LE Dovahkiir - Custom Race Concept

[Drachis]

 

Drachis Argonians

 

This is of course a difficult or probably impossible request since the mod has not been worked on in a very long time. I looked at the mod's home page and noticed that Drachis did say he had returned and wanted to continue work on the project but that he wasn't sure if or when he'd have the time. However, he also gave permission to the modding community to use and update his textures at will as long as credit was given. If anyone is willing to take on the task, the Drachis Argonian body replacer is an amazing mod and essential for the look I'm going for in the Dovahkiir race. Like my suggestions for Anton above these are not exclusive to my request for a specific race and I believe these could be great improvements to the stand alone mod

1. Finishing the texture work that is already present. I believe that Drachis even states on the mod page that this was not a finished product. As good as the skin looks, the arms seem rather bare compared to all the heavy dragon plate that was added to the back and chest. Some subtle, cleanly added dragon scales to the shoulders, forearms, backs of the hands, and crown of the head might truly perfect this mod.
2. Addition of female textures. This has always been one of the most lacking features of the Drachis Argonian mod, especially as a race. As a simple Argonian replacer, it could be explained away as a gender difference, but as a separate race the adaptation of this skin for females would really make a big difference.

 

 

Hi.

 

So, here's the deal. Couple years ago I lost my hard drive, and this occurred after my graduation, so I no longer had a student e-mail to re-download the programs I was using. Between that, a new job, and just getting my RL setup somewhat comfortably, I eventually decided that the mod was too much of a time sink for me. This was especially considering that I was wanting to create my own custom textures rather than using Bethesda ones (The Type A was using the game's dragon textures.)

 

The single biggest issue for me continuing the mod at this time is I am unable to create the object space normal maps (or at least decent quality ones.) Photoshop would allow me to make the tangent space maps for things like armor and, well, anything else in the game, really. However, Bethesda decided that the character models would be done with object space maps. Without the time, skill, or programs to create a high-quality 3D model that I could use to make the object space map, I'd never have a decent looking normal map, and therefore never have a decent looking final product. The Type A used the low quality models provided by Bethesda to create the maps, and the model still suffers from a "flat" look and incorrect light angles.

 

At some point, I decided to move on and just gave anyone and everyone permission to use what I had in case somebody else out there could pull it off.

[RalinDrakus]

As is it still looks amazing, and even without any further modifications it's more than adequate to get this project running.

 

I completely hear you about the RL priorities, this is why I myself haven't even had the chance to try to learn about modding and how to create any of the ideas I have for my various concepts. Thank you again for the amazing work provided. You sound disappointed with the final product but I'll have to agree with the nearly 1,300 endorsements - it's a great piece of work.

 

I totally understand if you don't have the time, and hopefully another interested party can assist and take up the cause, but if you were to adapt the type A skin to female Argonians that alone would be a huge help for both my project and your standalone mod.

[RalinDrakus]

Well, I guess I will give one last attempt at drawing some interest to this idea before I let it go.

 

Was on facebook yesterday and saw a trailer for the new movie Jupiter Ascending. Was hard for me not to notice the large, winged, reptile character who was doing the villain's bidding and instantly reminded me of this haha

 

If you havn't seen it yet here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E8lZ08PKug

(Skip to about 55 seconds in to see the first glimpse of the character I'm referring to)

 

The idea for this race was born out of a childhood fascination with winged, reptilian, yet still humanoid creatures. I grew up watching old classic movies, so my first exposure to such a creature was the old Ray Harryhausen harpies in Jason and the Argonauts. Then a little later I discovered the Lizard Man on the old Spiderman cartoons and later Disney's old show Gargoyles. Absolutely loved those shows and the creatures they brought to life.

