SlaveTats

[Aki K]

1 hour ago, DocClox said:

Hmm....

 

• Mismatch between the JSON file name and the texture folder?
• Mismatch between the file name in the JSON and the name of the texture file?
• Error in the DDS file?

Post the pack here and I'll take a look at it.

 

I'm not sure I can.  Technically speaking, the DDS file isn't mine to post.  It belongs to another person.  I was just using it for practice because I don't currently have the programs to make my own designs.

 

Edit:  To explain further, and maybe this is related to the problem.

 

I took the pennywise makeup overlay for racemenu https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/90174 specifically the female variant.  I then took the DDS and gave it an easier name to work with (just Pennywise) and tried to follow the instructions from step 6 on.  Maybe this approach isn't possible?  I was hoping to convert some of my favorite warpaint mods into a slavetats format for easier use, and when I have the right programs make some designs of my own.

 

1. Pick a UV map to work from. Basically, that means finding the skin texture from your favorite body mod. Personally, I use the UNP UV map.
2. Copy the skin texture into an image editor that supports layers (such as Photoshop or GIMP)
3. Select the color #444544. That color will be replaced by the user's chosen color when the tattoo is applied. All other colors will be displayed normally.
4. On a layer above the skin texture, draw your tattoo. Leave the layer background transparent.
5. Save just the tattoo layer (NOT the skin texture) as a DDS file with a transparent background.
6. Create a folder called Textures\Actors\Character\slavetats\yourthing somewhere (not actually inside Skyrim's Data folder, yet. Just on the desktop is fine)
7. Place your DDS file into Textures\Actors\Character\slavetats\yourthing
8. Create a text file called Textures\Actors\Character\slavetats\yourthing.json containing a tattoo registry for that DDS file (we'll cover that shortly)
9. Add the Textures folder to a .zip or .7z file

 

and before the inevitable comment, I had no intention of posting the results without first obtaining mod author permission.  This is purely for practice and to better understand how it works.

[DocClox]

5 hours ago, Aki K said:

I'm not sure I can.  Technically speaking, the DDS file isn't mine to post.  It belongs to another person.  I was just using it for practice because I don't currently have the programs to make my own designs. 

 

OK. So take the Pennywise image out of the folder, copy in one from the tatpacks on the download page, give it the same name as the pennywise dds had and see if that appears. If it does, you know it's a problem with the dds. If not, post the pack with the replaced image and we'll check it for errors.

 

Also, Paint.net is good for editing dds files, and I like inkscape for designing tattoos and blender for projecting them onto the model - all free software, if that's a factor.

[Aki K]

12 hours ago, DocClox said:

 

OK. So take the Pennywise image out of the folder, copy in one from the tatpacks on the download page, give it the same name as the pennywise dds had and see if that appears. If it does, you know it's a problem with the dds. If not, post the pack with the replaced image and we'll check it for errors.

 

Also, Paint.net is good for editing dds files, and I like inkscape for designing tattoos and blender for projecting them onto the model - all free software, if that's a factor.

Thanks.  Free is very much a factor right now.  I'll give this a try and see if it works and let you know the results when I have the time.  If I can figure it all out, I may get to work making some cool tats (though I am a terrible artist ^-^.)

 

Edit:  So it still didn't work.  Gonna post the test .rar files.  If you can look at it and see what I'm doing wrong, I would appreciate it.

 

 

Test.rar

[Aki K]

I GOT IT!  I was missing a quotation in part of the .json and accidentally added an unnecessary word.

 

So I had:

 

[
    {"name": Pennywise ", "section":"Pennywise", "texture":"Pennywise\\Face_Pennywise.dds", "area":"Face"}
]

 

 

The above is missing a quotation mark right before the first pennywise and has an uneccessary "Face_" before the last one

What I needed was

 

[
    {"name": "Pennywise ", "section":"Pennywise", "texture":"Pennywise\\Pennywise.dds", "area":"Face"}
]

 

 

Sadly, it was all for not.  The overlay was not designed with slavetats in mind.  So my characters face turned pitch black with some glowing clown makeup.  But that doesn't matter.  Now I know how to make my own!

