I guess I'm trying to make a mod?

[Neocamelot]

Hi,

 

So, I downloaded this "no pants" option:

 

https://www.deviantart.com/padme4000/art/DAI-QF-Antaam-saar-XPS-701775684

 

(Credit to padme4000 for extracting)

 

Which appears to be extracted and edited textures from the game. I might be wrong. I would like to put this back INTO my game. Everything is .XPS and . PNG. Here is my problem. I'm about as tech-savvy as a potato. I think I MIGHT have found some tutorials on how to take this bundle of things and make it useful online, but I can't make sense of them.

 

Can somebody, anybody, please, help me figure out what I'm supposed to do? Like, in small, idiot-proof words?

 

I just really hate the sack-looking pants on this armor.

 

Alternatively, if anybody knows of anyone who already made a mod like this, please let me know.

 

Thank you.

[unniebee]

This appears to be an edited mesh AND texture, right? (I'm at work atm and can't download the file to check.) Either that or it's a file that replaces the legs of the Antaam-Saar with the legs of the Nude model somehow, I'm not sure which.

 

If it is the first one, in theory you could use DAI Mod Maker to create a mod that replaces the vanilla Antaam-Saar model mesh and texture for Qunari with this one. If that's the case, I could attempt to write out instructions, or I could try it for you when I have time (which might be a week or two.) If it's the second, you might be able to do the same but I wouldn't know how.

 

The Antaam-Saar is a DLC armor though, and sometimes Mod Maker doesn't like to make edits to DLC items, so this may not be possible at all, at least not through Mod Maker. I think that Frosty mods can edit textures and replace armors or armor parts, but not import changes to model meshes. But I don't use Frosty so I can't tell you that for certain.

 

Sorry I can't be of more help, but hopefully this is a start.

 

 

**EDIT - Upon second look it seems that this person is extracting/editing models from DAI to use in other games/applications, so this may not be set up in a way that you can get it back into the game at all, at least not without 100% recreating the work yourself. DAI modding is super finicky.

 

I would bet that this armor isn't moddable at all with the current tools, if only just because if it WAS editable, SOS Qunari Overhaul probably would have included an edit, instead of editing the Saarebas armor. With that said, you might be able to make these same changes to the Saarebas armor instead, but you might have to sculpt legs out of the pants mesh by hand, which would be very difficult.

Edited October 24, 2018 by unniebee

[Neocamelot]

I think, I might be wrong but just looking at the NAMES of the files and where they are located, I think this might be a retex of the saarebas armor already. What I see in Mod Maker is that there are 4 files labeled uni_qf_army_bas01a. These are DDS files, I assume. The file I downloaded has, among other things, four files with the same label, and 3 of them share the letters afterward (d,n,s), while one is different. These are .PNG files. I don't know if that explains the situation any better or not. When I tried to open the uni_qf_army_bas01a files in mod maker, it would not let me select import or export. I don't know if I did it wrong. I assume I did it wrong.

 

Thank you unniebee for responding.

[unniebee]

Okay, then I think you might be able to create a mod that replaces these, assuming you are in the right place. (There may be more than one set of uni_qf_army_bas01a files, if they're in different folders within the file structure.) You would need to download a .DDS editing extension for Photoshop or some other way of converting the PNGs to DDS, and take a look at the original textures to be sure they're the right ones, and then import the new DDS files in on top of the files you're trying to replace.

 

The letters refer to the type of texture. "D" is Diffuse, which is the basic color and painted details. "N" is the Normal, which tells the engine how to render 3D details like bumps and ridges. "S" is the Spec, which tells the engine how to render lighting on the object, as in how shiny or reflective it is. The last one in the vanilla game is probably "T" for Tint, which tells the engine what materials to use on the armor and where.

 

If the other files in the download are meshes, you may have to create two separate mods - one for the textures and one for the mesh. This is because different versions of DAI Mod Maker have bugs or issues with one or the other. So you may have to use Version 19 to create the texture replacer and Version 16 to create the mesh replacer, as an example. (Don't quote me on that, I'd have to do research and figure out exactly which version has trouble with what.)

 

The mesh may also be in the wrong format - it needs to be in OBJ format with exactly the right settings in order to import correctly, and if the person who made the changes didn't keep EXACTLY the right number of vertices, it won't import at all.

 

Additionally - do you know for a fact that the person who edited these is allowing others to make mods out of their edits? Just a thought. I didn't see anything upon a cursory glance so if you're dead set on this you may want to ask.

[Neocamelot]

All the files in the download that pertain to the armor are .png. I don't see any of the mesh files, just the 4 textures. Does it matter if there are no meshes? Does it matter if the 4th file of the textures has a different letter ("m" instead of "t")?

 

It's starting to sound like I may be up a creek on this. Thank you for all your advice unniebee.

 

No, I do not know for a fact. I do know they say on their page specifically NOT to credit them for anything other than extracting the textures. I also assumed it wouldn't be a problem unless I wanted to post it to the nexus, which I wouldn't feel comfortable doing knowing I have no ability to troubleshoot if there are problems, or that half the work wasn't mine in the first place. I just wanted it for personal use.

 

Thank you.

[unniebee]

Ah yeah, if you're just using it for personal use it would be fine.

 

However, if all that's in there is textures, then I think you may indeed be up a creek. My guess is that the person extracted the FemQunari "nude" model as well as the armor, and replaced the legs from the armor with the legs from the nude model. As far as I am aware, that is not possible to do within the game with our current modding capabilities. (Unless the Frosty Mod Manager can do it, but if it can, I wouldn't know how.)

 

Sorry that I don't have a better answer for you.

[Cailan33]

Just here to say thank you. I always found the trousers off and not fitting to the rest of the Antaam-Saar outfit. Without trousers it looks MUCH better. And no i am normally not into too skimpy or totally oversexualized outfits, but i think it just fits better and a bit more sexy doesn't hurt. Sadly i can't find it on Nexus and it's really sad, no other ones tried to mad this outfit and upload it on nexus. :/