6497 réponses à ce sujet

[Mrqbasic]

Those looking nice, glad that i getting my collectors-edition of me3 in some days (YAY Finally)

[McRileyW]

Dead_Meat357 wrote...

McRileyW wrote...

"Battlefield 3 soldier kit now available as a new Rare card" ... Wish I can change the helmet though

You can in single player. As my screenshot above shows. That version has no helmet with it. The multiplayer one has a different texture map which includes the Death Mask. What I find strange is that BioWare created two versions of the BF3 armor, and one you can never see without modifying the coalesced.bin file. Also, FemShep does not have a version of that armor at all. Instead she has a plain grey suit of Defender Armor.

there are two sets of this armor? omg ... maybe bioware will unlock it someday with an "appearance" pack:lol:

since I can have BF3 in mp now I will go to see if the two armors use the same color map etc, minus the death mask:bandit:

[Dead_Meat357]

McRileyW wrote...

Dead_Meat357 wrote...

McRileyW wrote...

"Battlefield 3 soldier kit now available as a new Rare card" ... Wish I can change the helmet though

You can in single player. As my screenshot above shows. That version has no helmet with it. The multiplayer one has a different texture map which includes the Death Mask. What I find strange is that BioWare created two versions of the BF3 armor, and one you can never see without modifying the coalesced.bin file. Also, FemShep does not have a version of that armor at all. Instead she has a plain grey suit of Defender Armor.

there are two sets of this armor? omg ... maybe bioware will unlock it someday with an "appearance" pack:lol:

since I can have BF3 in mp now I will go to see if the two armors use the same color map etc, minus the death mask:bandit:

They don't. I've already looked at that. However, I did figure out something. The BF3 SP armor uses the same texture map as Vega and Shepard's Defender armors already do. It's very similar to Vega's armor actually, so what I'm going to do is put out three variants of it with minor changes. One for Vega, (will only be for the Collector's Edition version of his armor) one for Shepard which replaces his existing N7 Defender Armor texture and finally the one which enhances the existing BF3 single player soldier texture.

The obvious benefit for modding the coalesced.bin file is gaining the ability to use both Defender armors and having the ability to use whatever helmet you want (or go with no helmet) with the armor. As you can see I have it pictured with the Recon Hood. You can use the Death mask, no helmet, or whatever you want. 

I'll combine the features of Vega's camo version with this one when I make his version so it looks like his and not Shepards. This way they aren't totally identical. But for the most part they will be. Additionally there is one slight difference between using it as the BF3 replacement vs. replacing the stock Defender armor. The latter will give it blue lighting instead of red. But you won't have to edit the coalesced.bin to get it. Though I may provide instructions for that when the time comes. Given my experience with Shepard's defender armor, this is going surprisingly fast. I have already created a digital camo pattern for this texture and meshed it with metal textures.

So this will be and is my next armor project. I mean hell I'll be able to get three mods out of it. But yeah, this has me wondering what else is in there that we don't know about.

Oh, I also pulled apart the Zona C files so I could fix the Normandy SR-2 texture. I've combined it with a metal texture to give it a finish which will hopefully make it look more like the high poly model. I'm also going to fix the windows on it. That should be much faster. I'm going to recompile the Zona-C mod for myself, and offer the Normandy as a stand alone mod. I know some people have asked for it and it looks like a quick fix. All I need to do now is the windows.

Modifié par Dead_Meat357, 27 septembre 2012 - 04:22 .

[McRileyW]

Dead_Meat357 wrote...

They don't. I've already looked at that. However, I did figure out something. The BF3 SP armor uses the same texture map as Vega and Shepard's Defender armors already do. It's very similar to Vega's armor actually, so what I'm going to do is put out three variants of it with minor changes. One for Vega, (will only be for the Collector's Edition version of his armor) one for Shepard which replaces his existing N7 Defender Armor texture and finally the one which enhances the existing BF3 single player soldier texture.

The obvious benefit for modding the coalesced.bin file is gaining the ability to use both Defender armors and having the ability to use whatever helmet you want (or go with no helmet) with the armor. As you can see I have it pictured with the Recon Hood. You can use the Death mask, no helmet, or whatever you want. 

I'll combine the features of Vega's camo version with this one when I make his version so it looks like his and not Shepards. This way they aren't totally identical. But for the most part they will be. Additionally there is one slight difference between using it as the BF3 replacement vs. replacing the stock Defender armor. The latter will give it blue lighting instead of red. But you won't have to edit the coalesced.bin to get it. Though I may provide instructions for that when the time comes. Given my experience with Shepard's defender armor, this is going surprisingly fast. I have already created a digital camo pattern for this texture and meshed it with metal textures.

So this will be and is my next armor project. I mean hell I'll be able to get three mods out of it. But yeah, this has me wondering what else is in there that we don't know about.

Oh, I also pulled apart the Zona C files so I could fix the Normandy SR-2 texture. I've combined it with a metal texture to give it a finish which will hopefully make it look more like the high poly model. I'm also going to fix the windows on it. That should be much faster. I'm going to recompile the Zona-C mod for myself, and offer the Normandy as a stand alone mod. I know some people have asked for it and it looks like a quick fix. All I need to do now is the windows.

Thank you. BTW, would you mind sharing how to let Shepard wear the ME1 armor in ME2?

Modifié par McRileyW, 27 septembre 2012 - 06:07 .

[Dead_Meat357]

McRileyW wrote...

Dead_Meat357 wrote...

They don't. I've already looked at that. However, I did figure out something. The BF3 SP armor uses the same texture map as Vega and Shepard's Defender armors already do. It's very similar to Vega's armor actually, so what I'm going to do is put out three variants of it with minor changes. One for Vega, (will only be for the Collector's Edition version of his armor) one for Shepard which replaces his existing N7 Defender Armor texture and finally the one which enhances the existing BF3 single player soldier texture.

The obvious benefit for modding the coalesced.bin file is gaining the ability to use both Defender armors and having the ability to use whatever helmet you want (or go with no helmet) with the armor. As you can see I have it pictured with the Recon Hood. You can use the Death mask, no helmet, or whatever you want. 

I'll combine the features of Vega's camo version with this one when I make his version so it looks like his and not Shepards. This way they aren't totally identical. But for the most part they will be. Additionally there is one slight difference between using it as the BF3 replacement vs. replacing the stock Defender armor. The latter will give it blue lighting instead of red. But you won't have to edit the coalesced.bin to get it. Though I may provide instructions for that when the time comes. Given my experience with Shepard's defender armor, this is going surprisingly fast. I have already created a digital camo pattern for this texture and meshed it with metal textures.

So this will be and is my next armor project. I mean hell I'll be able to get three mods out of it. But yeah, this has me wondering what else is in there that we don't know about.

Oh, I also pulled apart the Zona C files so I could fix the Normandy SR-2 texture. I've combined it with a metal texture to give it a finish which will hopefully make it look more like the high poly model. I'm also going to fix the windows on it. That should be much faster. I'm going to recompile the Zona-C mod for myself, and offer the Normandy as a stand alone mod. I know some people have asked for it and it looks like a quick fix. All I need to do now is the windows.

Thank you. BTW, would you mind sharing how to let Shepard wear the ME1 armor in ME2?

You mod the coalesced.bin file to do it in ME2 same as you mod the file in ME3 to add casual outfits and armors. There are some good directions just a search away. That's how I learned to do it. However I was talking about ME3, in which case I'd have to use the codes for the Blue Suns or Eclipse Mercs and then replace the texture with the Onyx armor texture from the beginning of ME2 given that the armor model is the same. (Assuming I wanted it in ME3.) 

[McRileyW]

Dead_Meat357 wrote...

