I know, I've been posting quite a bit that has nothing to do with gaming.
It's my blog, deal with it, et cetera.
I just wanted to note quickly that Six Feet Under may well be the greatest cover band to walk the face of the fucking Earth.
Came by copies of Graveyard Classics I, II, and III yesterday... and damn. Those boys can certainly handle an axe. Plus, their AC/DC covers are so beautifully wrong.
You Shook Me All Night Long done as Death Metal? Glorious.
I do not envy that poor bastard of a lead singer's throat, though. That sort of thing can not be good for your vocal cords. Let alone doing it regularly for twenty years.
Monday, January 31, 2011
New Oblivion Mods
As I'm doing anything to avoid bugfixing on NCCS and responding to inane PMs this sleepless morn, I decided I should share a couple new Oblivion mods I hit on the other day, that some of you might not yet know of.
I was in the process of doing some ini optimizing - since it had somehow escaped being done before - and saw some mods listed that purported to improve visual aspects of the game without murdering framerates.
This may not be an important aspect for a lot of you, but it is for me. While my system is far and away more than the base Oblivion needs to run well... once loaded down with HDR, weather improvements, land improvements, 2048x2048 skin textures galore, and high-res armor and weapon replacements... even on a 2.4ghz, the game starts to lag a bit here and there. I could axe some of the higher end textures, yeah... but I'd rather not.
So, I installed the mods that looked interesting, and ended up with this:
This also involved changing some ini settings to ramp up the reflectivity of the water surfaces (enabled trees, statics, and actor reflections rather than the default generic light-and-dark shapes). You can't see it in these wilderness shots, but I also enabled the more complex window reflections that look quite nice.
I think it turned out quite well. Prettier than real life in many places.
In the end, I've wound up with the following such mods running:
Landscape LOD Texture Replacement, Landscape LOD Texture Replacement - Border Regions, Landscape LOD Normalmap Fix, Better Grass Texture Without Tiling, Noise Replacer (HTF3 specifically), The Imperial Waters, Natural Environments, and Let There Be Darkness.
Note, I don't use Unique Landscapes because of the myriad of conflicts it causes with practically every other mod out there that changes any aspect of the open countryside.
ImpeREAL City - Unique Districts is good too, but can really bog your system down (and conflicts with several other mods that add shops or such to the city districts).
And while it's only partially cosmetic, I also highly recommend Realistic Flora, which changes harvestable plants to look harvested, once you've collected components from them. They revert to normal after reset; when they can be picked again. One of those small details that helps immersion, and makes it easy to tell at a glance whether you've harvested a particular area yet or not.
I was in the process of doing some ini optimizing - since it had somehow escaped being done before - and saw some mods listed that purported to improve visual aspects of the game without murdering framerates.
This may not be an important aspect for a lot of you, but it is for me. While my system is far and away more than the base Oblivion needs to run well... once loaded down with HDR, weather improvements, land improvements, 2048x2048 skin textures galore, and high-res armor and weapon replacements... even on a 2.4ghz, the game starts to lag a bit here and there. I could axe some of the higher end textures, yeah... but I'd rather not.
So, I installed the mods that looked interesting, and ended up with this:
This also involved changing some ini settings to ramp up the reflectivity of the water surfaces (enabled trees, statics, and actor reflections rather than the default generic light-and-dark shapes). You can't see it in these wilderness shots, but I also enabled the more complex window reflections that look quite nice.
I think it turned out quite well. Prettier than real life in many places.
In the end, I've wound up with the following such mods running:
Landscape LOD Texture Replacement, Landscape LOD Texture Replacement - Border Regions, Landscape LOD Normalmap Fix, Better Grass Texture Without Tiling, Noise Replacer (HTF3 specifically), The Imperial Waters, Natural Environments, and Let There Be Darkness.
Note, I don't use Unique Landscapes because of the myriad of conflicts it causes with practically every other mod out there that changes any aspect of the open countryside.
ImpeREAL City - Unique Districts is good too, but can really bog your system down (and conflicts with several other mods that add shops or such to the city districts).
And while it's only partially cosmetic, I also highly recommend Realistic Flora, which changes harvestable plants to look harvested, once you've collected components from them. They revert to normal after reset; when they can be picked again. One of those small details that helps immersion, and makes it easy to tell at a glance whether you've harvested a particular area yet or not.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
On "the Wheel"
In the course of downloading an up-to-date copy of the ACM Wheel Addon for NCCS, I decided to peruse the comments on the file. I saw one that caught my attention, and really sheds a lot of light on the prime difference between me, and most companion users (and makers, as well).
