New Texture mod WIP

[RubberMan01]

Texturing is the thing I hate the most. I get lazy when I make my texture groups half the time and slip dodgey faces in where I shouldn't........

 

I wouldn't even attempt to retexture anything alive lol

[xander2077]

here is the helmet mesh reworked a bit from the original. i decided to add the detail i was trying to texture on to enhance the texture a bit. whether or not it works out right will have to be seen later. of course i dont have the UVs worked out yet for this. im trying to get all the armor fixed up that i want to change from the original first before i move on to texturing. i also plan on doing two more helm versions. total there will be four alternates. vanilla legacy style with new textures. vanilla style high poly. oblivion similar but different, and skyrim similar but different.

 

im redoing clavical pauldrons, bracers, and boots. and i may also end up toying with the curass a bit but hopefully not by much, probably replace that waiste coat bustle with actual faulds worthy of dwemer armor. i want to leave some parts recognizeable, just the goofy looking pieces retouched. it always bothered me that nobody really put any effort into that but theres all other kinds of cool armor added in and high graphics, and the goofy dwemer stuff just clashes badly with all the other updated textures.

 

the few replacement armors dont really do it for me either.

 

http://i.share.pho.to/541f1e8a_o.png

[RubberMan01]

Looks good so far mate.

 

I don't have any of the updated armours. I just have MGSO on and nothing else. Not running half the things that installs either as they don't really enhance anything and just confuse life.

 

Keep going on this though I want to see if they fit in with my mod lol

[xander2077]

well my mods are all pluginless, which means they are not going to need an esp. i think those kinds of mods are for people who want to try stuff out but dont really want to commit. i do hours of research on mods before i even put them in my folder and then if it has an esp i really hate doing it, because usually that means it is heavily scripted. there are a few exceptions to this, but i try and avoid model replacers that use scripts. it is not necessary. all one really has to do is replace the model and point to the right textures. that is it. they dont need to create a bajillion proprietary folders and uniqely named texture files that are just the same as the ones in the texture directory with their name on the front of it. i mean seriously do they not understand that they can point to the same crap that is already in the main folder? especially if it is identical or the same texture just a better version of it? that is one thing that really bothers me about a lot of modders, is they get selfish and want their stuff to be so unique it sticks out from the rest of the game. and if you decide to take it out, well then you cant have any of their goodies, not even the textures.

 

im sorry but hedgehog is one of the ones that irks me the most recently, not only his modeling (way too high polys for games really) but his folder structure makes me want to punch a baby. his textures are all named like email addresses. it is so confusing in there it might as well be a totally different game with new assets entirely. heck he might as well release it as a stand alone that runs under openmw.

 

sorry for the rant. but that is one example of a mod i refuse to install. it is heavily scripted, doesnt really do anything for me, there is no familiarity there or even endearing qualities for me, and it is packed in a BSA archive which is a huge no no for speeding up morrowind. yeah i avoid mods that are in a BSA too.

 

another one that kind of irks me is the texture firesale people. where "everything is 2048x2048!!!! from toneails to staned gloass cathedral windows! YAY" not...

 

seriously? dont they realize how many people are walking around in a cell that have 10 fingers and 10 toes? I know the textures are not that ridiculous in morrowind, but that is kind of an exxagerated example of what i mean. a hand texture does not need to be 2048 or bigger. it just doesnt. now the sky yes. that needs to be huge becasue of tiling. but a hand you almost never see, expecially inside the palm. i look more at clothes and faces really. and the environment. most of the texture packs are way too busy for me.

 

i have half a mind to wipe my install and start over with the textures. either there are too many TGA files in there still, or someone refuses to update their dear old BMP textures to dds. and on top of that if i want to replace them at a later date. i would rather have them all the same format. namely DDS so overwriting actually overwrites, and doesnt just clutter the folder more so the game gets to decide it wants a 64x64 texture instead of the nice new 1024 one i just put in the folder...

 

heck i might even do a rug retexture simply because i dont like being surrounded by all these busy magic carpets that make my head spin. its like being surrounded by vertigo paintings all the time. you know those things that people tell you to stare at and go cross eyed til you see the hidden image.

 

if they want pointers on doing a game then looking in the internals of most modern games like dragonage, or even skyrim will reveal a lot. they avoid busy-ness. busy textures do not equal detail. detail for a flat surface texture like a book or a tapestry is cracks, or worn edges. some holes here and there. a crisp simple banner that is recognizeable but doesnt dominate everything. accents, not dictatorship statements.

 

i have to say some of my favorite game enhancing textures and models are the rock ones (OTR) which not only add realistic rocks, but do it in a way that blends well.

