About this mod
Changes Geralt's and Ciri's scabbards to lore-friendly variants that are more aesthetically pleasing.
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
For many of my playthroughs with the classic-gen version of the game, I used the Black Scabbards mod which standardizes all of the scabbards in the game to be uniformly black. I found this mod to be very pleasing; however, it has not been updated to next-gen. I set out to make my own version and, in the course of doing so, decided to make some changes to suit my own taste. I decided to make my mod a bit differently, and so these are the things that differentiate my mod from others:
- Nearly every other mod I looked at accomplishes its modification by changing the .xml files. While this is a simple method to make mass changes at the sword level, it also changes the scabbard that is associated with the sword. This can introduce unintended consequences such as clipping when swords are placed in the wrong scabbard. Therefore, my mod does not change the scabbard associated with the sword.
- In keeping with the issues that .xmls can create, CDPR can change .xmls which can break the mod. As such, this mod contains no .xmls. This also means that the same mod is compatible with both classic-gen (1.31/1.32) and next-gen (4.0+) versions of the game.
- Another issue with the .xml method is that it is easy (via copy + paste) to use the same scabbard over and over again. You end up with every sword using the same scabbard. I don't want to lose the diversity in the different styles and patterns of the various scabbards. All styles of scabbard continue to be represented with this mod.
- There are no .xmls included in this mod. I made most of my edits to the textures, with some minor edits to meshes. This should minimize conflicts with other mods and will not have any merge errors.
- This mod does not affect swords at all. All swords are presented in their vanilla colors and style. Only the scabbards are changed.
Now that we've covered what makes this mod different from a design standpoint, what exactly does this mod do? I wanted to create a lore-friendly variant to the scabbards that would keep to the pillars I listed above. But one of the things I don't like about vanilla scabbards is that many of them are in colors that frankly don't look very good. Namely, there are several scabbards that are red, blue, green, and yellow. This mod offers two variants:
- Lore-friendly (colors) -- this version removes all the oddball colors (red, blue, green, and yellow). They are replaced with brown, tan, leather, and other color variants that are consistent with the look of the game. All replaced textures keep the same pattern. They are simply a different color. No diversity is lost. This version is best suited for people that like the look and style of the vanilla scabbards, but are just looking for a subtle overhaul to remove unsightly colors and establish a more pleasing and consistent color palette.
- Lore-friendly (black) -- this version replaces all scabbard textures and makes them black. Just like the colors version, no diversity is lost. Only the colors have been changed to black throughout the entire game. This version is best suited for people that like the look of the viper gear or the thief outfit and want all scabbards to be black. However, note that there are a couple of distinctions: 1) in some cases but not all, I changed the metal on the scabbard to be silver instead of gold. This was done primarily to match the swords, so swords that are gold will mostly have gold on the scabbard whereas those that are silver will primarily be silver. 2) some of the scabbards have ropes or other things on them that are different colors. In some cases, these use the same texture as the metal so they will appear the color of the metal. This means that most scabbards will be solid black, but some of them will have some minor other colors on them. I decided on leaving most of these, again, for the sake of diversity in the scabbard pool.
~Installation/Uninstallation~
There are two methods to install this mod:
- Automated Method - Download and enable using a mod manager. This mod has been fully tested and works with Vortex.
- Manual Method - Download the file and extract the contents into your Witcher3\Mods folder.
To uninstall, disable via your mod manager or delete from your Witcher3\Mods folder.
~Compatibility~
This mod consists of textures and meshes. It should be compatible with most other mods out there. Use Script Merger to identify conflicts, and use prioritization to resolve any conflicts.
~Other Works~
PaulR0013's Witcher 3 Mod List
PaulR0013's Cyberpunk Mod List