"I don't get why so many people are against the wheel, besides it just being new and different. It reminds me of the Sneak/Activate popup menu CM Partners has for Oblivion.
Instead of: Activate. Let's talk about your tactics. Let's talk about how close you follow me. Follow me at a distance. Let's talk about something else. Let's talk about your tactics. Switch to melee weapons. Let's talk about something else. Goodbye. ...
... you have: Activate. Click Range. Click Melee.
I really like having this stuff be quicker to access. "
Personally, I had never looked at the wheel that way. Why? I don't micro-manage.
When I create a companion, I create the companion I want. If I want a sniper; that's how I class them. If I want a support gunner, or a melee scrapper I set them up from the get-go to be what I want.
So, for me, being able to switch follow distance and combat style and combat range is all completely useless. It's worse than completely useless: it's in my way.
My companions? I give them a weapon, and make sure they stay stocked on ammo and stims. Beyond that, they can fight however their little silicon heart desires.
In real life, I'm one of those people that as long as you get the job done, I don't care how you prefer to do it. If it works for you? Great! I'm not going to stand there glaring over your shoulder and railing on you to do it my way.
Similarly, in games I set up the basic behavior to control the role I'd like the companion to fill; some specific actions in the case of special events that may arise... and outside of that I let the AI do its own thing, in its own way.
I've never understood the people who need to issue a command to companions every two minutes.
I fear this will forever hold my companion systems back. Since I don't understand the need; I have a hell of a time implementing features to that end.
I kind of wish I could include the AI that lives in my computer with the mods themselves. Companions so damned good that they don't need to be given orders. But, of course someone would just start bitching that they're not nine year old Asian girls, or that they don't like engaging in combat with a knife when there are guns available. Plus, the AI-spirits would be pissed at me for exposing them to so much stupidity, so y'know... probably not the best idea after all.
"I don't get why so many people are against the wheel, besides it just being new and different. It reminds me of the Sneak/Activate popup menu CM Partners has for Oblivion.
Instead of: Activate. Let's talk about your tactics. Let's talk about how close you follow me. Follow me at a distance. Let's talk about something else. Let's talk about your tactics. Switch to melee weapons. Let's talk about something else. Goodbye. ...
... you have: Activate. Click Range. Click Melee.
I really like having this stuff be quicker to access. "
Personally, I had never looked at the wheel that way. Why? I don't micro-manage.
When I create a companion, I create the companion I want. If I want a sniper; that's how I class them. If I want a support gunner, or a melee scrapper I set them up from the get-go to be what I want.
So, for me, being able to switch follow distance and combat style and combat range is all completely useless. It's worse than completely useless: it's in my way.
My companions? I give them a weapon, and make sure they stay stocked on ammo and stims. Beyond that, they can fight however their little silicon heart desires.
In real life, I'm one of those people that as long as you get the job done, I don't care how you prefer to do it. If it works for you? Great! I'm not going to stand there glaring over your shoulder and railing on you to do it my way.
Similarly, in games I set up the basic behavior to control the role I'd like the companion to fill; some specific actions in the case of special events that may arise... and outside of that I let the AI do its own thing, in its own way.
I've never understood the people who need to issue a command to companions every two minutes.
I fear this will forever hold my companion systems back. Since I don't understand the need; I have a hell of a time implementing features to that end.
I kind of wish I could include the AI that lives in my computer with the mods themselves. Companions so damned good that they don't need to be given orders. But, of course someone would just start bitching that they're not nine year old Asian girls, or that they don't like engaging in combat with a knife when there are guns available. Plus, the AI-spirits would be pissed at me for exposing them to so much stupidity, so y'know... probably not the best idea after all.
Yep.
Nothing to do with modding, really... but things did look up a bit today.
Slept until 0400, when someone decided I had been asleep long enough. Didn't manage to get out of bed until five till five. Best way to start the day? Oh, yes.
Worked on some guns for a couple hours; got the 5000 mile maintenance done on the Beast; modded the handguard in a fit of brilliance, and added new springs that should outlive the barrel.
Hit the range again, since it was packed to the damned gills yesterday.
