How to create custom eye texture?

[Forechosen]

Hi there!

 

So basically, I'm looking for a 'pure black' eye texture. A black iris with a black pupil and a black sclera - just completely all black. (The same that are sometimes seen in the Elder Scrolls Games, amongst other things.) I was pretty surprised there wasn't a texture like this out there already, but I couldn't find one - SO I thought I'd try and make one myself.

Well, I have no idea where to start. I'm not asking for a step by step guide or anything, but if somebody could roughly point me in the right direction of what I'd have to do - it would be hugely appreciated.

The only guide I've found so far is this one - https://dragonagemods.tumblr.com/post/153227347784/tutorial-how-to-create-your-own-skin-tints-eye

But (and please correct me if I'm wrong) - that guide is for applying tints which changes the colour of a specific part of a texture, doesn't it? Rather than changing the enter texture itself?

 

Obviously it's clear I don't know what I'm talking about, but I figure adding in just one set of 'pure black eyes' can't be that difficult.

As I said before I'm not looking for a hand out, but if somebody could perhaps point me to a guide? Or just give me a rough idea of what I need to be looking at or doing?

Thanks very much for reading!

[theskymoves]

There are two way of altering eye appearances in DAO: one is a base texture with tint to change the colour, the other is a non-tintable texture. Most of the base game eyes are the former, though there are are a few characters with unique eye textures (notably, Morrigan). You want to create a non-tintable texture.

 

This is some basic texturing info: Dragon Age Texture Guide; though it is not specific to eye textures, it does discuss file formats.

[Forechosen]

There are two way of altering eye appearances in DAO: one is a base texture with tint to change the colour, the other is a non-tintable texture. Most of the base game eyes are the former, though there are are a few characters with unique eye textures (notably, Morrigan). You want to create a non-tintable texture.

 

This is some basic texturing info: Dragon Age Texture Guide; though it is not specific to eye textures, it does discuss file formats.

Thank you so much, I've had a brief look through that guide and I'm sure I'll be able to create something off that. If I come across any more questions I'll post them here, but thank you :)

[Forechosen]

Ok, I have a question xD

So - I now have a pure black .dds file, which I think is all I need?

My question is, how do I now assign that to my character in game? I've got as far as opening up my character's .mor in the toolset. I believe that MORPH PARTS - 1, is the 'eye model' line. But is the eye model the same as the texture?

I tried putting my .dds file in the override (let's call it blackeyes.dds) and changing the aforementioned morph parts line to 'blackeyes' - aaaand upon loading my save my character had (terrifyingly) no eyes at all.

Not quite sure what to do now - I'm completely learning as I'm going here, so please excuse me sounding so ignorant!

Edited June 5, 2020 by Forechosen

[theskymoves]

This discussion should have all the info you need to remove the eye tint and add your new custom eye texture to the morph > How do you use "pn_eye_xxx" files.

[Forechosen]

Hi again... xD

Firstly thanks so much for trying to help, I am progressing, but I'm still not quite there yet.

Alright, so I've got my completely black .dds file.

I followed ''IamDarkPhoenix's'' instructions on the thread you mentioned, I will just copy and paste them here -

 

--

 

1. I used the Dragon Age Face Re-placer ( http://www.nexusmods...nage/mods/428/?) to extract the .mor file from a game I had saved
2. Changed the eye texture on line #28 (thank you olnorton & theskymoves) using the DAToolSet GFF Editor
3. saved the .mor file and placed it in my Override folder
4. Then opened the savegame
   1. went to savegame_playerchar >> savegame_playerchar_char >> savegame_appearance >> savegame_appearance_morph_name
5. Added the name of the .mor on that line
6. Saved the File''

--

Right, so that all worked great except basically the problem is now - only the iris/pupils of my character are jet black. Not the sclera, that is still white as usual. Have you got any idea why that might be? I'm at a complete loss.

I mean I clearly did change the eyes, the eyes aren't missing now or anything.. they're different. It's just the black isn't covering them completely.

Once again, thank you very much for your time!

[Forechosen]

I gotta say, I'm still at a complete loss.

 

I've followed those instructions in my previous post down to the letter, repeatedly, and can't seem to get it to work. I've even downloaded some other eye textures (some colourful ones, just to see if I can notice a difference) - and every time I load up the save now, after following those instructions, I have plain black iris'/pupils and a white sclera. Even if I'm putting a bright pink eye texture in to .mor/save.

