What are uniform body meshes?

[Molokkx]

"What" or "How" might have been a good word to use as well in the title.

 

But it sounds a bit vague, right?

 

Let me explain...

 

So I was browsing some XNALara character models on DeviantArt. At some point I stumbled upon a specific Mileena model (from Mortal Kombat X) that can be used in XNALara. On a side note, I use that program a bit for some amateur posing stuff, and just checking body shapes around to build my own ones in Skyrim in order to "look alike" with some known characters (never end up with good results though).

 

However, as I keep browsing, I notice the same Mileena (MKX) model that is normally used in XNALara... but... standing in Whiterun. So I check it out and:

 

https://www.deviantart.com/user619/art/Mortal-Kombat-X-Mileena-Follower-andArmorSkyrimMod-678081339

 

The author, named user619 apparently made (or just... "extracted"? not sure) a whole bunch of those models (apparently XNALara-intended / imported characters) for Fallout 4 and Skyrim. He (or she?) has a Patreon. On that Mileena page (linked above) there's a short description below the picture. There's another link for the Patreon post where that Mileena model can be found and downloaded (it's free, no need to be a Patron to get it).

 

So I decide to download it and check it out...

 

BUT, what I'm seeing in the archive baffles me. There's two folders, one called Textures and one called Meshes. So far so good yeah? Yeah, that's what I thought. Then... in the Meshes folder there's... ONE single .NIF file (called Mileena.nif).

 

There's no separate meshes for the Head, Feet, Body, and Hands. It's a single, whole and 'uniform' mesh that has everything on it (Head, Body, Hand, Feet). Now, I'm no expert but I ASSUME that... somehow, someone somewhere started by extracting Mileena's actual model from the game itself (from MKX), yeah? If not, someone somewhere built an EXACT replica in a separate program like Blender or something along the lines (or 3DSMax? Etc). Then, after that, it ended up being a model that could be imported into (opened into) XNALara. And... then... made into a .NIF file to be compatible with the mesh formats that Skyrim (or rather the CreationEngine) uses. That's correct?

 

That's why, I think, it ends up being a "uniform mesh" (essentially because it comes from a completely different source game / engine, not originally intended for use in CreationEngine games).

 

Anyway, the main points and questions I'm bringing here are as follows:

 

1) Are those 'uniform' character meshes around permanently 'stuck' as such?

2) If not, then HOW does one go around and keep the exact body shape intact BUT with separate meshes?

3) What kind of Folder Structure needs to be used for cases like that? (And how about the Textures folder structure too?)

 

Now here's the thing. The main reasons as to why I'd want to end up "separating" that uniform mesh is because I would love to keep the body shapes portion of the mesh intact, and somehow replicate that shape with a custom UNP body in order to have a 3D vagina mesh inside as well. Because, obviously, such a uniform body mesh has absolutely zero HDT going.

 

I... really need some enlightenment about those types of uniform meshes and how to 'deal' with them if what we want to achieve is to essentially add HDT on them.

 

Thanks.

[Yinkle]

I had a look at the nif file in nifskope and the clothing is made up of several shapes so you could separate them into diferent mesh files and give them diferent partitions. Regarding the body shape you could replicate it by using cbbe/unp in outfit studio and adjusting the sliders to match as closely as possible. Obviously you'd want to scale the whole thing to match your chosen body type first of all.

 

Edit: obviously it would be best to do this in blender/3ds max to have greater control but you could do it in outfit studio too.

 

[Yinkle]

Here's a couple images, nifskope showing the separate shapes and blender showing it with a cbbe reference shape- here you could adjust the scale and armature to match the reference shape.

[Molokkx]

Oh wow!

 

Ok... well, that's for a rather more advanced type of tempering with game files than what I am used to. I've never, ever done any type of 'modeling' / sculpting of 3D models of anything in the history of ever (well I DO use sliders in BodySlide & Outfit Studio to 'shape up' my preferences... but that's just moving sliders around, that's easy). However, since I REALLY want to replicate (as close as possible) some of the characters that guy made (user619) then I think I have no other choices but to start learning how to do that stuff. If I can end up having my character (and some of my NPCs) looking like Mileena and some of the others that the guy made then I'll be in virtual heaven.

 

Thanks a lot for looking into it, much appreciated