Yep, I've still fuckin' got it. That, by the by, is not some matched-up cheater pistol I take out when I want to show people up on the range; it's the actual government model I carry every day - as evidenced by all the holster wear at the muzzle and dust cover (damned Italian leather!), as well as the fact that you can see where my hand has worn the OD epoxy-coat clean off the grip safety. Damned thing's about due for a refinish, again. Hate living in an apartment - nowhere to set up my sandblasting cabinet and compressor.
Guys a couple lanes down from me were practicing double-taps. Never understood those, myself. Carry a grown-up caliber weapon, and put the first round where you want it... and you really don't need the second. Even if putting five into one hole is satisfying to do.
Some guy was trying to teach his girlfriend to shoot in the lane net to me. Had her shooting at ten feet for some damned reason. Poor thing had no idea what she was doing, and douchebag was far from a qualified instructor. Protip, guys: if you're going to teach someone to shoot? For fuck's sake, don't do it with a DAO carry piece in 40S&W. Lots of noise + lots of recoil + crappy trigger = student has no fun = she never wants to do it again.
Anyhow, my little jaunt into life not sucking is over with, now. I'm back home, and already having to start looking at modding again. Player insists there's an error causing the NCCS companions to have hostility issues with the 'bots in the Lucky 38. I know damned good and well that the base mod doesn't do that; I've had NCCS companions in tow through every part of that casino, including the secret bunker (and man, do those securitrons get pissed when you override security and access the bunker elevator...).
Player failed to mention however that he(?) uses ttwomv's wheel addon. Not knockin' his scripting, but this is a variable that it would have been nice to know about from the start. I haven't used his wheel addon since v1, and did that testing in Goodsprings. I haven't used v1.1 at all, or tried to take companions through the Strip with it active at all. So... now I get to go a'diggin' through that; to see if anything's been changed that might allow such an issue to crop up.
You know, I really prefer complaints about Herculine's scripts. She has the decency to go the simple elegance route. Those recall item scripts were short enough that I could read them in FNVEdit - didn't even have to load the GECK.
Once this latest bitch-fest is sorted one way or the other, I have to dig back into NCCS and work over some of the dialog resultscripts, as well. There's an omission in there that could cause issues over long term for large numbers of companions. No one's managed to find the bug yet; but it's only a matter of time until they do. Since I already know the fix, it's just a matter of getting it done.
After that, it'll mostly just be expanding the replies from companions to include random wittiness, and the mess will be about ready for calling a full-on, non-beta release. I'm ecstatic, really.
...
No, wait; that was the pomegranate Rockstar I had in lieu of lunch not sitting well. My bad.
Slept until 0400, when someone decided I had been asleep long enough. Didn't manage to get out of bed until five till five. Best way to start the day? Oh, yes.
Worked on some guns for a couple hours; got the 5000 mile maintenance done on the Beast; modded the handguard in a fit of brilliance, and added new springs that should outlive the barrel.
Hit the range again, since it was packed to the damned gills yesterday.
Yep, I've still fuckin' got it. That, by the by, is not some matched-up cheater pistol I take out when I want to show people up on the range; it's the actual government model I carry every day - as evidenced by all the holster wear at the muzzle and dust cover (damned Italian leather!), as well as the fact that you can see where my hand has worn the OD epoxy-coat clean off the grip safety. Damned thing's about due for a refinish, again. Hate living in an apartment - nowhere to set up my sandblasting cabinet and compressor.
Guys a couple lanes down from me were practicing double-taps. Never understood those, myself. Carry a grown-up caliber weapon, and put the first round where you want it... and you really don't need the second. Even if putting five into one hole is satisfying to do.
Some guy was trying to teach his girlfriend to shoot in the lane net to me. Had her shooting at ten feet for some damned reason. Poor thing had no idea what she was doing, and douchebag was far from a qualified instructor. Protip, guys: if you're going to teach someone to shoot? For fuck's sake, don't do it with a DAO carry piece in 40S&W. Lots of noise + lots of recoil + crappy trigger = student has no fun = she never wants to do it again.
Anyhow, my little jaunt into life not sucking is over with, now. I'm back home, and already having to start looking at modding again. Player insists there's an error causing the NCCS companions to have hostility issues with the 'bots in the Lucky 38. I know damned good and well that the base mod doesn't do that; I've had NCCS companions in tow through every part of that casino, including the secret bunker (and man, do those securitrons get pissed when you override security and access the bunker elevator...).
Player failed to mention however that he(?) uses ttwomv's wheel addon. Not knockin' his scripting, but this is a variable that it would have been nice to know about from the start. I haven't used his wheel addon since v1, and did that testing in Goodsprings. I haven't used v1.1 at all, or tried to take companions through the Strip with it active at all. So... now I get to go a'diggin' through that; to see if anything's been changed that might allow such an issue to crop up.
You know, I really prefer complaints about Herculine's scripts. She has the decency to go the simple elegance route. Those recall item scripts were short enough that I could read them in FNVEdit - didn't even have to load the GECK.
Once this latest bitch-fest is sorted one way or the other, I have to dig back into NCCS and work over some of the dialog resultscripts, as well. There's an omission in there that could cause issues over long term for large numbers of companions. No one's managed to find the bug yet; but it's only a matter of time until they do. Since I already know the fix, it's just a matter of getting it done.
After that, it'll mostly just be expanding the replies from companions to include random wittiness, and the mess will be about ready for calling a full-on, non-beta release. I'm ecstatic, really.
...
No, wait; that was the pomegranate Rockstar I had in lieu of lunch not sitting well. My bad.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Ugh.
Okay, I know I said I was going to curb the impotent bitching around here... but jeez does the universe love to kick me when I'm down, sometimes.
Nothing has gone right today.
Woke up at midnight (that's 0000 Saturday, or more than nineteen hours ago as I type this) and couldn't get back to sleep; so have been awake since.
Picked up Dragonauts: The Resonance DVD boxed-set earlier in the week. Finally finished it this morning. The on-box synopsis billed it as a pervy-romantic comedy anime with a bit of sci-fi action thrown in for good measure. This was totally and wholly misleading. It was an actioner with heavy philosophical meanderings and a bit of chaste romance thrown into the background for kicks. I think there were six kisses in the whole 24 episodes; no nudity, and no fan service beyond some bouncing. Wasn't a horrible series by any stretch (and the last, after-story, silly episode did make up several points for the whole thing), but I still feel lied to. Screw you, Gonzo.
Headed into town today so my Dad could pick up a carbine he'd been waiting on. On the rack sat a Marlin 1895SBL - a rifle I've been lusting after for a year now. Of course, it hits the rack when I'm flat fucking broke, and they won't bother ordering another for five years.
Dropped in for lunch at a little restaurant. They burned the food.
Accept the job to clean and inspect Dad's new carbine. Hey, $20 is $20, and my ass is still not steadily employed. Get it home, and stripped on my bench to begin cleaning. It was a police trade-in; patrol rifle. 9x19 Colt AR-15. Seems the officers in question decided to "thoroughly" clean it, and broke through the staking holding the carrier key bolts in. Lovely. The key is so loose it audibly rattles around on the carrier. Not enough material left to fully re-stake, of course. So I torqued the bolts down as best I could, and (carefully) use my trusty 8oz peen and a stout center-punch to attempt to force the old staking back into place. Yeah, I know. I'm not expecting it to hold, either. So now I get to go on a hunt for a new Colt carrier key (no idea if it's compatible with Rock River or Olympic keys - but knowing Colt I ain't a'bettin' on it) next week. Means I'll probably have to grab a MOAK tool, too; to get a proper mil-spec stake on them. Seriously... who the hell removes the carrier key? What's wrong with these morons? Rest of the carbine is filthy; and underneath the gunk the hammer is showing peening, and the bolt face is pitted. This thing has seen a lot more use than was stated. Why does no one ever listen to me? I'm certainly earning my $20 this time. Put a couple blobs of red nail polish onto the key bolts; which'll at least let me know positively if they move or not. Who knows, I might get lucky and the damned things actually hold. Not like it's a gas gun, after all.
Sit down at my PC, check the Nexus... and the tide of idiots has arisen anew. Post on the NCCS entry from someone who's apparently retarded; complaining about Herculine's recall items. You know, the ones that have worked perfectly in two games across over a hundred companions? Third or fourth time he's complained; has never done the courtesy of acknowledging our other replies. I do not hold out hope for this time.
Post to the RR Companions Vault (the good one for FO3) comments; wanting to know if the 20th Century Weapons plugin could be run without 20th Century Weapons. 'Cause it'd be cool to have the items, and FWE has most of the same ammo and items...
