I need help with getting PC to look better built than the rest of skyrim.

[Red-XIII]

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Consider the topic closed.

I got most of my own questions sorted out, thanks again to all who tryed to help.

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Basically I'm trying to figure out a set-up that'd leave PC having an "amazonian" (as 7b description calls it) body shape (you know, sporty, somewhat muscular but still a woman, and not just a bodybuilder with breasts, no offence meant) without making skyrim housewives follow suit. And preferably give a "nice to look at" shape to those skyrim housewives while I'm at it.

 

And I've got problems with snags. I'm pretty sure that I'll be hitting some on the way, but so far the first snag was hit while trying to cast a look at my options and detect possible snags. My eyes are going separate ways and mind is losing focus just trying to figure which of my options are cutting which of my other options. (and the pictures accompanying the body mods of skyrim aren't exactly helping me to maintain clear thinking... ) The fact that my previous dives into skyrim waters were WAAAY back in the times when skyrim was young and trees were higher isn't helping either.

 

Separating the body of the PC from that of the rest of skyrim obviously isn't a problem (especially for a custom race), but that's about as far as the easy times get to last.

 

Separating the armour models seems to be THE problem. I've found several mods for this but most of them keep scaring me with incompatibilities. Either not supporting custom races, or not exactly working well with various gameplay-adjusting aspects of equipment. While I'm not an expert, I understand well enough that this problem IS a hard one to solve and I'm not expecting miracles here. Still, I think I could use some advise sorting out the modern and preferred methods from old and outdated ones. I'm pretty sure that I'm not the first person trying to find a way to make armour/clothing looking different on PC.

 

So here's the first batch of questions:

-What do you people use for that (if you do it at all)? / What mods can you recommend for that, and why?

-What downsides does that bring (incompatibilities, other implementation downsides)?

-If you decided against such mods, what influenced your decision? (Too much hassle? Incompatible mods too good to pass up? Implementation to "rough" to be worth it?)

-Are there any compatibility issues with NPC beautification mods and armour model variation mods you named/recommended?

 

I'd also like a bit of general help with that set-up. Considering the smell of snags in vicinity, I'm also keeping an ear to the ground for workarounds and sacrifices. (For example, I could try achieving remotely similar effect with weigh adjustments, or I could try sticking to non-vanilla outfits made for one body while replacing vanilla outfits with the ones made for an other body and leaving them to housewives and other less-heroic-than-PC characters).

 

While I'm at it, I'm also scanning THAT area for snags as well. And that isn't going all too smooth either. (Indecisiveness + huge selection of options + compatibility friction = one big mess to sort though.) I'd take it slow and steady, but I can't be sure that my understanding of what doesn't work with what is correct. And that means that I have to either test each and every option I'm trying to sort through, OR try to get the bigger picture of "compatibility mapping", discern the "key" elements and then work/test from there. I'm trying to do the second, but that mapping is giving me a mental overload with all that selection. And I'm probably getting harder to understand by the minute... I'll try to make it as short and clear as I can.

 

So, if that isn't too much trouble for you, could you answer several questions about the currently available body mods, and maybe recommend a few that would fit well with desired setup? That'd greatly help me to finally get a good enough idea of "the bigger picture" without having to get closely acquainted with all it's numerous elements.

 

Yes, I understand that you need more information about what the *beep* am I looking for. I'm getting to that.

 

Anyway, when it comes to sacrificing parts of the original idea my priority goes as follows:

 

First and foremost I'm not happy with the idea of shape-changing outfits. Meaning that I'd sooner drop the whole idea of PC having a different shape than have to deal with PC's or NPC's shape going through a non-neglectable change between outfits. I'm ok with small changes (in other words - changes from one body to a VERY similar different body), AND I could probably deal with keeping some outfits away form PC or away from NPC.

 

That also means that a body that can't be integrated without noticeable shape changing on NPCs isn't going to fit my setup either.

 

Second,  goes the skin coverage. I'm probably in minority here, but a body that doesn't have a "not too skimpy" vanilla replacement pack doesn't exactly sit well with me. Meaning that again such body mod will not work for NPCs (since they are bound to vanilla outfits). If you want me to define what I mean by "not too skimpy", I'm ok with it if it's between "looking nice" and "attracting attention", but not ok if it's between "attracting attention" and "demanding attention". Can't give a better definition, sorry. Vanilla itself, by my scale is below "looking nice" but I can handle it as long as it doesn't cause noticeable outfit shape-changing.

