SoS - Better Khajiit Normal and Specular

[PaulGreen]

View File

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SoS - Better Khajiit Normal map and Specular map

 

This is an attempt to improve the "default" look of the khajiit when using the SoS mod. It just replaces the SoS normal map and specular map for Khajiit characters.

• Quick Usage:
  • Select either the 2K Uncompressed ( "2kUnc" ) Normal map, 4K Normal map ( "4K" ), or 2K Normal map (No name at the end). All versions use a 2K specular map.
    2K Uncompressed - 16MB - I find this is the best result, more than the 4K compressed. Might not be true for every system, read notes. High memory use.
    4K Compressed - 10MB - Compressed, but higher resolution, so less 'blockyness' in the light reflection. Higher memory use
    2K Compressed - ~3MB - Compressed, smaller memory use
  • Import the file into NMM or Mod Organizer (or copy files into place if using loose files)
  • This must be placed after SoS in a load order.
    

  [*]Removing

  • Simply remove the mod from your list (or delete files if loose files)
    

  [*]More Notes

  • Why 2k vs. 4k vs. 2kUnc? -- The "size" impact isn't the size on your hard drive, it's the amount of video memory taken up while the game is running. One 4k or uncompressed texture will be unnoticeable, but having alot of high-quality textures will start to eat up memory.
    There is nothing higher quality about the 4k texture in its creation. Rather, the compression step just loses less quality. There is still pixelation, regardless, because the source material had pixelation already.
  • Why might the 2K uncompressed texture be better than the 4K? On my computer, the mip-maps are loaded at a fairly close distance from the viewed object. That means that the game swaps to a pre-generated 2K texture which is based off of the 4K texture when the camera is not that far from the figure. The benefit of the 4K resolution is then lost. The 2K texture stays at its 2K resolution for a greater camera-view distance for me, so having a high-quality version of the 2K texture ends up looking better than using a 4K texture that gets shifted down to a mixed 2K texture.
    This might not be true for every system.. The determination of when mip-map levels are used can be adjustable by graphics driver (I think) and is different depending on a number of settings. Just try and look. Diference might be hard to see, anyway, heh.
  • No scripts or .esp, just data file replacer
  • This includes two files, an _msn normal map and an _s specular map, that replace those that came with SoS.
  • This incidentally also fixes a lighting problem on the khajiit tail. The problem existed in the vanilla game and was fixed recently in a new USLEEP patch. This mod includes the tail lighting fix for the SOS version of the texture as part of the _msn file (any other mod that has a khajiit normal map would need to update the map to fix the tail as well).
  • There is no change in the actual diffuse texture (The actual coloring texture)
  • This is not some huge improved texture. The point was to just make some of the little glitchy looking spots go away and try to fix some of the odd light reflection. I'm also not really an "artist".. I did my best to make the look match the original vanilla 'wrinkle fur' style. This was harder to do than the little amount of change suggests >.> I'm not good at the 2D texturing stuff
  • The light reflects more correctly around the waist and the back. Ironically, this then reveals a few more problems, like the end of the tail needing to be darker. You can also just use racemenu or something to push the tail bone inward slightly to cover the lighter colored area.
  • I tried to fix the feet a bit as well. The hands look like they had a seam even in the vanilla setup. They need alot more work to fix, the tiny amount of visual improvement isn't worth it.
    

  
  

 

Anyone who wants to comment, point out bad practice or make this better themselves, go ahead and please do. All the permission stuff is just bureaucracy to me, so don't bother asking! Attribution is nice but not needed.
If you want to mod stuff and have questions about how I came up with numbers or something, feel free to ask.
If you want things like the Blender or ZBrush files or notes, feel free to ask

 

 

 

Requirements:

• SoS (Full or Light)
• Place after SoS in a load order
  

 

Conflicts:

• Any other mod that alters the khajiit body textures.
• Strictly speaking, the two _MSN and _S files could be merged with another mod. You'd just have the vanilla light reflection and highlight map with a different diffuse texture. Still might look okay, might not.
  