 

Thank you so much for your help!

 

EDIT:  So...paint.net sent me to a construction/architecture website.  I get the feeling this is not what you meant.  Can you provide a link to paint and blender?

[karlpaws]

1 hour ago, Aki K said:

EDIT:  So...paint.net sent me to a construction/architecture website.  I get the feeling this is not what you meant.  Can you provide a link to paint and blender?

https://www.getpaint.net/index.html

[Aki K]

32 minutes ago, karlpaws said:

https://www.getpaint.net/index.html

Thank you.

 

I have one last question before I start making my own.  The instructions say to load a UV map of the body I want to work on.  Where do I find the UV map?  For example, I usually do stuff with CBBE.  But there are a lot of files in CBBE and I don't know which one I should be looking for.  Maybe that's not even the right place at all?

[WaxenFigure]

2 hours ago, Aki K said:

Thank you.

 

I have one last question before I start making my own.  The instructions say to load a UV map of the body I want to work on.  Where do I find the UV map?  For example, I usually do stuff with CBBE.  But there are a lot of files in CBBE and I don't know which one I should be looking for.  Maybe that's not even the right place at all?

In the textures for the body (or head depending on where you are placing the tattoo), look for the <texture>_msn.dds file.

[seanthiar]

when I install slavetats latest version it request submit as a master - why ? Can you please remove that if it is not needed 'cause there are mods that does not need submit to work like the "Branding device of doom".

[DocClox]

7 hours ago, WaxenFigure said:

In the textures for the body (or head depending on where you are placing the tattoo), look for the <texture>_msn.dds file.

 

Just to add, you may need a BSA browser/unpacker if the texture is packed in an archive.

[Aki K]

Okay, is there a video tutorial?  I tried using the GIMP software, and had some success "converting" warpaints to slavetats.  But now when I try to make my own they're all WAY oversized.  And to add insult to injury, the color is pitch black despite be setting the color to #444544 AND insuring the background layer is transparent.

 

When i try to put some writing on the belly it only appears on the back.  When i try to put in on the back, it covers the entire back (arms and all) even if I just want the upper back.  This would be much easier with a video tutorial but I can't find one.

[Alter Native]

36 minutes ago, Aki K said:

Okay, is there a video tutorial?  I tried using the GIMP software, and had some success "converting" warpaints to slavetats.  But now when I try to make my own they're all WAY oversized.  And to add insult to injury, the color is pitch black despite be setting the color to #444544 AND insuring the background layer is transparent.

 

When i try to put some writing on the belly it only appears on the back.  When i try to put in on the back, it covers the entire back (arms and all) even if I just want the upper back.  This would be much easier with a video tutorial but I can't find one.

Have a look on how UV Maps work. They basically tell which part of the tattoo goes where when applying a 2D texture on a 3D object. I don't know a good tutorial on UV-Maps, but just do some googeling. You can export UV maps from a Skyrim object using NifSkope. 

I recommend Mudbox for creating your own tattoos. Have a look at this tutorial if you're interested:

 

 

 

Edit: She actually explains all the stuff about importing textures and the use of UV Maps in the end if you're only interested in that part. 

[Aki K]

1 hour ago, Alter Native said:

Have a look on how UV Maps work. They basically tell which part of the tattoo goes where when applying a 2D texture on a 3D object. I don't know a good tutorial on UV-Maps, but just do some googeling. You can export UV maps from a Skyrim object using NifSkope. 

I recommend Mudbox for creating your own tattoos. Have a look at this tutorial if you're interested:

 

 

Edit: She actually explains all the stuff about importing textures and the use of UV Maps in the end if you're only interested in that part. 

I see.  I was doing things very wrong from the looks of it.  But I'm going to test something.  A shortcut idea so to speak.