 

Third and last, regardless of what lore, hard climate, nord culture associations, etc. may suggest/justify, I'm NOT comfortable with the idea of all the skyrim's women having an amazonian/muscular build. (They may live in hard climate and danger-filled lands, but as skill levels may suggest, most of them are staying away from trouble and fighting, or at least that's how I see it). I'd sooner drop this whole idea and just make PC look "normal" than make all the skyrim women look "buffed-up". It's probably weird, seeing how I could close my eyes on the fact that they all have the exact same body shape, as long as it's not "buffed-up", but It's just my own view, and it works the way it works.

 

And, with that explained, here comes the last batch of questions:

-What body shape + normal map combinations would you recommend for that "amazonian PC" Idea? How bad/good are their outfit options,skin sets, skeleton options, and support/development level in general.

-What body shape would you recommend for NPCs (and possibly PC if I can't manage the armour separation setup). Same support level concerns here with an added criteria (the one I mentioned above) of having a replacer set that isn't too skimpy.

-How hard is bodyslide to handle? How (if at all) can I use it to help me with this setup idea. Does it have any limitations and/or incompatibilities I should be aware of? For example, are there any body mods worthy of notice that It can't work with/for?

-Are there any guides related to this subject you could recommend? I saw guides about working with bodyslide, but they focus on explaining how to GET things DONE with it, and I'm currently interested in what CAN or CANNOT be done with it.

 

I'm terribly sorry about this barrage of questions, but my head is going circles from trying to figure these out from mod descriptions alone. Without going into extensive testing there's just too much unclear (to me at least) details and confusion to handle, so I'm turning for help to people with more practical and theoretical experience, to you, people. Thanks to all who took the time to read this and to answer.

[Verinozo]

Hi,frist of all i think you mean NPC, and yes there is a mod wich might satisfy your so spoken desires. Google - Skyrim Sporty Sexy Map.

[l33tMan]

 

 

Try either

Unique Everything: www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/16964/? or any of the mods that inspired it

or

Bodytypes of Skyrim: www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/40280/? you'll need a custom armor plugin for it

[gvman3670]

There is the UNPSH SheHulk body. Not a whole lot coverted for it. But something like 7Base Bombshell with Barbarian textures is pretty badass and Amazonian. Here is the 7B/Barbarian combo on a SheHulk character I created.

 

 

If you apply these meshes and textures to a custom race's proper file path only your character will have that body and textures of course. So it's pretty darned straightforward to pull off. And there is a LOT of stuff for that body.

 

If you then normally installed something like UNP-HDT PE (available on Nexus) then all the rest of the PCs could use a wide array of HDT and non-HDT stuff. Same with UNPB and some others.

[Red-XIII]

l33tMan, on 10 Dec 2014 - 12:43 AM, said:

Try either

Unique Everything: www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/16964/? or any of the mods that inspired it

I was under the impression that it doesn't handle the armour/clothing/outfit shape. Was I wrong?

or

Bodytypes of Skyrim: www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/40280/? you'll need a custom armor plugin for it

Saw that one, and I'm considering it as one of the options. Looks promising, but as always I'm unclear on snags and incompatibilities.

 

One more or less common question - how the "custom vanilla" items interact with vanilla equipment fixing mods (such as WAFR and CCOR)?

And one specific to this mod - whether there are actually any known mods that use the slot 60.

 

I'll probably go pester the mod authors with questions once I'm more clear on what my setup will end up looking like, but if anyone can answer these here that'd be appreciated.

 

gvman3670, on 10 Dec 2014 - 01:13 AM, said:

There is the UNPSH SheHulk body.

The upper body looks a "just a bit too much", the lower just "too much", as far as my views go anyway...

 

But something like 7Base Bombshell with Barbarian textures is pretty badass and Amazonian.

More or less what I'm aiming for and what I was planing to use. I'm still considering alternatives in case those are better supported/developed. From what I've seen 7b has a relatively large content pool, but naturally not as large as the more normal and popular ones.

Are there any particular areas where it's lacking? (ugh, I guess I couldn't get any more vague even if I tried too... still can't get any more specific)

Also, from what I've gathered, bodyslide can help with that (via conversions), but I'm unclear of what exactly it can handle.

For example, can it handle a HDT-enabled outfit without adding any extra weirdness in the process? (I'm speaking about cloth physics btw, I'm not a big fan of "moving assets", and as far as I understand disabling them via XML editing will get rid of any associated weirdness)