HOW TO MERGE FEMALEBODY_1.DDS TEXTURE AND A TATTOO TEXTURE.DDS INTO ONE .DDS TEXTURE FILE?

[Ghost_XXX]

i am creating a follower mod in creation kit....i want my follower having a skin with tattoos on it...i have the female body texture files and also the tattoo texture file from a mod..both are in .dds format...how can i merge the tattoo into the female skin texture file???

 

also how can i add scars in my follower face in creation kit??i mean i can not find the scars texture files??

[KoolHndLuke]

What are you using, Photoshop or Gimp? I do tats for my chars sometimes in PS and maybe once or twice in GIMP. Easier in PS. Really all you are doing in either is opening one file and drag/drop or import the other and place it where you want it. Then you have to blend to make it look good. Should be some tutorials on this for Skyrim if you haven't looked.

Edited May 16, 2023 by KoolHndLuke

[duy123a]

Well PS is indeed easier but no native support for dds file, even with plugin it still can't export as BC7 compression. I recommend use GIMP or Photopea instead.

[KoolHndLuke]

1 hour ago, duy123a said:

still can't export as BC7 compression

Just asking, but is BC7 that much better in visual quality than DXT5 in Skyrim? Seems like overkill for a game this old.

 

Edited May 16, 2023 by KoolHndLuke

[bnub345]

• I would recommend Paint.net for this kind of thing, it has native .dds support, is free and is faster and simpler to use than GIMP. Just open the body texture, create a new layer, copy the tat onto this layer, then merge the tat layer with the body layer. 
• Scars are not a texture, they are a head part added to the mesh, like eyebrows or hair. Same panel in the CK.
• All of the old texture formats from the LE days are inferior to BC7, they either sacrifice compression quality or file size. Whether you can actually tell the difference looking at something in the game, who knows. 

[venomr]

I use xmh tools.

 

You can right click a dds file and change it into a png file, then edit the png files inside your art program of choice. Once done, you can convert the png file into a dds file.

 

XMH Tools - DDS thumbnails BC7 - Image Suite at Skyrim Special Edition Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com)