Are there any special procedures required to open up the dds normal maps in photoshop? Mine get dark red grain allover it, and are there any tools to convert those normals to regular purple ones? for editing and then converting them back? Baldur's Gate 3 had an action for photoshop that converted the normal maps back and forth.
I will post how to edit my textures. We use Paint.net for normal textures. Normal maps are used in GIMP with the normal map plugin for creation. The normal map created in GIMP is dark in color, so open it again in Paint.net and adjust it. The reason I use GIMP instead of Paint.net for normal maps is because I can make them look better with GIMP. I use Giga Pixel for upscaling. (The software is expensive and upscales nicely.)
Numerical values when converting to a normal map using plug-ins in GIMP. Filter: 3×3 Scale: -6 Alpha Channel: Height
Normal map plugin. (Download page) https://code.google.com/archive/p/gimp-normalmap/downloads
The compression method is described here. Skin Texture: BC7/RBG Normal maps: BC5/Signed Rough: BC1/DXT1
Unique NPCs with names have their own textures. We can't see the data inside yet, so perhaps, but it will be applied to unnamed NPCs and the main character.
While your submission is undeniably impressive, Peko... I don't think the skin is the problem. The body that skin is covering, is so awful that no amount of texture artistry could redeem it.
What makes it so infuriating is that the male can be made into anything from Magic Mike to an Abercrombie model! If you want to play female, however your choices are A) a frumpy cubicleworker with a dadbod, or B) a shrink-wrapped coatrack. The only hairstyle that doesn't look like the woman survived a stampede of wildebeest, is BALDNESS for pity's sake! The make-up is just bruises in various colours; no braids, no sclera lenses, no cool decorations, no warpaint, no style, no poise.... Just defect, after defect, after defect. There is literally only one face tattoo, compared to hundredsof different varieties of Jackson Pollock splatter, melanoma, acne, scars, wrinkles, burns, crowsfeet, psoriasis, and vitiligo. Tomb Raider got the same treatment a few years back, with the beautiful beloved icon everyone recognised immediately, replaced by a homeless mess so emaciated you can see her spine through her clothing. From the front.
All in all, character creation was a sobering and disheartening experience for me, and after a few hours of trying, I gave up and just made a man instead. Quite a pretty one too, if I do say so myself, hahaha! In any case, great work on this mod, and if someone manages to mod new models for the characters, I would absolutely make a female character to see your skin mod on.
I agree and Bethesda games have always had so-so character creation. You can make men look like all kinds of media characters, but the women at best look like a housewife having a bad time or a half beaten homeless woman.
The unfortunate reality is that until we get the new creation kit for Starfield, people are making due with skyrim and fallout 4 creation kits and cobbling things together that they are trying their best to work well with this version of Creation Engine. Technically the game engine is the Creation Engine, however think of it like the parts of a car. It's still a car, but they swap out parts for better newer parts over time. Literally it's like that philosophical puzzle about the sailing ship. Over time as the ship gets older, parts get replaced so often that you have to wonder if it's a different ship once you replace every piece of it, or is it the same ship? Same concept, the Creation Engine is practically a different engine from 20 years ago, but they still call it the same engine, lmao.
So, until we get the creation kit, skin mods and a few others may be all we can expect for a while. As people get used to how Bethesda set up Starfield and the coding and various file formats they used, the mods will get better.
When I create a female character in this game, I don't know if it's because of the mesh or what, but she looks "strong" overall.
This wonderful presets helped us to create a wonderful character. https://www.nexusmods.com/starfield/mods/655
On a lighter note, I tried to make one for myself out of curiosity, and that was the beginning of hell. My stomach, head and eyes hurt from days of worrying about fixing the texture and neck border :D I was particularly new to skin texturing and had no idea how to compress textures.
I did a lot of research and arrived for a way to compress normal maps using Photoshop and purchased Photoshop 2023. And here was another problem. I couldn't figure out how to manually install the plugin and almost gave up. And after trying many things, Paint.net was enough as before XD (In the end, I never used Photoshop 2023...)
At any rate, I have achieved my goal because I have completed it. (I get bored easily, so my goal was to "complete" it.)