Someone be a pal and shoot your 'ol buddy Nos in the fucking head, will you?
Other poster has complained that there's a light fixture in the Overseer's office that's apparently not lined up right or something. Then asks if the mod is a WIP or done.
I'm sorry, I thought the "This update marks a final for the RR Companions Vault master. Barring the discovery of new bugs, it will not be updated again." declaration was fairly straightforward. Guess not.
Lunch's not sitting well, my teeth are bugging me, and I think I'm getting athlete's foot again. Thrice damned fungi. I really just want to go to bed and pretend to be dead for awhile... but I can't. Because if I do, I'll be up by midnight again. Two at the latest.
Some days, illicitly obtaining sedatives is so tempting. Not for suicide, mind you. Just a nice twelve hour coma; every day for about a week. Medically force my system into repeatable, practical sleeping patterns. Of course, knowing my system as I do; the drugs would work once and the other several hundred dollars worth would end up useless unless taken in dangerously high doses.
Nothing has gone right today.
Woke up at midnight (that's 0000 Saturday, or more than nineteen hours ago as I type this) and couldn't get back to sleep; so have been awake since.
Picked up Dragonauts: The Resonance DVD boxed-set earlier in the week. Finally finished it this morning. The on-box synopsis billed it as a pervy-romantic comedy anime with a bit of sci-fi action thrown in for good measure. This was totally and wholly misleading. It was an actioner with heavy philosophical meanderings and a bit of chaste romance thrown into the background for kicks. I think there were six kisses in the whole 24 episodes; no nudity, and no fan service beyond some bouncing. Wasn't a horrible series by any stretch (and the last, after-story, silly episode did make up several points for the whole thing), but I still feel lied to. Screw you, Gonzo.
Headed into town today so my Dad could pick up a carbine he'd been waiting on. On the rack sat a Marlin 1895SBL - a rifle I've been lusting after for a year now. Of course, it hits the rack when I'm flat fucking broke, and they won't bother ordering another for five years.
Dropped in for lunch at a little restaurant. They burned the food.
Accept the job to clean and inspect Dad's new carbine. Hey, $20 is $20, and my ass is still not steadily employed. Get it home, and stripped on my bench to begin cleaning. It was a police trade-in; patrol rifle. 9x19 Colt AR-15. Seems the officers in question decided to "thoroughly" clean it, and broke through the staking holding the carrier key bolts in. Lovely. The key is so loose it audibly rattles around on the carrier. Not enough material left to fully re-stake, of course. So I torqued the bolts down as best I could, and (carefully) use my trusty 8oz peen and a stout center-punch to attempt to force the old staking back into place. Yeah, I know. I'm not expecting it to hold, either. So now I get to go on a hunt for a new Colt carrier key (no idea if it's compatible with Rock River or Olympic keys - but knowing Colt I ain't a'bettin' on it) next week. Means I'll probably have to grab a MOAK tool, too; to get a proper mil-spec stake on them. Seriously... who the hell removes the carrier key? What's wrong with these morons? Rest of the carbine is filthy; and underneath the gunk the hammer is showing peening, and the bolt face is pitted. This thing has seen a lot more use than was stated. Why does no one ever listen to me? I'm certainly earning my $20 this time. Put a couple blobs of red nail polish onto the key bolts; which'll at least let me know positively if they move or not. Who knows, I might get lucky and the damned things actually hold. Not like it's a gas gun, after all.
Sit down at my PC, check the Nexus... and the tide of idiots has arisen anew. Post on the NCCS entry from someone who's apparently retarded; complaining about Herculine's recall items. You know, the ones that have worked perfectly in two games across over a hundred companions? Third or fourth time he's complained; has never done the courtesy of acknowledging our other replies. I do not hold out hope for this time.
Post to the RR Companions Vault (the good one for FO3) comments; wanting to know if the 20th Century Weapons plugin could be run without 20th Century Weapons. 'Cause it'd be cool to have the items, and FWE has most of the same ammo and items...
Someone be a pal and shoot your 'ol buddy Nos in the fucking head, will you?
Other poster has complained that there's a light fixture in the Overseer's office that's apparently not lined up right or something. Then asks if the mod is a WIP or done.
I'm sorry, I thought the "This update marks a final for the RR Companions Vault master. Barring the discovery of new bugs, it will not be updated again." declaration was fairly straightforward. Guess not.
