[LE] Body texture path question

[Hoamaii]

Hi guys,

 

Silly question from someone who's been modding for years and should know better, but...

 

Do body meshes and textures absolutely need to be placed in the Actors\Character\CharacterAssets folders to display properly in game?

 

I've been creating different texture sets and adding them to a few different meshes (same skeleton) which I've added as "armors" in the CK - just for testing purposes, to be able to quickly compare in game which look ok and which don't. But they never display in game - my character's body textures never change.

 

As for the moment, I've placed all meshes and textures in custom folders, I'm wondering if that was the wrong choice.

 

If I place one of these meshes in the characterAssets folder however, I can add the new mesh to my inventory and equip it like an armor no matter what it's named. But of course, if all diffuse need to be named "malebody_1.dds", that sort of defeats my (naive?) idea to be able to change body textures like your change armors...

 

Any idea from someone who's more experienced than I am in this matter?

 

Thanks a bunch in advance! :)

 

 

[maxarturo]

"Do body meshes and textures absolutely need to be placed in the Actors\Character\CharacterAssets folders to display properly in game?"

No.

The actors on the picture bellow have all their textures on my mod's texture folder (data/texture/XMD/actors/.../...), as all my actors and they all work just fine in game.

The same does not apply for 'Face Generation Data' + 'Geometry' + 'Tint', those need to be in the same vanilla folder that CK creates with your mod's name.

"But they never display in game - my character's body textures never change."

I'll write you a detailed guide on how to apply the body texture to an npc tomorrow, right now i'm preparing to go to sleep and my brain is not in full functionality.

Have a happy modding.

Edited July 26, 2020 by maxarturo

[Hoamaii]

Hey thanks Max for replying so fast!.. :)

 

And yeah, not trying to change faces, it's just different bodies (and hands - as "gloves") that I'm trying to equip as armors (or clothes) to test them.

 

Not trying to assign these to any NPC, just as alternate equipable bodies for the player.

 

I guess I must be doing something wrong then - could it be the fact that I created these as "armors" in the CK? (can't see why tho' because when you equip any armor, you still equip a body with it) Or something as stupid as keeping my "0 NiNode" named "MaleBody_1"?..

 

Yeah, you're right, too late to persist tonight ;)

 

Thanks again!

[maxarturo]

I was so tired yesterday that i didn't process correctly your post, sorry.

Writing you a detailed guide on how to apply BODY textures to an npc that uses "Face Generation Data" makes no sense now, since what you are trying to do does not require this and has nothing to do with it.

What you are trying to do is one of the 6 add-on ideas i had for the mod i recently released, but when i finish the "Base - Core" mod, i had already reached my boiling point... and could not mod no further... i had to stop and take a long break from modding.

2+ years working for at least 6 hours everyday on it was more than enough for me...

//.......... // .........//

To your issue:

The idea theoretically can be done, especially considering that the game's transformations are npcs wearing a 'full body armor' of the transforming race.

- 1 mesh werewolf body armor.

- 1 mesh vampire lord body armor.

* In this case the texture path plays no role on where they are placed, as long as they are inside 'textures'.

* Also 'Face Generation Data' + 'Geometry' + 'Tint' play no role, since the armor can not use them, those are only used for 'Humanoids Npcs' (character creation / actor creation through CK's actor menu), so you don't need them to beggin with.

* Also since you will be creating armors you don't actually need to use 'Texture Sets', you can assign the textures directly to the meshes in NifSkope and add those meshes as 'New' to Ck, plus the meshes and textures do not have to follow the vanilla naming system (malebody_1.dds... etc).

As i said before i didn't reach the point to actually start doing this...

But for the body parts to act as armors they must share the same settings / parameters as all armors parts do (NiNods, skin instances... etc).

OR

Make all the body parts 1 mesh and make them 1 mesh body armor, as the vanilla transforming races work.

I don't know if any of this does actually help you, and sorry again for misunderstanding you !.

Edited July 27, 2020 by maxarturo

[NexusComa2]

I'ved used NifSkope to change the path to the textures and they all work fine. Learned this from looking at a few stand alone versions of followers. Takes a bit of looking but there is a place you can simply edit the path ... super easy stuff and works fine. You could also do it from the Creation Kit.

[Hoamaii]

Thank you both for trying to help, guys! :)

 

Seems I've found where my issue comes from: I use "Skin Tint" as Shader Type (type 5) in the BSLightingShaderProperty in my Nifskope settings - and it seems that the game reserves the "5" shader type to always fetch predefined Skin Textures, so that shader type will ALWAYS override whatever textures are specified in all of my "fake armor" meshes by the default skin texture.

(source: Perraine's post in https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/660282-how-to-stop-skyrim-which-seems-to-override-custom-body-texture).

 

I suppose I could change the ShaderType to default but that would mean loosing my character's skin tint, and probably create awful neck seams which sort of defeats my purpose of using other body meshes/textures as armors.

 

You're right, Max, theoratically it is feasable, and probably the easiest way would be to create one specific Race for each set of my BodyMesh/TextureSet and change my PC's race everytime I want to switch bodytypes. Other solutions involve swappingTextureSets with Skse scripts - feasable too but sort of far fetched when my sole purpose was to be able to test my various body textures in game without having to quit game, tweak my Actors' data and load game again each time.

 

Yep, I completely relate to the "modding burnout" which can hit you when you've spent endless hours and days on the same mod - happened to me this winter after spending months on new custom animations and scripts. That mod's still unreleased but I'll get there... eventually ;).

 

Thanks again! Cheers :)

[maxarturo]

Just a heads up.

If you use the SKSE function to change textures you will encounter an issue:

- The issue is that you won't be able to see the texture until you 'change cell' or 'disable / enable' or 'unload / load'... etc, the texture change does not happen when the scripts changes the textures (in front of you / in real time), it does change but the mesh retains the texture that it's in memory until the memory is reset / cleaned.

Have a happy modding.

[Hoamaii]

Oooh... thanks a lot for the heads up, Max!..

 

I guess I'll be testing my textures the old fashion way then: exit game, change my textures in the date folder, reload game... ;)