Having trouble fixing smp clipping on clothing

[AlphaAndOmega]

So, there is this mod https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/113540?tab=description that works fine by default, but if I significantly alter the PregnancyBelly morph it starts looking like this:

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This is considered suboptimal, there is significant clipping and the sudden cutoff curve looks off. Based on my understanding, it means that the NPC Belly bone needs to be expanded in outfit studio in order to create collision and thus solve the issue. Opening it and looking at the weights I see the following:

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The image is consistent with the experimental data, the cutoff line is visible and the left and right sides lack collision, thus the clipping. So, I change the weights to cover a larger area, following the rule of "the more it changes, the stronger the weight":

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I save the changes, rebuild the Bodyslide and reopen the game where I'm greeted by the following:

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. The last image is with PregnancyBelly at 0.

And that's where I get confused. While the changes did remove most of the clipping, why did the shading break down all of a sudden? Is it the normalmap that's acting up? I don't remember anything like this being covered in the tutorials. Did I miss a step or two in the process?

 

Yeah, I'm not sure where to go from here, will appreciate any input.

Edited April 26, 2024 by AlphaAndOmega

[traison]

First thing to do when testing this would be to disable physics. You don't want physics moving things around when you're trying to validate changes made to the mesh.

 

Anyhow, I recall there's a bug in Outfit Studio's weight painting tools where around the edges of a painted area you'll get these really sharp cut-offs. If I remember correctly, the fix is to go around the newly painted area and unpaint the outermost painted polygons. Not entirely sure, it's been so long. Its as if the paint strength around the outer edge was so small that it either confuses BodySlide as its building the mesh, or the game itself. Sure you have the newest Outfit Studio? This seems like a thing that would have been fixed?

[AlphaAndOmega]

23 minutes ago, traison said:

Sure you have the newest Outfit Studio? This seems like a thing that would have been fixed?

It was, in fact, not the newest one, but updating and redoing the process did not fix the mystery shading thing.

[traison]

1 hour ago, AlphaAndOmega said:

It was, in fact, not the newest one, but updating and redoing the process did not fix the mystery shading thing.

 

Time to undo the paint around the edges then like I suggested. It's a trial-n-error process as only the game will show the effect; that is, if you want to only pick out the problematic polygons.

[AlphaAndOmega]

7 hours ago, traison said:

 

Time to undo the paint around the edges then like I suggested. It's a trial-n-error process as only the game will show the effect; that is, if you want to only pick out the problematic polygons.

As an attempt to gather information, I'd decided to remove all the weighting from the NPC Belly bone, in order to see what would happen. I'd expected the clothing to clip through the belly entirely. Instead, it looks exactly like the initial pictures that I've provided. This makes me think that the part that changes shading is inherently different from everything else since it belongs to the SMP skirt that has a freedom of movement that is controlled by its specific set of bones, while cutoff and up does not. Maybe it means that it's actually a XML thing, rather than a Bodyslide one?

 

And I still don't understand why it didn't break.

Edited April 27, 2024 by AlphaAndOmega

[traison]

4 hours ago, AlphaAndOmega said:

Maybe it means that it's actually a XML thing, rather than a Bodyslide one?

 

And that is why, like I said previously, you disable physics before trying to validate changes made to a mesh.

[AlphaAndOmega]

11 hours ago, traison said:

 

And that is why, like I said previously, you disable physics before trying to validate changes made to a mesh.

Fair enough. Disabled physics and started editing. The cutoff line did not go away, despite all my attempts. Since it looks perfectly in Outfit Studio, and wildly different ingame with physics off (where it should be identical), it makes me think that's something originating from some internal workings of this specific outfit. And with all that, it now looks worse at an unmorphed body (the cloth now floats above due to agressive weighting) and this shading thing is still very present. 

 

I don't know anymore, it may be beyond my abilities here.