You mod the coalesced.bin file to do it in ME2 same as you mod the file in ME3 to add casual outfits and armors. There are some good directions just a search away. That's how I learned to do it. However I was talking about ME3, in which case I'd have to use the codes for the Blue Suns or Eclipse Mercs and then replace the texture with the Onyx armor texture from the beginning of ME2 given that the armor model is the same. (Assuming I wanted it in ME3.) 

Nice. I will do a search now. Hope to see the armor in ME3 too:P

Modifié par McRileyW, 27 septembre 2012 - 11:01 .

[PolBear]

6. Male Shepard's "combat" fatigues:
- Download: www.mediafire.com/ Post: social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/323/index/9735492/48#12133033

Is there a female version somewhere ?

Again, thanks for all the uber stuff, having loads of fun with all the high res mods ;D

[Dead_Meat357]

PolBear wrote...

6. Male Shepard's "combat" fatigues:
- Download: www.mediafire.com/ Post: social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/323/index/9735492/48#12133033

Is there a female version somewhere ?

Again, thanks for all the uber stuff, having loads of fun with all the high res mods ;D

If it's the modification to IBR's which includes the battle damaged version I created, then no. There isn't a female version. Not yet anyway.

Getting close on the Normandy's window fix. I pretty much left the texture Smartek did alone aside from the windows. His point about having difficulty making it look right was a good one. Worse yet is aligning them correctly on the texture so they follow the curvature of the ship's hull correctly, and then of course there is shaping them. I turned to the Normandy's interior arrangement and scale for this noting the size of humans compared to the windows themselves, etc.



N7 Defender 1.52

Includes new normal map, new diffuse layer. Texture features color corrections to bring it more in line with the original texture. Also evens out areas which appeared more green than others in earlier variations of the texture mod. Fixes issues with artifacting and light sourcing. Reduces gloss on the armor so that it is less reflective. More in line with the stock armor texture.

Ashley v1.8 is up as well.

Modifié par Dead_Meat357, 27 septembre 2012 - 05:46 .

[Don_Esteban]

God, the defender armor is awesome.... but i need it for Femshep 
Any chance someone does this in near future?

Would ty it by myself, but i cant spare any time to work myself into some prog. or into the whole texture thing.
glad that im able to play a 1-2 missions a day.
I know, im fu***** annoying :innocent:.

[Dead_Meat357]

Don_Esteban wrote...

God, the defender armor is awesome.... but i need it for Femshep 
Any chance someone does this in near future?

Would ty it by myself, but i cant spare any time to work myself into some prog. or into the whole texture thing.
glad that im able to play a 1-2 missions a day.
I know, im fu***** annoying :innocent:.

I do plan on doing one eventually. It's a matter of time. I don't have as much time for texturing as I'd like. And some of these armors take an incredible amount of time to do. I'll also do her gray Defender armor as well. That one may end up out there first as it's easier to work with. She has that one instead of a BF3 variant. You have to edit the coalesced.bin to get it, but like the N7 Defender, recoding the file names to use it on the regular Defender armor is easy to do.

Modifié par Dead_Meat357, 27 septembre 2012 - 07:26 .

[ElectronicPostingInterface]

That defender armor is amazing. I wasn't too enamored with it before but after your mod I want to play with it.

[Dead_Meat357]

PKchu wrote...

That defender armor is amazing. I wasn't too enamored with it before but after your mod I want to play with it.

Thank you. It's a very tough texture to work with but I think it paid off. However the difficulty is the reason I've had so many damned versions of it. The BF3 version is what I'm working on now. I'll make some additional changes to that one and port that over to James Vega for the Collector's Edition outfit he has. So you will be seeing a lot more Defender Armors for both male and female Shepard in the future.

Ashley and Shepard both have new helmets in these mods. Thanks to Smartek for his assistance. The filter looking area and the face mask are actually his texture. The carbon fiber and some of the other details are mine. There are more shots in my mod post showing current and some older versions of these mods. Kind of interesting to see the evolution of their progression. I did pull some of the old Defender mod pics down to save some space, but many of the old Ashley ones are still there. Liara's too. Her armor has been made over to match Ashely's.

