New Texture mod WIP

[RubberMan01]

Excellent stuff mate. Love the removal of the clown shoes lol

 

Not used the openmw cs as yet so can't comment.

[xander2077]

here is more. i just finished the boots, the groin section (yes it is iron underwear), the upper leg greaves, the upper arm pauldron. that whould do the trick for the whole vanilla armor set reworked.

 

now i have to import some gloves, and try my hand at adding some armor plating to a set. not sure which ones would work well for that but i will be digging out BSA unpacker to browse the files and see what is there.

 

i admit, this is still turning out a but more robotic than i had hoped, but i think if i texture it correctly, it will turn out to look more like dwemer armor that is a mix between oblivion and skyrim. as long as the detailing says "i forged this out of special dwemer metal" it should pass pretty well.

 

http://i.share.pho.to/d95c9262_o.png

http://i.share.pho.to/058580c0_o.png

http://i.share.pho.to/0b1ae07f_o.png

http://i.share.pho.to/dfc8c930_o.png

 

oh, dangit. i forgot i have to finish the bracers up. i intended to make them a bit more detailed around the lower arms section and forgot. well i guess i have to break that one out again. then the gloves.

[xander2077]

ok there that is better. now the bracer modeling is done. i had to really be careful and make sure i only added detailing where it was not covered up. it should be a beefier bracer around the lower arm if it looks too bulky i may have to trim down the plate on the top of it, but that is not really a huge deal.

 

next we have a glove modification. still not sure how that will turn out, and i am a bit concerned with clipping around the wrist and clipping through the bracer, so i have to figure out which one is worse and then plan accordingly. at the very least i might have to use the scale tool and reduce the radius for the part of the glove that covers the wrist so it doesnt clip the bracer. i cant really remove it because it will need to cover the part of the wrist that sticks out. im not even sure there are any better model replacer for gloves in better clothing for morrowind, but i guess i could find out. if so then this 10 minute edit was for nothing. or i could get lucky and these work anyway.

 

the big test will be seeing if it retained its skin properties in nifskope and the game. the last thing i need is frozen gloves and the hand moving through them.

 

if all else fails i could just retexture the existing nif and get away with it.

 

another thing i really wish i could find is a full body suit that looks like a wetsuit for morrowind. then i can texture it like chain mail rings in a bronzish color, and make that the underarmor. it would have to be set to act like clothing, so maybe a shirt and pants that wont clip any of the replacemet bodies will be the best idea. the thing is they have to be full pants and something like a turtle neck. i have scoured all the mod sites and come up empty on that one.

 

to keep it lore friendly i wont name them in game as underarmor, but i might do something like that for the mod name. it will probably be called arming shirt and pants in game. they probably wont have any armor rating, but i could do that as well. after all anyone wearing those under armor would have a better chance of sustaining blows.

 

http://i.share.pho.to/6e4343e1_o.png

http://i.share.pho.to/39a8d919_o.png

[xander2077]

ok, final pics for tonight. i finished up modeling the other two helmets i plan on releasing. one is similar but not identical to the oblivion style, and the other is similar to but not identical to the skyrim style. i need to also do the shield because it will be vastly out of place if not.

 

i dont think i need to redo the weapons simply because there are already some good weapin replacers out there. i have not found them yet, but i think there are some really goos ones (judging from some screens i saw one time)

 

http://i.share.pho.to/bbf4f551_o.png

http://i.share.pho.to/46e53f53_o.png

 

well that is it for tonight. im about 3d modeled out.

[RubberMan01]

Damn rather you than me mate. Still haven't got that shield the right way around yet haha

 

By the look of things though our 2 mods should at least be an improvement on what has been on offer so far this year... with the odd exception.

 

Now all I need to do is bribe you into redoing the armour I want for my guys :D

 

I spent two full days on dialogue and scripting for one bloody quest >.< I need to do some meshing!!!

 

The only thing I meshed in the last two days has been a piece of cloth lol not very brain taxing at all I can say.

