Yiffy Age of Skyrim

[KestrelSky]

Hello, By any chance will you release a version that doesn't require DawnGuard or Dragonborn for people who don't have DLC?

 

Last I heard was that BadDog has said he wouldn't, due to not wanting to maintain multiple versions. DLC really isn't that expensive at this point and a lot of mods require it.

[Bad Dog]

Nope, never.

[mrmagrew]

Ho-Ly Shit...

This mod is incredible. Absolutely bloody incredible. The attention to detail is amazing. I don't think I've seen such an in depth over-haul of a game as done by a fan. The races are one thing, but when I saw that the statues of the gods were now anthro too, and the loading screens, I was just in awe. Seriously, massive props to you.

If I were to make any suggestions for improvements, it'd be the following, but I'm afraid it'd be a big change.

I do feel some of the race-anthro matches are a bit random and detrimental to the lore. Having wolves and foxes (Nords and Altmer) at each other's throats is nice to a point, but I think you've missed as trick by not having all Man races as canine, and all Mer races as feline. This way the dichotomy of the two types of mortals is preserved. If I would to suggest an alternative set up, it would be this:
 

Nords - Wolves (fine as is)
Imperials - domestic dogs (the Vaalsark look like dobermans and I think they're good as they are)
Bretons - foxes (finicky, magical, make up much of the Forsworn... yeah I think they'd look good as foxes)
Redgaurds - hyenas or jackals (built for hot climates, sometimes quite violent)

High Elves - Lions (full of pride (lol), regal, majestic, smug)
Wood Elves - Tigers (Built for the jungles of Valenwood)
Dark Elves - Pumas/Panthers (fine as they are)
Orcs - Sabre tooth cats (monstrous and prehistoric-looking. I figured that to anthro cat people, they'd look on sabre-tooth cats in the same way a human would look at a neanderthal, as in they'd uncultured, prehistoric, thug-like, and ugly)

That leaves the Khajiit, who I'd have the Lungaris (rabbit) model. I know this may make issues with "cat people" dialogue, but rabits are quick, stealthy, and (most importantly) visually distinct from canids and felids, explaining the discrimination they suffer. So I think it'd be more lore-friendly.

Plus Barbas saying "there are flying lizards and two legged cat people in Skyrim now" is now a subtle dig at the Thalmor XD

Anyway, that's just my two cents. I'd happily make these changes myself if I had the slightest clue how. But really, I am seriously, seriously, floored by this mod. If there's anything I can do to support you let me know.

[Bad Dog]

Yeah, don't think I haven't thought of it. I started with Furry Age on Nexus, and didn't really do a ground-up rethink of the races. Creating new races is hard though--a mane on lions would need special hair, and I don't have a clue about hair. I don't know why no one has done a lion race. And Orcs would be fabulous as sabretooths, but again getting the head right would be a ton of work.

 

Making a cheetah texture for high elves and leaving orcs and wood elves as they are would be easier. Or use tigers for the high elves, I'd hate to lose them.

 

But realistically, I'm not likely to do it. It would be very straightforward but a ton of work to get all the races switched around. Switching bodies is easy, but switching texture layers would take forever. 

[Shadowscale]

There used to be a sabertooth khajiit mod on Nexus, but it seems gone. Used the sabercat tooth mesh and applied it to khajiits.

[Blaze69]

If I were to make any suggestions for improvements, it'd be the following, but I'm afraid it'd be a big change. [...]

Well, to be honest, I'm pretty happy with the current way the races are set up, and as BadDog says, creating the assets for those hypothetical new replacement races would take a lot of work

 

On the other hand, it's true I wouldn't mind having access to even more anthro races in the game, and the whole human/elven dichotomy being replaced by canine/feline does make sense. So I guess I support this idea, but I'm completely happy with the current setup as well .

 

Imperials - domestic dogs (the Vaalsark look like dobermans and I think they're good as they are)

Aaand now I want to see a Doberman texture for the Vaalsark, lol  . I didn't see that one, but it's true they could pass as Dobermans or some other "domestic" canine species with the right textures. And it fits with the Imperials being the most "civilized" human race and stuff.

 

High Elves - Lions (full of pride (lol), regal, majestic, smug)

Well... regal, check. Smug, check. Pride, chech. Hell, even the yellow-ish/orange color is a check. I guess it could fit High Elves to be lions. Not very happy with the replacement, though, because 99% of all ingame Altmer are either Thalmor, Thalmor supporters or smug jerks, and I wouldn't want to see Lions be depicted like that.

 

But then again, any race used to replace Altmer would have that very same problem, and as I said, lions do fit them, so I would be cool with it.

 

Wood Elves - Tigers (Built for the jungles of Valenwood)

Huh, okay. I didn't picture Bosmer as Tigers before, but they are indeed good hunters and could fit the idea. Hell, just check out the lore about their Wild Hunt and stuff and they don't seem like "generic fantasy forest elves" anymore (violent and bloody rampages and eventually cannibalistic orgies, oh my). So that could work.

 

Orcs - Sabre tooth cats (monstrous and prehistoric-looking. I figured that to anthro cat people, they'd look on sabre-tooth cats in the same way a human would look at a neanderthal, as in they'd uncultured, prehistoric, thug-like, and ugly)

Oh, yes. This^. This soo much.

 

I would love to have orcs as Sabrecats. That would be awesome, and would even fit with the lore. IIRC Orcs are supposed to be elves that were corrupted/devolved, so standard big cats (ala tigers and panthers like the other elven races) becoming gruff and prehistoric sabrecats would make a lot of sense.

 

See below for more on sabre cats.

 

Yeah, don't think I haven't thought of it. I started with Furry Age on Nexus, and didn't really do a ground-up rethink of the races. Creating new races is hard though--a mane on lions would need special hair, and I don't have a clue about hair. I don't know why no one has done a lion race.

Well, for the lions, some of the vanilla Khajiit hairs are mane-like, and maybe some of the longer custom hairs in Apachii and/or KS could fit as well. Since we would be talking about elves and such, it would be lore friendly for them to have such fancy hairs, being all sophisticated and stuff. Oh, and I think there is also a custom Khajiit follower somewhere in the Nexus that includes a custom "mane" hairstyle, so may be worth checking.

 

Making a cheetah texture for high elves [...] would be easier. 

Oh, cheetahs . I would love to have them in Skyrim as well. I really enjoyed playing a one using the Nonyxia Cheetah race for Oblivion (the full anthro one, not the humanoid hybrids).

 

And Orcs would be fabulous as sabretooths, but again getting the head right would be a ton of work.

See below (again, lol  ). This may be easier than you expect. Though not exactly easy.

 

There used to be a sabertooth khajiit mod on Nexus, but it seems gone. Used the sabercat tooth mesh and applied it to khajiits.

I assume you mean this one: SabreKhajiit? As you can see, it is still up. And for the record, its permissions allow for their use. Just sayin'  .

 

It does not only include an edited Khajiit mouth with sabre tooth that still works fine with the .tri files, but it has also male and female textures built using the vanilla sabre cats as a base. They are a very early WIP, though, and would take some work, but using them as a base, you could build some awesome sabrecat textures, I'm sure about that  . I even did some work on them some time ago, and I have some female textures I have kinda somewhat blended and fixed for use with UNP. I could send them to you if you are interested.

 

About the heads, you could go the same route as the authors of the Catlike Khajiit/Lion and Lioness mods: edit the vanilla Khajiit head shape to look more Smilodon-y but without changing polycount and stuff; that way, the morphs should still work fine. Couple that with the sabre teeth from that mod and you get some great sabrecats. You can even use the CITRUS Khajiit heads as a base; with their high polycount, you should have plenty of freedom to edit them as you please.

 

Oh, and if you want to give this a try, you may want to contact Nightro. He has been working on the CITRUS Khajiit heads and such, and he may have some ideas on sabrecat head designs that could come in handy .

 

Just my two cents, but I would love to have at least the Sabrecat Orcs.

[KestrelSky]

SabreKhajiit Vampires would need conversely smaller teeth to suck blood properly XD

[Blaze69]

SabreKhajiit Vampires would need conversely smaller teeth to suck blood properly XD

Well, if we look at it that way, vanilla female humanoid vampires don't even have fangs IIRC, and they seem to be able to suck blood just fine. Also bigger fangs is better, 'cause you get to suck more blood and faster, so feeding takes less time, lol .

 

Now, seriously, it should be possible to do such a thing. Edit the mouth .tri file so that the vampire morph makes the fangs smaller instead of bigger, and it should work fine. But then again, before we do anything or start making plans, first we have to know if Sabrecat Orcs are even a feasible option (here is to hoping they are), so better to wait until we hear from BadDog .

[Bad Dog]

Hey, I like orcs.

 

I'd be willing to do a release that mixes up the races, down the road. But if we're going to do sabrekhajiit they've got to work right, with proper teeth like the orc tusks that push the lips out of the way rather than just clipping through them, and ear emotions and everything. I could take on learning to modify tri files at some point, but I know nothing about it now.

 

(Ideally, since the teeth would be a prominent part of the face, there would be a few different mouth options too.) 

 

Actually doing the work of switching the races around is probably not as big a deal as I was making out. Create a copy of the race record, then T5E lets you copy whole groups of settings between forms with a simple D&D. Then make sure you've got all the right races in the right HeadParts lists and rerun my T5E scripts to reassign face and body tints and reassign hair.

 

Vampire teeth I don't care about so much. If vampire fangs look like sabrekhajiit fangs I think we can live with it.

 

And I still haven't figured out morphing the kid heads and getting mouth movement to not be fucked up. That and some other things come first.

 

[Blaze69]

I'd be willing to do a release that mixes up the races, down the road. But if we're going to do sabrekhajiit they've got to work right, with proper teeth like the orc tusks that push the lips out of the way rather than just clipping through them, and ear emotions and everything.

If we use the current Khajiit heads (vanilla or CITRUS) as a base, we can achieve that relatively easy. After all, the Lykaios heads work pretty good considering they are modified Khajiit heads and use the default Khajiit morphs. Even if it does differ from the vanilla Khajiit head shape to some extent to give them a unique appearance, the sabrecat head would be more similar to the base one than the Lykaios one, so I'd say we would be in the clear for that.

 

And the details like better-looking teeth and the proper mouth structure/shape for them can be added to the base shape.

 

 I could take on learning to modify tri files at some point, but I know nothing about it now.

Actually, it's easier than you would think.

 

There is a Blender plugin for .tri files that works pretty well, and once you load the .tri with the head you want, you only need to create and/or edit ShapeKeys which represent the different morphs. You have the .tri Import/Export script here for Blender 2.63+: Blender 2.63+ TRI file import/export plugins. This is the one I've used so far and I know for a fact it does work, but if you need to use the 2.49b version, this is the old script on which the new one was based: Blender tri file import and export tool. Oh, and you can find a really nice tutorial on how to work with .tris here: .TRI Facial Animation FaceGen Creation Tutorial.

 

The only thing I'm not sure about would be how to change the base shape of the .tri to the hypothetical new sabrecat head while keeping the morphs as they are aka relative to the head shape (not sure if I explain myself properly), but I bet it's possible and not that hard.

 

(Ideally, since the teeth would be a prominent part of the face, there would be a few different mouth options too.) 

Can be done relatively easily by editing the CharGen .tris for mouth and head, if I'm right above about a way to change the base/reference shapes into the new ones. If not, it would still be possible, but would take way more work because you would have to edit the morphs for the vanilla head and mouth and check ingame each time to see how they translate into the sabrecat ones.

Edited April 9, 2017 by Blaze69

[mrmagrew]

Perhaps this feline/canine split idea (with sabre-orcs) could be implemented when/if this mod gets ported to Skyrim SE?

[Bad Dog]

So SE support until SKSE and the base mods get there, and the people who know about those say don't hold your breath.

 

I'll save the info on tris for when I get there. Doing schlongs now and will probably try to get the kids right first. Going through Blender 2.49 is no issue, that's mostly how I do things now.

[Blaze69]

I'll save the info on tris for when I get there. Doing schlongs now and will probably try to get the kids right first. Going through Blender 2.49 is no issue, that's mostly how I do things now.

Okay, fair enough. Also looking forward to the next Hoodies update  . And its integration into YA as well.

 

BTW, I think Blender 2.7+ and the tri scripts as well work way better than the old 2.49b (at least for anything that doesn't involve nifs), I simply mentioned the 2.49b version of the scripts in case you prefered the old one and/or didn't use the 2.7 version for some reason, IMO you should use the latest one if it's not a problem for you.

[Bad Dog]

I'll try it, but the 2.7 scripts always fuck me up sooner or later. If there's no bone weighting I've had some success with them but mostly it's a disaster.

[N8Ru]

 

Hello, By any chance will you release a version that doesn't require DawnGuard or Dragonborn for people who don't have DLC?

 

Last I heard was that BadDog has said he wouldn't, due to not wanting to maintain multiple versions. DLC really isn't that expensive at this point and a lot of mods require it.

 

Thank you I'll go ahead and buy the then.

[Blaze69]

I'll try it, but the 2.7 scripts always fuck me up sooner or later. If there's no bone weighting I've had some success with them but mostly it's a disaster.

Nope, no bone weighting or armatures or anything like that. Working with TRIs in Blender is basically like working with OBJs with added Shape keys (aka morphs).

 

In fact, I managed to create a .tri morph file for some heads from the Predators mod by simply exporting the head as an OBJ, importing into Blender, creating the Shape Keys for the blinking morphs, and exporting as a TRI. It worked just fine.

[Bad Dog]

So does this HDT stuff COMPLETELY bugger your frame rate? The profile I'm running to test with gets like 15 FPS whereas my rig usually runs at 30, with reasonable texture mods and DYDOLOD.

[NightroModzz]

So does this HDT stuff COMPLETELY bugger your frame rate? The profile I'm running to test with gets like 15 FPS whereas my rig usually runs at 30, with reasonable texture mods and DYDOLOD.

Yes, HDT takes a performance hit. So I'm guessing your laptop is pretty old. With HDT, for those that can max it out, it is also recommended to keep it locked a little bit bellow 60 to avoid some HDT bugs.

 

What GPU are you using? As I recall, you use an ROG laptop right? At most I would recommend a GTX 960 if you want to play at 1080p with HDT, and 1 or 2K texture mods. With that GPU and mod set up, you should get about 60fps.

 

As I recall, you don't use ENB right? What are your technical specs? Will it take advantage of ENBoost? Do you have more than 3GB of vram and a decent amount of ram?

 

If you want to continue using HDT with your current specs, I suggest that you avoid the mod SMIM, and use an FPS improved focused ENB or I can't believe it's not ENB. If it's still an issue, then I recommend lowering you gaming resolution to 720p with Nvidia DSR settings (Dynamic Super Resolution). Also, try looking into some performance mods Such as the following I recommended before.

 

Skyrim Project Optimization     No more Radial Blur - Performance optimization

 

If you can't have both a laptop and desktop, then when you can, I recommend upgrading to a laptop that can use an external GPU. There will be degradation, but's it's easier to upgrade the GPU. You can watch this video if you think it's worth it.

[Rockat]

So does this HDT stuff COMPLETELY bugger your frame rate? The profile I'm running to test with gets like 15 FPS whereas my rig usually runs at 30, with reasonable texture mods and DYDOLOD.

 

For me, it only tanked performance when I was messing around with a 4GHz Core 2 Duo and the 2.2GHz Phenom II X4 in my laptop (all 4 cores got nearly maxed out).

[Rockat]

 

So does this HDT stuff COMPLETELY bugger your frame rate? The profile I'm running to test with gets like 15 FPS whereas my rig usually runs at 30, with reasonable texture mods and DYDOLOD.

Yes, HDT takes a performance hit. So I'm guessing your laptop is pretty old. With HDT, for those that can max it out, it is also recommended to keep it locked a little bit bellow 60 to avoid some HDT bugs.

 

What GPU are you using? As I recall, you use an ROG laptop right? At most I would recommend a GTX 960 if you want to play at 1080p with HDT, and 1 or 2K texture mods. With that GPU and mod set up, you should get about 60fps.

 

As I recall, you don't use ENB right? What are your technical specs? Will it take advantage of ENBoost? Do you have more than 3GB of vram and a decent amount of ram?

