Skyrim Armor Dyes

[droscoe2]

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/4607/testlogo2.png

 

Skyrim Armor Dyes

New Info and Updates

 

This mod idea has changed drastically in several ways. I will preface this update with an apology for the lack of updates, I am in college, have a job, girlfriend, and my computer has been down for quite some time. Just popped in a new Corsair PSU!

 

Several members of the community have given their advice and opinions on both the demand and feasibility of this project. I've taken their thoughts into great consideration along with my own concerns about time, efficiency, and commitment. I've also learn a couple new techniques in GIMP that really improve my efficiency and accuracy. Please give some feedback about the ideas below!

 

The Dye Process

- Armor will be dyed or painted at the Forge with new, custom armor. Unsure of where cloth and non-metal armors will be crafted at the moment

- Armors are divided into Body and Trim pieces in which the color is applied. This is, of course, done beforehand at my discretion in my imaging program. Accessories such as belts, straps, clips, rings, stitches will remain uncolored to give it a realistic look.

- Depending on the color combination and the armor, prices for a complete set of colored armor will vary. (If you purchased the dyes)

 

Armor Types

Cloth or Non-Metal Armor and Apparel - Salt is required for Direct Dye process (substantive)

Metal Armor and Apparel - Requires powdered particles to act as pigment reservoirs (such as bone meal, vampire dust, etc) to adhere to the metal surface. May also require Dwarven Oil or Spriggan Sap as binders for examples.

Artisan Dyes and Paints - Requires more exotic ingredients that bring out more saturated colors. (Fire Salts, ectoplasm, etc)

 

Armor Dyes and Paints

- Dyes can be found in random loot, depending on their rarity (read below)

- Dyes can be purchased from an Artisan living in _______?

- Dyes can be crafted at an alchemy table from ingredients found throughout Skyrim

- Dyes are applied to non-metal armors/apparel

 

- Paints can be purchased from an Artisan living in ______?

- Paints can be crafted at an alchemy table from ingredients found throughout Skyrim (they require another 1-2 ingredients to adhere to the metal however)-(Dyes are used to craft Paints)

- Paints are applied to metal armors/apparel

 

Distribution and Prices of Dyes

 

Distribution

Dyes are broken down into three categories

- Basic Dyes: Red, Yellow, Blue

- Secondary Dyes: Green, Orange, Purple

- Premium Dyes: Black, Silver, White, Gold

- Artisan Dyes: any of those but more vibrant and saturated (for those who want it)<-?? These can only be crafted

 

You will be encourage to craft your dyes, but they can be found throughout Skyrim. The distribution depends on rarity and you can see the hierarchy.

 

Prices

- Basic dyes: 150g

- Secondary Dyes: 300g

- Premium Dyes: 450g

- Artisan dyes: 600g

(please give thoughts/opinions on that)

 

Take Steel Plate, for example. There's barely any trim pieces on it. It will likely be just one color, with some minute trim coloring. This will require, say, at least 3 dyes to color the body alone, then 1 more dye to do the trim. That's 4 dyes to cover the cuirass, and if you did Black/Gold it would be 1800g

 

Full Set of Steel Plate in Black/Gold = 4550g

 

Gloves, Helmet, and Boots will require much less however, as they are smaller and dyes can cover more area on those. I think to be reasonable, I'll design it so that players spend a few thousand gold on their armor coloring.

 

My thoughts are:

-everyone thinks gold is way too abundant in Skyrim anyway, right?

-spending a couple, or even a few thousand Gold on your dye/paint jobs make it more a rewarding, thoughtful process

 

Need Help on This One

Players will need a reference from which they can choose a color theme. Could you help with suggestions?

- can you put pictures in custom books?

- just create a PDF file or something that players can print out or refer to?

 

Textures and Objects

It's my belief I should base my recolored textures on the HD Armor mod, which will require permission for me to do so.

I also believe I'll make dye bottles based on the Silly Level of Detail mod (ceramic), which will also require permission

 

Can you think of anything else I've missed? these are all just my notes, sort of translated in a legible format for you.

 

Thoughts?

 

Just Some Examples of my Work

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/4180/worksofar.png

 

Below are my current notes, as they now stand. Feel free to make suggestions. No hard, concrete facts yet, but I figured I'd share what I've been considering. (content, timeline, etc)

 

SAD - 1st Edition: up to 10 color variants per set

 

Light Armor

Hide Heavy

Studded

Leather

Elven

Scaled

Glass

Dragonscale

+shields

 

Heavy Armor

Iron Heavy (Banded Iron)

Steel

Dwarven

Steel Plate

Orcish

Ebony

Dragonplate

Daedric

+shields

 

SAD - 2nd Edition: up to 10 color variants per set

 

Light Armor

Dark Brotherhood

Thieves Guild Armor

Nightingale

+shields if any

 

Heavy Armor

Wolf Armor

Blades Armor

Ancient Nord Armor (Draug)

Ebony Mail

+shields if any

 

SAD - 3rd Edition: up to 10 color variants per set

All clothing includes hoods and hats

 

Clothing

Archmage

Greybeard Robe

Jester

Mage Apprentice

Mage Journeyman

Monk

Psiijic

Mythic Dawn

Thalmor

 

Add-On Packs

Capes

Dragonpriest Helms - this would take a long time to do right

Circlets

Shoes

Gloves

 

Take care,

DKR

Edited February 16, 2012 by droscoe2

[Rennn]

It's a good idea, but if you add too-bright dyes it would just look silly. Stay with earth tones for most things.