 

Edit:  So my shortcut idea didn't work.  For those who might have a similar idea, let me save you some time.  i tried to open up a tattoo that already existed and simply place my design on top, then delete the original layer.  I figured if I did that it would borrow from the shape of the original file.  It didn't at all.  So a small amount of text absolutely covered my character.  On the bright side, fixed my coloring issue.

 

Gonna be a long learning process for me, I am not good at art.  So those dead space themed slavetats I was going to make might take a while.

[Arkinnian]

I feel like an idiot, but for the life of me I can't seem to get the other tattoo packs to work. I've installed the NGIY Makeup(sic) pack, but it doesn't show up in the SlaveTats MCM. I'm sorry if this question has been answered before; I've tried searching before posting here.

[bernt92]

Hi! I seem to have the same annoying problem that Ferlaron had in a previous post. My slavetats target menu won't add ANY new targets when they're near my character. Only the ones that was tattoed before this problem happened is present in the list. I've tried a LOT of things to make this work again. I've deleted slavetats, made a clean save, tried different versions of jcontainers a dozen times and the problem still persists. I manage to get this to work for a few weeks, and then i'm back again with the same problem. 

I've also tried earlier to clean my save file with Resaver or save game script cleaner, but it doesen't help. I know that Slavetats is dependent upon Jcontainers and that Jcontainers stores data in my skse co-save, but is it really necessary to clean or delete those saves everytime to get this mod to work properly? Anyone who has an idea why this is happening or what can be done to fix this permanently so I don't have to try all these solutions everytime i get this problem? This is the only problem I have with slavetats, everything else works perfectly. But it is a really annoying one though and it keeps coming back everytime I fix it. 

 

ANY HELP APPRECIATED!   

[Aki K]

1 hour ago, bernt92 said:

Hi! I seem to have the same annoying problem that Ferlaron had in a previous post. My slavetats target menu won't add ANY new targets when they're near my character. Only the ones that was tattoed before this problem happened is present in the list. I've tried a LOT of things to make this work again. I've deleted slavetats, made a clean save, tried different versions of jcontainers a dozen times and the problem still persists. I manage to get this to work for a few weeks, and then i'm back again with the same problem. 

I've also tried earlier to clean my save file with Resaver or save game script cleaner, but it doesen't help. I know that Slavetats is dependent upon Jcontainers and that Jcontainers stores data in my skse co-save, but is it really necessary to clean or delete those saves everytime to get this mod to work properly? Anyone who has an idea why this is happening or what can be done to fix this permanently so I don't have to try all these solutions everytime i get this problem? This is the only problem I have with slavetats, everything else works perfectly. But it is a really annoying one though and it keeps coming back everytime I fix it. 

 

ANY HELP APPRECIATED!   

Still learning a lot of this stuff myself.  My first recommendation would be to open the NIoverride ini (or which ever one handles overlays) and make sure overlays are enabled for NPCs and not just the player character.  I intentionally disabled overlays for NPCs so I can decapitate them freely without glitches.  If that's not the cause I'm not sure I can help further.

[WaxenFigure]

On 6/24/2019 at 11:16 PM, Arkinnian said:

I feel like an idiot, but for the life of me I can't seem to get the other tattoo packs to work. I've installed the NGIY Makeup(sic) pack, but it doesn't show up in the SlaveTats MCM. I'm sorry if this question has been answered before; I've tried searching before posting here.

Have you double-checked to make sure you got the folders right when you installed?  Put it in the wrong place and Slavetats will never find it.  You should have a "makeup2.json" file in the "Data\textures\actors\character\slavetats" folder.

[vensr]

On ‎6‎/‎20‎/‎2019 at 8:27 PM, murfk said:

Yeah, that doesn't sound like it would work.

I do not speak English well, so I would appreciate your understanding if it is strange because I use a translator. I have downloaded the tattoo mode, but there is no mode to take a point around my face, so I want to know if there is any other material.

[aaapp]

I'm having a lot of trouble-- I installed NiOverride, RaceMenu, JContainers through NMM (running the game through the newest version of SKSE) but whenever I try to add a tattoo in the MCM menu there's a prompt telling me that "SlaveTat requires NiOverride, RaceMenu, or SKEE". I have uninstalled and installed the first three of those numerous times, and it just won't work (I don't know what SKEE is). What can I do?

[Aki K]

22 hours ago, aaapp said:

I'm having a lot of trouble-- I installed NiOverride, RaceMenu, JContainers through NMM (running the game through the newest version of SKSE) but whenever I try to add a tattoo in the MCM menu there's a prompt telling me that "SlaveTat requires NiOverride, RaceMenu, or SKEE". I have uninstalled and installed the first three of those numerous times, and it just won't work (I don't know what SKEE is). What can I do?

Did you go into the ni-override .ini files and enable overlays for the player character?  That is a necessary step.  This is my setup.  Probably isn't perfect (I get some errors) but it works.  I usually limit overlays to the PC so that I can still decapitate NPCs.  Characters with face overlays have a glitch where decapitation causes CTD.  All my NPCs use vanilla warpaints only.  If you want them to also have overlays and don't care about decapitation, download the Violens mod and disable decapitation in the MCM.

 

"

[Overlays]

; Applies to only the player, or all humanoid actors NOT RECOMMENDED changing this, you can add overlays to certain actors via script

bPlayerOnly=1 ; Default[1]

 

; Determines whether face overlays are enabled

; disabling this disables the hook

; Note: face overlays are known to crash when decapitated

bEnableFaceOverlays=1 ; Default[0]

 

; Determines whether to immediately apply shader changes

; when overlays are installed on an ArmorAddon

bImmediateArmor=1 ; Default[1]

 

; Determines whether to immediately attach and apply shader changes

; when overlays are installed to the face

bImmediateFace=0 ; Default[0]

 

[Overlays/Body] ; "Body [Ovl#]" and "Body [SOvl#]"

; Determines how many body overlays there should be

iNumOverlays=12 ; Default[6]

iSpellOverlays=0 ; Default[0]

 

 

[Overlays/Hands] ; "Hands [Ovl#]" and "Hands [SOvl#]"

; Determines how many hand overlays there should be

iNumOverlays=3 ; Default[3]

iSpellOverlays=0 ; Default[0]

 

 

[Overlays/Feet] ; "Feet [Ovl#]" and "Feet [SOvl#]"

; Determines how many feet overlays there should be

iNumOverlays=3 ; Default[3]

iSpellOverlays=0 ; Default[0]

 

 

[Overlays/Face] ; "Face [Ovl#]" and "Face [SOvl#]"

; Determines how many face overlays there should be

iNumOverlays=6 ; Default[3]

iSpellOverlays=0 ; Default[0]"

[aaapp]

18 hours ago, Aki K said:

Did you go into the ni-override .ini files and enable overlays for the player character?  That is a necessary step.  This is my setup.  Probably isn't perfect (I get some errors) but it works.  I usually limit overlays to the PC so that I can still decapitate NPCs.  Characters with face overlays have a glitch where decapitation causes CTD.  All my NPCs use vanilla warpaints only.  If you want them to also have overlays and don't care about decapitation, download the Violens mod and disable decapitation in the MCM.

 

"

[Overlays]

; Applies to only the player, or all humanoid actors NOT RECOMMENDED changing this, you can add overlays to certain actors via script

bPlayerOnly=1 ; Default[1]

 

; Determines whether face overlays are enabled

; disabling this disables the hook

; Note: face overlays are known to crash when decapitated

bEnableFaceOverlays=1 ; Default[0]

 

; Determines whether to immediately apply shader changes

; when overlays are installed on an ArmorAddon

bImmediateArmor=1 ; Default[1]

 

; Determines whether to immediately attach and apply shader changes

; when overlays are installed to the face

bImmediateFace=0 ; Default[0]

 

[Overlays/Body] ; "Body [Ovl#]" and "Body [SOvl#]"

; Determines how many body overlays there should be

iNumOverlays=12 ; Default[6]

iSpellOverlays=0 ; Default[0]

 

 

[Overlays/Hands] ; "Hands [Ovl#]" and "Hands [SOvl#]"

; Determines how many hand overlays there should be

iNumOverlays=3 ; Default[3]

iSpellOverlays=0 ; Default[0]

 

 

[Overlays/Feet] ; "Feet [Ovl#]" and "Feet [SOvl#]"

; Determines how many feet overlays there should be

iNumOverlays=3 ; Default[3]

iSpellOverlays=0 ; Default[0]

 

 

[Overlays/Face] ; "Face [Ovl#]" and "Face [SOvl#]"

; Determines how many face overlays there should be

iNumOverlays=6 ; Default[3]

iSpellOverlays=0 ; Default[0]"

I changed my setup to match exactly what you have, and I’m still getting the same error message. I have all of the required mods installed (and racemenu works fine), but for some reason SlaveTats won’t recognize that the masters are installed. Are there any other steps I needed to take? 

 

 

Also, I can change NPC hair color for some NPCs through the MCM but no tattoos.

[Arkinnian]

On 6/27/2019 at 11:37 PM, WaxenFigure said:

Have you double-checked to make sure you got the folders right when you installed?  Put it in the wrong place and Slavetats will never find it.  You should have a "makeup2.json" file in the "Data\textures\actors\character\slavetats" folder.

I used MO to install it. There's a good chance that I didn't read the installation instructions right. I'll go check now; thank you for your time!

[Aki K]

9 hours ago, aaapp said:

I changed my setup to match exactly what you have, and I’m still getting the same error message. I have all of the required mods installed (and racemenu works fine), but for some reason SlaveTats won’t recognize that the masters are installed. Are there any other steps I needed to take? 

 

 

Also, I can change NPC hair color for some NPCs through the MCM but no tattoos.

I'm not sure.  I don't think slavetats is supposed to be able to change the haircolor.

 

However, you did say something that gives me a few guesses.  You said you installed all 3 (nioverride, racemenu, skse).  You probably know what I'm about to say, but just to make sure I'm going to mention it anyway.

 

1.  SKSE doesn't install like a regular mod.  It has it's own process you don't use a mod manager to install it.  You also have to run the game from SKSE not the usual launcher.  You probably know that at this point, but then again nobody explained that to me and I had to figure it the hard way.  Just to be safe I'll mention it.

 

2.  You might have a double install of nioverride.  The most recent versions of racemenu come with nioverride in them.  You do not need to install it separately anymore.  So it is possible having two nioverrides installed is causing problems.  Only install the latest version of racemeny.

 

3.  The mod manager you are using (if it is mod-organizer) has a slightly different process for changing ini files.  If you are using MO or MO2, you need to double click on racemenu and change the nioverride ini from there.  If you are using NMM then your changes are good to go.  I've never used vortex so I wouldn't know about that one.

 

 

Let me know if any of this helped or was something you didn't know.  If not, I made need more info on the precise error you are getting.

[aaapp]

1 hour ago, Aki K said:

I'm not sure.  I don't think slavetats is supposed to be able to change the haircolor.

 

However, you did say something that gives me a few guesses.  You said you installed all 3 (nioverride, racemenu, skse).  You probably know what I'm about to say, but just to make sure I'm going to mention it anyway.

 

1.  SKSE doesn't install like a regular mod.  It has it's own process you don't use a mod manager to install it.  You also have to run the game from SKSE not the usual launcher.  You probably know that at this point, but then again nobody explained that to me and I had to figure it the hard way.  Just to be safe I'll mention it.

 

2.  You might have a double install of nioverride.  The most recent versions of racemenu come with nioverride in them.  You do not need to install it separately anymore.  So it is possible having two nioverrides installed is causing problems.  Only install the latest version of racemeny.