 

That being said this project is something of a kids fantasy that I never quite grew out of lol. Also it's a race that I think really would stand up to the sniff test of being plausible in the lore of the Elder Scrolls. So many popular mods here, although I acknowledge the hard work and time invested in them, seem to fall way short of that mark. This isn't a race mod that gives you a prettied up anime style school girl with tiny wings, huge tits, makeup, a couple scales and then tries calling itself a Dragon Born. I'm not knocking those mods; the beauty of Elder Scrolls and modding is that it lends itself to the creativity of its fans to make additions to the game that complete what every player desires to see in their own play through the world. But there are very few that I know of that offer a truly unique new race that feels like it belongs inside the original vision of the game. I only wish I had the time and patience to dig into all the tutorials and programs and lean how to do this on my own; major props to all you creators of every skill level who have taken that time and have added so much to our games.

 

I truly hope this concept strikes some interest here in the community, and if anyone out there has the time to put into cobbling this beast together I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks for reading!

[RalinDrakus]

Also throw some links to my Steam screenshots. Enjoy!

 

http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/546388934240068469/4E17EA0188257BDB1EB5A3A95D41F47591265FBD/

 

http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/546388934240065821/1667226B3E3F3AC7A0D60FBBBDBA778B7905791F/

 

http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/546388934240064009/3964E08253F1C9053BE72C3DEAC3E7EDD838F015/

 

http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/546388934240062620/8A056C8E7823370EE3A30BB59BE78578E998BE6F/

 

http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/546388934240061399/E36E8CDF2EDC2DA19CED82CE7F058CA2FA705B43/

Edited November 25, 2014 by Ralin Drakus

[nyonker]

Cool screenshots, but one question are you talking about making a mod for this?

[RalinDrakus]

Cool screenshots, but one question are you talking about making a mod for this?

 

I would certainly like to see a mod made for it. The screen shots provide the basic vision of what the character would look like using the combination of already existing mods that I linked in the original post. This race itself I think has potential to be popular for those of us who are less fascinated by the overly beautified and unrealistic races that we have mostly seen. I get it that anyone can simply create a character using the same mods I did and end with the same result. However, actually finding someone willing to combine these creations into an actual race opens up the possibilities for companions, boss fights, and associated mods to make the race even more lore friendly.

[nyonker]

 

Cool screenshots, but one question are you talking about making a mod for this?

 

I would certainly like to see a mod made for it. The screen shots provide the basic vision of what the character would look like using the combination of already existing mods that I linked in the original post. This race itself I think has potential to be popular for those of us who are less fascinated by the overly beautified and unrealistic races that we have mostly seen. I get it that anyone can simply create a character using the same mods I did and end with the same result. However, actually finding someone willing to combine these creations into an actual race opens up the possibilities for companions, boss fights, and associated mods to make the race even more lore friendly.

 

ok cool :D

this is a cool mod to add to you're list http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/25261/?

[Derok]

Hello there. I like the idea :)

I support mods that aren't only about revealing armors, stuff ripped from animes and this case, rainbow colored furries. So I wish you good luck!

But I've also decided to not make more mods about beast races. I'm starting my own, big project and I think it will be really cool. You also have my permission to use my mod on the released thing.

[RalinDrakus]

Thank you for the support!

 

Really the most difficult aspects of making this race a reality is adapting the animated wings to copy the skin tone of the player, adding the wings into the character creation slot, and then figuring out what their racial attributes would be. The skin, rator feet, tail, and wings themselves are already done and just need to be imported (still need to get permission for a couple of those; haven't bothered to ask until I could see if there was a chance of this getting off the ground).

 

That's really it. Then if the race becomes popular the discussion could begin for associated mods that would make the race more lore friendly, modifications and improvements to the mods used, additions or unique replacements for those mods, etc

[Derok]

Can you use nifskope? I have a fix for wings matching body color.

Also I have an idea. Maybe you could reduce fall damage? So the wings may actually have an use.

 

I'm also able to do anything uou asked if you need help, basically as for the race isn't a particulary hard mod to make

 

@Drachis if you have a tangent map, an useful program program called xnormal will convert it into an object.

Edited November 28, 2014 by Derok