 

 

Fortunately being a builder and it being winter I get to stay at home!! Apart from all the chores the wife sets me I'm pretty much free to mod. I really would have liked to remake all the meshes for the Dwemmer buildings (externals) but that is for a later date. I avoid Dwemmer stuff and it all looks tacky like they did it all in a rush. Glad you are remodelling the armour at least.

 

I have remade the entire internals for the Dwemmer buildings but never released them. Also added Skyrimesque traps and actual working lifts that move while you're in them etc.

 

I can't believe how many people still play Morrowind! It is the same with AoE. I go back and fourth between games and add stuff to them and cult games like these never seem to die.....a bit like old English rock bands lol

[xander2077]

heres the thing, im not making new models. i am simply importing the old nif to blender, snd reworking the old model to a new one. so the mesh should still have everything attached to it besides the textures because welding the vertices, and erasing some of the tris that can be erased, will end up removing the UV information. which i dont mind, because they need a proper unwrap anyway. the vanilla unwrap sucks. so the UVs always suck. unless you consider a few models in tribunal and the body models, which were done properly. the rest were just dropped on a texture and moved around til they sort of worked. unfotunately i pick some of the most frustrating models to texture since they all seem to have the crappy unwrap of UVs. the steam centurions and spheres are atrocious. so when i get around to redoing those meshes, that will be completely necessary to do a good unwrap. luckily i will have to do it all over once i modify the mesh.

 

so im not worried about if it will show up oriented right. that wont be an issue. the only time it is, is when you try and import a totally new model into a nif, or somehow the orientation was misaligned before the import.

 

the only one that i know will be buggered up is the bracer, and that was due to the helper being damaged on accident. it was linked to the old cylinder and the link was destroyed when i replaced it with a new higher poly cylinder.

 

i would love to model some armor, the only thing i need to know is what it is based on. what vanilla armor is the most similar to the one you want for your mod and then i can go from there. it sure is a heck of a lot easier than building one from scratch and replacing the one used as a template.

 

what i dont really know about yet is if i will have time to do the unwrap or textures in a very timely manner.

 

for the models i just did, texturing is something i am putting off for now until i figure out how to do the unwrap in a streamlined manner. plus i dont want to do that until i am sure the models fit in game correctly together. so probably the next step will be to put a simple texture on them just good enough for them to show up in the game and then examine clipping. then if i need to alter the models again it wont be as devestating to modify them a bit til they fit right. if i went ahead and textured them properly before trying them out then i could be doing all those textures for nothing, like the boots i did the first time. the one thing i know i will have to look at closely is the boots i just made, because i made them tall on purpose. the reason was so i could move the knee guard from the upper leg, to the top of the boot. and the new ears on the boot might be too high, or too narrow. so i have to adjust those accordingly. once im sure everything looks good, bracers, pauldrons, boots, helmet, feet... then i can take the most current models back into blender and do the unwrap for some permanent textures.

 

and that doesnt even take into account the messed up center for that helper object, whcih is far below where it was originally and possibly forward of the hand. so i may end up redoing that by importing the original again and putting the new models on top of it or just importing the models into nifskope. just dont know which one will work better. nifs were never my strong suit. i messed around with a few setting by trial and error before, but never really explored them in great detail, so some things i still dont know what they do or how to fix them.

 

right now im drinking coffee and listening to smashing pumpkins (have not listened to that in a while)

 

i guess that being a builder allows you flexibility during the off season. sometimes i wish i had that flexibility. only weekends are free to do modeling, or evenings when im not busy. the rest of the time i am doing things like cutting wood, or building and mantaining myself. today i have to fix a bunch of vehicles if i can. working on cars is not fun in the cold.