Here are some additional shots for your viewing pleasure: 

Paint detail (Also includes Revenant shot)

Regular in game shot with Spectre pack mod:

Another paint shot:

Shot with helmet:


Ashley Default Armor v1.8



Ashley and Shepard's Defender Mods together:

Modifié par Dead_Meat357, 27 septembre 2012 - 09:00 .

[Don_Esteban]

Dead_Meat357 wrote...

PKchu wrote...

That defender armor is amazing. I wasn't too enamored with it before but after your mod I want to play with it.

Thank you. It's a very tough texture to work with but I think it paid off. However the difficulty is the reason I've had so many damned versions of it. The BF3 version is what I'm working on now. I'll make some additional changes to that one and port that over to James Vega for the Collector's Edition outfit he has. So you will be seeing a lot more Defender Armors for both male and female Shepard in the future.

 

Cant await it!!

[McRileyW]

wow amazing. I believe collector armor 1.2 will surprise us too

Modifié par McRileyW, 28 septembre 2012 - 12:47 .

[FenixWylde]

can these be used in me3 without risk of getting banned from the multiplayer?

[N7 Lisbeth]

Dead_Meat357 wrote...

McRileyW wrote...

Dead_Meat357 wrote...

They don't. I've already looked at that. However, I did figure out something. The BF3 SP armor uses the same texture map as Vega and Shepard's Defender armors already do. It's very similar to Vega's armor actually, so what I'm going to do is put out three variants of it with minor changes. One for Vega, (will only be for the Collector's Edition version of his armor) one for Shepard which replaces his existing N7 Defender Armor texture and finally the one which enhances the existing BF3 single player soldier texture.

The obvious benefit for modding the coalesced.bin file is gaining the ability to use both Defender armors and having the ability to use whatever helmet you want (or go with no helmet) with the armor. As you can see I have it pictured with the Recon Hood. You can use the Death mask, no helmet, or whatever you want. 

I'll combine the features of Vega's camo version with this one when I make his version so it looks like his and not Shepards. This way they aren't totally identical. But for the most part they will be. Additionally there is one slight difference between using it as the BF3 replacement vs. replacing the stock Defender armor. The latter will give it blue lighting instead of red. But you won't have to edit the coalesced.bin to get it. Though I may provide instructions for that when the time comes. Given my experience with Shepard's defender armor, this is going surprisingly fast. I have already created a digital camo pattern for this texture and meshed it with metal textures.

So this will be and is my next armor project. I mean hell I'll be able to get three mods out of it. But yeah, this has me wondering what else is in there that we don't know about.

Oh, I also pulled apart the Zona C files so I could fix the Normandy SR-2 texture. I've combined it with a metal texture to give it a finish which will hopefully make it look more like the high poly model. I'm also going to fix the windows on it. That should be much faster. I'm going to recompile the Zona-C mod for myself, and offer the Normandy as a stand alone mod. I know some people have asked for it and it looks like a quick fix. All I need to do now is the windows.

Thank you. BTW, would you mind sharing how to let Shepard wear the ME1 armor in ME2?

You mod the coalesced.bin file to do it in ME2 same as you mod the file in ME3 to add casual outfits and armors. There are some good directions just a search away. That's how I learned to do it. However I was talking about ME3, in which case I'd have to use the codes for the Blue Suns or Eclipse Mercs and then replace the texture with the Onyx armor texture from the beginning of ME2 given that the armor model is the same. (Assuming I wanted it in ME3.) 

Is it possible to take non-armour textures and do the same procedure with them? 

Let's say, for example, FemShep's "new afro" in ME3, taking the texture and meshing it with ME1's "old afro" to utilise ME3 hair in ME1&2? (This has become something of an obsession of mine lately.) I've seen a silhouette version of ME1's "old afro" in ME3, but they never added a texture to it (not that I was really looking for a return of the "old afro," just to illustrate something similar has been done albeit incomplete.). Doesn't seem like heads of the models have changed.

