Yiffy Age of Skyrim

[Blaze69]

But since they do walk upright, this also makes more sense.

 

 

 

 

A bit off-topic here, but I had to mention it nevertheless: that video was really interesting.

 

Judging by the thumbnail and the overall "feel" of it, I thought it would be some kind of joke thing about "bewbz", but it turned out to be really instructive and informed. I do understand that applying basic biological/evolutionary principles to a race of anthropomorphic feline beings from a fantasy setting as we do here is a bit weird, but the fact that it works in explaining it really helps in adding depth to the lore and the setting, at least in my opinion.

[boo]

Nif Healer, huh? Didn't know about it. I'll check it out.

 

Nitro, I really like your foot position. Boo, think we can duplicate this? It's a little more upright than current but not so upright as your last round. 

 

I'm not guaranteeing anything about feet anymore, not until I figure out why I can't get them to deform properly.

 

Getting those proportions would require making the feet use a "high heel" system of some kind (given the overall length of the legs vs. the torso). This mod does something like that: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/64810/? (though with different proportions still).

 

Not a fan of the high heel solution though since it doesn't play very nicely with most animations.

 

Wish I knew more about SKSE plugins because ideally you would have the game use it's IK system to place toes correctly.

[Blaze69]

Getting those proportions would require making the feet use a "high heel" system of some kind (given the overall length of the legs vs. the torso). This mod does something like that: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/64810/? (though with different proportions still).

There's also the NiOverride Heels system (from the SKSE NiOverride plugin either integrated in RaceMenu or offered as standalone), which basically consists on adding a string to the .nif file that signals NiOverride to do a transform of some kind on the Player/NPC whenever that specific mesh is loaded. In the case of heels, it moves the whole Root node up, so it gives the effect of the heels "lifting" the character.

 

If you do go for something like that, then you should really use NiOverride instead of HDT. HDT is not related with the HDT Physics system as the name may lead to believe, but is a completely different thing; it's just that it was created by the same people that did the Physics thing (some Chinese team of modders, IIRC). It's a pretty heavy resource hog, it's a potential source of CTDs, and it requires a plugin slot and embeds scripts into the save file. On the other hand, NiOverride is clean and smooth, being a native SKSE plugin, and it does not create a hard requirement. If you don't have NiOverride installed (but you should because why won't you use RaceMenu?), the worst that can happen is that the transform is not applied and the feet sink into the ground, but they work fine otherwise.

 

Note: I know I went into some detail about the systems there, but I wanted people to know about it. It baffles me to no end that there is people/modders that still use HDT instead of NiOverride.

Edited December 23, 2016 by Blaze69

[Bad Dog]

Huh. I thought the whole point of HDT was to duplicate physics? Can NiOverride do that? And does anyone have decent documentation for NiOverride? I've looked and can't find any decent explanation about how the bone/skeleton manipulation works. 

 

Of course we have to figure out how anthropomorphic furries would really work. What's the point otherwise? That's what world-building is all about.

 

@Nightro, it doesn't actually matter a whole bunch what you do. I have to move and manipulate and make a lower-poly mesh and all kinds of horseshit to rig your mesh to the skyrim skeleton. Changing the base position of the foot by a virtual inch or two is down in the noise.

[Blaze69]

Huh. I thought the whole point of HDT was to duplicate physics? Can NiOverride do that? And does anyone have decent documentation for NiOverride? I've looked and can't find any decent explanation about how the bone/skeleton manipulation works.

 

Of course we have to figure out how anthropomorphic furries would really work. What's the point otherwise? That's what world-building is all about.

Yeah, that is the point of HDT Physics Extensions. Here we're talking about HDT High Heels System, they are completely different things. The only thing they have in common is that they were both created by some Chinese modder called "HydrogenSaysHDT" or something like that IIRC, and that's where the HDT part in the names come from.

 

As for NiOverride docs, maybe check out the RaceMenu and the NiOverride standalone pages. All I know is that NiOverride Heels are just a small application of a system integrated in NiOverride that allows you to create "equippable transforms" embedded into .nif files. Basically, you add a string with the target node(s) and the required transform listed in a certain way, and when the mesh is loaded by the game NiOverride recognizes it and applies the transform to the NPC that equipped it in the first place. In the case of heels, they move the whole NPC Root node up, so while the actual feet/heel mesh sinks into the ground in NifSkope and in an unmodified game, the transform counters that and gives the impression of the heels "lifting" the character as they are supposed to in RL.

 

For example, you could design some feet to actually have the digitigrade instance built into the mesh itself rather than through the skeleton, as UBR does, but instead of having to cut the legs further up the body, you could just keep the current ankle seam standard and extend the feet past the ground, and then fix them using a NiOverride transform to lift the NPC.

 

Also, I couldn't agree more with that statement, glad you do care about that stuff.

[boo]

NiOverride has the same issues when it comes to animations however.