 

I have absolutely no clue where I'm going wrong. The eye texture is supposed to be in your Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\packages\core\override isn't it?

 

edit: the eye textures appear to be working fine in the toolset, if I create a new morph, everything looks as it should do. The thing is, I really don't want to create a morph from scratch - I really like one of my in-game presets already.

EDIT: I think where I was going wrong here was putting the eye texture name in the wrong line of the .mor file, in the GFF editor. I was putting it on MORPH_NODES > line 28 > NAME. Where if you look at the last post I've written in this thread, where I got a texture working, it is supposed to be on MORPH_NODES > line 28 > MORPH_TEXTUREPARAM > MORPH_TEXTURE_NAME.

Edited June 8, 2020 by Forechosen

[FIREFLY11]

Hi Forechosen! Not sure if will solve your problem, but it could be a possibility: Way back when I first installed my DAO:UE game, I had an issue w/ not only my character's eyes, but those of all the NPCs as well being black (although I hadn't altered my character's appearance w/ a morph mod or anything). Turned out that my Graphic Detail setting was too low, as someone a lot smarter than I suggested (thanks Sky! :happy:) . I turned it up & that set everything right. Also, you might need to amp up your Texture Detail setting too. Hope that helps!

 

Best,

 

FIREFLY11

[Forechosen]

Hi Forechosen! Not sure if will solve your problem, but it could be a possibility: Way back when I first installed my DAO:UE game, I had an issue w/ not only my character's eyes, but those of all the NPCs as well being black (although I hadn't altered my character's appearance w/ a morph mod or anything). Turned out that my Graphic Detail setting was too low, as someone a lot smarter than I suggested (thanks Sky! :happy:) . I turned it up & that set everything right. Also, you might need to amp up your Texture Detail setting too. Hope that helps!

 

Best,

 

FIREFLY11

Thanks for the reply! But I think all my settings are turned up to the max - I'll have a look though just incase!

[Forechosen]

Right, after some more playing around.. again I've made a tiny bit of leeway, but I'm still lost.

On the plus side, I managed to get one texture working absolutely perfectly. One of the animal eyes (a snake eye texture) in ''https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/3748?tab=description'' this mod.

To do this, I did the following:

 

1. Downloaded the animal eye set, and extracted the folder to my override
2. Extracted my character's .mor using the DAFace Replacer.

3. Using the Toolset GFF Editor, I opened up the .mor, and went to MORPH_NODES > line 28 > MORPH_TEXTUREPARAM > MORPH_TEXTURE_NAME - and put in the name of the eye texture I wanted to test, in this case, I put in exactly ''pn_eye_SJC_blksnake2_0d''.
4. Saved the now edited .mor to my override. (let's say I saved it as myface1.mor)

5. Loaded up a save game in the GFF editor. Went to SAVEGAME_PLAYERCHAR > SAVEGAME_PLAYERCHAR_CHAR > SAVEGAME_APPEARANCE > SAVEGAME_APPEARANCE_MORPH_NAME - and put in the name of the .mor I'd just saved, so I put in exactly ''myface1''.
6. Saved it the file.

And perfect! My character, in game, had this snake eye texture (which incidentally also has a black sclera).

I thought now, amazing! I'm close! So the first thing I did was make a copy of the snake texture I had just used, and, opening up the copy on GIMP, simply painted over the whole image with black, to make it completely black. I renamed the file and then repeated the instructions above - aaaaand, didn't work. In game, the eyes now have my original blue iris's from character creation, except this time, they have a black sclera!?

So I figure I must be doing something wrong in GIMP. Surely, if the Snake Eye texture worked, and the only thing I've done differently is to black out that texture in GIMP, that must be where I'm going wrong.

Now, browsing through my downloaded eye textures, I come across a completely black eye texture (exactly what I'm looking for!) in ''Lunas HD Eyes'' (I don't know where I downloaded this from, it's not on Nexus now) - the texture is pn_eye_lunajetblack.dds. I now follow the instructions above, repeating exactly what I originally did, which WORKED for the Snake Eye texture - I load up the game, and bam - same issue as above, original blue eyes with a black sclera.

I mean... what?

In summary:

1. Downloaded Snake Eye texture - Working
2. Edited Black Snake Eye texture - not working

3. Downloaded Black eye texture - not working..... all following the same method.

 

I am so lost!

Edited June 8, 2020 by Forechosen