 

3.  The mod manager you are using (if it is mod-organizer) has a slightly different process for changing ini files.  If you are using MO or MO2, you need to double click on racemenu and change the nioverride ini from there.  If you are using NMM then your changes are good to go.  I've never used vortex so I wouldn't know about that one.

 

 

Let me know if any of this helped or was something you didn't know.  If not, I made need more info on the precise error you are getting.

I'm using Vortex, but I edited the ini file (netimmerse, did not say it was .ini for some reason) directly through the data folder. I uninstalled NetImmerse and it still won't work. What else can I do?

[Aki K]

6 minutes ago, aaapp said:

I'm using Vortex, but I edited the ini file (netimmerse, did not say it was .ini for some reason) directly through the data folder. I uninstalled NetImmerse and it still won't work. What else can I do?

It didn't say it was a .ini?  That's very strange.  I've never heard of that.  Are you sure that's the right file to be editing?

 

Okay.  With netimmerse override uninstalled.  Try to uninstall and reinstall the latest version of racemenu (which comes with netimmerse).

 

Once that is done, open your computer folder and do a manual search for the netimmerse.ini file (so we can be absolutely sure).  If it doesn't show up, do a search for ALL .ini files.  Then modify the file to match mine.

 

If that doesn't work my next guess is that SKSE is not installed properly.

If you can, take a screen shot of your Skyrim folder to show me the contents inside.

 

Do you sort your load order?  That's also very important for all mods.  Seems weird bringing it up because I'm so used to it that it hasn't been a problem for me for a long time.  But 90% of my problems were related to the load order and there are people who overlook it, through no fault of their own.  Just that nobody told them.

 

It could also be that there is a conflicting mod somewhere.  For example, ECE and Racemenu don't always play nice with one another.

 

 

If none of that works, I'm not sure what to recommend other than a complete reinstall.  If it comes down to that, I can try to advise and give you my step by step.  I've reinstalled MANY times because I experiment a lot.  It's been a while since my last one, but I started writing things down to make it a faster process.  Hopefully it won't come to that.

[4nk8r]

2 hours ago, Aki K said:

It didn't say it was a .ini?  That's very strange.  I've never heard of that.  Are you sure that's the right file to be editing?

 

Okay.  With netimmerse override uninstalled.  Try to uninstall and reinstall the latest version of racemenu (which comes with netimmerse).

 

Once that is done, open your computer folder and do a manual search for the netimmerse.ini file (so we can be absolutely sure).  If it doesn't show up, do a search for ALL .ini files.  Then modify the file to match mine.

 

If that doesn't work my next guess is that SKSE is not installed properly.

If you can, take a screen shot of your Skyrim folder to show me the contents inside.

 

Do you sort your load order?  That's also very important for all mods.  Seems weird bringing it up because I'm so used to it that it hasn't been a problem for me for a long time.  But 90% of my problems were related to the load order and there are people who overlook it, through no fault of their own.  Just that nobody told them.

 

It could also be that there is a conflicting mod somewhere.  For example, ECE and Racemenu don't always play nice with one another.

 

 

If none of that works, I'm not sure what to recommend other than a complete reinstall.  If it comes down to that, I can try to advise and give you my step by step.  I've reinstalled MANY times because I experiment a lot.  It's been a while since my last one, but I started writing things down to make it a faster process.  Hopefully it won't come to that.

Just an FYI regarding Vortex.  You should edit the files in the staging folder for the mod in question vs. the files deployed in Data in the actual game directory.  Edits in staging will directly effect files deployed in Data, but the opposite will create "external files" from Vortex's point of view.  Next time you sync, Vortex will detect the edited/broken hardlink to the staging file and ask you which should be used. 

 

Edit: If you rename files in staging, this will break the hardlinks in Data and Vortex will ask you if you want to delete the orphaned hardlinks on your next sync.  Added files will be silently deployed, unless they conflict with a file from another mod.