i know this was a kinda practice n personal thing but i have to ask anyway, where'd you learn how to do this? :0 i have a custom scar that I want to make for my Tav so badly, but I've got 0 experience with anything related to mapping/sculpting/etc lmao. Is there any sort of guide you've ever found? if not, would you ever consider comissions for stuff like this?
yeeeee super easy bb!! as long as you've got the time to sink into trial/error on your end, you won't need anything but free programs and hyperfixation
what you'll need/additional helpfuls: -paint.net (free & bitchin) and/or photoshop (f*#@ you adobe) w the intel dds plugin thing installed* -the moddin tool (its got documentation on the page dw) -ADDITIONAL modding wiki for all current knowledge (careful, some stuff is wrong since this is the assumed/trial and error phase) -ADDITIONAL shader map if you wanna make your own super duper ez bump maps (you can find youtube guides ez too)
*if you're grumpy bc you're only familiar w gimp/another program dw you can copy past your layers and just use paint.net to open/save your files
quick lil rundown OPTION A:
use the moddin tool to extract game files
follow the file path of THIS mod to find the scar file. its a SHARED file, meaning npc's will have some of these scars, so you could run into your masterpiece on an npc (idk if unique tav has a scar file yet? ill look into that but you could theoretically apply this lil guide to it)
open that file using paint.net/ps
at this point you can copy the layer into your preferred editor of choice or keep using paint.net/ps
here's the tricky part. if this were a regular bump map, you could just make your drawing in whatever color/shading and shove it in a map gen capable program, right? but this map is super weird and the color range isn't anything ive seen before in my own lil meddling over the modding years. your best bet is to color match the existing scars, referencing in-game to see how deep what color is what. or i guess make a bump map like normal and then just shade it. i TRIED that, but you gotta be super exact bc it will tint your tav's head. idk this part is real trial and error, hence why version 1 of this mod looked like someone came at your tav with a sharpie
once you've finished your masterpiece (or at least the latest version you want to test) save it via paint.net/ps with the save settings BC7. it wont work on any other setting.
YOU CAN HOTLOAD THIS FILE meaning you don't have to exit out of the game every time you want to see a change. just go back to the main menu then you can reload your save or just use the CC
faster OPTION Bwithout downloading the modding tool/extracting files:
open the file included in this mod using paint.net/ps
use the above steps 4-7, making sure that you save over my file
hope this helps!! happy to answer more q's anytime <3
THANK YOU!!! i use the ritual scarsa for my durge necromancer drow, and felt they were "missing something" for a while. this makes them look better, thnaks!
its funny bc ive been asked about my baby before and i still haven't bothered to go track down specifics to give ppl this answer. anyhow my mods folders are a mess but here's the three head mods i use/have used at some point and im PRETTY SURE hers is from vemperen's:
i gotta look at what they did for that at some point bc i have a feeling it also affects the skin texture on some level with all that ichor, but idk haven't looked. im close to finishing my current playthrough, then ill deep dive for starting collection mods 👍
they're ripped straight from nordic symbols. this post made me read an article abt the amazigh clans, tho, so ty. cool ppl, i hope they continue to preserve their culture.
This looks awesome, is there any chance you might make an update at some point that adds the normal map tweaks so they look the same as the vanilla lines? It's the only thing keeping me from nabbing it tbh, the vanilla scarring has "dimple" mapping while the modded parts don't so the effect is a bit lost!
there IS line depth, you just cant see it in the garbo shots. the Big Problem i ran into was this s#*! is like a normal map but its…. tinted. hard to explain, and my limited self-taught knowledge definitely doesnt help, but yeah, thats a normal map. its just a shitty hand-made one atm until i figure out how to use my usual normal map program for this. that way i know what colors mean what depth etc etc. so its not so much that they dont have depth, its that theyre all the SAME depth (and not as deep as the vanilla lines that are still there).
in the meantime its… well. what it is lmao. thats the only scars file that i know of. if i were to take the skin normal maps route of scarification (which i do want to experiment with if only for my own files) it'd have to be for every race as far as i understand it. THOSE normal maps are the kind im used to and can make at the drop of a hat. im still navigating my way through the unpacked files, but once you get out of the shared assets folder its ALL broken down into races, so that's what. 8 different categories, plus the big versions for some of them? THEN individual heads. not impossible, for sure, it would just take up your normal map for your head and you'd have to custom replace it on your end if you downloaded a modded head.
SORRY for the rambling! im still in my "i dont know how half this s#*! is set up" brain mode
Oh sh*t, didn't realize they used a different style of mapping. I would take a look on my end but I already swore to myself not to fall into the rabbit hole of DIY'ing mods for another game after I got into it for FFXIV. I can at least poke around online to see if there's any guides for it or the like because that's less involved. I love reading peoples' rambling and seeing their progression in the self-teaching process, so no worries there. Not sure which type of "tinted" you mean without looking for myself but if it's weird rainbow hues the one program I found that was finally able to process the normal map I yanked off a 3d model preview of a thing that was rainbow-y was XNormal. It has a weird early-computer-era stylized interface but it does work. Might help with things, might not, just figured I'd toss that tidbit out there just in case.
