ABOUT THIS MOD:
Me: "You know what the Witcher 3 modding community needs?  Another Griffin mod!" 
Winter/snow/ice/glacier-themed gear for Geralt, fitting for those who choose Griffin endgame builds, or anyone who likes to play in the cold.

This mod contains original and extensively reworked textures for every tier of Griffin armor, and incorporates some additional fixes and features courtesy of other talented and generous mod authors.  To ensure the frostiest possible experience, please keep reading.



SOFT REQUIREMENTS / INSTALLATION ORDER (PLEASE ENDORSE!):
1, Fix Gryphon Armor (main file Gold version - not the silver version, or else T3-T4 kneecaps and shoulders won't match!)
WHY: They allowed me to edit and include their T3-T4 fixed boot meshes.  You still need FGA to fix Geralt's loose gloves and trousers!
2. Slimmer Griffin Armors (main file or, vanilla laces-which only appear on T1 & T2) install with priority over FGA!
WHY: They allowed me to edit and include their T5 torso mesh.  You still need SGA for the rest of the torsos to match, and benefit from many fixes!
3. Griffin Frost *YOU ARE HERE* (install with highest priority!)



RECOMMENDATIONS:
Witcher Crossbows Reworked (HARD REQUIREMENT if you use the Frost Crossbows-only or full Frost Weapons optional files, give my mods higher priority!)
WHY: The vanilla game has no Griffin crossbows! :[ *sadge* WCR adds 5 tiers of them, plus adds the missing tier to feline and ursine crossbows.  Frost Crossbows & Weapons expand on WCR, with visual model changes and unique textures as you upgrade through the tiers.  For consistency, I also gave Feline and Ursine crossbows the same treatment! <3
Glowing Witcher Eyes (NOT REQUIRED if using the Frost Eyes (Glowing) optional file.  Thanks to Scoutbr0 for permission!
WHY, THEN?: You can still use Frost Eyes (Texture-only) with any color of GWE (including Scoutbro's darker blue).  GWE also affects ALL witcher eyes, whereas my Frost Eyes (Glowing) ONLY affects Geralt.  You can use both glowing mods together, just give mine higher priority.  
Polar Bear I consider Griffin Frost the unofficial "sister mod" to Polar Bear.  Not required, but recommended for maximum winter witchering.. I use the Polar Bear ursine swords in some screenshots.  You can use that + Scabbards of the Bear (Ursine) school for all swords to turn all scabbards white, but give Frost Weapons or Frost Swords-only higher priority if you use it.  Honorable mention: Icy Ursine (Bear) sword Adds Frost Damage and Freezing chance to Ursine/Bear sword.
TIP: Polar Bear is one of the few texture mods available which works with the dye system, so if you use it remember to dye all 4 pieces white!
Scabbard Clipping Fix - NEXT GEN Compatible - meshes for Griffin Frost scabbards come from this mod, used with permission.  Highly recommended for consistency but give my mods higher priority!
Lore-friendly Silver Swords - meshes for Griffin Frost T5 swords come from this mod, which is licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0!  I am extending that license to all my swords (but not other parts of the mod), so feel free to use or modify them. Rad!  STEAL MY SWORDS!  ;D
(E3-VGX) Skellige Ice Breath FX Mod - NextGen - a no brainer
Skellige Winter Weather System - teresatiger's hit winter weather mod
Weather Commentary for Skellige Winter Weather System (Next Gen) - frick it's cold!
Hoods - Griffin Frost looks pretty good with blue, teal or white dyed hoods, capes and cloaks from this mod
Avalach Cloak Textures for Hoods Mod (unofficial) - there's an off-white one which kinda matches the waist belt
Swords on the Hip (aka Carry Your weapons as You Want) - if you wear capes or cloaks, you need to move those swords
More Presets for Swords on the Hip (Next-Gen Compatible)- if you move those swords, you probably want more presets (shameless self promotion hehe)
Cold Breath of Aard - I haven't tried this but seems on-brand
Warmly Dressed Skelligers - They'll still be jealous of you
Geralt VGX Snowboarder - Next-Gen - I mean... why not?