[Bad Dog]

It's something movie makers (I'm looking at you, JJ Abrams) don't get. If you're doing fantasy or SF, all you have are the rules you create. If you don't have them and keep to them, then you're just telling stories like, "And then a pink elephant appeared out of nowhere and everybody had tea." 

 

In other news, Blaze turned me on to this cool feature in Blender for dealing with texture seams. It turns out Blender can copy textures from one mesh to another--so I created a skyrim body mesh with the seams in a different place from the vanilla body. I copy the texture to the new mesh and the seams in the original body are in the middle of the UV island in the new mesh. Then I can use photoshop to clean them up, then copy them back to the vanilla body. Woo-hoo, no seams.

 

I'm working right now on a snow leopard/snow elf, but I tried this out real quick on the Kygarra because they're a real mess in the hip area where three seams come together. It's a total pain the butt (hurr hurr) to get that area right if you want your character to run around nude. I spent ages on it with the tiger. But this method makes it easy:

 

 

It's not a real high-quality texture, but you can see how even the transition is. So yay. A texture with a lot of pattern like a leopard skin would be a real bear without a technique like this.

[boo]

Mind sharing the blender project / detail the technique? Sounds super useful.

[Bad Dog]

Yeah, it's fabulous. Make a dup of your mesh, and put it in a different layer so you know what you're doing. Give your dup a new material. Switch to texture view.

 

Clear all the seams on your dup and make new seams orthogonal to the original. Try to lay them out so the areas that cause the most problems are as planar and simple as you can get them, and so that the seams don't duplicate the originals anywhere. Unwrap the mesh, do any minimal cleanup you need.

 

In the image editor create a new image, same size as the original. Select all on your mesh to make sure your new UV layout shows up on your new image.

 

Go into edit mode on the original mesh, select all, and make sure your original texture shows up in the image editor. 

 

Then in object mode, select your original and shift-select your dup. Since they're exactly the same, there's always a bit of taking it on faith that you have the right two selected. 

 

Now go to the Bake section of the rendering panel. Click "Selected to Active" and "Textures" for the bake mode. Click "Bake."

 

If you've done it right, you'll see your texture showing up in the image pane laid out according to your new UV. Now you can save that image, clean up the seams, re-load it into Blender, and do the Bake step in reverse to put your new texture back on the old mesh. 

 

Just did the head texture on the leopard where there are a half-dozen UV pieces that all come together, half of them warped out of recognition. But in my alternate UV, those seams are all in the center of a simple front-to-back strip. No problem.

[Bad Dog]

Aaaand in other news, the Consolidated version 1.1 is up on the Google Drive site. Sorry about that.

[boo]

Would y'all be interested in a "resource" pack for khajiit textures?

 

I got seamless versions of the original textures without blockiness in the normals as well as a seamless version of some more detailed ones.

[Blaze69]

Would y'all be interested in a "resource" pack for khajiit textures?

 

I got seamless versions of the original textures without blockiness in the normals as well as a seamless version of some more detailed ones.

Well, it does sound good. I'm personally not too keen on textures for vanilla bodies, I prefer my Khajiit to be realistic/uncensored ( ), but I'm sure it will be top-notch in quality, and there is always the possibility of using them as resources for further content if you are OK with it, so there's that.

[Bad Dog]

Right, I could use that, especially the normals.

 

I'm thinking the snow leopard needs fuzzy normals but I'm not sure how to get there. The vanilla khajiit normal is not satisfactory and the smooth normal I did for the tiger would work fine for a regular leopard but is too smooth for a snow leopard. I'll probably have a go at building a normal out of a bump map.

 

Properly speaking, the hyena should be somewhat fuzzy too. Those guys are just nasty. They look like dryer lint. (Talking about the real animals not the Kygarra mod.)

[boo]

Care to point to any textures you currently use? The one problem I'm having right now is finding a good patched normal map for Khajiit. The one with better bodies / SOS is a bit off.

[NightroModzz]

Right, I could use that, especially the normals.

 

I'm thinking the snow leopard needs fuzzy normals but I'm not sure how to get there. The vanilla khajiit normal is not satisfactory and the smooth normal I did for the tiger would work fine for a regular leopard but is too smooth for a snow leopard. I'll probably have a go at building a normal out of a bump map.

 

Properly speaking, the hyena should be somewhat fuzzy too. Those guys are just nasty. They look like dryer lint. (Talking about the real animals not the Kygarra mod.)

Bump is kind of old. Why not try displacement or a combination of both? Although it would be better to do on a body mesh, here are 2 tillable fur plane  based meshes you can use to make normal maps with. They only take me about 5 minutes each to make so long as I'm using alphas. I can make the fur patterns smaller or larger if you like.

 

EDIT: Removed link.

[NightroModzz]

Made this just randomly dragging the fur around with only 1 alpha, so I might make an optional version with fur in finner detail and more thought out placing.

