The last poster wins

[billyro]

Have you enabled environmental mapping with your axe? Because if so, you can achieve that slightly blue, "reflect the sky", metal with a cubemap that uses an actual image, rather than the fake room thing Bethesda did. I have a good cubemap that you could try out, if you want (though you'll have to darken the _m map otherwise it'll be super reflective).

[Ironman5000]

Have you enabled environmental mapping with your axe? Because if so, you can achieve that slightly blue, "reflect the sky", metal with a cubemap that uses an actual image, rather than the fake room thing Bethesda did. I have a good cubemap that you could try out, if you want (though you'll have to darken the _m map otherwise it'll be super reflective).

Hehe, makes me laugh to see FO3's cubemap resembling DC used in the desert plains of FNV :P Did they even use some of those in Skyrim?

[Werne]

@billyro I got SLSF1_Environment_Mapping flag enabled in BSLightingShaderProperty and and environment map. Not sure if that's the right flag but judging by it's name, it should be.

 

And I'm using the default steel war axe cubemap which sucks, I completely forgot about making one, was too frustrated by the havok and the blood. If you got one I could use, I'd be grateful. :smile:

 

 

@Ironman Nah, I think they used a cave or something. Though come to think of it, I do have a feeling I saw that cubemap before, it could be from FO3/FNV.

[billyro]

Yep, that should be it. Also, the Skyrim Shader Type (at the top) must be set to Environment Map.

 

And here's that cubemap: http://puu.sh/hrG0I/0f61371d56.dds - ready to go. :smile:

 

I get pretty good sky reflections with it, but it also reflects the landscape too, so it should fit everything. I've actually replaced every vanilla cubemap with variations of Tantolunden and it makes weapons and armour look much better (especially ebony). I need to get around to releasing that, actually...

 

Anyway, here's what you can expect with that cubemap I gave you.

 

http://puu.sh/hrGaE/080bdc66b5.jpg

Slightly blue-y when it's reflecting the sky...

 

http://puu.sh/hrGle/c5249cff1a.jpg

But still looks like it reflects other stuff, too.

 

 

 

Of course, it depends on the shape of the mesh and the brightness of your environment map.

 

Anyway, hope that helps. :smile:

 

 

BTW, if you want the reflections to be sharper, just let me know and I'll regenerate the map.

Edited April 26, 2015 by billyro

[Ironman5000]

@Ironman Nah, I think they used a cave or something. Though come to think of it, I do have a feeling I saw that cubemap before, it could be from FO3/FNV.

I'm no good at scripting and what is possible but here's a concept - a mod which swaps a texture set depending on the area the player is in. Consistency for immersive players with an eye for detail! Texture sets tend to just use diffuse and normal maps for 1stperson static weapons mostly but it can be done with cubemaps too.

[Werne]

@billyro Thanks man, tried it out and the metal now has a better looking reflection, though I'll still need to tweak both the cubemap and the environment map a bit cause some of the lighting is now a bit off. The blue coloring isn't too visible because the thing is dark gray and brown and cause I made it to be more matte than reflective, but overall it does look better. :smile:

 

No pics of it this time though, electricity went out for a bit and my PC booted Linux when it came back on, now I'm too lazy to reboot.

 

By the way, Tantolunden? I mean, I have weird names for my textures but coming up with something like that is beyond my skill. I'm impressed.

 

 

 

@Ironman That's a damn good idea, though you'd have to swap a lot of things around for that to work. How well the cubemap reflection is visible on the model is governed by the environment map. How well the environment map is visible on the mesh is governed by the specular map. Specular map also governs how well the normal map's peaks and valleys are pronounced. And then you got the diffuse which can change hue when you apply a different cubemap on it, just like how my axe's hilt went from being dark brown to dark orange when I used billyro's map.

 

Still, trying it might be worth a shot, especially since Bethesda's cubemaps are very simple and tiny. Not sure how to go about it though, Gamebryo doesn't exactly allow texture swaps in real-time easily. I'll have to examine script calls and SKSE docs, maybe I stumble upon the solution.

 

 

 

By the way guys, anyone wanna place any bets on how long will this fighting about paid mods last? I put 3D rendered $20 on 12 days.

Edited April 26, 2015 by Werne

[Deleted54170User]

I sneezed so hard I think I destroyed the brain cell in my head that always wants me be do a better winners post then everyone else.

 

Ooo! And, even though I think that stuff on my monitor might have that one brain cell mingled in it, I don't care. Muah ha ha ah haa haaa haaaa!

 

I am so evil now, and I don't care, going to be the winner, why? Why I don't care. It was such a troubling thought trying to win a lot,

 

Now

I

Don't

Care.

 

I think I gave myself a lobotomy. He he heee

[billyro]

@billyro Thanks man, tried it out and the metal now has a better looking reflection, though I'll still need to tweak both the cubemap and the environment map a bit cause some of the lighting is now a bit off. The blue coloring isn't too visible because the thing is dark gray and brown and cause I made it to be more matte than reflective, but overall it does look better. :smile:

 

No pics of it this time though, electricity went out for a bit and my PC booted Linux when it came back on, now I'm too lazy to reboot.

 

By the way, Tantolunden? I mean, I have weird names for my textures but coming up with something like that is beyond my skill. I'm impressed.

 

I don't think you can directly edit the cubemap and then overwrite it - it doesn't seem to work. I've always had to regenerate it each time. I can reduce the contrast and saturation, and maybe blur it a bit more to get what you're after.

 

Tantolunden is a place in Sweden where the original photo was taken. :)

[Werne]

I don't think you can directly edit the cubemap and then overwrite it - it doesn't seem to work. I've always had to regenerate it each time. I can reduce the contrast and saturation, and maybe blur it a bit more to get what you're after.

 

Tantolunden is a place in Sweden where the original photo was taken. :smile:

I can edit cubemaps in both GIMP and Photoshop, not sure why you can't. I'll just reduce the brightness a bit and soften up the contrast on the cubemap, then get the environment map lighter. That way I get better looking specularity in poor lighting while not having an overly bright metal texture when there's a lot of light. :smile:

 

And I figured out what Tantolunden is later, I love that "search Google for "whatever"" button.

 

 

EDIT: I'll have to tweak the UVs for the blood overlay mesh, got a whole lot of blood on the right side and bottom of the head, little on the left side and top and waaay too much on the handle.

 

EDIT 2:

 

 

Much better. :happy:

Edited April 27, 2015 by Werne

[Iv000]

What's going on with the whole paid mod stuff? It's silly, I don't like it.

 

I'm glad I can't be bothered with anything other than Java right now.

 

 

Also really liking the new Prodigy album

 

Edited April 27, 2015 by Iv000