[NSFW] STEP Female Body Replacer

[TechAngel85]

I went to the testing hall and grabbed all the armors. Tested every one with the CNHF body. Every armor that is sleeveless clips at the wrist and leave a gap. I stand by what I said earlier. No female body replacer is going to work with the vanilla armors.

[redirishlord]

Correct, the armors have their own mesh that overwrites the body replacer, therefore you need custom armors made for the specific body replacer.

I think your best bet is to look for some vanilla body compatible cosmetic mods (an XCE replacer that gives a Better Males look for women), and save the body replacers for their own packs (CBBE, UNP, CNHF - when it has better armor support).

Just my 2 septims worth, and your dedication to empirical evidence and rigorous analysis is appreciated & respected.

 

Edit: re- the next post, perfect vanilla solution, kudos. For extra credit, sort the replacer pack options ;-)

Edited April 13, 2014 by redirishlord

[TechAngel85]

Here is my one honest suggestion:
 
Keep current STEP and...
Use the SG Female Textures Renewal to replace the XCE textures. They fit on the body nicely after careful examination for seams and mismatched colors. I found none so it's a good fit (on my body weight...didn't test skinny and maxed out weights yet). XCE also fixes the majority of the female body issues.
 
STEP:Core (XCE) >>> STEP:Core with SG Textures


@Maticspaz
This is the solution you are looking for.

EDIT:
Tested on 0 weight and 1 weight in RaceMenu. All is well. There is one seam I didn't notice earlier. It's on the inside of the right thigh...but in all fairness it's also present with just XCE as well...just a little less noticeable. Who's going to be look up close there anyway? Pervs...

[z929669]

Strange that the SG normals seem to blot out that D-cup cleavage. Although I do mostly like what the SG normals are doing .... I recommend A-cup for sure. Large breasts are rare in humans of normal weight and good physical shape.

 

I will look more closely once I get some answers about the state of the current STEP Patches. I am bringing my Core install up to current 2.2.8 and having trouble with some of our instructions that I think need to be addressed (If I am confused, surely others will also be).

[TechAngel85]

Strange that the SG normals seem to blot out that D-cup cleavage. Although I do mostly like what the SG normals are doing .... I recommend A-cup for sure. Large breasts are rare in humans of normal weight and good physical shape.

 

I will look more closely once I get some answers about the state of the current STEP Patches. I am bringing my Core install up to current 2.2.8 and having trouble with some of our instructions that I think need to be addressed (If I am confused, surely others will also be).

I seen it but that is a question for SRB. I still haven't updated to AOS 2.0 yet but this and this might answer your questions.

[thommaal]

TechAngel85, I thought about it some more, and I think, you are right to stay with the vanilla body if possible.

 

If one of the available body textures a) solves the problems of the XCE textures, b) doesn't add different ones, and c) improves appearance in a vanilla-friendly way, it leads to the least changes and doesn't complicate matters for further, individual modding, regardless of its direction.

 

If a superior vanilla-body texture is found or created, it's also no fuzz to replace a previous solution on the fly without the need for any farther-reaching adaptations within the mod list.

 

Any available body mod leads to an unwanted snowball-effect. Your solution is isolated and solves the main problem within the current mod list. It's the most economical intervention.

 

So, I stand corrected.

 

 

 

 

[z929669]

Correct, the armors have their own mesh that overwrites the body replacer, therefore you need custom armors made for the specific body replacer.

Thanks for this. I admittedly did not know that the armor meshes were a composite of the exposed body mesh and the armor mesh used as a total body replacement mesh ... (correct me if I have this wrong). I had always assumed that the armor/clothing meshes wrapped on top of the body mesh. It makes economical sense though that they would be a composite of the body + armor mesh ... assume that clothing behaves same?

 

Of course, this also explains why Tech is seeing gaps/seams with CNHF and vanilla clothing/armors (if the body always supplies the hands and the armor only supplies up to the wrists). Of course, I will look at all of this myself, regardless

 

I'll contribute at some point :P

[CJ2311]

assume that clothing behaves same?

Yep. Actually it's even more apparent on clothes like the tavern wench's outfit; because of the the cleavage, you can end up with nipple slips, or even... quadruple nipples...

[WilliamImm]

Yep. Actually it's even more apparent on clothes like the tavern wench's outfit; because of the the cleavage, you can end up with nipple slips, or even... quadruple nipples...

I don't think that would sound out of place on Mars, but in the world of Skyrim... even in the land of dragons, women (and mer) do not have multiple nipples.

[CJ2311]

Could be Azura's doing. If she cursed an entire race, what's stopping her from giving them quad nipples as well?

[TechAngel85]

Thanks for this. I admittedly did not know that the armor meshes were a composite of the exposed body mesh and the armor mesh used as a total body replacement mesh ... (correct me if I have this wrong). I had always assumed that the armor/clothing meshes wrapped on top of the body mesh. It makes economical sense though that they would be a composite of the body + armor mesh ... assume that clothing behaves same?

 

Of course, this also explains why Tech is seeing gaps/seams with CNHF and vanilla clothing/armors (if the body always supplies the hands and the armor only supplies up to the wrists). Of course, I will look at all of this myself, regardless

 

I'll contribute at some point :P

You are correct. I suggest activating CNHF and walking around Whiterun for a bit. Stop and look at all the women's wrists. You'll see gaps on every single one. As well all the vanilla armors. Best way to do armors is to go to the testing hall (coc qasmoke) and grab all the armors. Equip them one by one and you'll see the same wrist seams on all the sleeveless armors.

 

As I stated earlier, XCE with SG Textures for skin is a good fix for most of the vanilla issues. The only one still present that I remember are the gaps around the underwear. The SG Textures are better than XCE textures; however, they are a tad bit too "glowy" in the sun for my tastes. It's the only texture I've found so far that fits on the vanilla model without obvious seams or mismatched colors so I'd still use them without a second thought if it's the only one that fits.

[thommaal]

 

As I stated earlier, XCE with SG Textures for skin is a good fix for most of the vanilla issues. The only one still present that I remember are the gaps around the underwear. The SG Textures are better than XCE textures; however, they are a tad bit too "glowy" in the sun for my tastes.

Since I had finished a pure STEP installation anyway, I added the SG textures too. I have not yet looked for seams closely though they are not apparent. I will play around with different weights a bit.

 

But the appearance is not just glowy, it's also a bit .. plasticky. Gerdur looks like a dirty doll .. yeah, exactly ...

 

Darker toned NPCs look much better, however.

 

But it's far too early to say anything definite.

Edited April 14, 2014 by thommaal

[z929669]

I may be able to 'fix' the textures and post to Nexus. Still need to test though (finalizing my 2.2.8 update)

[TechAngel85]

Fairer skin does look more smoothed out than the rest. So I can see where the "doll" comment applies.

 

 

I'll be willing to test out any other textures that are posted with a link. Mature Skin doesn't work on vanilla without seams. SG Textures do. Any other suggestions?

[CJ2311]

Since I had finished a pure STEP installation anyway, I added the SG textures too. I have not yet looked for seams closely though they are not apparent. I will play around with different weights a bit. But the appearance is not just glowy, it's also a bit .. plasticky. Gerdur looks like a dirty doll .. yeah, exactly ... Darker toned NPCs look much better, however. But it's far too early to say anything definite.

I'd recommend using Mature Skin or BI Phenotypes instead if you're looking for more human-like textures.