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• Submitter
  PaulGreen
• Submitted
  03/19/2016
• Category
  Models & Textures
• Requires
• Special Edition Compatible

 

[boo]

Wow, that's nice.

 

Ironically, the flaws in the khajiit / argonian textures are what drove me to start SoS retooled (remaps UVs to vanilla).

 

Perhaps you'd like to try some similar fixes on what I have right now?

[PaulGreen]

Perhaps you'd like to try some similar fixes on what I have right now?

 

   In taking the screenshots of the schlong a couple weeks ago, I was really annoyed with how blocky looking the texture was, and seeing your retooling made me think of ways to fix the texture, heh.

 

 

   For the diffuse maps, the SoS texture almost matches the vanilla one, except for the feet. Mainly, the hip and butt area needs texture like you did in the retooling. The other thing is that area near the top of the hip, where the UV is moved.

 

   One of the main problems is that the SOS body is different enough that the model-space normal map is way off, around the muscly-thigh area, and especially around the butt and mid-low back. To get it looking good, those areas have to be redone in the model space normal. Copying the vanilla texture won't help here since the texture contains actual data that does not match the SoS model.

   For the beast races, the the vanilla texture was basically copied anyway (and looks weird already), so for them it doesn't matter. For the non-beast races, it might look a little weird.

   I tried doing a number of things where I'd convert the object space map into a tangent map and then try to transfer to the adjusted model, but it never worked out.. Just had to create a new model from scratch in the end.

[boo]

 

Perhaps you'd like to try some similar fixes on what I have right now?

 

   In taking the screenshots of the schlong a couple weeks ago, I was really annoyed with how blocky looking the texture was, and seeing your retooling made me think of ways to fix the texture, heh.

 

 

   For the diffuse maps, the SoS texture almost matches the vanilla one, except for the feet. Mainly, the hip and butt area needs texture like you did in the retooling. The other thing is that area near the top of the hip, where the UV is moved.

 

   One of the main problems is that the SOS body is different enough that the model-space normal map is way off, around the muscly-thigh area, and especially around the butt and mid-low back. To get it looking good, those areas have to be redone in the model space normal. Copying the vanilla texture won't help here since the texture contains actual data that does not match the SoS model.

   For the beast races, the the vanilla texture was basically copied anyway (and looks weird already), so for them it doesn't matter. For the non-beast races, it might look a little weird.

   I tried doing a number of things where I'd convert the object space map into a tangent map and then try to transfer to the adjusted model, but it never worked out.. Just had to create a new model from scratch in the end.

 

 

With the the adjusted UVs on SoS retooled, the standard normal map should also match the geo now.

 

The "fixes" I was referring to mainly refers to the added normal detail on the butt / around the waist. I used the better males textures (for the sundracon meshes) as a base since they are mostly vanilla with underwear detail removed. SoS standard also uses this texture as its base, (with some modifications around the thighs to alleviate seams), but this edit lacks the detail that you've added.

 

Hence why I asked if you'd be willing to try and add some of this detail to those textures (with the added benefit that they could easily be carried over for use with better males).

 

As far as feet are concerned, the only good version I've seen that changes the UVs more significantly is with FemFeet redux. It is seamless, though it gives up some resolution as it was made to also accommodate the junk textures for better males. However, the normal placement around the toes is a bit off. Still, the best options thus far. I'd like to try to create something with SAM / Better Male Feet as they more or less retain vanilla UVs except around the toes.

 

[PaulGreen]

 

With the the adjusted UVs on SoS retooled, the standard normal map should also match the geo now.

 

 

Sort of, that's the difficult part. Even if the normal-map texture matches, the data it represents doesn't match. Like, the lower back on the SoS model is less sloped than the vanilla model, and the butt is much rounder. Even if the texture matches the UV, the normal-vector data it wraps onto the mesh in those areas is wrong, and so you get odd lighting problems. It doesn't take much for the map to be off by to cause strange lighting.

   Even with lighting off, though, having the texture actually match the UV should still look alot better.

