannot be merged without permission. There are a few things that they add in which are unique like head parts. Also, the mod alters some of the facial morphs, hair, nose, and tint layers. I don't see anything to dramatic in the plugins that would disqualify it from being in STEP, but it needs to checked in game. I could see some of the changes as actually being fixes in a way. Only a couple NPCs had their races changed, but I don't see that as a problem. The plugins should also be loaded very low unless you really want to install something that alters NPCs from their vanilla appearance, like Seranaholic (not judging  ).

 

I'd even recommend overwriting any changes USKP and UDGP make to the NPC records other than clothing or equipment, some of those were botched by the UPPs if you ask me. This is all from me looking at the plugin, but I do have enough experience with this stuff that I can pretty much tell what will be different in game. We would just need to see how different the facial morphs are from their vanilla counterparts.

 

EDIT: Just saw that part about the mounted combat bug, I'll look into that a bit more.

[EssArrBee]

Okay, it will need patching with the UPPs, but mostly for some sandbox stuff, dead body cleanup, and a few missing object bounds. Not sure why it would not

[TechAngel85]

Sounds good. I put together a list of edited NPCs that will need to be compared:

• Sybille Stentor
• Mjoll the Lioness
• Hert
• Eola
• Borgakh the Steel Heart
• Karliah
• Babette
• Aranea lenith
• Illia
• Uthgerd the Unbroken
• Jordis the Sword-Maiden (Solitude Housecarl)
• Iona (Riften Housecarl)
• Jenassa
• Serana
• Arch-Curate Vyrthur
• Knight-Paladin Gelebor

[z929669]

Turning Serana into an Imperial does not have any corroboration in my reading on the subject of her origins. I don't understand the reasoning, and if her race is changed, so should her entire family's be.

 

This alone invalidates the plugin, IMO.