 

If you want to continue using HDT with your current specs, I suggest that you avoid the mod SMIM, and use an FPS improved focused ENB or I can't believe it's not ENB. If it's still an issue, then I recommend lowering you gaming resolution to 720p with Nvidia DSR settings (Dynamic Super Resolution). Also, try looking into some performance mods Such as the following I recommended before.

 

Skyrim Project Optimization     No more Radial Blur - Performance optimization

 

If you can't have both a laptop and desktop, then when you can, I recommend upgrading to a laptop that can use an external GPU. There will be degradation, but's it's easier to upgrade the GPU. You can watch this video if you think it's worth it.

 

I'm going to try Project Optimisation myself, maybe with it I'll be able to run at the very least a light grass mod without tanking performance (and remove the occasional 5 second lockup that my GTX 970 has when its been used heavily). I really want to have some semblance of Skyrim SE's stability+performance+graphics, having to cut back on any of them sucks.

 

[Bad Dog]

Nah, I've got an MSI laptop with a GTX 970M. I don't want to be tied to a desktop. I was actually looking at a ROG for an upgrade.

[boo]

So does this HDT stuff COMPLETELY bugger your frame rate? The profile I'm running to test with gets like 15 FPS whereas my rig usually runs at 30, with reasonable texture mods and DYDOLOD.

 

I find SMP to have better performance than HDT PE.

[Blaze69]

So does this HDT stuff COMPLETELY bugger your frame rate? The profile I'm running to test with gets like 15 FPS whereas my rig usually runs at 30, with reasonable texture mods and DYDOLOD.

Quick thought, but it may be due to the fact that you still use the XP32 skeleton instead of XPMSE.

 

Something about the stuff required for HDT to add physics to specific nodes changed between XP32 and XPMSE and as a result, using XPMSE with an old collision/bounce XML built for XP32 resulted in your FPS being completely wrecked. Chaces are, the opposite also applies (updated XML for XPMSE causing issues when used with XP32).

 

You should try installing XPMSE and seeing if that fixes it.

[NightroModzz]

Nah, I've got an MSI laptop with a GTX 970M. I don't want to be tied to a desktop. I was actually looking at a ROG for an upgrade.

970M and 15-30 fps? Although mobile GPUs aren't usually as powerful as it's desktop counterpart, just what kind of mods and textures are you using?

 

When I had a GTX 970, I used Tetrachromatic ENB, 2K texture mods, 4k body texture mods, and 230-250 plugins and had 60 fps and dipped down to 28 fps in some areas. But then again, I also have 16GB DDR4 2666 ghz ram and a 6 core 5820K CPU overclocked to 4.5 ghz on water.

 

EDIT: Also, you can try doing something about shadows and view distance. Shadows quality has one of the biggest impacts on fps beside foliage. So you really want to optimize your grass too in your Skyrim.ini depending on your grass mod.

 

So does this HDT stuff COMPLETELY bugger your frame rate? The profile I'm running to test with gets like 15 FPS whereas my rig usually runs at 30, with reasonable texture mods and DYDOLOD.

 

I find SMP to have better performance than HDT PE.

 

True, but I also read that it isn't as good a HDT yet.

[boo]

 

Nah, I've got an MSI laptop with a GTX 970M. I don't want to be tied to a desktop. I was actually looking at a ROG for an upgrade.

970M and 15-30 fps? Although mobile GPUs aren't usually as powerful as it's desktop counterpart, just what kind of mods and textures are you using?

 

When I had a GTX 970, I used Tetrachromatic ENB, 2K texture mods, 4k body texture mods, and 230-250 plugins and had 60 fps and dipped down to 28 fps in some areas. But then again, I also have 16GB DDR4 2666 ghz ram and a 6 core 5820K CPU overclocked to 4.5 ghz on water.

 

So does this HDT stuff COMPLETELY bugger your frame rate? The profile I'm running to test with gets like 15 FPS whereas my rig usually runs at 30, with reasonable texture mods and DYDOLOD.

 

I find SMP to have better performance than HDT PE.

 

True, but I also read that it isn't as good a HDT yet.

 

Seems to be better from what I can tell.