Actor [Questions]

[pepperman35]

I have created a couple of custom NPCs for a mod I am working. I noticed in my data folder that there are now folders for meshes and textures. In the textures folder (e.g., Data\Textures\Actors\Character\FaceCustomization\BartonvilleTownshipII.esp) there are *.dds files and *.tga files. Now for the questions:

1. Do these meshes and textures need to be placed in the ba2 when I package up the mod?
2. Do the *.tga files need to be packed along with the *dds files? If so, what compression settings should be used on the ba2 archive?

[LarannKiar]

1. Do these meshes and textures need to be placed in the ba2 when I package up the mod?

 

Only if you would like to upload the FaceGeom meshes and textures along with the mod. Theoretically, they can decrease the chances of encountering the "brown face bug". If they're not present, the engine "builds" this data at runtime based on the Actor's "Character Gen" data.

 

 

2. Do the *.tga files need to be packed along with the *dds files? If so, what compression settings should be used on the ba2 archive?

 

No, the game doesn't use them. The Creation Kit probably generates the .tga files to make post-editing possible if needed as .dds compression is lossy.

[SKKmods]

Or it may be that your custom actors have not regenerated facegen data, or, that face data is strewn around in cancerous loose files rather than fast streaming BA2 archives. As those actors cells load, the game engine has to work extra hard to regenerate the mess that you created, on the fly.

[pepperman35]

Thanks for the answers folks. Sounds like including the meshes and accompanying dds files into the mods ba2 archive is the way to go then.