Modifié par N7 Lisbeth, 28 septembre 2012 - 12:37 .

[Dead_Meat357]

N7 Lisbeth wrote...

Dead_Meat357 wrote...

McRileyW wrote...

Dead_Meat357 wrote...

They don't. I've already looked at that. However, I did figure out something. The BF3 SP armor uses the same texture map as Vega and Shepard's Defender armors already do. It's very similar to Vega's armor actually, so what I'm going to do is put out three variants of it with minor changes. One for Vega, (will only be for the Collector's Edition version of his armor) one for Shepard which replaces his existing N7 Defender Armor texture and finally the one which enhances the existing BF3 single player soldier texture.

The obvious benefit for modding the coalesced.bin file is gaining the ability to use both Defender armors and having the ability to use whatever helmet you want (or go with no helmet) with the armor. As you can see I have it pictured with the Recon Hood. You can use the Death mask, no helmet, or whatever you want. 

I'll combine the features of Vega's camo version with this one when I make his version so it looks like his and not Shepards. This way they aren't totally identical. But for the most part they will be. Additionally there is one slight difference between using it as the BF3 replacement vs. replacing the stock Defender armor. The latter will give it blue lighting instead of red. But you won't have to edit the coalesced.bin to get it. Though I may provide instructions for that when the time comes. Given my experience with Shepard's defender armor, this is going surprisingly fast. I have already created a digital camo pattern for this texture and meshed it with metal textures.

So this will be and is my next armor project. I mean hell I'll be able to get three mods out of it. But yeah, this has me wondering what else is in there that we don't know about.

Oh, I also pulled apart the Zona C files so I could fix the Normandy SR-2 texture. I've combined it with a metal texture to give it a finish which will hopefully make it look more like the high poly model. I'm also going to fix the windows on it. That should be much faster. I'm going to recompile the Zona-C mod for myself, and offer the Normandy as a stand alone mod. I know some people have asked for it and it looks like a quick fix. All I need to do now is the windows.

Thank you. BTW, would you mind sharing how to let Shepard wear the ME1 armor in ME2?

You mod the coalesced.bin file to do it in ME2 same as you mod the file in ME3 to add casual outfits and armors. There are some good directions just a search away. That's how I learned to do it. However I was talking about ME3, in which case I'd have to use the codes for the Blue Suns or Eclipse Mercs and then replace the texture with the Onyx armor texture from the beginning of ME2 given that the armor model is the same. (Assuming I wanted it in ME3.) 

Is it possible to take non-armour textures and do the same procedure with them? 

Let's say, for example, FemShep's "new afro" in ME3, taking the texture and meshing it with ME1's "old afro" to utilise ME3 hair in ME1&2? (This has become something of an obsession of mine lately.) I've seen a silhouette version of ME1's "old afro" in ME3, but they never added a texture to it (not that I was really looking for a return of the "old afro," just to illustrate something similar has been done albeit incomplete.). Doesn't seem like heads of the models have changed.

You want to seek the hair modding threads about that. I don't know how you access those. But physically you can't add a texture that isn't there without switching it out in Texmod. And even then a strange texture has to map to the object correctly. Hair may not.

McRileyW wrote...

wow amazing. I believe collector armor 1.2 will surprise us too

It's up there. About all I did was change the normal map. It's essentially the same as my earlier version of it but the seam is gone. That's one armor I could never eliminate that on completely before. The proceedure outlined mostly by Saltisgood and combining that with the original normal map resolved the issues. I may play with the scale settings some in the future, but I think the current version is just about as good as I can make it. There are however some possibilities I can explore with it down the line. The current normal map is stronger than the last one, so the compound eyes stand out a little more.

I think the next mod that will surprise you is really the N7 Valkyrie. Almost none of the original texture remains at this point. The Kasa Fabrication set is starting to really take shape. I've got to test another version of the Normandy's windows etc.

