How does everyone get such good looking characters while mine always look so half-assed?

[ymf331]

ah it's just a program that you can run on the .dds texture files to resize and compress them. when you go from 2k to 1k or 1k to 512 it basically cuts the file size down to 1/4 of what it was, and much more if it was uncompressed. so for the high-res texture pack going to 1k-512 is cutting each texture pair down to 5/32 the file size before optimization. sorry, didn't notice that you said you were using icbine already. i think the two i mentioned should work fine with it. i've been through every conflicting record in my load order and never seen any involving relighting skyrim, so at least that should be compatible.

 

well, yes, mod organizer would work without steam, but you'd only be dealing with new mods you added. everything in your data folder is unmanaged. otherwise each mod would go into its own folder and be built on a virtual drive. even your ini files are completely separate and just have priority over the vanilla ones, hence mo not touching your skyrim files. so to uninstall one you right click it in a list and click 'remove'. yeah i do hear not wanting to reinstall all the mods. it comes down to what you wanna' do and i'm only providing advice/suggestions.

 

edit: i think on the nexus it's called 'optimizer textures' and i think i spelled it wrong. it's 'ordenator'.

Edited October 31, 2016 by ymf331

[panurgy]

 

Also, the question wasn't as much about angular cheekbones as much as it was about the vertices that stick out if I try to make them.

Another question is how do Iact when I am trying to create a video game character lookalike? The current follower I am making is based on a SWTOR character, and aside from the overall challenge of translating the character's face into this game while keeping it semi-realistic( because most SWTOR characters look very, very cartoony) . I wonder, how do I keep my retain likeness while not making it look ugly in the shadows? Where is the line between likeness and normality that I should walk?

I obsess a little bit about how both NPCs and my characters look, so I sympathize. I also enjoy the Race Menu "mini-game", so there you go. I'm not at the level of the great screen archers, but I'll throw in my opinions. ;)

 

Anyway, in terms of smoothing vertices, you can do that in the "Sculpt" menu with a fair amount of success. It's limited by the number of polygons in the head mesh, though. Certain areas like chins don't have enough polygons to be very adaptable.

 

Also, keep in mind, the one area where it's potentially worthwhile to overdo high res textures are the face, body, and especially the normal maps for those. Normal maps especially should be high quality and uncompressed. If you use Real Girls, you can use the optional normals that go with it. Don't use "No More Blocky Faces", that mod was a stopgap when Skyrim first came out. If you do use it, install it first so other texture packs can overwrite it with higher quality versions if they provide them.

 

 

Somebody posted that you have to be careful about over-exaggerating features, and that's great advice, but I think you can get away with a fair amount of leeway. I often put eyes into the 1.2x (120% bigger) size range without problems.

 

Anyway, here's a half-hearted recommendation: Citrus Heads. It offers a much higher polygon count head than vanilla: and that means more smooth and more ability to adjust features without weird edges. It fits vanilla. so any textures or clothing that you use will just work. Some faces will instantly look better, but others have to be reworked to fit the new mesh. The drawback is that it breaks lip sync, and the fix is to go into the CK and export every single NPC face. :( That's why I say half-hearted. Also, higher poly head means it requires more resources to draw. It's unnoticeable in my game, but if you're at the edge it might hurt performance.

[manchuligans]

I'm no expert, but looking at your screenshots, my humble opinion is that you should try a different skin texture. Finding one you like makes all the difference.

 

When I was trying out different skin textures, the same character would go from beautiful to horrifying to weird just with different textures.

 

The textures I ended up keeping were the Navetsea textures in Basvanbeu body changer.

 

NSFW!

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/6554/?

 

Here are some suggestions, depending on which body model you're using (vanilla, CBBE, UNP, ADEC...)

 

Mature Skin Texture

 

Fair Skin Complexion

 

Real Girls Realistic Texture

 

 

And some better male textures so all the guys in the game don't look horrible. It's a real improvement.

 

SkySight Skins - Male Textures and Real Feet Textures

 

 

Examples

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made these just with sliders because I didn't know how to sculpt yet. In Racemenu, I used a little bit of the Face Weight slider and a little of the Extras sliders to give their faces an even proportional rounded look. Bony faces are more masculine because testosterone makes the bones grow thicker and heavier. The freckles and natural skin came from using the complexion slider with the navetsea textures.

 

 

Anyway, I hope these suggestions help and good luck!