NOTES:
- Griffin Frost does NOT work with the dye system, which would have been too restrictive for my extensive edits.
- There is a patch for using Unique Witcher Eyes and Glowing Witcher Eyes together.  Since my glowing Frost Eyes are based on Glowing Witcher Eyes, this patch works - just install in this order (lowest to highest priority): Unique Witcher Eyes > Glowing Witcher Eyes (optional) > Frost Eyes (Glowing) > the patch (you do not need the patch if you are NOT using GWA and only using Frost Eyes (Texture-only)!)
- I may do some variations on the main themes in the future but for now it's love it or leave it!  It's a huge amount of work, so please drop a comment and let me know what you think or would like to see!  I will take all (polite) criticism as constructive.  If you simply complain or make demands, though... I will hit you with a freeze blast >;3



FEATURES & boring technical info:
- CDPR's vanilla textures as a base, then heavily edited:

• All vanilla textures were lovingly (lol) AI-upscaled with the best training model and hand-tweaked settings for each
• The color scheme (esp. T5) seems to change almost magically depending on wet, dry, indoors, outdoors, time of day, weather, region, etc.
• Torso armors are now 4K
• Gloves and pants are now 2K
• Boots are 4K (HUH!? Okay so the vanilla boots are 512x512...Yuck!!  My boots were originally 2K, but I went back and re-did them because they had blurry high-contrast stitching and the textures looked deep-fried, and IDK I just happened to re-do them from scratch in 4K.  8x upscaled boots!
• Weapon textures are now all 2K
• Nearly every pixel has been changed (except the T5 shoulder leather, I thought the original diffuse color looked cool with a different specular color)
• Rips and tears in the armor have been healed, except on the pauldrons.  I even edited the normal+toxic maps to match.
• I easily spent a couple hundred hours meticulously doing cutouts, tweaking adjustment layers, testing and re-working things, banging my head against WolvenKit, and fighting ADHD and compulsions the whole while... so please do not redistribute my hard work or re-use these assets without my explicit permission (except the swords, which I decided to license under creative commons, go wild, just give credit and link back)! 
• Please enjoy it, with my gratitude for your support <3
  

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS & HUGE THANKS to:
TheFreddman who gave permission to modify and include the necessary assets from their improved Slimmer Griffon Armor.
TheFreddman AGAIN who also allowed me to use a couple meshes from Scabbard Clipping Fix and Lore-friendly Silver Swords!  My hero!
RayDess who also gave permission to modify and include some improved assets from their mod Fix Gryphon Armor.

The vanilla meshes are yucky!  Thank you folks so much!!

Scoutbr0 who gave permission to include a cut-down and customized version of Glowing Witcher Eyes for the Frost Eyes optional file.
Dr3dds who gave their blessing and some helpful tips for patching my optional Frost Weapons to work with Witcher Crossbows Reworked.
dvcons for giving permission early in the project to use their 4K Armor Textures Gryphon set as a base (even though I didn't end up using it).  I still highly recommend this mod as a replacement for vanilla textures, the desaturated Griffin set looks MUCH better than the vanilla one.
dragonbird for making Polar Bear, which was my main inspiration for making Griffin Frost!  (Maybe someone will make a snowy kitty set too??)
**Unless otherwise noted, all images used in the making of this mod, including original additions to the textures and page graphics, are either vanilla CDPR materials, public domain, or licensed under Creative Commons Zero - fonts are either open source or free for personal use**



SHAMELESS PLUG FOR MY OTHER MODS:
No Stamina Jumping (Next-Gen) - Prevent HUD during exploration - the name says it all
More Presets for Swords on the Hip (Next-Gen Compatible) - I can't remember the last time I wore swords on my back (LORE VIOLATION!)
UHD Oaks Redux - Ridog8 and I did a thing (it was fun working together, thank you all for keeping it at the top of Hot Mods for over a week!)
The Ignition Project ReIGNIted - Igni FX Overhaul - Next-Gen - MonarchX vanished from this realm so I took it upon myself to continue their legacy



Thank you for downloading, and supporting my modding addiction.
<3 luf