FenixWylde wrote...

can these be used in me3 without risk of getting banned from the multiplayer?

You'd think we'd have covered that in the 100+ pages. Oh wait we did.  Yes. You can use these in multiplayer without any issues. BioWare's official statement is that modding is OK provided you don't do anything that gains you an advantage in multiplayer. This means that you can do quite a bit in the coalesced.bin file. This is how I've enabled the BF3 armor for single player. (What's strange is it is different than the MP one.) For the astute you'll see in my most recent screenshots that my Shepard is wearing the Defender Armor on the Normandy in the prologue, without a helmet and on Mars with a breather mask in an area that's been repressurized to allow the squad mates to remove their breathers / helmets. So there is a combination of coalesced.bin editing and save file editing to do that.

I've been playing the game with these texture mods for months. I've had a modded coalesced.bin file for months for various reasons. Mostly to increase the texture size to 8192. I've experimented with textures that large in the game. Unfortunately, few textures in the game are good enough to handle being upconverted that far. Rarely do any of our textures eliminate the original data entirely. So anything that isn't replaced won't look very good upscaled. In fact you'll see no difference or it looks worse. But that's another topic.

While BioWare isn't onboard with making modding easier by decrypting the .PCC files for us, they don't hinder us any further than the game's original design does.

Modifié par Dead_Meat357, 28 septembre 2012 - 03:57 .

[N7 Lisbeth]

Dead_Meat357 wrote...
You want to seek the hair modding threads about that. I don't know how you access those. But physically you can't add a texture that isn't there without switching it out in Texmod. And even then a strange texture has to map to the object correctly. Hair may not.

I've checked those threads and spoke to someone that wrote one of them (Ottemis). She said there's no way to use ME3 hair in ME1. Afro for afro, I don't see how it's different than hooking a new texture onto armour. More complicated, sure -- I've seen some of the work they do. But short hair for short hair, neither of which has moving parts, makes me wonder how it's so different that it's impossible.

Is it because hair textures aren't stored the same way and there's no way to rip them?

Modifié par N7 Lisbeth, 28 septembre 2012 - 06:16 .

[ElectronicPostingInterface]

I want a HD version of this alternate outfit for Tali, and figure it's unlikely anyone else would make it. So I've decided to jump into the HD texture arena, but I'd like some help before I accidentally waste a ton of time. 

I watched SaltisGood's tutorials for the basic Texmod usage and the diffuse map. 

This is what I took away (not necessarily what SIG actually said - I am artistically illiterate).

The method most people are using is to drawn an outline over sections and then replace the area with a pre-existing material from outside the game that is somewhat similar. 

Here's what the image looks like after I resize it to 4096:

http://filesmelt.com/dl/1863.png 

For this trial run, I'm working on just this particular area to learn the idea of fixing the textures (look at the red rectangle in the upper left):

http://filesmelt.com/dl/2608.png 

Zoomed in, here's the area before I do any modifications:

http://filesmelt.com/dl/3433.png 

I use the line tool and pick white as my foreground color and do my best to "select" the black material I'm replacing in this effort. I'm not sure if

A) this is sufficient, or if I sucked too hard in making lines

Should I have used lasso?

C) how to do this in terms of...like, is this going to leave an ugly outline everywhere?

http://filesmelt.com/dl/4318.png

Anyway, here's the texture I ended up putting over it. You can still see the white line.

http://filesmelt.com/dl/5256.png

Here's the image with the line layer at opacity zero.

http://filesmelt.com/dl/6221.png 

And here's the whole thing zoomed out.

http://filesmelt.com/dl/zoomedout.png  

Should I keep going the way I'm going, or am I doing something really bad/stupid?

Also - kind of related, but I'm not sure if that's the right...texture to overlay? The material of that hood has always kind of eluded me.

