Man I've been using Chooey's Women of Enderal for these ladies since the start, but I might need to try these for another playthrough because I absolutely love these replacers! I totally support Butch Calia (it makes more sense for her than the overly feminine long-haired replacers I've seen for her) and changing the mark on her face was a cool touch.
Also love the way you did Lishari, as it bothered me how in other NPC overhauls she looks way too whitewashed and conventionally attractive to me (especially considering how she's supposed to look so racially different that people remark on her looking like a Skaragg). This style is a good upgrade while still respecting her vanilla look.
Oooh yes I love Women of Enderal, that was my go-to Lishari for a while actually. And yeah I think a lot of people are like compassionate lady love interest = overly feminine and conventionally attractive, but it really doesn't fit Calia at all.
And I'm so glad you like my Lishari! Man I was so pissed when I saw whitewashed Lishari :) I'm happy that I can add another non-whitewashed Lishari to the mix haha
Women of Enderal is my favorite replacer. It's pretty much the only one I use at this point (coupled with the Visual Overhaul so I can have a shinier Jespar) after finding some of the changes with both the Enderal NPC Overhaul and DK's overhaul to be very offputting, especially with Calia and Lishari. WoE's version of Esme is also great, I think she looks so cute!
I see this mod is a WIP, so are you planning to do Esme as well? I'd be curious to see what you do with characters like her and Dijaam. (Oh, and I am very eagerly awaiting your wife's mod for the Suntemple. It looks amazing in those screens!)
Ahhh yes Esme is my fave in WoE!! I have been considering Esme and Dijam, though I actually have never met Dijam in-game so I wanna meet her on my next playthrough (whenever I manage to solidify a load order haha) before I work on her replacer.
And yeah it's a shame because the generic NPCs of Enderal can be quite scary bad, but those overhauls tend to change a lot about the important characters in weird ways. I quite like a few of the characters from Malphas' Blessing though, if you haven't seen that one yet. Not a fan of her Calia and Jespar, but I'm very picky and not really a fan of anyone's Calia and Jespar besides the Visual Overhaul lol. Her Natara is really good though and I like her Esme too!
Just out of curiosity, which characters would you consider the most in need of makeovers? I have some ideas but I would love to hear other player's feedback for inspiration too.
And I will have to pass that along to my wife! I'm in love with with her temple overhaul tbh it's very grand. She hasn't played Enderal, but she has listened to me rant and/or infodump for hours about it :D She's also been working on a Drunken Bee overhaul that is really good and might get posted soon!
Dijaam was pretty much the only reason I bothered with the Golden Sickle questline. She's a disaster woman but I still liked her a lot, lol.
Agreed Re: the generic NPCs being pretty bad. I wish there was a way to choose to use the overhauls for only those characters and keep the major NPCs as they are, but I couldn't seem to do that without running into a magnitude of issues. I have seen Malphas' Blessing and didn't care for that version of Calia and Jespar either, but everyone else looked interesting. Though I think it was odd that Lishari looks like she's supposed to be Qyranian? I'll take it over the whitewashing, but again she's supposed to have a very distinctive appearance because people specifically say she looks Skaraggian.
As for which characters I think need the most makeovers... if we're talking about the major NPCs/ones associated with quests, at the top of my head I know I'd like to see the characters from A Touching Effigy and Divide & Conquer touched up. I'd also be curious to see your take on Esme as well, as I find her vanilla face to be really difficult to look at even though I like her unique hairstyle.
Oh man, I love location overhauls, so I'm excited to see your wife's mod for the temple and the Drunken Bee! The vanilla Suntemple already looks gorgeous, but from the screenshots I see, I like how it seems more fitting of the sun motifs with the gold colors and intricate patterns. Pass along to your wife that I'm definitely a fan who hopes she releases them soon! I'm excited. 😂
I can't wait to meet her! I only ever did the first quest so I probably just missed meeting her.
Yeah I was confused about that Lishari too tbh It seems WoE is the only one that stays true to her original look.
Ooooh I love those two quests! I actually quite like Malphas' Blessing for Divide and Conquer, but I would definitely love to try my hand at A Touching Effigy! I've also considered Esme, though I'd need to give more thought to her as I'm not sure how I want her to look.
If you like the textures for the sun temple I'm using a mix of Riton Solitude and mrf's Solitude! The columns are from Riton's! Those two texture packs work really well with Enderal. And I'll let her know! :)
You don't meet Dijaam until a little later, like three quests in. Too bad the Golden Sickle questline felt kind of like an afterthought.
And yeah, I don't know why people make some of the creative choices they do with Lishari's design when she's supposed to look a certain way for a reason. That's why I like your mod, since I think it's probably the most faithful to Lishari's design other than WoE!
I really like A Touching Effigy, so I'd be curious to see how you do Erica and Andrasta! Another one that just came to mind would be Zar'Ah (from the last part of the Rhalâta questline). I absolutely loved WoE's version of her, but
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if you play as a Phasmalist and summon her, she's back to her vanilla look. Would be nice to keep her modded look with her as a ghost.
Dang, I'd never heard of those mods. I just looked them up and those textures are gorgeous. I'll have to try them out next time I play Skyrim, but I agree - they fit Enderal super well!
Aww that sucks, especially with how well developed the Rhalata questline was.
Yeah! I haven't seen an Erica and Andrasta combo I really like so it would be interesting to work on them. That quest was really neat. Oooh and I adore Zar'ah, that always sucks when people don't realize the actor has more than one instance. If you want WoE's version of her in your game though, it's a fairly easy fix if you have some xedit and potentially nifskope experience! I will also consider how I could change her up :D
Yeah, the Golden Sickle questline is pretty weak by comparison to the Rhalâta, sadly. It's especially disappointing since you get the option to flirt/have a fling with Dijaam, but her ending is almost always the same (which I almost always do because hurr durr pretty lady). I feel like the note she leaves should at least say something different depending on how you ended the quest.
Sadly I have no experience with xedit and nifskope, so I'm not sure how to do that and was afraid of maybe breaking things if I got in too deep with the files without knowing what I was doing. I did inform the mod author some time ago and they said they might revisit the mod, but no updates yet. Would still love to see your version of the character.
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There are also hints that Zar'Ah is the Lysia from Jespar's backstory, since the novel played coy when first introducing her as Zar'Ah/Zarrah, and then Lysia says it's her middle name. And I really love Lysia in the novels, so I just want more Zar'Ah love.
I have heard a little about that and I'm so curious. I need to get my load order together so I can go play through again. It really seems like there was a lot of wasted potential though.
Ooooooh
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I didn't realize she was in the novel! I only read the free sample and never wound up buying a copy, which I'm a little sad I didn't get one before it got rebranded. I had heard those rumors though and like theories of her seeing Jespar in the temple. I'm just so sad that she dies because she seemed really cool. I also didn't realize she was a phasmalist soul when I played a phasmalist, so I never picked up her soul lol
But yes I was looking at her vanilla appearance earlier and I definitely think I could work with her :D
I also vote for Esme! Her vanilla face looks very angular, in a weird low-poly way, but none of the replacers preserve her unique minstrel hairstyle, with the red headband, those braids and pearls. If you could make her look anything like in this portrait, that'd be a massive improvement in my book. Dijaam looks great in Malphas' Blessings, I think. Like the dangerous, cutthroat businesswoman she is. I guess she doesn't look particularly Kilean if we read Kileas as SE Asian, but then again neither do the Kilean Racemenu presets (they look more Arab to me), so it's hard to tell what would be a lore-friendly phenotype even.