 

i still have yet to find a tree replacer that really works. vurts is ok, but im not sure it is the best there is. maybe it is because openmw doesnt support the same results in game as MGSO and MGE xe. but they look rather like one would see them in max or blender before adding all the cool effects like antialiasing and shader packs. or maybe i dont have the right shader packs in place. i dont know. i forgot if openmw even suports shaders. it may beone of those things they are striving for in version 1.0 (they dont consider their current version to be much more than beta) even though it runs a lot better than the version i tried years ago.

 

anyway, back to the modeling, and enough of my pseudo rant/ comic relief.

[xander2077]

here is a screen with the latest editing.

 

i think i am about sone here, you kind of know when to quit when backfacing and choosing the wrong vertices starts happening a lot. like ones on the opposite side from what you want to select. and i just have to unwrap this one and texture it. whcih i will put to rest for now so i can dig into some other parts of armor. i set the surfaces to solid instead of smooth so the detail shows better.

 

http://i.share.pho.to/18022767_o.png

[RubberMan01]

Lol nice rant. The mod I'm doing now is also heavily scripted BUT, that doesn't mean they're running.

 

I find calling scripts from the dialogue box is a great way of saving processor time and always put a StopScript in there once it's not needed. (Bethesda only do that on a few scripts for some reason)

 

I agree whole heartedly about the 2048 textures on dumb things like a bottle or indeed, a hand.

 

I'm actually in two minds right now weather to dump MGSO as the load time for a save game is irritating me when I'm just running the game to test a bit of dialogue.....

 

Helm looks good. Can you not combine the faces on those circular parts (below the ears)? That saves some effort when texturing and grouping lol

[xander2077]

i probably can, but i have to delete the center vertices and i think that takes the faces away. so then i have to select the rest of the vertices and use the fill button. i can also select everything in face mode and turn the tris into quads to cut down on faces a bit. but some have to stay or i end up with folds in the surface.

 

im curious to know how you do a stop script and if you can have one made to actually turn them of until they start up again? im sure that would also save a lot of processor strain on my game.

 

my load time is fabulous in openmw. it used to suck, but that was when i accidentally set the config file to render more than one cell outside. once i set it back to default, it runs like a champ. and the minimal load time outdoors between cells is almost a blink. sure it could be designed better (like being able to preload before you get to the next cell) but that is a minor annoyance and i think it was way worse in windows with all the script extenders etc. i really have to say i like the way openmw performs, but my one thing is i have too much garbage left over in my data files, so that is why i have to delete all the contents of the folders and start over. it is easier than playing guessing games and removing stuff i dont use any more. but not until i take each texture that is a tga or a bmp individually into gimp and convert them to DDS. i think my loadout right now is about perfect, and i can simply use that as a template to make a new folder of mod zips so i dont start installing things willy nilly. then i have to go in and make sure i have everything (subfolders, and files) lower cased. and then i can do the reinstall of all my mods. somewhere i messed up, and that was when i tried to use XNview to convert all my non DDS textures to DDS. it made them DDS alright, but then they wont open in game. something in the converter is broken, so they dont open in gimp at all. they throw an error and shut down gimp. so that wont work. and the hugest reason why is becasue anything dwemer related that i have to retexture, needs to be DDS. i will tolerate them being goofy in the game for a while, but as i complete new texture replacements, i have ot be able to overwrite them as i go. for two reasons. one so i can look in the CS and see scenes there, and because nifskope only recognizes the main texture file, or if i want it to recognize the other folders i have to add each one individually to the folder window in render. that is a pain. too bad they dont have a check box where it includes all sub directories. that would really help things along.

 

i dont think i need to mess with the nifs. some of those only get called with an exp, so if i dont use the exp any more, they can sit there, plus nifs take way less space than textures. right now in just the top tier of textures i have about 13749 texture files, and that doesnt even count the subfolders. and a lot of thsoe from the head compilation need to be scrubbed. as well as anything from some of the other esp mods i got rid of.

 

MGSO is fine to a point, but i found the sweet spot is between 512 (body/clothes/armor/signs) to 1024(buildings/rocks/ground/larger models) for most textures. for smaller parts you can get away with 256(hand/foot), and for much larger continuous meshes, you have to go 2048, or as in the case of SWG skies they need to even exceed that.

 

but im sure cutting out all the unnecessary textures in my fiolders will reduce the read time it takes to load textures, and reduce processor time immensely.

 

im also going to make sure i extract my BSA files before i dump the replacers in there so that reduces processor time as well. a few folders i can back up and copy back in easier, like bookart, and water. also music is fine so i dont have to touch that one, and load screens are TGA and work fine that way. that is the only set of TGA i want in my folders.