 

i dont have to worry about a honey do list because im single once again. girl i was seeing decided since my hands are tied and i cant visit as often as i used to, that it was time to ditch me. and was so quick to insist on it, like i was a loose end she had to tie up. im too old, wise and shrewd to spill blood or tears over it though. se la vie. (i know... the french are strange, as monty python used to say) but there are plenty of fish in the sea. i dont get all sappy and "cant live without you" any more. i say good riddance. i cant stand insecurity anyway.

[RubberMan01]

Well, the faction that the mod revolves around is a branch of the Imperial Guard so that would be the base armour and, indeed, the armour I'm using right now in it's baby phase.

 

I do want some sort of dragon motif on the armour/ shield somewhere (I already have one to work from that I like) and I was thinking either red and gold or blue and yellow(ish) for the armour colours.

 

I could make entirely new models for all the armour but..... don't know enough about nifs to get them working in game. Which sucks. I'm also going to try my hand at a faction personalised weapon as well when I am happy with dialogue/ scenery etc.

 

Quick explanation of mod;

 

It's going to be a bit CSI for Morrowind.

 

The Truth Seekers are an idea thought up but some high level Imperial noble type that believes that the law in Vvardenfell and the way it is executed is crap, Basically he wants to make a kind of police force that actually arrests criminals and locks them up whenever possible.

 

The faction has three sections to it. Homicide, Vice and everything else (strange crimes/ thievery/ corruption etc)

 

They will be helped by a "Diviner" from Winterhold college that can cast a spell on items and they see visions of whoever touched it last (Morrowind DNA/ fingerprinting) and then give an extremely brief description.

 

Not to interfere with the original game too much I placed them in their own town in the middle of nowhere between Caldera and Gnar Mok.

 

As a major side quest you get to build your own player home in a similar method to the Stronghold quest but with more quests and more visuals i.e. you hire builders/ bricklayers/ plasterers etc and you get to see the thing build in stages - A pain to mesh and script so far lol

 

Made quite a lot of meshes so far and have someone play testing my wonderful spelling mistakes throughout the dialogue thus far. It is a shame the forums aren't as busy as they used to be as people used to make quest suggestions and I wouldn't have to think them all up myself lol (the wife helps but I just humour her haha She's a gamer by the way! Score. Yes I'm living the dream lol)

 

The game/ play time for it right now is a couple of hours constant play and I have a lot more to add to it. Alone one quest can take me a couple of days, writing dialogue, forming a plot, making meshes for the crazy idea I had, texturing and then putting them all together in the editor...........

 

So, there it is. I might actually get around to making a WIP post but no one ever comments any more hahaha

 

 

As for your lady troubles.....I understand 100%. Married several times, have several kids blablabla

 

This one I've been with for 18 years this year and we never married or had kids together lol

 

I also understand the long distance thing as she is Portuguese and I'm English! Man, travelling back and forth in the early years was an expensive pain in the arse but we got there in the end.

 

I'm also old, wise and shrewd but it never stops the blood and tears lol - there is always some dumb thing that upsets life. Single now sounds very scary to me!

 

Right. Enjoy playing with cold metal in this weather lol I'm off to play with some cold beer before I do the shopping :D

[xander2077]

well could not do what i intended today because i am waiting on some money to do those repairs, but i guess it was ok to have a day off sort of. so i did some small things around the home, like drywall repair. and a bit of spring cleaning (in february) and a bit of my own laundry. and then i got back on here and refined the pauldrons some more. still have yet to plug them in and try them all out.

 

maybe i can try that out tonight. if they work then i will post at least a screen of them with flat textures. hope it doesnt look goofy. no telling what it will turn out like once i stick those nifs in game.

[xander2077]

ok, proof of concept time.

 

i took the models in game and everything seemed to be ok, besides the wonky textures, and then i notices something odd. the bracers were fine, but the upper arm pauldrons were floating way out about 10-12 feet from the player character. that wont do, so something i did messed up that mesh and i may just have to settle for reding it or just letting the vanilla one stay in game. no matter what thats ok, it is not a huge part of the set anyway, and is covered by the upper pauldrons on the shoulders and usually a shield. but i sure would like to get a bulkier set on the guy.