Edited November 1, 2016 by manchuligans

[ISOWarrior]

I downloaded several of the packs you've recommended, as well as Citrus Heads, had to redo the sculpting with the latter and export the NPC heads, but now it seems okay. I I also scaled down the eyes. While the sharp edges on the faces are gone, from afar my character still seems to be only pretty under certain lighting conditions. Once I get somewhere where are more shadows, the character's face still changes to the worse. Here's the comparison of one of my characters using different packs in a not-so-flattering lighting:
http://i64.tinypic.com/244uqtz.png
( from left to right: SG Textures Renewal, Mature Skin, Fair Skin Complexion, Real Girls)

As you can see, under a bad lighting every skin looks off in one way or another. Fair Skin Complexion seems to have the least issues, but I am not sure the doll-like look is exactly what I want.
Other characters seem to be having similar problems. I could try installing lighting mods, but that means the characters will look pretty only in my game, and, since most characters in this game are intended for export, in other games, they will also only look pretty under certain light, which means my work on their faces was not well done. I scaled down the eyes, yes, but there has to be something else I am doing wrong since they look like this under different textures. Or could it be because of me disabling the game's AA in favour of ICBINE's AA?

[ymf331]

i think maybe if you spread the irises out and lower the top eyelid that will help a bunch. also maybe lowering and widening her jaw a bit. yeah the fair skin looks damn good but it just doesn't go with the rest of my game.

[panurgy]

( from left to right: SG Textures Renewal, Mature Skin, Fair Skin Complexion, Real Girls)

As you can see, under a bad lighting every skin looks off in one way or another. Fair Skin Complexion seems to have the least issues, but I am not sure the doll-like look is exactly what I want.

Other characters seem to be having similar problems. I could try installing lighting mods, but that means the characters will look pretty only in my game, and, since most characters in this game are intended for export, in other games, they will also only look pretty under certain light, which means my work on their faces was not well done. I scaled down the eyes, yes, but there has to be something else I am doing wrong since they look like this under different textures.

AA will only reduce jaggies (poor AA like Skyrim's FXAA will also fuzz the picture), but won't effect lighting.

 

The posted screens look bloomy to me, unless the character is standing right in front of a light source? Is that vanilla Skyrim or an ENB? It looks too saturated for vanilla, but the lighting also appears too... ?unsophisticated? ...for an ENB preset with a high res texture.

 

Anyway, on to my point: it's great that you're being so detail oriented, but you can't control the lighting and visual mods that players use. The best you can do is try to make the faces meet your vision, and to be reasonable quality. When you post your mod you can also list what you were using to help users try to get the same look.

 

Bijin, in his mods, often provides heads, bodies, feet, hands, textures, and outfits. He does this so he can more precisely control the look, and so that player's don't need to download 20 different texture, hair, eyes, and body mods. It also means that he can use different assets for different NPCs.

 

But even with that level of detail, he can't do anything about the lighting. That's up to the player. I switch around between different ENB presets, and sometimes the change is so drastic that I open up showracemenu and change the skin tone to fit the new preset. I've also found that certain face textures look better with certain ENB presets.

 

Also, enbseries.ini has a whole section for subsurface scattering on faces. Some modders ignore it, others probably spend dozens of hours tweaking it. That can make a significant difference to how faces are rendered.

[ISOWarrior]

i think maybe if you spread the irises out and lower the top eyelid that will help a bunch. also maybe lowering and widening her jaw a bit. yeah the fair skin looks damn good but it just doesn't go with the rest of my game.

 Â

Gonna try that when I turn my Skyrim on, although I am not sure about the jaw widening part, because I loaded the char I play as, who has a wider jaw, amd she also has similar problems.

 

( from left to right: SG Textures Renewal, Mature Skin, Fair Skin Complexion, Real Girls)

As you can see, under a bad lighting every skin looks off in one way or another. Fair Skin Complexion seems to have the least issues, but I am not sure the doll-like look is exactly what I want.

Other characters seem to be having similar problems. I could try installing lighting mods, but that means the characters will look pretty only in my game, and, since most characters in this game are intended for export, in other games, they will also only look pretty under certain light, which means my work on their faces was not well done. I scaled down the eyes, yes, but there has to be something else I am doing wrong since they look like this under different textures.

 

AA will only reduce jaggies (poor AA like Skyrim's FXAA will also fuzz the picture), but won't effect lighting.

Â

The posted screens look bloomy to me, unless the character is standing right in front of a light source? Is that vanilla Skyrim or an ENB? It looks too saturated for vanilla, but the lighting also appears too... ?unsophisticated? ...for an ENB preset with a high res texture.