The compression method is described here. Skin Texture: BC7/RBG Normal maps: BC5/Signed Rough: BC1/DXT1
LOL agreed, the female characters for the most part look terrible, the meshes are a disaster, thankfully some talented 3D modellers will come along once the tools are released and fix the these absolute shameful body meshes, we might be waiting a good 12 months though which kinda sucks but ah well.
24 comments
But you can create it using only Paint.net.
https://www.reddit.com/r/starfieldmods/comments/16dgpb4/for_those_having_trouble_with_exporting_normal/?share_id=hfMPxiDmJMM4PY6SJkprI&utm_content=2&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1
We use Paint.net for normal textures.
Normal maps are used in GIMP with the normal map plugin for creation.
The normal map created in GIMP is dark in color, so open it again in Paint.net and adjust it.
The reason I use GIMP instead of Paint.net for normal maps is because I can make them look better with GIMP.
I use Giga Pixel for upscaling. (The software is expensive and upscales nicely.)
Numerical values when converting to a normal map using plug-ins in GIMP.
Filter: 3×3
Scale: -6
Alpha Channel: Height
Normal map plugin. (Download page)
https://code.google.com/archive/p/gimp-normalmap/downloads
The compression method is described here.
Skin Texture: BC7/RBG
Normal maps: BC5/Signed
Rough: BC1/DXT1
cant wait to see what other aces u have hidden up your sleeves
https://www.nexusmods.com/starfield/images/1104
I play in 1st person so never see my character!
We can't see the data inside yet, so perhaps, but it will be applied to unnamed NPCs and the main character.
What makes it so infuriating is that the male can be made into anything from Magic Mike to an Abercrombie model! If you want to play female, however your choices are A) a frumpy cubicleworker with a dadbod, or B) a shrink-wrapped coatrack. The only hairstyle that doesn't look like the woman survived a stampede of wildebeest, is BALDNESS for pity's sake! The make-up is just bruises in various colours; no braids, no sclera lenses, no cool decorations, no warpaint, no style, no poise.... Just defect, after defect, after defect. There is literally only one face tattoo, compared to hundreds of different varieties of Jackson Pollock splatter, melanoma, acne, scars, wrinkles, burns, crowsfeet, psoriasis, and vitiligo.
Tomb Raider got the same treatment a few years back, with the beautiful beloved icon everyone recognised immediately, replaced by a homeless mess so emaciated you can see her spine through her clothing. From the front.
All in all, character creation was a sobering and disheartening experience for me, and after a few hours of trying, I gave up and just made a man instead. Quite a pretty one too, if I do say so myself, hahaha! In any case, great work on this mod, and if someone manages to mod new models for the characters, I would absolutely make a female character to see your skin mod on.
The unfortunate reality is that until we get the new creation kit for Starfield, people are making due with skyrim and fallout 4 creation kits and cobbling things together that they are trying their best to work well with this version of Creation Engine. Technically the game engine is the Creation Engine, however think of it like the parts of a car. It's still a car, but they swap out parts for better newer parts over time. Literally it's like that philosophical puzzle about the sailing ship. Over time as the ship gets older, parts get replaced so often that you have to wonder if it's a different ship once you replace every piece of it, or is it the same ship? Same concept, the Creation Engine is practically a different engine from 20 years ago, but they still call it the same engine, lmao.
So, until we get the creation kit, skin mods and a few others may be all we can expect for a while. As people get used to how Bethesda set up Starfield and the coding and various file formats they used, the mods will get better.
This wonderful presets helped us to create a wonderful character.
https://www.nexusmods.com/starfield/mods/655
On a lighter note, I tried to make one for myself out of curiosity, and that was the beginning of hell.
My stomach, head and eyes hurt from days of worrying about fixing the texture and neck border :D
I was particularly new to skin texturing and had no idea how to compress textures.
I did a lot of research and arrived for a way to compress normal maps using Photoshop and purchased Photoshop 2023.
And here was another problem.
I couldn't figure out how to manually install the plugin and almost gave up.
And after trying many things, Paint.net was enough as before XD
(In the end, I never used Photoshop 2023...)
At any rate, I have achieved my goal because I have completed it.
(I get bored easily, so my goal was to "complete" it.)
The compression method is described here.
Skin Texture: BC7/RBG
Normal maps: BC5/Signed
Rough: BC1/DXT1
WORKS AMAZING THANKS