[RubberMan01]

Begin _SG_ritonddead

Short nolore

If (MenuMode == 1)

Return

Endif

If ( OnDeath == 1 )

Journal "TS_longlovelost" 65

StopScript _SG_ritonddead

Endif

End _SG_ritonddead

Quite simple mate. When script is no longer needed you just add the "StopScript "Scriptname"" and you're done.

If I need a script several times I use this;

Dialogue here ->

Goodbye

StartScript xxxxx

Then the next time I use dialogue

StopScript xxxxx

This way the script only runs when I need it.

Like moving someone for instance when you are out of the cell. I will simply move them after some dialogue with a direct command rather than running a script to do it.

Because I know the person I speak to in dialogue is out of the cell then I know I can move someone/ disable/ enable etc in another cell without running a continuous script.

Easier this way:-

http://i1205.photobucket.com/albums/bb431/Simon_Griffiths/example.jpg

Edited February 28, 2016 by RubberMan01

[RubberMan01]

Double post**

 

Bethesda run a lot of continuous scripts that are no longer needed so I try not to add to their mess.

AI package scripts are a pain because they use timers etc and the scripts are continuously checking for package done blablabla

 

It's simpler to just bang the damn command in the dialogue and then it is only called once and when it is finished then it really is done with.

 

With the cunning use of the continue option in the dialogue you can start and stop scripts in the same conversation and have things done in the background while you're talking.

[xander2077]

well, that is a little over my head, and im not sure what you were using to modify the script, but im limited to the openmw CS to do anything with cells etc.

 

so im not sure if i can even do what you are hinting.

 

anyway, what i can do is crank out some serious models, and so far i have this done, but i will probably revisit the boots since it seems like the rest of the armor is taking on a sort of style i need to also incorporate in those.

 

but here are some screens to whet your appetite!

 

http://i.share.pho.to/d96efebd_o.png

http://i.share.pho.to/f3c38507_o.png

http://i.share.pho.to/cf9e6e19_o.png

http://i.share.pho.to/7a5060bc_o.png

 

 

as you can see it is starting to look like a more matched set of armor instead of something made out of robot parts, steel kegs, and leftover ultraman costumes. and as an added bonus i shortened the feet some to get rid of the "clownshoes" effect that plagues the vanilla armor.

 

im going to go ahead and add similar style to the ankle part of the boots since it seems to be dominating the other parts of armor.

 

if you notice the circular part on the bracers, i did something cimilar but on a larger scale than what i put on the sides of the feet and the sides of the helmet, but instead of a nice single face like in max, it turned them into tris so i just made them into quads for the time being until i get ready to export it all as a nif. but i amigine i may have to do that before i even unwrap the darned thing.

 

if not then i will turn it to tris after i unwrap, because it is already confusing enough with the extra geometry.

 

the bracer is not done either, because i have to do the wrist part a bit more. one problem i had was the cylindrical area was so blocky i had to cut it out and replace it with a default cylinder shape from blender, and as a result it lost the link to the dummy helper underneath it, so the center of the dummy is off now. and i dont know how i am going to fix that. i may end up having to import the individual parts into nifskope and replace the original mesh with them to avoid any problems. or it could just make things worse. im still not sure if the hidden helper is linked to the bracer or not, so deleting the old one may just take it with the rest. i expect if i were to export it as a nif now and try a quick lazy texture on it in game it would flop around oddly because of the lost link. but that all depends on what the dummy is trying to glue itself to. if the new center it has is the axis then it will end up looking like chicken wings which flop from the hand movement.

 

im really at an impass on messing with the cuirass simply because i dont know what to add or subtract besides the bustle thing and the jet intakes on it. so far it looks ok with a few minor edits, but i think i will really have to do more to make it match the rest of the armor.

 

looks like i will end up doing the whole suit.

 

another thing i need to do is find a way to incorporate a samll mod that adds 3 items. 1 would be dwemer underarmor of sorts to hide the exposed parts of skin. and the other two would be left and right gloves to act as gauntlets. those will be a bit more hairy. in order to do anything for those i have to use existing gloves and add armor plates to the back of the hands and fingers that follows the skeleton of the hand. but the idea is not just to model them, but add them as a new item to the game, which would be added to levelled lists and also be buyable at any armor shoppe. then anyone keen on sporting dwemer armor or any other that the items will match can go ahead and don them as normal clothing. i may even decide to make it a larger mod that adds these items for all kinds of armor. i think it would be a nice addition. it would also be cool to find them in drops when you kill a centurion or other dwemer monster.

Edited February 28, 2016 by xander2077