SSE Texture set flags

[Mebantiza]

Q: What are DNAM texture flags actually for, and what do they DO.

 

The CK wiki, is great for listing things (in some cases), but is useless (in many cases), for explaining what the settings actually do, ie what they are FOR.

 

 

No specular map is straight forward enough. Use this if there is no normal map available. It is not clear, what impact this will have if you dont flag this in the rare cases no NM is present. However, I do see this set from time to time with textures that clearly DO have normal maps aka specular maps. So again, it is not clear how this is meant to be used.

 

FaceGen Textures. No idea what this does, the wiki does not even list this flag. Why, when and or where you would use this option.

 

Q: I am rebuilding an old mod and I noticed one of its sets of armor, has flags all overt the place, including almost all pieces have this set. This makes no sense to me, but I am not 100% sure if there is some weird reason for it. Or it could just be a flat-out error from ages ago.

 

Has Model Space Normal Map. Again, this one is unclear to me as mods are all over place on this one. Some mods have this set, some do not. I assume Has model space Normal Map, simply means, Has a Normal Map? What is the effect of this flag not being set in a mod? Will it ignore the Normal Map even IF the texture set has them set properly in slot 2? Or is this flag used by the game at all even??? :confused:

 

 

Going by Skyrim.esm, it seems to use Facegen textures a lot, for NPCs skin, hands feet all of it.

Oddly enough, all the Hold armor texture sets, use this flag as well. Again, what would be the reason for this?

 

However, for the other 2 flags, they use these very sparingly. Again, there is no way to know if this is by design, or simply laziness on BSG part.

Edited September 9, 2018 by Mebantiza

[FrankFamily]

- No specular map should be set if the item doesn't have a specular map. The specular map is stored in the alpha channel hence the clarification in the wiki of ticking that if it has no NM, since no NM means no spec. Armor assets should have normal and specular if they are properly made. Having specular map but erroneously ticking it might make it ignore the specular map and therefore looking bad. Not sure what the consequence of the opposite error.

- FaceGen is textures related to the character's faces, tatoos and that stuff. For armor you would not tick it.

- Model space normal map is opposed to tangent space normal maps. You can easily identify it in that a tangent space is very blue with some pink and green tones while a model/object/world space has a lot more green and red in there. Check this comparison for example:

https://i.stack.imgur.com/Mfunv.png so you know what you are looking for. Now, skyrim uses tangent space for the majority of assets (including weapons and armor, so you would not tick it), bodies use model space. This flag being wrong probably means it will look bad because it will expect one thing and find another.

Edited September 9, 2018 by FrankFamily

[Mebantiza]

Thank you, clarifies things a great deal. I might have trouble identifying tangent v space map at least until I get used to it.

 

Looking at my current mods, I suspect a lof ot these flags are likely wrong, or in error in some way or another.

 

If I follow what you are saying, it is pretty safe(in most cases) to leave Model space ON, for anything related to bodies, NPCs etc, and reasonably safe to go with OFF, for world objects armor weapons, landscapes etc?

 

No spec seems to be a rarity, but I see it checked already in some mods, so, yet another thing to fix. I will likely end up reviewing all my mods TXT setting for these issues.

 

Facegen > is that a blanket flag or anything related to head? I only ask not because I cant read, but I am seeing a lot of eye textures for example that dont have this set, so I wondering if there are exceptions there.

[FrankFamily]

I'm not certain on what is facegen and what isn't so can't give specifics there, not my area.

 

Onto what I do know, here's a probably clearer comparison of model space (right) vs tangent space (left). Notice how flat areas with no detail are always a specific blue shade that is very prevalent in tangent, whereas flat areas on model space can have various colors depending on position and direction of that texture in the model. For example the back of the armor has a different "color palette" to the front in model space but are pretty similar in tangent space. And the rainbow gradients in arms and legs in model space as it wraps around the 3d model versus fairly uniformly colored in tangent space.

 

 

http://www.mediafire.com/convkey/a196/s3nkih4k5xfb8qhzg.jpg

 

 

Edited September 9, 2018 by FrankFamily

[Mebantiza]

Yes, I think I understand much better with that. The overwhelming majoirty of NM, definitely fall into the tangent. Ill go over my mods NM at some point, but, yes, I see what you meant by most mods being tangents. Im hard-pressed to think of any of my files that use Model space, but Im sure to come across some. What I don't doubt is, that I will find plenty of mods that use these settings incorrectly. Ive fixed dozens of pieces on the mod I am working on updating alone.

 

For example, I pulled up another armor mod at random, and found 2 hats in it with facegen flags set.

 

Many thanks. :thumbsup:

Edited September 9, 2018 by Mebantiza

[FrankFamily]

Yes, definitely the majority of assets use tangent space, off the top of my head using model space there's the body, face, feet and hands normals and perhaps creatures too but I'm not certain.