   For the non-beast race models, it might not be that difficult to fix. You can just take the new model-mesh with the fixed UV and just recreate the normal map without much trouble, I think (maybe...). The fur and scales on the khajiit and argonians is really hard (for me) to recreate, though.

 

If you have a specific thing to have me try out, tell me. I don't know if I'll do it, but I can try. The 2D stuff takes me awhile. If you want to use this in your own things, go ahead. Like said in description, I don't care about permission stuff generally, heh..

[boo]

Well, if you wanted to give a go at doing the normal vector corrections on the retooled textures, I would be highly appreciative.

[jtgibby]

Wow. . . Thank you!  The Khajiit normal maps really needed this. It is nice to see that there is someone else working to improve the body textures for SOS.  I did a normal fix for the elder race a little while back.  It is serendipitous that you made these textures available when you did.  I was just messaging with Eiries earlier this evening about my plans to create a male for Eiries' Ohmes-Ragt race.  There is a SOS Khajiit texture on Nexus I was considering using for the blend, but the author would only allow me to share it on Nexus; the only site that Eiries was opposed to.  So I was thinking I'd be doing exactly what you've already done here.  On top of that, you are awesome enough to let other modders use and/or improve upon your textures.  What happenstance that I should find a SOS Khajiit texture on the front page of LL tonight of all nights.  I will definitely give you credit if I use them.  

[snarfies]

If I'm using something like CoverKhajiits, do I still need this?

[PaulGreen]

 

 

   Heh, thanks. As mentioned, I'm not really an artists, so this could be made much better by someone who knows what to do. The difficulty in the beast races is that the textures are very 'complicated,' and so re-baking a normal map is also complicated. I tried doing an attempt where I converted the retail game object space map to tangent and then applied that to SoS mesh surface, but it did not work well..  just had to re-create surface detail in model program.

   Also as said, if you want to try (and have zbrush and photoshop), I can send you the ZBrush and .psd files to work off of. Have fun creating male race!  woo, lol !

 

   What is the other texture on nexus?

 

 

If I'm using something like CoverKhajiits, do I still need this?

 

Umm.. let me see.

It looks like coverkhajiit is only a head texture-set, no body texture. This texture (only the light reflection textures, not color) does not match coverkhajiits, but neither does the original body texture, and I think this one is better. So, yes, I would use both this and coverkhajiit together.

 

[jtgibby]

 

 

 

   Heh, thanks. As mentioned, I'm not really an artists, so this could be made much better by someone who knows what to do. The difficulty in the beast races is that the textures are very 'complicated,' and so re-baking a normal map is also complicated. I tried doing an attempt where I converted the retail game object space map to tangent and then applied that to SoS mesh surface, but it did not work well..  just had to re-create surface detail in model program.

   Also as said, if you want to try (and have zbrush and photoshop), I can send you the ZBrush and .psd files to work off of. Have fun creating male race!  woo, lol !

 

   What is the other texture on nexus?

 

The mod on Nexus is "Masculine Khajiit Textures (Grey Cat and Leopard)".  Not a vanilla texture by any means.  There are a few SOS options, one with a bare skin torso area, the other with all fur, both in the grey tabby and leopard patterns.  I don't have ZBrush, but I do have Photoshop if you want upload those files as a modders resource.  I usually prefer using the GIMP filter plugin when it comes to generating normal maps in .dds file format.  Admittedly I have very little experience working with body textures, especially when it comes to creating new normal maps.  For the most part I have just generated normals for armor. I know from personal experience that fur can be especially difficult.  Too much detail makes it look like molded plastic, not enough and it looks like a 2D image painted on the mesh.

 

With the elder race they only have the vanilla normal map that adds the wrinkles, so I actually blended it with the regular SOS normal by hand. Which is why I ended up with some overly smooth seams.  The nips are a little offset too.  Better then a vanilla normal that doesn't line up at all I suppose.  I'm still debating on either smoothing the whole map, or just fixing the seams by hand painting those transitions.  I may even do both eventually as an option, but its pretty low on my list of priorities when it comes to mods I want to work on.