Just a reminder that I didn't make the textures or meshes for this mod. That work was done by the authors of KS Hairdos, KS Hairdos SMP, and the original Multicolored KS Hairdos mod. All I did was make some ESPFEs that make the multicolored hairs into standalone hairs that don't replace the originals. I have no skill or experience with making or editing meshes/textures, so I don't have the ability to add hairs that don't already have an existing multicolored mesh/texture. I still plan on doing the Ombre/Monochrome hairs at some point, but don't have a timeframe for when that will be done.
Setting multicolored textures from this mod onto existing KS Hairdos nifs, with physics, wigs or not, for NPCs, or not, is easily done. You can use this mod, and possibly another(for the NPC part), depending on your objectives, to do it.
In a sentence: Copy the texture(.dds file) from this mod that matches the specific .nif file in your target mod. Yes, it will work, in general. Put the .dds file in the right place(right or nothing), and it's gtg.
My response to some of the posts here:
Spoiler:
Show
(Those of you with experience? Come on, man. You should know this. Besides, there's no way to know what iteration/combination of KS hairs/others you are using-->targeting. Nor is there a way to know which hairs/wigs you want multicolored. Building every possible mod for all combinations is idiocy, because trying to maintain the 20+ mods that are required for that is idiocy. Stop asking this poor MA to do something they can't, and you can: in minutes. I could build an ezNPC like thing for this, to do hair instead of faces, or, some sort of synthesis patcher. However, both barely move the ball: each is still dependent on so much subjectivity, hardware concerns, and variability of hair mod design, they approach 0 value. Polymorphism aside, their scope == magical thinking of children.)
Yes, this will permanently alter the target mod. (Unless you reinstall it, and then everything goes back to normal. Probably have to rebuild bodyslide files/collisions though.)
Alternatively: You can make your own mod. Create a new folder in whatever "mods" directory you use to deploy actual mods(not downloads), or use your modding tool's(MO2/Vortex) feature(s) for that. Create the target mod's file structure(folder "tree") exactly the same in your mod. Add the .dds from this mod to the "textures" folder in your mod(make sure you get this right) load it after target, and it will overwrite. Done. This way, if you screw it up, you can just alter/delete your mod. You don't like something, you change your mod.
Destruction of further Considerations, Questions, Nonsense:
Spoiler:
Show
Physics vs not, wigs vs not: irrelevant. This will work, because these are only textures. The nifs reside in the target mod. .dds files "paint" over those mesh files. All you're doing is giving the existing nif in the target a new paint job with a dds from here.
But, as the MA said: not every nif file in your target KS Hairdo mod, may have a dds file here. What do I mean? Each nif has a name, like Amor.nif. If you don't have a Amor.dds from here, for that nif, no multicolor hair. Thus, you can't just blindly cut/paste and hope all goes well.
You can, but, set your expectations properly: you will see failure. Better to do it one at a time, match each file with certainty, and know what you're doing, than guess. Open up the mods and see the folders/files. Make a note of what you did: mod or direct edit.
All of the KS mods have different file structures. If you don't place the .dds file in the right place: either nothing will change, or blue(no texture) hair, or CTD. Do the right things right. Only the target's file structure matters, make sure you put the right dds file in the right place, either in the target mod, or your new mod.
There's a hangup with wigs: KS HDT Wigs, for example, has 3 buildable wigs, blonde, brunette, redhead, but uses the same texture for all. I have no idea what happens with that. Perhaps nothing. Perhaps it looks even cooler. Perhaps it's crap.
Also, wigs usually have ground meshes: a wig == a sword, in game. A ground mesh is what something looks like when you drop it, funnily enough, on the ground. Also, ground meshes may be be used for mannequins/displays. (depends if it's an actual mannequin, or a "display" version.)
So what? So, there are no ground dds files in this mod. That means: wigs will revert to their old "paint" when not sitting on an actor's(real mannequin's) head.
With that in mind, let's do some cases: CASE 1: I want all hair and wigs to be multicolored, except the ones I now understand (because I did the reading above) can't be.
Spoiler:
Show
--->Then replace all the dds files you have in all the KS Hairdo mods you use, with the corresponding ones from here, again, either in the original mod, or in your own mod.