Lunch's not sitting well, my teeth are bugging me, and I think I'm getting athlete's foot again. Thrice damned fungi. I really just want to go to bed and pretend to be dead for awhile... but I can't. Because if I do, I'll be up by midnight again. Two at the latest.
Some days, illicitly obtaining sedatives is so tempting. Not for suicide, mind you. Just a nice twelve hour coma; every day for about a week. Medically force my system into repeatable, practical sleeping patterns. Of course, knowing my system as I do; the drugs would work once and the other several hundred dollars worth would end up useless unless taken in dangerously high doses.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Even More Oblivion
Couldn't sleep again. Bored again.
We all know what that means.
Decided to revise my Neko companions a bit. I had previous used vanilla hairs, as the custom ones I tried first didn't fit the heads. I had assumed this was an issue with the heads themselves.
Discovered yesterday that it was in fact the hairs (don't work with any normal sized head - no idea what they're intended to be used on) themselves. So I fixed up a few third party hairs that were made of less suck:
Much better, I think.
Still... I wasn't satisfied. I just don't like that they're all the same color. After all, kitties come in different shades all the time. No reason they should all be brown.
Away to the GIMP I went. Decided I liked the idea of a snow-neko companion, and a bit of texture finagling later...
As you can see, Eiko was kind enough to volunteer. I assure you, it had nothing to do with the fact that Maeva was standing behind me with her claymore.
On the whole, I'm pleased with the new texture. There are two issues that I can see: 1) there's a nasty seam at the wrists. This, it turns out, is on the normal one too; you just can't see it as well because of the colors. 2) CW's revamped Khajiiti use the standard ears from the base game. This means that they don't use a special texture; which means I forgot to extract it from the bsa and convert it with the others. You can see Eiko still has brown ears. Doesn't look horrible by any stretch, but it bugs my OCD so I'll have to extract and convert it, too.
Still deciding whether I want to try to do other patterns. I think tiger stripes, or solid color with a mottled pattern could be interesting. But, considering I can't release the things, I'm not sure it would be worth devoting several days of texture work towards.
Also: I didn't notice it at the time, but on looking at that last screenshot during conversion to jpg, wow. I think Keiko hates Eiko's guts. That kitty does not look happy at all. Some days I'm glad there are factions in place to prevent a bloodbath.
Lastly, I've got to say that one thing Bethsoft really did well was Khajiiti ears. One of the things I've always liked about catgirls in general was how emotive their ears are. I never paid much attention with the vanilla Khajiit, but since paying close attention to these from CW, I've noticed that their ears swivel and move based on the mood they're displaying. If you look close, you'll notice in that last shot that Eiko is smiling, and consequently her ears are perked right up. Pissed-off Keiko, on the other hand, has her ears almost straight out from the sides of her head. Adds a great - if small - detail to make them seem more alive.
Edit, several minutes later: went ahead and converted the ears, too. Much better now.
We all know what that means.
Decided to revise my Neko companions a bit. I had previous used vanilla hairs, as the custom ones I tried first didn't fit the heads. I had assumed this was an issue with the heads themselves.
Discovered yesterday that it was in fact the hairs (don't work with any normal sized head - no idea what they're intended to be used on) themselves. So I fixed up a few third party hairs that were made of less suck:
Much better, I think.
Still... I wasn't satisfied. I just don't like that they're all the same color. After all, kitties come in different shades all the time. No reason they should all be brown.
Away to the GIMP I went. Decided I liked the idea of a snow-neko companion, and a bit of texture finagling later...
As you can see, Eiko was kind enough to volunteer. I assure you, it had nothing to do with the fact that Maeva was standing behind me with her claymore.
On the whole, I'm pleased with the new texture. There are two issues that I can see: 1) there's a nasty seam at the wrists. This, it turns out, is on the normal one too; you just can't see it as well because of the colors. 2) CW's revamped Khajiiti use the standard ears from the base game. This means that they don't use a special texture; which means I forgot to extract it from the bsa and convert it with the others. You can see Eiko still has brown ears. Doesn't look horrible by any stretch, but it bugs my OCD so I'll have to extract and convert it, too.
Still deciding whether I want to try to do other patterns. I think tiger stripes, or solid color with a mottled pattern could be interesting. But, considering I can't release the things, I'm not sure it would be worth devoting several days of texture work towards.
