Required bits and pieces in a body replacer mod?

[VulcanTourist]

I'd like to publish a body mesh replacer mod, either standalone or as an addition to a preset mod. I know about the six crucial NIF files, but what else might be required or useful that I would overlook if I only included those? I think I want to avoid textures entirely and leave that personal choice up to players.

[anjenthedog]

latest XPMSSE skeleton in case it's being used for a follower that originally had it's own skeleton, tri files if you want to be able to use racemenu with the body. If any racemenu jslot has been generated, that as well.

[VulcanTourist]

I forgot the mention the TRI files, but I would have thought to include those, since I have them. I'd rather not include a skeleton, but rather specify XPMSSE as a requirement for download. I suppose I could include instructions how to replace it for a custom NPC that already has one.

 

A RaceMenu JSLOT preset only defines the head and nothing else, correct? Heck, it doesn't even specify the race or gender! I didn't think it includes anything related to the body, though in the future it might be nice to have an option to include the state of morph sliders and the like in JSLOT files... right after race and gender are included finally.

[saurusmaximus]

 

A RaceMenu JSLOT preset only defines the head and nothing else, correct?

That is correct. You don't need any Racemenu files for a body replacer.

 

You also need to include files for the 1stPerson body, and I believe there are separate meshes for Argonians as well.

[anjenthedog]

 

 

A RaceMenu JSLOT preset only defines the head and nothing else, correct?

That is correct. You don't need any Racemenu files for a body replacer.

 

You also need to include files for the 1stPerson body, and I believe there are separate meshes for Argonians as well.

 

Is that right? (not disagreeing, just a little puzzled) I thought the jslot (afaik racemenu preset) also included any adjustments made to the body from within racemenu

 

For instance, in my play, I create my "base" body using bodyslide, then I refine it from within racemenu, then I save a preset so it can be called again later. where then are my racemenu body adjustments stored?

 

I have several different flavors from various refinements over months of tweaking. If I load one, the body and face change. If I load another the body and face change again. And so on

 

The only reason I suggested the skeleton, is because when I've converted some of the older UNP-based followers that included a skeleton in their mesh folder (rather than referencing the standard skeleton), I found I had to replace it with the XPMSSE skeleton to make things work correctly. But I suppose simply noting the necessity would suffice in those cases.

[VulcanTourist]

 

A RaceMenu JSLOT preset only defines the head and nothing else, correct?

That is correct. You don't need any Racemenu files for a body replacer.

 

You also need to include files for the 1stPerson body, and I believe there are separate meshes for Argonians as well.

 

This will be problematic for me. How do I generate these files? I've only created a body for humans, so I have nada experience with any other nor how to create the equivalent for them. I've seen the 1stPerson NIFs, but BodySlide can't alter those, can it?

[saurusmaximus]

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A RaceMenu JSLOT preset only defines the head and nothing else, correct?

That is correct. You don't need any Racemenu files for a body replacer.Â

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You also need to include files for the 1stPerson body, and I believe there are separate meshes for Argonians as well.

Â

Is that right? (not disagreeing, just a little puzzled) I thought the jslot (afaik racemenu preset)Â also included any adjustments made to the body from within racemenu

Â

For instance, in my play, I create my "base" body using bodyslide, then I refine it from within racemenu, then I save a preset so it can be called again later. where then are my racemenu body adjustments stored?

Â

I have several different flavors from various refinements over months of tweaking. If I load one, the body and face change. If I load another the body and face change again. And so on

Â

The only reason I suggested the skeleton, is because when I've converted some of the older UNP-based followers that included a skeleton in their mesh folder (rather than referencing the standard skeleton), I found I had to replace it with the XPMSSE skeleton to make things work correctly. But I suppose simply noting the necessity would suffice in those cases. Â

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Racemenu comes with provisions for editing body morphs, but it's primary purpose is for editing the head; and as such, if you include something like a jslot with a body replacer, you are going to be forcing the user to use whatever head you made. Some body replacers will come with a .nif file for the head, but that is only for weight-matching, and has nothing to do with Racemenu.

 

Edit: I just realized I probably didn't answer the question you had actually asked; and the truth is, I'm not sure if any body edits you make are saved when you export a RM preset, I would assume so, but I've never checked.

[saurusmaximus]

 

 

A RaceMenu JSLOT preset only defines the head and nothing else, correct?

That is correct. You don't need any Racemenu files for a body replacer.

 

You also need to include files for the 1stPerson body, and I believe there are separate meshes for Argonians as well.

 

This will be problematic for me. How do I generate these files? I've only created a body for humans, so I have nada experience with any other nor how to create the equivalent for them. I've seen the 1stPerson NIFs, but BodySlide can't alter those, can it?

 

I'll be honest, this is outside of my abilities as well. I just know you need a 1st person body if you want to use that body for the PC. I just went and looked at the 1stpersonbody.nifs I have installed, and it's just models for the arms, and there is also a .nif for the 1stpersonhands, so maybe just use whichever models that came with the body you are basing yours on? In other words, if you based your model on CBBE, use those .nifs instead of trying to make your own. It's the same with Argonions, the only extra parts are for the hands, both normal and 1stperson, so you might be able to get away with reusing those as well; the only potential issue with that being there might be a wrist seam if the weights don't line up. I guess my suggestion then, is to try doing that and see what it looks like.

[anjenthedog]

Racemenu comes with provisions for editing body morphs, but it's primary purpose is for editing the head; and as such, if you include something like a jslot with a body replacer, you are going to be forcing the user to use whatever head you made. Some body replacers will come with a .nif file for the head, but that is only for weight-matching, and has nothing to do with Racemenu.

 

Edit: I just realized I probably didn't answer the question you had actually asked; and the truth is, I'm not sure if any body edits you make are saved when you export a RM preset, I would assume so, but I've never checked.

 

That's why I asked. My experience is that both racemenu face and body modifications are saved in the racemenu preset.

[VulcanTourist]

That's why I asked. My experience is that both racemenu face and body modifications are saved in the racemenu preset.

I'm still skeptical, because it fails to record the far more crucial race and gender. Why would it bother to record body slider values that aren't even its core focus when it doesn't record all the crucial core-focus values? (That failure to record race has been the cause of confusion for years.)

 

 

I'll be honest, this is outside of my abilities as well. I just know you need a 1st person body if you want to use that body for the PC. I just went and looked at the 1stpersonbody.nifs I have installed, and it's just models for the arms, and there is also a .nif for the 1stpersonhands, so maybe just use whichever models that came with the body you are basing yours on? In other words, if you based your model on CBBE, use those .nifs instead of trying to make your own. It's the same with Argonions, the only extra parts are for the hands, both normal and 1stperson, so you might be able to get away with reusing those as well; the only potential issue with that being there might be a wrist seam if the weights don't line up. I guess my suggestion then, is to try doing that and see what it looks like.

 

In first-person view, I suspect that "one size fits all" and that weighting might be ignored. That makes it less burdensome, if so. I guess you're right that I would have to use the 1stperson NIFs from the origin body (which means permissions to include them). Is it truly necessary to include them, though, if the mod is a body replacer and the origin body is declared as a requirement? The 1stperson NIFs would be installed as a vanilla replacer by the requirement and would be available by default to the body replacer, since it, too, replaces files, but in this case replaces those from the required mod... except for the 1stperson NIFs if those are excluded.

 

I think I need to spelunk some other popular replacers and see if any include 1stperson NIFs or do what I theorized above.