The whole skin colour thing is so complicated in Skyrim anyway. It seems like all the common skin mods (including BnP which you use in the screenshots) seem to whiten all characters. You seem to have adjusted Calia and Lishari to that standard, which makes them look great with BnP, but almost too dark (more Qyranian) without it (vanilla or Reverie skin, for instance). But I tried BnP and that makes a couple of other characters look white... It's a real dilemma. XD
This Calia is devilishly handsome! Adore it! I had no idea she was Kilean by the way - at what point does she mention that? And you're absolutely right about the NPC Overhaul - it's a shame because there's some good texture models there, but it just makes everyone look like (fashion) models... Would love to see your take on more NPCs! Lishari is one of the redesigns in Malphas' blessing that I actually think look great (I almost wish we could use it for a different character, like the Qyranian traveller in Riverville), but simply too different from the "canon" version to still feel like the same character to me. So I'll pass. Yours is much more recognisable! For the same reason (and not being American, I suppose, so I had to google the Chick-Fil-A logo), I still prefer Calia's default mark - any chance you could offer a version with that? I was hoping it was a simple matter of removing the texture from this mod, but I realised it's actually an integrated part of the face tint file.
PS: I have to bother you with another question - you write "If you like Calia's unique armor set, but don't want boob plate, I recommend Calia's armor remesh from Enderal Armor and Weapon Overhaul". I'm a bit wary of EAWO as a whole package because of all the bug reports and incompatibilities. I thought I could install EAWO Companions only, but then her armour has some clearly missing textures (weird light-blue glow instead). And only installing the Keeper Armor from that mod without the base plugin to have her look like in your screenshots doesn't seem possible either - it makes all the Keepers invisible. Please help me find a way to get rid of that absurdly bulging boob plate! XD Edit: To anyone else wondering, you can simply extract the missing textures (the greaves) from the EAWO base mod and include them in the EAWO companion pack with XEdit.
Calia without face I just tried to install this mod manually and now Calia looks like this if i enable LTG_NPCOverhaul.esp. I load it after all other mods. What could be the cause of that? Do i need any other mods for this to work?
Absolutely gorgeous! Unique looks while still lore friendly and fitting for the characters! It's lovely to see you in Enderal too, I love your Skyrim replacers (especially your Yazakh). Thank you for sharing your amazing work and talent (and thanks to your wife for butch Calia ;)
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Also love the way you did Lishari, as it bothered me how in other NPC overhauls she looks way too whitewashed and conventionally attractive to me (especially considering how she's supposed to look so racially different that people remark on her looking like a Skaragg). This style is a good upgrade while still respecting her vanilla look.
And I'm so glad you like my Lishari! Man I was so pissed when I saw whitewashed Lishari :) I'm happy that I can add another non-whitewashed Lishari to the mix haha
I see this mod is a WIP, so are you planning to do Esme as well? I'd be curious to see what you do with characters like her and Dijaam. (Oh, and I am very eagerly awaiting your wife's mod for the Suntemple. It looks amazing in those screens!)
And yeah it's a shame because the generic NPCs of Enderal can be quite scary bad, but those overhauls tend to change a lot about the important characters in weird ways. I quite like a few of the characters from Malphas' Blessing though, if you haven't seen that one yet. Not a fan of her Calia and Jespar, but I'm very picky and not really a fan of anyone's Calia and Jespar besides the Visual Overhaul lol. Her Natara is really good though and I like her Esme too!
Just out of curiosity, which characters would you consider the most in need of makeovers? I have some ideas but I would love to hear other player's feedback for inspiration too.
And I will have to pass that along to my wife! I'm in love with with her temple overhaul tbh it's very grand. She hasn't played Enderal, but she has listened to me rant and/or infodump for hours about it :D She's also been working on a Drunken Bee overhaul that is really good and might get posted soon!
Agreed Re: the generic NPCs being pretty bad. I wish there was a way to choose to use the overhauls for only those characters and keep the major NPCs as they are, but I couldn't seem to do that without running into a magnitude of issues. I have seen Malphas' Blessing and didn't care for that version of Calia and Jespar either, but everyone else looked interesting. Though I think it was odd that Lishari looks like she's supposed to be Qyranian? I'll take it over the whitewashing, but again she's supposed to have a very distinctive appearance because people specifically say she looks Skaraggian.
As for which characters I think need the most makeovers... if we're talking about the major NPCs/ones associated with quests, at the top of my head I know I'd like to see the characters from A Touching Effigy and Divide & Conquer touched up. I'd also be curious to see your take on Esme as well, as I find her vanilla face to be really difficult to look at even though I like her unique hairstyle.
Oh man, I love location overhauls, so I'm excited to see your wife's mod for the temple and the Drunken Bee! The vanilla Suntemple already looks gorgeous, but from the screenshots I see, I like how it seems more fitting of the sun motifs with the gold colors and intricate patterns. Pass along to your wife that I'm definitely a fan who hopes she releases them soon! I'm excited. 😂
Yeah I was confused about that Lishari too tbh It seems WoE is the only one that stays true to her original look.
Ooooh I love those two quests! I actually quite like Malphas' Blessing for Divide and Conquer, but I would definitely love to try my hand at A Touching Effigy! I've also considered Esme, though I'd need to give more thought to her as I'm not sure how I want her to look.
If you like the textures for the sun temple I'm using a mix of Riton Solitude and mrf's Solitude! The columns are from Riton's! Those two texture packs work really well with Enderal. And I'll let her know! :)
And yeah, I don't know why people make some of the creative choices they do with Lishari's design when she's supposed to look a certain way for a reason. That's why I like your mod, since I think it's probably the most faithful to Lishari's design other than WoE!
I really like A Touching Effigy, so I'd be curious to see how you do Erica and Andrasta! Another one that just came to mind would be Zar'Ah (from the last part of the Rhalâta questline). I absolutely loved WoE's version of her, but
Dang, I'd never heard of those mods. I just looked them up and those textures are gorgeous. I'll have to try them out next time I play Skyrim, but I agree - they fit Enderal super well!
Yeah! I haven't seen an Erica and Andrasta combo I really like so it would be interesting to work on them. That quest was really neat. Oooh and I adore Zar'ah, that always sucks when people don't realize the actor has more than one instance. If you want WoE's version of her in your game though, it's a fairly easy fix if you have some xedit and potentially nifskope experience! I will also consider how I could change her up :D
Sadly I have no experience with xedit and nifskope, so I'm not sure how to do that and was afraid of maybe breaking things if I got in too deep with the files without knowing what I was doing. I did inform the mod author some time ago and they said they might revisit the mod, but no updates yet. Would still love to see your version of the character.
Ooooooh
Dijaam looks great in Malphas' Blessings, I think. Like the dangerous, cutthroat businesswoman she is. I guess she doesn't look particularly Kilean if we read Kileas as SE Asian, but then again neither do the Kilean Racemenu presets (they look more Arab to me), so it's hard to tell what would be a lore-friendly phenotype even.
The whole skin colour thing is so complicated in Skyrim anyway. It seems like all the common skin mods (including BnP which you use in the screenshots) seem to whiten all characters. You seem to have adjusted Calia and Lishari to that standard, which makes them look great with BnP, but almost too dark (more Qyranian) without it (vanilla or Reverie skin, for instance). But I tried BnP and that makes a couple of other characters look white... It's a real dilemma. XD
PS: I have to bother you with another question - you write "If you like Calia's unique armor set, but don't want boob plate, I recommend Calia's armor remesh from Enderal Armor and Weapon Overhaul". I'm a bit wary of EAWO as a whole package because of all the bug reports and incompatibilities. I thought I could install EAWO Companions only, but then her armour has some clearly missing textures (weird light-blue glow instead). And only installing the Keeper Armor from that mod without the base plugin to have her look like in your screenshots doesn't seem possible either - it makes all the Keepers invisible. Please help me find a way to get rid of that absurdly bulging boob plate! XD
Edit: To anyone else wondering, you can simply extract the missing textures (the greaves) from the EAWO base mod and include them in the EAWO companion pack with XEdit.
I just tried to install this mod manually and now Calia looks like this if i enable LTG_NPCOverhaul.esp. I load it after all other mods. What could be the cause of that? Do i need any other mods for this to work?