Also: I didn't notice it at the time, but on looking at that last screenshot during conversion to jpg, wow. I think Keiko hates Eiko's guts. That kitty does not look happy at all. Some days I'm glad there are factions in place to prevent a bloodbath.
Lastly, I've got to say that one thing Bethsoft really did well was Khajiiti ears. One of the things I've always liked about catgirls in general was how emotive their ears are. I never paid much attention with the vanilla Khajiit, but since paying close attention to these from CW, I've noticed that their ears swivel and move based on the mood they're displaying. If you look close, you'll notice in that last shot that Eiko is smiling, and consequently her ears are perked right up. Pissed-off Keiko, on the other hand, has her ears almost straight out from the sides of her head. Adds a great - if small - detail to make them seem more alive.
Edit, several minutes later: went ahead and converted the ears, too. Much better now.
Monday, January 24, 2011
More Oblivion
I mentioned last week how I had the strong urge to copy Colourwheel's revamped Khajiit race and make up some catgirl companions.
Well, last night I got to sleep from 2200 to 0200; so I had some time to kill, and guess what I did to kill it?
Say hello to:
Ako.
Eiko.
Keiko.
And Yuuko.
The names, of course, being a blatant ripoff of the four named members of the catgirl maid squad in UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie - because they were the only catgirls I could think of off the top of my head at 0400, and as always I suck with names. I was tempted to call them Maids A, B, C, and D... but I figured that would go even further over everyone's heads.
They are, in order: a Battlemage, an Archer, an Assassin, and a Warrior.
Permission issues from Miss Colourwheel aside... I'm not sure this plugin is uploadable, as it stands.
As previously mentioned, I use and like Nequam's eyes. Trouble is, Elaborate Eyes doesn't work with Colourwheel's Overhaul. I modified my copy of her esp to make it work - because I can make it work, I see no reason to have to pick one or the other - and likewise the copied race is set up to use these eyes as well. So, unless you're CS-savvy, the plugin wouldn't actually be playable. So if I were going to share, I think I'd have to axe that part, and reset it to use default eye meshes.
I'd say I could just list a disclaimer in the readme... but I've learned first-hand over the last twenty months how many of you actually read those (hint: more people endorse than take the time to read the fucking manual before bitching in my general direction that it doesn't work).
As I just finished the Purification quest for the Brotherhood, I'm also thinking of throwing together a plugin to repopulate the sanctuary. I know; more generic murderers will move in later; but they look terrible to begin with - and make for shitty companions, to boot.
Still need to take a look at Colourwheel's revamped vampire race (oh, the wit!) while I'm thinking about it. Haven't run into one in-game yet, but if they turned out as well as the others, I may finally be able to make some vampire companions that don't look horrific.
Well, last night I got to sleep from 2200 to 0200; so I had some time to kill, and guess what I did to kill it?
Say hello to:
Ako.
Eiko.
Keiko.
And Yuuko.
The names, of course, being a blatant ripoff of the four named members of the catgirl maid squad in UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie - because they were the only catgirls I could think of off the top of my head at 0400, and as always I suck with names. I was tempted to call them Maids A, B, C, and D... but I figured that would go even further over everyone's heads.
They are, in order: a Battlemage, an Archer, an Assassin, and a Warrior.
Permission issues from Miss Colourwheel aside... I'm not sure this plugin is uploadable, as it stands.
As previously mentioned, I use and like Nequam's eyes. Trouble is, Elaborate Eyes doesn't work with Colourwheel's Overhaul. I modified my copy of her esp to make it work - because I can make it work, I see no reason to have to pick one or the other - and likewise the copied race is set up to use these eyes as well. So, unless you're CS-savvy, the plugin wouldn't actually be playable. So if I were going to share, I think I'd have to axe that part, and reset it to use default eye meshes.
I'd say I could just list a disclaimer in the readme... but I've learned first-hand over the last twenty months how many of you actually read those (hint: more people endorse than take the time to read the fucking manual before bitching in my general direction that it doesn't work).
As I just finished the Purification quest for the Brotherhood, I'm also thinking of throwing together a plugin to repopulate the sanctuary. I know; more generic murderers will move in later; but they look terrible to begin with - and make for shitty companions, to boot.
Still need to take a look at Colourwheel's revamped vampire race (oh, the wit!) while I'm thinking about it. Haven't run into one in-game yet, but if they turned out as well as the others, I may finally be able to make some vampire companions that don't look horrific.
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