CASE 2: I want some of the hair, or wigs or only the Physics ones, or whatever I want to be multicolored.
Spoiler:
Show
-->Find out which mod the hair is coming from first, that is now the target. Then, find the nif file you want, then see if there's a matching dds in this mod. If there is replace it in the target mod, or yours. If not, you're SOL.
CASE 3: I want as many wigs as I can get to be multicolored, with physics, and I want every female NPC in the game to get one. Or, I want to pick and choose, but, I still want every NPC to get HDT hair.
Spoiler:
Show
-->Well, this is almost possible. First, check out this mod https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/86800. Next, replace all the dds files you can/want to in the this mod's requirement mod KS Hair Physics. The WIGS mod, not the hair, is the target. I know, I have the spid mod's(the one I linked) source code in front of me.
You'd think the random assignment was bad: in fact it's great. No, you can't change hair once it's run. You can't even use wigs. I don't know if NPC hair color changers(Proteus, ECE, Cheat Engine) work. Yes, you can make spid run again and get new hairs, but every female gets new hair. Find out how spid works to do this.
You don't need a new game to distribute NPC HDT wigs, but you do if you hate more of the ones NPCs got than you like.
Most importantly, this mod comes with a distr file that you can modify and make it exclude NPCs before it runs: this way you can either leave them as if, say, if they already have an HDT wig/hair, or make HDT wigs for them yourself. SPID, again, read.
You get the idea, right? You can do this, but you have put in a little bit of reading, then a little bit of work, but, not much of either, really.
I've been searching for smp colored wigs for npcs as well and haven't found any mods that do this yet myself. Have you found a mod that does this since posting this?
It would be pretty cool if these were wigs - I did not realize at the time of download that these are basically RaceMenu "options" or whatever the term is.
Maybe I did something wrong, but I am unable to find these styles in my character creation options at all. Found all my other hairs, but none that can be colored like this mod. Any ideas why?
Just a quick question. Noticed that some of the coloured hairs are not enabled for Elves, and only for humans (such as Spring, Koala, Paraguay, Silent Lips, Sky 176, etc). Mainly pony tails. Is there a reason for this?
I know this is probably a lot to ask, but it would be awesome if you could make the textures of all the hairs match! I really want to use this along side Let your hair down, but the hairs I want to use together don't match in their textures, so it looks kinda weird :/
This is really great! my PC's "KSSMP Gecko" even looks better now! Thanks for making this stand alone!
Just to be greedy, she has SMP hair, but to be able to enchant another item, she also wears the KSSMP Gecko wig. However, it covers up the cool multicolor effect. Is there any way to have the wigs multicolored also?
21 comments
Thanks for downloading and using the mod.
In a sentence: Copy the texture(.dds file) from this mod that matches the specific .nif file in your target mod.
Yes, it will work, in general. Put the .dds file in the right place(right or nothing), and it's gtg.
My response to some of the posts here:
(Those of you with experience? Come on, man. You should know this. Besides, there's no way to know what iteration/combination of KS hairs/others you are using-->targeting. Nor is there a way to know which hairs/wigs you want multicolored. Building every possible mod for all combinations is idiocy, because trying to maintain the 20+ mods that are required for that is idiocy. Stop asking this poor MA to do something they can't, and you can: in minutes. I could build an ezNPC like thing for this, to do hair instead of faces, or, some sort of synthesis patcher. However, both barely move the ball: each is still dependent on so much subjectivity, hardware concerns, and variability of hair mod design, they approach 0 value. Polymorphism aside, their scope == magical thinking of children.)
Yes, this will permanently alter the target mod. (Unless you reinstall it, and then everything goes back to normal. Probably have to rebuild bodyslide files/collisions though.)
Alternatively: You can make your own mod.
Create a new folder in whatever "mods" directory you use to deploy actual mods(not downloads), or use your modding tool's(MO2/Vortex) feature(s) for that.
Create the target mod's file structure(folder "tree") exactly the same in your mod.
Add the .dds from this mod to the "textures" folder in your mod(make sure you get this right)
load it after target, and it will overwrite. Done.
This way, if you screw it up, you can just alter/delete your mod. You don't like something, you change your mod.