sadly that rainbow map is the exact kind im used to and can mass crank out (legit like 4 months ago did a mass upscale of some skyrim assets and made like 2k maps over like 3 days it was nuts) but the one for the scars is like. okay so its like GREEN??? and the lines are all purple leading into cyan for depth and if you dont match the green exactly right it SHOWS like the skin texture gets darker since its technically just an overlay i guess. like initially i did my normal route of running it through my tried and true shadermap 4 which i cant recommend enough (you can just use the free version) but yeah no dice since its a very idk specific normal i guess. one ive never had to deal with for a game at least in my memory. its also a bc7 save which was odd bc its the only bc7 ive run into so far in my digging
i think the big problem, and what this attempt showed off the most, is that if you make the marks shallow, its better to either a) leave them super thin instead of stretched out like these lines OR add proper shading around it. but ill figure the maps out once im done w this pt lmao. im honestly kind of kicking my feet waiting for more word on official tools before i start the big CC projects i wanna do so /shrug
on my phone right now, but i am looking forward to trying this out. its my favourite scar but i always wished there was more happening on the upper part of the face. you did a really great job of adding to the design.
MY APOLOGIES IF THIS WAS MENTIONED, BUT IS YOUR EYE APART OF THE SCAR CHANGE??? if not, can you tell me why it looks so beautiful & sparkly, because I need the whole package<3
so the eye is vanilla. i dont run any eye mods atm. i know i hit the “show all colors” button during selection but i cant remember if thats vanilla or a CC mod. either way, theyre both grey, ones just the flame one.
i left that wholeass paragraph in the post DIRECTLY below this about why that is. the MSK file isnt like the usual normal maps. this was literally advertised as a Rough Personal File, welcome to the trial and error stage.
22 comments
i have a custom scar that I want to make for my Tav so badly, but I've got 0 experience with anything related to mapping/sculpting/etc lmao. Is there any sort of guide you've ever found? if not, would you ever consider comissions for stuff like this?
what you'll need/additional helpfuls:
-paint.net (free & bitchin) and/or photoshop (f*#@ you adobe) w the intel dds plugin thing installed*
-the moddin tool (its got documentation on the page dw)
-ADDITIONAL modding wiki for all current knowledge (careful, some stuff is wrong since this is the assumed/trial and error phase)
-ADDITIONAL shader map if you wanna make your own super duper ez bump maps (you can find youtube guides ez too)
*if you're grumpy bc you're only familiar w gimp/another program dw you can copy past your layers and just use paint.net to open/save your files
quick lil rundown OPTION A:
faster OPTION B without downloading the modding tool/extracting files:
hope this helps!! happy to answer more q's anytime <3
vemperen's other heads
scarred female heads
roulette heads
there IS line depth, you just cant see it in the garbo shots. the Big Problem i ran into was this s#*! is like a normal map but its…. tinted. hard to explain, and my limited self-taught knowledge definitely doesnt help, but yeah, thats a normal map. its just a shitty hand-made one atm until i figure out how to use my usual normal map program for this. that way i know what colors mean what depth etc etc. so its not so much that they dont have depth, its that theyre all the SAME depth (and not as deep as the vanilla lines that are still there).
in the meantime its… well. what it is lmao. thats the only scars file that i know of. if i were to take the skin normal maps route of scarification (which i do want to experiment with if only for my own files) it'd have to be for every race as far as i understand it. THOSE normal maps are the kind im used to and can make at the drop of a hat. im still navigating my way through the unpacked files, but once you get out of the shared assets folder its ALL broken down into races, so that's what. 8 different categories, plus the big versions for some of them? THEN individual heads. not impossible, for sure, it would just take up your normal map for your head and you'd have to custom replace it on your end if you downloaded a modded head.
SORRY for the rambling! im still in my "i dont know how half this s#*! is set up" brain mode
sadly that rainbow map is the exact kind im used to and can mass crank out (legit like 4 months ago did a mass upscale of some skyrim assets and made like 2k maps over like 3 days it was nuts) but the one for the scars is like. okay so its like GREEN??? and the lines are all purple leading into cyan for depth and if you dont match the green exactly right it SHOWS like the skin texture gets darker since its technically just an overlay i guess. like initially i did my normal route of running it through my tried and true shadermap 4 which i cant recommend enough (you can just use the free version) but yeah no dice since its a very idk specific normal i guess. one ive never had to deal with for a game at least in my memory. its also a bc7 save which was odd bc its the only bc7 ive run into so far in my digging
i think the big problem, and what this attempt showed off the most, is that if you make the marks shallow, its better to either a) leave them super thin instead of stretched out like these lines OR add proper shading around it. but ill figure the maps out once im done w this pt lmao. im honestly kind of kicking my feet waiting for more word on official tools before i start the big CC projects i wanna do so /shrug
ty for the brainstorm!!
ive got a few variations chilling in my drafts for more of This Vibe once i get more comf with the file set up.
THE SCAR CHANGE??? if not, can you tell me why it looks so beautiful &
sparkly, because I need the whole package<3
TY
edit: yw <3
Such an awesome replacement for this scar. I was fond of the original route, but this makes it look so much better in my opinion.
Definitely keeping an eye out for more of your stuff in the future!
<333