Also, it would almost certainly conflict with armor replacers, so I suspect the audience will be quite limited.

[PirateDragon]

Personally I would love this type of mod, especially if it were more of a crafting mod where you had to gather plants and ingredients to make various dyes. I would absolutely use such a mod. Edited November 7, 2011 by PirateDragon

[TheDarkPrince]

for me, that's a good idea!

[rameir]

This actually sounds like a good idea.

 

As far as which colors, look at Fable 3 for poor examples. :biggrin:

[PaladinRider]

I've thought of doing this as well. It's unlikely that I will end up doing it as i think it's going to require more artistic work then actual scripting.

 

I'd recommend just doing three primary colours, and have the player able to mix between the three of them to create the other colours. Possible shortfalls to overcome: - Can you dye enchanted/unique pieces of armour?

- Will the dyed armour be a duplicate of the original armour? (IE For each piece of armour, have 5 variations of each colour)

- Crafting the dye - you can pick bugs and butterflys out of the sky - perhaps use them to craft dyes

 

I'd be interested in scripting it all together if someone was to actually create the dyed armour. I have photoshop and minimal experience texturing, so it would probably just look like a transparent overlay if I do it. Otherwise, I may have my hands full with another project I'm planning.

[Aluminumfoil]

Here is how I would do it:

 

Create duplicates of each armor type's texture. Name it the color it will eventually be.

Create duplicates of each armor type and associate them with the relevant textures. Name the duplicates the color they will eventually be and write down their item code.

Create dye items that do nothing, give them their physical appearance and item type, name them the color they will eventually create, and write down their item code.

 

Go to the texture files and load them into your image editor of choice. Zero artistic ability is required: simply adjust the color, hue, and saturation values towards the target quantities. If you only want to affect a certain portion of the armor, select it first with the selection tool. Save and make sure you maintain the file format undamaged.

 

Make a list of target item codes, dye codes, and dyed item codes. The dyed items will also need to be available target items - what if somebody wants to turn their red armor blue?

 

Add a script effect to the dye items which does the following:

Begin the script

Get dye's item code

Compare dye's item code to a list of dye item codes to determine what color you want

Store this value

Wait for click on target item

Get target item's code

Compare the target item to a list of target item codes using consecutive if/else logic

Retrieve stored dye value and use it to select from a list of available dyed versions of the target item using consecutive if/else logic

Remove the target item

Add the dyed item

Remove the dye from your inventory

End the script.

 

 

Hope this gives you an idea or two for your own method.

[PaladinRider]

droscoe2 good work on the retexturing. It looks like you've already decided to take on this project. :thumbsup: I'm primarily a scripter so let me know if you need a hand anything.

[droscoe2]

oh god I'm relieved to hear some supportive feedback concerning scripting.

 

Scripting is not over my head, but I've only dabbled in it. To be honest, I was not confident this mod would be realized in its complete form, only due to my fear of proper script work. Thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it so far.

 

I'm using GIMP, (and learning the tricks to be efficient at it), and after playing around I've come up with these numbers:

 

Using 5 colors (Red,Blue,Green,Black,White) ...(maybe eventually expand to more) means 5 new textures per armor piece.

X

4 armor pieces to a set (Gauntlets, cuirass/greaves, helmet, boots)

=

20 new textures per armor set

X

Number of armor sets in Skyrim (In Oblivion there 12 main armor sets <Fur,Leather,Chainmail,Mithril,Elven,Glass,Steel,Dwarven,Orcish,Ebony,Daedric>, so we'll use 12 for example)

=

240 new textures TOTAL

 

Adding 4 colors to that, maybe Orange,Yellow, Brown, Grey eventually down the road for total of 9 colors

=

432 new textures TOTAL

 

Point is, it will be a ton of repetitive work. But IMO, it should be worth it to help create a personal feel to customization.

 

I'll be asking for script support in the future I believe!

[PaladinRider]

I'd love to help with scripting. When the CK releases the first thing I'll do is test the feasibility of this.. I see no reason why it wouldn't work (although you will likely be getting messages say "Armour was removed" "Red armour was added" until a script extender is made.

 

I'd suggest just using generic potions to hold the dyes (but not an ingredient, just a misc item). The scripting should be straightforward, but I can add to it to make it more sophisticated. When you activate the dye in your inventory it'll show a message where you can use dye or mix dye. You can lay out the appropriate formulas for mixing. Using the dye just removes the armour piece from inventory, removes the dye from the inventory, and just adds the coloured armour piece.

 

Only problem is dying enchanted armour. Usually the best approach is to start small - so just getting the dyes working on generic armour pieces first. :thumbsup: