Be sure to check out a preview from my upcoming Bloodscythe and Soulrender mod. Skyrim's engine is pretty dated and I am working on a better workflow to try and push my PBR skills. It also gives the non-modders a peek into the process. I typically break the item down by UV map islands and group them. Then I give each section a basic color and apply my shading and then my surface detail. I do all 3 maps at once while making small changes to the normal map when needed. In this picture I just finished applying the light shaders and I am just tweaking the mesh settings.
Hi there, I’m a big fan of your work! May I please have your permission to have someone port your Harkon’s Sword retexture and Ebony Blade retexture to Xbox? All credit will be given to you and a link will be posted for your original. Thank you in advance! 😊
Since you're busy replacing certain weapons, might I ask for replacers of the following:
Blade of Woe Gauldur Blackblade Gauldur Blackbow Nettlebane Eduj Okin
Mods like Unique Uniques & the like don't touch these weapons & they could sure use a remesh/retex given their being unique whenever you have the time. Thank you.
pretty old post and no idea if you've found a replacer or know about this mod but Ave made a replacer for the black blade. I don't know about the others.. https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/57361
Lovely! I always give Serana her father's sword, and now we're matched nicely. From the blood-gleam of the scabbard to the dark drinking veneer of the blade itself, this is truly a sword for the Queen of the Night.
I've been using the Oldrim version of this mod, and I have to say that it looks fantastic! I especially love that you put damascus patterns on the blade, making it quite stand out from the other Katana mods out there.
You get the sword the same way you always have. You must finish the Dawnguard expansion quests. Either that or find a way to take it from the master vampire lord that owns it. If you do not have the expansion then I suppose you will have to edit the settings and add it as a stand-alone weapon.
A technicality really. I always include the mesh files with my textures for a few reasons. There are a plethora of model replacement mods and my textures will only work with the mesh I designed them for. Also, i build my textures from the bottom up instead of doing simple color adjustments. Even when you change the color it is a good idea to edit the way light interacts with the mesh. I normally use a more PBR based workflow and then edit the mesh so that it is always in some sort of light so the details show even in dark areas.
There are some good model replacing mods out there but most of them have poor quality UV maps or normal maps. Take the Drakuul armor mod for example. A good model and with the textures it has it looks decent. Terrible UV map structure and the normal maps are low quality. I have been working here and there to reorganize the UV maps to decrease the amount of texture files required and have been baking normal maps based off of that. If I ever get a reply from the original designer I have some good stuff planned for that and the Medusa armor.
Ah, that makes sense, less a replaced meshed and more an optimized one.
A retextured/improved drakul or medusa armor would be amazing, that medusa one is actually one of my favorite oldrim armors.Looking forward to anything you might consider doing in the future.
There is a catch when it comes to modifying a UV map. It is the single most tedious task invented by humans. In Zerofrost’s defense the maps are not as bad as some that I have seen but the scaling is awkward and it means the armor alone uses around way to many texture files, 15 if memory serves me. It mainly bothers me and since nobody seems to have made issue then I could just do the texture mod.
I have files done already where I exploded the model it just needs to be textured. Full armor textures like that take a bit because I aspire to a level of detail you do not normally see from a texture. If I get enough people that want it then I will take a go at it.
I do have permission to use a the shield from the “Steampunk” mod. I have plans to use it as a replacement model for the shield Spellbreaker.
I have been on a unique items kick lately because the textures do not take as long so I can get them out faster. Once I get enough I will combine them into a single file.
Is the Legendary Edition a different mesh from Oldrim and SE? The mesh files are in the mod file for download so it replaces any old mesh. There are a lot of lighting settings I modified. If it just needs to be ported to Oldrim to work in the Legendary edition than I will be doing that once I finish the scabbard that goes with it.
My understanding is that textures are safe to use with both Oldrim and SSE in most cases depending on how the textures are saved as. With meshes on the other hand, they are specific to each version of Skyrim and are not compatible with each other. Because of that any meshes have to be modified using the meshes for Skyrim LE or Skyrim SE depending on which game you are playing. Anyone else feel free to chime in in case I'm wrong.
Well, I just ported and uploaded the mod for the original version of Skyrim. If there has to be something special done for Legendary than I will leave that up to whoever needs it to handle. All my mods when ported are done so with the correct mesh files to go with the texture files I create.
Ok, thanks for backporting your mods back to Oldrim. Both Harkon's Sword and the Ebony Blade look great with your new meshes and textures. Here's hoping to see more from you in the future.
20 comments
Blade of Woe
Gauldur Blackblade
Gauldur Blackbow
Nettlebane
Eduj
Okin
Mods like Unique Uniques & the like don't touch these weapons & they could sure use a remesh/retex given their being unique whenever you have the time. Thank you.
Although, wouldn't it technically be a replacer since it changes the meshes, too?
A technicality really. I always include the mesh files with my textures for a few reasons. There are a plethora of model replacement mods and my textures will only work with the mesh I designed them for. Also, i build my textures from the bottom up instead of doing simple color adjustments. Even when you change the color it is a good idea to edit the way light interacts with the mesh. I normally use a more PBR based workflow and then edit the mesh so that it is always in some sort of light so the details show even in dark areas.
There are some good model replacing mods out there but most of them have poor quality UV maps or normal maps. Take the Drakuul armor mod for example. A good model and with the textures it has it looks decent. Terrible UV map structure and the normal maps are low quality. I have been working here and there to reorganize the UV maps to decrease the amount of texture files required and have been baking normal maps based off of that. If I ever get a reply from the original designer I have some good stuff planned for that and the Medusa armor.
A retextured/improved drakul or medusa armor would be amazing, that medusa one is actually one of my favorite oldrim armors.Looking forward to anything you might consider doing in the future.
I have files done already where I exploded the model it just needs to be textured. Full armor textures like that take a bit because I aspire to a level of detail you do not normally see from a texture. If I get enough people that want it then I will take a go at it.
I do have permission to use a the shield from the “Steampunk” mod. I have plans to use it as a replacement model for the shield Spellbreaker.
I have been on a unique items kick lately because the textures do not take as long so I can get them out faster. Once I get enough I will combine them into a single file.
My favourite retexture of Harkon's sword. Would you please port this to Legendary Edition since it changes meshes too