 

http://i.share.pho.to/2681c83a_o.png

http://i.share.pho.to/3ac257b7_o.png

 

this is my go to text room for texture unless they wont be viewed in this lighthouse. anyway i also noticed a gaping hole in the back of the cuirass, so i probably accidentaly deleted one of the faces. that hole has to be filled and fixed.

 

http://i.share.pho.to/8aac1a2d_o.png

 

as you can see below, the helmet wants to retain the texture UV for the top of the helmet, because it has not really changed much, but the closed face mask of this oblivion style helm is all screwey cause of the loss of the UV info. i literally chopped the face out and rebuilt the front of it.

 

http://i.share.pho.to/f7e48ae6_o.png

 

this is where good things start to happen. on this skyrim style helmet and the original legacy helmet i reworked, both helmets retain much of the original texture. however, they still both need to be unwrapped to make sure everything lines up. it would be better to do that and get it right than trying to play with the messed up UV layout that is now even worde than the vanilla one.

 

http://i.share.pho.to/e8a0102b_o.png

 

and here is a longer shot with the upper arm pauldrons replaced by the vanilla ones just to see if they are still working. so yes it is the fault of my messed up replacement mesh for the upper arm pauldron. scratch the one i just made and i have to do it over. not sure what i did, but i will figure it out.

 

i also notices that the boots have to be scaled down and then stretched higher and lower but on the top side more than the bottom. and i think i can take the ears of the boots and rotate them in a bit to hug the upper legs more. i also need to further reduce the clown sho effect and shorten the toe box on those shoes by another 4 inches or so. i think both fixing the boots and the shoes will make the boots less dominant and more symmetrical to the rest of the armor.

 

http://i.share.pho.to/e3d6138b_o.png

 

a cool profile shot to show off the lighting and details on the skyrim style helm. of course i need to still set the mesh to smooth and reseport it, but this will be done again anyway once i unwrap the UVs so no worries.

 

http://i.share.pho.to/e914b4dd_o.png

 

and last but not least, the player inventory, where you can see the whole suit in a different lighting style and a cool pose to go with it.

 

http://i.share.pho.to/bfaa22ff_o.png

 

 

i think after looking at in in game, there are definitely some things i need to improve on, and i really need to also add more detail to the cuirass. the other stuff would make it stick out if i did not. i was also happy to see that i did not mess up the cuirass with my edits. at least the skelton and body movements still work. it twists at the waist and everything.

 

so... back to blender to fix the boots and shoes, scale up the upper leg greaves a bit, redo the upper arm pauldrons that i messed up royally, and add way more detail to the curass after i fix the hole i made in the back of the cuirass.

 

i also took those gloves i slightly altered into nifskope, and they showed up fine textures and all. now i just have to replace the texture with a new one, and figure out how to make a mod that adds them to the game. but like i mentioned before, i dont want to add those until i do the morrowind underarmor mod. then they will all be included together.

[RubberMan01]

Um. Ok I got an issue with this armour.

 

The main protection points in any armour are the joints.

 

Knees, elbows, shoulders, neck, hands and feet.

 

The Dwemmer armour always looked dumb because it lacks the visual effectiveness of a true armour. It isn't the bulk in all the wrong places that does it for me but the missing parts.

 

A standard suit of armour would for sure cover the knees and neck. The Dwemmer one doesn't. If anything needs to be fixed it is these points of attack.

 

Bare skin == not good.

 

You are right about the boots for sure though. They really need to hug the leg much more than they do. They look cumbersome and silly as if the guy couldn't ever lift his foot off the floor if he was wearing them.

 

The greaves and groinal cover to me look like metal boxer shorts lol that are so tight it only amplifies the ridiculous size of his boots!

 

I think Bethesda made a complete hash of this one mate and without a lot of work it will be very difficult to fix.

Edited March 1, 2016 by RubberMan01