Advice on just starting to mod the game (goal: attractive females)

[braknar]

Admittedly this is a lot like a thread already posted but I need help starting from the ground up. Attractive is relative so I'll try to be a little specific. I'm looking for voluptuous female models with pretty faces and eyes with high res textures.

 

I know from the above it seems way to obvious to bother answering this thread, all I need to do is search the site. But my issue is I get confused on which mods to download first, which may conflict with eachother, which depend on others.

 

If anyone has a basic architecture they could plot out for me, or other advice I'd appreciate it, thank you!

[Jeir]

CBBE is one such mod that provides a voluptuous female body with high resolution textures, and it also has an optional face pack with various eyebrow options, and even an option to replace the dirt options in the character creation screen with various beauty marks. There are others, but, well...CBBE's the one I use. =D (Although, a Slim-based version as I don't like the size of the bust with Curvy.)

 

If you don't like the face pack (it's about 20-30 years younger than the default textures - late teens to mid/late twenties), then there are...well, loads of face mods available. The one currently in hotfiles seems quite popular. Just if you use the default CBBE body textures, you will have to use the TexBlendLite tool (included in CBBE) to blend the neck to the body to make a perfect neck/body transition.

 

Natural Eyes has always been my choice for eye texture replacers, but again, there are loads of eye retexture mods around you could use.

[braknar]

Thanks for the swift reply! Good info, I apppreciate it!

 

questions though:

 

1. if i go with CBBE i CANNOT use another body replacer like UNP?

 

2. can I use CBBE for one particular companion and UNP for another?

 

3. does CBBE apply to both the player character and the npcs?

 

Thanks!

[Jeir]

1. Nope. At least, not without mods*. But, even then you wouldn't be able to use them simultaneously on the same character. One body mods overwrites the other.

2. Yes, if they're standalone companions with their own meshes/textures. You will have to download and install outfits mods for both bodies, though, to ensure they retain the same shape and there aren't texture issues.

3. Yes. All female characters use the exact same female body mesh - unless you have certain mods.**

 

 

* Unique Bodies, Custom Races.

** Body by Race.

[braknar]

ahh ok I see, I remember that from Oblivion....thank you. Kind of a dumb question here: how would I go about making my own body type? would I only need the default game editor or would you suggest other 3rd party programs? (i am or was very familliar with 3D studio max)

[Jeir]

You can create pretty much any body shape you want with BodySlide. I certainly did. =)

 

There's something like 30 female body mods on Nexus alone (not including variations of existing bodies, and the few hundred thousand you can create with BodySlide), so you may as well look through those first before trying to create your own body mod.

I think you'd need a mesh editor (3ds, Blender) with a plugin that can convert the files into .nifs. Any more than that...no idea.

[braknar]

hmm sounds like bodyslide ought to do it. looking over the companions i see the terms 'replacer' and 'non-replacer' that's referring to whether or not they take the place of an existing npc follower?

 

also, and I'm sure I'd find it sooner or later if I looked but is there a mod that allows multiple followers/companions?

 

hmm another question, can I use different 'beauty' mods on different companions? I'm guessing I can if the companions are standalones I can?

Edited April 28, 2013 by braknar

[Jeir]

You're correct with the 'replacer' and 'non-replacer'. But, you should look at if they're 'standalone' if you wish to have different body mods - or simply different body shapes.

 

As for multiple followers, there are a large number of mods that do that. =) I use Amazing Follower Tweaks, as it has the most compatibility with certain unique follower mods (Atvir, Hoth, and others), and lets followers be immortal and wear whatever outfits I give them, but I did use UFO before that, which does what AFT does (bar be compatible with certain follower mods), plus more, and allows you to have many, many followers (which was useless for me as I never have followers unless forced to by the game - at least, I'll be solo until Atvir finally gets an update). UFO is more popular, according to the 'Companions - Other' category.

Edited April 28, 2013 by Jeir

[braknar]

hmmm ok thank you very much for all the awesome help so far :biggrin: ! now is it difficult, or even possible to tweak people's mod companions using bodyslide? sorry if the answer is obvious.

[VDarksteel]

Question, is CBBE compatible with XCE? I like those enhancements to the male faces.