Somebody help me get a handle on expression editing

[Fredas]

The menu is set up in a fashion that makes it very easy and intuitive to set up a chain of expressions.  But there seems to be a great deal of disconnect between what I set up and what I ultimately get in-game.

 

Perhaps part of the problem is that I am uncertain whether SL is set up to specifically use the last expression I was editing before I exited the menu, or to use a random expression, or to use specific expressions based on the given animation.  Given that there doesn't seem to be an option to specify expression choices, I have to assume that the first case is what's intended to happen, but it just doesn't seem to be.

 

As an experiment, I set up a custom expression which does nothing but fully blink the left eye, right eye, or both eyes, depending on the animation phase.  Yet when I force the player to masturbate, they undertake what I assume is one of the default expressions, with no eye-closing in sight.  Instead of my neutral expression, I get a mouth slightly open and vaguely smiling, until the last phase where the mouth opens somewhat wider.

 

It really feels like I've completely missed a "choose which expressions to use" option.

 

[bahow]

I don't know how SexLab does it but you can easily write your own function for expression. You just need to know the modifer/phoneme values (by using console command "mfg"). Here is an example (ignore the config parts):

 

Function PainFace()
	If(Config.gVal == True)	
		NormalFace()
		Player.SetExpressionModifier(0, 0.20)
		Player.SetExpressionPhoneme(5, 100)
		Player.SetExpressionOverride(11, 100)
                ClearFace = True
	EndIf
EndFunction

You can define an int in the function such as "Function PainFace(Int Preset = 0)" and load different presets when you want.

 

Restoring the expression to default was a bit buggy for me. Setting values to 0 doesn't seem to work for me. So, I'm setting them to a very small number which works somehow. This is how you can restore your expression:

Function NormalFace()
	If(ClearFace == True)		
		Player.ClearExpressionOverride()
		Player.SetExpressionModifier(0, 0.001)
		Player.SetExpressionPhoneme(5, 0.001)
		ClearFace = False
	EndIf
EndFunction

This is how I did it in getstripped, hope it helps 

 

EDIT: Oh, sorry! I didn't realize this was on SexLab support section. You can ignore my post.

[Fredas]

I don't know how SexLab does it but you can easily write your own function for expression.

 

In a worst-case scenario, sure, I think I would probably just hijack SexLab's process and force expressions to do my bidding.  But of course SL is supposed to do it itself.  It gives one a very detailed menu and even lets you save your settings externally.  It all strongly suggests that the idea is that once you've got it set up, SL will in fact use the data you've entered.  I'm just trying to nail down the reason why it isn't, without poring over the (heavily subroutined) scripts.

[Fredas]

Alright.  I think I have made progress in figuring out why things don't seem to work.

 

1: For starters, the determining factor as to whether or not a custom expression will be used seems to boil specifically down to the necessity of disabling all default expressions which fulfill the same role.  I could not get anything but "pleasure" until I did this.

 

2: The suspicion is that the defined mechanics of expressions will not function as expected until a given actor has fulfilled whatever criteria are mandated to become proficient at sex.  More on this below.

 

3: #2 seems to be theory only.  I brought an NPC up to "journeyman" in vaginal proficiency, had her masturbate, and got the same exact behavior as with a no-experience scrub.

 

4: Said behavior is this: The expression for "phase 1" works with 100% adherence to one's defined settings.  Phases 2 through 4 exhibit no change whatsoever.  The final (orgasm) phase (5) invokes the expression defined for "phase 2", but only the non-phonetics, meaning eyes and eyebrows; mouth adjustments are ignored, meaning that the only mouth adjustment that works for the entire sequence is the one defined in phase 1.

 

Now, this could be intended.  It could be a manifestation of the limitations dictated by the Sex Diary.  But I'm sure not the only person to seriously wonder what is going on.  If it is a deliberately imposed truncation, then I would have to humbly suggest that the option be granted to decouple expressions from the Sex Diary.  Imagine if animations only progressed to the later stages after players had taken the time to put them through their paces for a few hours.

 

[Ashal]

• At least one of the 3 tags (Normal, Victim, and/or Aggressor) has to be enabled on an expression for it to be selectable by SexLab, a character in a normal non-aggressive animation will select a random expression between all expressions that have the "Normal" tag and at least 1 phase for their gender.

   

• Phase selection during animation scales with the actors hidden "enjoyment" level which is based off their partners skills and the type of animation being played. If for example you create a 3 phase custom expression, the phases used during animation would break down like this:
  • Phase 1: 0-33 Enjoyment
  • Phase 2: 34-66 Enjoyment
  • Phase 3: 67-100+ Enjoyment
• Phase selection may change to match animation stage expression in SexLab 1.60, I am undecided. I wanted to give the sex stats more meaning, but it seems to have only confused people.

[Fredas]

• Phase selection during animation scales with the actors hidden "enjoyment" level which is based off their partners skills and the type of animation being played. If for example you create a 3 phase custom expression, the phases used during animation would break down like this:
  • Phase 1: 0-33 Enjoyment
  • Phase 2: 34-66 Enjoyment
  • Phase 3: 67-100+ Enjoymen 

 

Thank you for taking the time to offer a descriptive explanation.  It does shed light on the circumstances.  Though if I have a remaining question, it would be concerning the matter of phase 2's defined mouth expression not enacting, even though the eyes / brows do work.

 

 

• Phase selection may change to match animation stage expression in SexLab 1.60, I am undecided. I wanted to give the sex stats more meaning, but it seems to have only confused people.

 

I get that.  In fact I might venture to guess that expressions were added specifically on the impetus to give the stats meaning.  As a possible solution, what you could do is this: In addition to giving users the option of decoupling expressions from sex stats (or, if you will, tying expressions to animation phase), fit the option on the Expression Editor menu, allowing users to tie expressions to animation phases on a per expression basis.  SexLab's built-in expressions would default to their current, enjoyment-based behavior.  This would also give you a place, via highlight text, to briefly explain the difference between SexLab's default expression behavior and the optional behavior, which would help with confusion.

 

The only other request I might add would be to enable the user to define which expressions the player and their targeted NPC are allowed to use.  These too would be added to the Expression Editor.  For example: "Target (Lydia) uses expression [*]".  All expressions enabled by default with no data maintained; data only maintained whenever the user chooses to disable an expression for an NPC.