Destruction of further Considerations, Questions, Nonsense:
Physics vs not, wigs vs not: irrelevant. This will work, because these are only textures. The nifs reside in the target mod. .dds files "paint" over those mesh files. All you're doing is giving the existing nif in the target a new paint job with a dds from here.
But, as the MA said: not every nif file in your target KS Hairdo mod, may have a dds file here. What do I mean? Each nif has a name, like Amor.nif. If you don't have a Amor.dds from here, for that nif, no multicolor hair. Thus, you can't just blindly cut/paste and hope all goes well.
You can, but, set your expectations properly: you will see failure. Better to do it one at a time, match each file with certainty, and know what you're doing, than guess. Open up the mods and see the folders/files. Make a note of what you did: mod or direct edit.
All of the KS mods have different file structures. If you don't place the .dds file in the right place: either nothing will change, or blue(no texture) hair, or CTD. Do the right things right. Only the target's file structure matters, make sure you put the right dds file in the right place, either in the target mod, or your new mod.
There's a hangup with wigs: KS HDT Wigs, for example, has 3 buildable wigs, blonde, brunette, redhead, but uses the same texture for all. I have no idea what happens with that. Perhaps nothing. Perhaps it looks even cooler. Perhaps it's crap.
Also, wigs usually have ground meshes: a wig == a sword, in game. A ground mesh is what something looks like when you drop it, funnily enough, on the ground. Also, ground meshes may be be used for mannequins/displays. (depends if it's an actual mannequin, or a "display" version.)
So what? So, there are no ground dds files in this mod. That means: wigs will revert to their old "paint" when not sitting on an actor's(real mannequin's) head.
With that in mind, let's do some cases:
CASE 1: I want all hair and wigs to be multicolored, except the ones I now understand (because I did the reading above) can't be.
--->Then replace all the dds files you have in all the KS Hairdo mods you use, with the corresponding ones from here, again, either in the original mod, or in your own mod.
CASE 2: I want some of the hair, or wigs or only the Physics ones, or whatever I want to be multicolored.
-->Find out which mod the hair is coming from first, that is now the target. Then, find the nif file you want, then see if there's a matching dds in this mod. If there is replace it in the target mod, or yours. If not, you're SOL.
CASE 3: I want as many wigs as I can get to be multicolored, with physics, and I want every female NPC in the game to get one. Or, I want to pick and choose, but, I still want every NPC to get HDT hair.
-->Well, this is almost possible. First, check out this mod https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/86800. Next, replace all the dds files you can/want to in the this mod's requirement mod KS Hair Physics. The WIGS mod, not the hair, is the target. I know, I have the spid mod's(the one I linked) source code in front of me.
You'd think the random assignment was bad: in fact it's great. No, you can't change hair once it's run. You can't even use wigs. I don't know if NPC hair color changers(Proteus, ECE, Cheat Engine) work. Yes, you can make spid run again and get new hairs, but every female gets new hair. Find out how spid works to do this.
You don't need a new game to distribute NPC HDT wigs, but you do if you hate more of the ones NPCs got than you like.
Most importantly, this mod comes with a distr file that you can modify and make it exclude NPCs before it runs: this way you can either leave them as if, say, if they already have an HDT wig/hair, or make HDT wigs for them yourself. SPID, again, read.
You get the idea, right? You can do this, but you have put in a little bit of reading, then a little bit of work, but, not much of either, really.
https://imgbox.com/lHJ5hOoK
Just a quick question. Noticed that some of the coloured hairs are not enabled for Elves, and only for humans (such as Spring, Koala, Paraguay, Silent Lips, Sky 176, etc). Mainly pony tails. Is there a reason for this?
Also, how do you use this mod? I have KS hairdo SMP, KS Hairdos SSE and Faster HDT-SMP,
This is really great! my PC's "KSSMP Gecko" even looks better now! Thanks for making this stand alone!
Just to be greedy, she has SMP hair, but to be able to enchant another item, she also wears the KSSMP Gecko wig. However, it covers up the cool multicolor effect. Is there any way to have the wigs multicolored also?
Thanks!
EDIT: Why is only the Male hairs ESL flagged? Both male and female plugins are sufficiently small to be flagged.
Because xEdit won't let me. Not sure why, would be happy to learn more if anyone knows the reasoning.