Need help with Slime Race.

[xenic]

The basic goal of this mod is to make a race of slime people. I want it to be compatible with CBBE and UNP. I would like the texture to look fluid but not sure if it is possible.

I am learning as I go. So far I can edit the character info in the CK but where should I go next? I started by editing the Brenton race.

 

Is there a way to place a recolored water texture to a character?

Could the texture of "water" in Apocraphya be used? Would that make Dragonborn DLC a pre-requisite?

Is there a way to make a fluid texture for a character?

Is there anyone who would like to help in any way?

 

Added some photos for an idea. They are pics I pulled off Google image search. 

 

EDIT: Here is what I have so far: 

• "Slime Race" shows up in menu.
• Hair color is set to green. (placeholder until I learn how to set better colors)
• Racial description. (easy, I know. but I didn't know it 10min ago)

What I still need:

• A way to add a custom texture. (going to start simple and work from there,) 

Which .dds file do I need to copy and alter? I am starting with the female character 1st.

EDIT 2/27/2013 : I am working on getting the file structure and proper files right. I am comparing my mod to other custom race mods. If anyone is interested in helping please let me know. I am linking the zip below but it is not a working version. Right now it contains the file structure of another mod (to see if I am on the right track). The only things working are Slime Race in menu, green hair color only (after you select it), and description.
 

slime race images.7z

[Raith009]

that would be something really deferent then most race mods something id like to see (me is not a mod maker just an fyi)

[lindazana]

This idea has my own support as well! But, a word of warning. A race that is translucent will look very, very bad in any armor, as most armor textures are "one way", or invisible from the inside. So you may be wearing boots, and see the curve of them on your ankle, then they would vanish as you saw them through the character.

[Yanazake]

As lindazana said, you'd have to edit most armors for the race too. It's simple, you just have to open it on nifskope and edit the texture property to be "double sided". Then you'd have to make armor addon for eeeevery single equipable item. Most armors already have some forced double-sided textures, but not all of them.

 

The part that made me curious was about the transparent body. You'd have to make some parts not so transparent, like the head, or the inner meshes like eyes, and mouth would appear thru it and look VERY strange.

 

I'm not a fan of monster stuff [i'm sure you're trying to make a monster girl...] but I thought I'd share some hints on where you should focus your attention on this race.

[zebulous]

Why not reverse the fix for one sided armor and apply it to the face?  Why not make the eyes, teeth, lips, eyebrows, lashes, and tongue so that they are one sided?  That way she wouldn't have to be opaque anywhere.  I would think that the eyes would be mostly transparent except for a translucent iris anyway, no white just the same color as the jell.  Not sure about the pupils though.

 

(also not a modder)

[xenic]

I'm new to trying something like this. What should I be using to edit the body 1st. I plan to do this in stages as I learn. 

 

Step 1: I want to make the body a different color/texture. (What is a simple way to do this? A good starting point?)

 

Also if I can get this to work and fine tune it, I plan on doing more out there things. As for the transparency issue. For now, I may not make her transparent but fluid. If that is even possible. 

 

 

[xenic]

I figured out how to edit .dds files in GIMP and export them as .dds files. But I think I am doing something wrong since nothing changed. What I did was a transparent layer on top and made it green. I figured that would change the over all look. Also bright colors are easy to see if I got the basic idea of "how to" right. I am very sleepy now. If anyone has some insight, please share. I will post what I have so far. It's not much but it's a start.

 

EDIT: I have also tried to draw directly onto the models (thinking it would show up). So far, nothing. What am I doing wrong?

 

EDIT 2: I am beating my head against the wall. I am missing something but don't know where to go from here.

[NBIemand]

You will probably have to set some sort of tag in nifskope to add transparency, like how you'd mask a part of a mesh by using a certain property in nifskope, then using the texture's alpha channel to mask anything you don't want to see by simply painting it black(you're gonna have to look that up, not entirely sure how it worked anymore)

 

Anyway, I suppose you could then just make the whole alpha channel a greyish color to make it see through. Not entirely sure if this works tho, as I've only used it for masking before. Not sure if it supports half tones. If not there might still be a different tag/property/whatever its called for that...

 

EDIT: found this on nexus:

 

Makeing textures Transparent for Skyrim involves masking the Alpha layer
in Gimp and enbableing the Alpha properties in the .nif.

First I'll explain the Alpha layer mask it's pretty simple so:
1. select your layer
2. right click select "Add Layer Mask..." choose "Transfer layer's alpha channel" then add
3. make changes any way you want - White = 0%(Transpaent) - Black = 100%(Transpaent), Greys vary in translucent
[
if you want suggestions: a) you can select areas and Collors>invert
paint on the Alpha channel, I suggest use the pencil c) a bit of both
]
4. right click select "Apply Layer Mask" and save

If you need to inable the Alpha properties in the .nif read this.

 

This even has the tutorial in it that I found when I needed to mask something, I think this should get you quite a way ^^;

 

Oops, also! If your textures don't show up, make sure they are in the right place in your skyrim directory. You can check by opening the texture in the skyrim directory, and see if its not your standard texture. in that case you've probably saved it to your desktop or wherever you keep work in progress.