Custom race error in the Construction set

[Ghogiel]

Thanks for the reply but surely the custom races do have the correct UV map? and why would it only affect edited NPCs and not new ones?

All vanilla NPCs have their own special face texture. I'm not kidding. If you extract the textures bsa, and look under character.. there is a subfolder in there, can't think of the actual folder name, it should be obvious which folder it is as it contains like many hundreds of npc face maps. I think it is characters\faces or something. in there you will see the npcs form ID as the textures name...

 

I can't remember what the textures actually are either, I would class them as detail or age maps.

 

So even if you replace the vanilla head nif, and the textures, and do a full replacer for vanilla NPCs, there is still the issue of this special detail map rendering in game.

 

.... quick search and possible relevant info:

http://www.thenexusforums.com/index.php?/topic/29731-editing-face-textures-on-npcs/page__st__10

Edited May 29, 2011 by Ghogiel

[Shaun919]

Thanks for the reply but surely the custom races do have the correct UV map? and why would it only affect edited NPCs and not new ones?

All vanilla NPCs have their own special face texture. I'm not kidding. If you extract the textures bsa, and look under character.. there is a subfolder in there, can't think of the actual folder name, it should be obvious which folder it is as it contains like many hundreds of npc face maps. I think it is characters\faces or something. in there you will see the npcs form ID as the textures name...

 

I can't remember what the textures actually are either, I would class them as detail or age maps.

 

So even if you replace the vanilla head nif, and the textures, and do a full replacer for vanilla NPCs, there is still the issue of this special detail map rendering in game.

 

.... quick search and possible relevant info:

http://www.thenexusforums.com/index.php?/topic/29731-editing-face-textures-on-npcs/page__st__10

Thank you but i have a problem, i can't find ANY textures that are listed in the Form ID. Example, i was trying to find Abhuki (first NPC in the list) texture; so i expend the Form ID and hers is 000389B8, i extracted all the face textures from the bsa but i could not find one that matched this code. What am i doing wrong >.< i also tryed it with other NPCs and i just can't find any that fit the code.

[Ghogiel]

read that thread I linked.

[myrmaad]

Alright so I had a chance to test one of my head06 custom textures in game. You can clearly see the trouble is not resolved:

 

Do I need to include a blank age map? This is a new race that was started from scratch with no other race involved.

 

 

Dramatic View of the problem

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c117/SeaBlossom/th_BMP278.jpg

 

Inventory View:

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c117/SeaBlossom/th_BMP281.jpg

 

CS View

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c117/SeaBlossom/th_Image2-8.jpg

[Astymma]

Alright so I had a chance to test one of my head06 custom textures in game. You can clearly see the trouble is not resolved: Do I need to include a blank age map? This is a new race that was started from scratch with no other race involved. snipped images

 

Well all images that go on the face have to be mapped to the UV map from Head06.

 

That would include the face dds, the face normal map, the age map(which, if it exists will invalidate the face's normal map IIRC), the age map normal maps, and any overlay image from Ghogiel's post (concerning formid specific overlays for npc's).

Edited May 30, 2011 by Astymma

[Ghogiel]

^that

 

:ninja:

 

Do I need to include a blank age map? This is a new race that was started from scratch with no other race involved.

 

 

What I am seeing also appears to be a normal map issue, though detail maps can be a bump shader too. But you say you have created one. I assume it is named correctly. :psyduck:

Edited May 30, 2011 by Ghogiel

[myrmaad]

Normal map was created from the head06 texture.

 

However I didn't create an age map, and I thought you said a brand new NPC wouldn't be assigned one, I might be confused.

 

By the way I long ago unpacked every BSA into a folder in my modding drive.

 

Yes the normal map has the same name as the texture with an _n suffix.

 

I didn't make an age map for this race, nor do I even want one, so are you saying I have to stick a blank one in there? And if not how do you make the age map?

 

So, for example, if we want to replace Martin's face texture, we take his FormID (00033907), name our face texture accordingly as 00033907_0.dds, then place the texture in \Oblivion\Data\textures\faces\Oblivion.esm\ (Oblivion.esm is a folder with a ".esm" in its name, not an actual *.esm file.)

 

That's it — start up the game and Martin will have a new face texture. (External resource files with a time/date stamp newer than the corresponding resource shipped by Bethesda will automatically override the default resource - no ArchiveInvalidate entries are necessary.)

 

 

Note that all pre-rendered Oblivion face textures have alphas and are largely transparent — this is done so that the skin tone of the body shows through underneath eyebrows, beard stubble, cheek ruddiness, etc. (That's why you almost never see an NPC with a mis-matched neckline.) ;) Face textures are *just* the portions of the face that are altered.

 

And I guess then try this as well?

[Astymma]

Normal map was created from the head06 texture.

 

However I didn't create an age map, and I thought you said a brand new NPC wouldn't be assigned one, I might be confused.

 

By the way I long ago unpacked every BSA into a folder in my modding drive.

 

Yes the normal map has the same name as the texture with an _n suffix.

 

I didn't make an age map for this race, nor do I even want one, so are you saying I have to stick a blank one in there? And if not how do you make the age map?

 

So, for example, if we want to replace Martin's face texture, we take his FormID (00033907), name our face texture accordingly as 00033907_0.dds, then place the texture in \Oblivion\Data\textures\faces\Oblivion.esm\ (Oblivion.esm is a folder with a ".esm" in its name, not an actual *.esm file.)

 

That's it — start up the game and Martin will have a new face texture. (External resource files with a time/date stamp newer than the corresponding resource shipped by Bethesda will automatically override the default resource - no ArchiveInvalidate entries are necessary.)

 

 

Note that all pre-rendered Oblivion face textures have alphas and are largely transparent — this is done so that the skin tone of the body shows through underneath eyebrows, beard stubble, cheek ruddiness, etc. (That's why you almost never see an NPC with a mis-matched neckline.) ;) Face textures are *just* the portions of the face that are altered.

 

And I guess then try this as well?

 

If you do use age maps (with their associated normal maps) you'll cause the engine to ignore your head texture's normal map and use the age map normals instead, so that's up to whether you want age maps or not. If not, don't include one and your face will just use the head texture and its normal map.

 

The face overlays that ghogiel is talking about were used to differentiate a lot of NPC's from each other that used the exact same head and head texture. If you are making a custom race to create a custom NPC, you won't need an overlay, since you're using a custom race with a custom head texture to handle what the overlay would have handled. The overlays are just a mostly transparent image with some small details such as eye shadow, lip color, stubble, etc. added.

Edited May 30, 2011 by Astymma

[Shaun919]

read that thread I linked.

Really i have but i still can't find any IDs that match up to the Form ID for any NPC... I even tryed the one they used (martin) and i could not find it.

[Astymma]

From throttlekitty's readme for head06:

For the textures to work, you need at least two .dds files in a similar location:

Oblivion\Data\Textures\Characters\[Your Custom Race Here]

 

You need at least a color and normal map. Sticking with my example, I've chosen

to use Head06.dds and Head06_n.dds. Again, in the Construction Set, you only

direct it to the base image: Head06.dds, the normal map (and others) will be

picked up automatically.

 

In addition, agemaps can be included, see textures\characters\imperial for an

example of what they look like. They add wrinkles progressively through the

set of images, and their filename corresponds with the Age slider in-game.

Each agemap needs a normal map associated with it as well. (if agemaps are

present, the base images' normal map is never seen, FYI.)

Head06F10.dds would be the youngest.

Head06F60.dds would be the oldest.

 

We can do neat tricks with these, rather than just age, we can add new details,

like scars, different makeup, or faked shadows for a dramatic effect.