Â

Anyway, on to my point: it's great that you're being so detail oriented, but you can't control the lighting and visual mods that players use. The best you can do is try to make the faces meet your vision, and to be reasonable quality. When you post your mod you can also list what you were using to help users try to get the same look.

Â

Bijin, in his mods, often provides heads, bodies, feet, hands, textures, and outfits. He does this so he can more precisely control the look, and so that player's don't need to download 20 different texture, hair, eyes, and body mods. It also means that he can use different assets for different NPCs.

Â

But even with that level of detail, he can't do anything about the lighting. That's up to the player. I switch around between different ENB presets, and sometimes the change is so drastic that I open up showracemenu and change the skin tone to fit the new preset. I've also found that certain face textures look better with certain ENB presets.

Â

Also, enbseries.ini has a whole section for subsurface scattering on faces. Some modders ignore it, others probably spend dozens of hours tweaking it. That can make a significant difference to how faces are rendered.

Like I said, I am using ICBINE 3( Which is a SweetFX preset, because I don't think my old HP Pavillion dv6 2021er can handle ENB alongside so many scripted mods. I have activated the memory allocation fix in SKSE, I have a 7 GB Virtual RAM file while my actual RAM is only 3 GB, I still get CTDs from time to time and the FPS becomes abysmal after I activate Fraps. While I can optimize the textures like ymf331 said, I don't think the same can be done for the many scripted mods I have. ). Once I finish compressing the textures, if I get enough FPS, I might try installing an ENB, but so far from what I see for some reason dropping the graphics and compressing textures does little good.

I know how to make standalone followers, and I am adding my own textures and outfits into the package( might as well add a custom weapon for my upcoming SWTOR follower if I get permission to use Magicka Sabers Crystal, because Star Wars isn't Star Wars without the lightsabers) .

[panurgy]

ISOWarrior - I'm curious why there's no (or little) specularity, shadows, or face/texture details in your posts. I think that's a large part of why you're unhappy with the look. Even in bright or dark scenes, there should be some level of detail.

 

EDIT: ninja'd. Sorry, I think I saw ICBINE and my eyes slide right over it. That explains it. One of the things with ENB is that it fixes and greatly improves shadows. SweetFx/ReShade/ICBINE and others can't do that.

 

Here are some images in bright lighting:

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/GOu4GL2.png

 

http://i.imgur.com/dFHGGVV.png

 

 

 

And different textures/different char:

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/bcyKwp4.png

http://i.imgur.com/U7oJyRk.png

 

 

 

And some bad or non-ideal lighting:

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/ET1weLL.png

http://i.imgur.com/ea8Pz0c.png

 

http://i.imgur.com/2BhNOnF.png

 

 

 

 

Also an idea: when you're ready, get friends or volunteers to check your stuff out and give feedback. That might help with adjusting for a variety of settings (though you still won't be able to please everyone).

[ISOWarrior]

ISOWarrior - I'm curious why there's no (or little) specularity, shadows, or face/texture details in your posts. I think that's a large part of why you're unhappy with the look. Even in bright or dark scenes, there should be some level of detail.

Â

EDIT: ninja'd. Sorry, I think I saw ICBINE and my eyes slide right over it. That explains it. One of the things with ENB is that it fixes and greatly improves shadows. SweetFx/ReShade/ICBINE and others can't do that.

Â

Here are some images in bright lighting:

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/GOu4GL2.png

Â

http://i.imgur.com/dFHGGVV.png

 

 

Â

And different textures/different char:

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/bcyKwp4.png

http://i.imgur.com/U7oJyRk.png

 

 

Â

And some bad or non-ideal lighting:

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/ET1weLL.png

http://i.imgur.com/ea8Pz0c.png

Â

http://i.imgur.com/2BhNOnF.png

Â

 

 

Â

Also an idea: when you're ready, get friends or volunteers to check your stuff out and give feedback. That might help with adjusting for a variety of settings (though you still won't be able to please everyone).

Thing is, none of my friends play Skyrim, and I can't bother strangers about every minor edit I make. I don't even know if I will be actually releasing some of the stuff in the end, I can't post a testing request for absolutely everything that I make.

[TeofaTsavo]

I'm stumped. I will add, on my setup I get the dark blotches on SG Renewal and Mature skin with the abdomen being really bad. I suspect that may be enb related, but that's a wild guess. I just don't use them, and replace them on any standalone followers that have them.

 

You might be able to cut down a little of the doll effect on Fairskin with a more natural, less "painted" lip color.

Edited November 3, 2016 by TeofaTsavo