 

https://gyazo.com/28be93df07b5b0de4e0dcdb30136c288

 

EDIT:

 

Actually, never mind. That would mean that I would have to make a fur model for the head as well so it matches, and I can not figure out how to make a high resolution (by Zremesh then divide) to get decent fur detail. The heads are like multiple meshes attached to each other. Dynameshing is a big no no since mouth will fuse as well as the rest of the separated areas. It would ruin it even if it is just making it for UVs/normal maps.

 

Example: https://gyazo.com/e4b0d07cece82c839dd8086ef1c9fe77

[Bad Dog]

OMG dude. My rig can bearly deal with that mesh. I do bump maps because they're easy to deal with. I'll leave the fancy modeling to you.

[NightroModzz]

OMG dude. My rig can bearly deal with that mesh. I do bump maps because they're easy to deal with. I'll leave the fancy modeling to you.

Which ones? The 2 tillable planes I provided shouldn't even have passed the 2 million poly-count mark. They are a little over 100mb each. The one I did before that ended up being 1.18GB after exporting. Then I wondered, I though I had it at a poly-count of 2.5 Million but it was at 25 Million​​!

 

​​​EDIT:

lol Never mind. It's at 6 million. I think it can be almost just as good half that or at 2 mill. What is the highest you think you can do and I'll go a decent amount under that.

[NightroModzz]

Here are the new ones. This time there are 9 of them at 1.6 million each.

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B701wu9FXrZBZC02ajRjcmxIWVk

 

 

Umm...your computer didn't crash last time did it?

[Bad Dog]

No, took a while to load but it didn't crash.

 

Mm, guy, I'm not really sure what to do with these. I don't deal with high-poly meshes much. But, um, thanks? And Merry Christmas. Take the night off.

[NightroModzz]

No, took a while to load but it didn't crash.

 

Mm, guy, I'm not really sure what to do with these. I don't deal with high-poly meshes much. But, um, thanks? And Merry Christmas. Take the night off.

Merry Christmas to you too.

 

We're all adults here doing our own things and we are doing the whole Christmas thing in the morning but no, I'm being lazy tonight. The stuff I did was simple and fast to do.

 

Like I said, a body would be better. Tillable textures are more suited to ground and construction meshes, but I would assume that you can create a normal with that to make some sort of displacement brush or create depth in another application.

[Ike07]

First of all, I like the Mod really. But I don't really understand why the Orcs stays the same (but I didn't found an other animal like race, sadly)

 

Now I have one problem. I don't think it's this mod, but I know this problem since I have this mod. When I go into a house, cage, city, whatever the game works without problems, but when I leave it and go back to the main world the game crashs. Quick Travel from City to the World works, also the console command. I tested it with lower grafik settings, but it's not the solution. 

 

My character now is level 29 and till now I could play normal. But on this Level it starts with this bug. I could load an older save, but this bug comes again and that sadly really fast. Does anyone now a solution of this bug? I didn't find it on google. 

 

I know, my english is bad.

 

Edit: Looks like Beeing Female was the problem, my female was not for so long pregnant. I have uninstalled it, but now there ar other problems. The games freeze very fast, especially when I want to save.  

[Minik435]

First of all, I like the Mod really. But I don't really understand why the Orcs stays the same (but I didn't found an other animal like race, sadly)

 

Now I have one problem. I don't think it's this mod, but I know this problem since I have this mod. When I go into a house, cage, city, whatever the game works without problems, but when I leave it and go back to the main world the game crashs. Quick Travel from City to the World works, also the console command. I tested it with lower grafik settings, but it's not the solution.

 

My character now is level 29 and till now I could play normal. But on this Level it starts with this bug. I could load an older save, but this bug comes again and that sadly really fast. Does anyone now a solution of this bug? I didn't find it on google.

 

I know, my english is bad.

 

Edit: Looks like Beeing Female was the problem, my female was not for so long pregnant. I have uninstalled it, but now there ar other problems. The games freeze very fast, especially when I want to save.

Do you use ENB? I do just for the sake of using high textures. It's sad to say but the size of YA is huge, it takes a lot of from graphics and memory. On my 8GB RAM it runs smoothly with tons of mods but crashes on 2GB VRAM on my laptop while on high res.

 

---- SNAP OFF STUPID CONNECTION ---- 

 

Also, Orcs are changed. Hoofs have been added to them and I think that's fitting them well. They are looking like a beasts anyway.

[Ike07]

Nope, no ENB, no grafik mod. It was really Beeing Female, or rather to be pregnant. Since it's uninstalled and the other Mods have repaired themselves and mods via tes5edit cleaned it worked fine. I can play without bigger problems on the highest settings, but I have in under them, so the game runs better. 

 

_____________________________

 

Yes, the Orks are changed, but in my eyes they don't really fit besides the animal races. But that's a little point and does not have to be changed. 

[boo]

Orcs could be changed to be a bovine/tauren-like race, if such a thing existed.