Thanks to SaltisGood for his video tutorials, Smarteck for helping me before on Origin and the information he's posted, DeadMeat for all the technical information he's posted in the past, and anyone who helps me with this. And, oh yeah, after attempting this: dear god, I cannot believe the amount of work you have all done. This is...my mind can't fathom what you've all accomplished. I have a new appreciation for it.

EDIT: Upon reflection, that is more like a very dark navy color. Huh. I'm not sure what kind of fabric that is - it's not stiched, like denim. It's almost like spandex or something. Not sure, not sure what'd be better...

Modifié par PKchu, 28 septembre 2012 - 02:16 .

[Dead_Meat357]

N7 Lisbeth wrote...

Dead_Meat357 wrote...
You want to seek the hair modding threads about that. I don't know how you access those. But physically you can't add a texture that isn't there without switching it out in Texmod. And even then a strange texture has to map to the object correctly. Hair may not.

I've checked those threads and spoke to someone that wrote one of them (Ottemis). She said there's no way to use ME3 hair in ME1. Afro for afro, I don't see how it's different than hooking a new texture onto armour. More complicated, sure -- I've seen some of the work they do. But short hair for short hair, neither of which has moving parts, makes me wonder how it's so different that it's impossible.

Is it because hair textures aren't stored the same way and there's no way to rip them?

No, we can pull them all day.

The thing is we are using the same texture map as the original textures to do it. All we do is replace sections of the texture we don't like or are damaged in order to do it. If the texture map for something is different it won't work. Case in point, Shepard's N7 Defender Armor uses a different map than the similar looking armor does in multiplayer. There are two versions of BF3 soldier armor in the game. One for MP and one for MaleShep in SP. Again totally different texture maps. The one for the MP armor contains the death mask as part of the texture. The SP version doesn't. And physically the models are changed when you choose a different one or a casual outfit. So we are mapping textures to different models.

If the ME3 hair is modeled differently, and some of it is clearly modeled and not totally flat, then it won't work. You can certainly make the attempt but what you'll get is a texture that won't line up and won't look right at all. It's the same reason I can't map the M-3 Predator texture to a M-6 Carnifex. They are not the same model and use a different texture map. But I can switch the Paladin's texture for the Carnifex's and vice versa because they are the same model. And close with this sort of thing isn't close enough. That's why most of the armors done for MaleShep don't work for FemShep. The M-55 Argus is a similar model to that of the M-96 Mattock but their textures are different. The rail on top of the Mattock makes all the difference.  

[Mobius 1]

Is there anyone fancy of doing a video tutorial on how to install al these awsome new textures?
It's kinda complicated for someone who never did anything like that before

[Mobius 1]

and on top of it, why doesn't bioware pay you take your work, label it "official" and patch it as an extra DLC?

[Dead_Meat357]

PKchu wrote...

I want a HD version of this alternate outfit for Tali, and figure it's unlikely anyone else would make it. So I've decided to jump into the HD texture arena, but I'd like some help before I accidentally waste a ton of time. 

I watched SaltisGood's tutorials for the basic Texmod usage and the diffuse map. 

This is what I took away (not necessarily what SIG actually said - I am artistically illiterate).

The method most people are using is to drawn an outline over sections and then replace the area with a pre-existing material from outside the game that is somewhat similar. 

Here's what the image looks like after I resize it to 4096:

http://filesmelt.com/dl/1863.png 

For this trial run, I'm working on just this particular area to learn the idea of fixing the textures (look at the red rectangle in the upper left):

http://filesmelt.com/dl/2608.png 

Zoomed in, here's the area before I do any modifications:

http://filesmelt.com/dl/3433.png 

I use the line tool and pick white as my foreground color and do my best to "select" the black material I'm replacing in this effort. I'm not sure if

A) this is sufficient, or if I sucked too hard in making lines

Should I have used lasso?

C) how to do this in terms of...like, is this going to leave an ugly outline everywhere?

http://filesmelt.com/dl/4318.png

Anyway, here's the texture I ended up putting over it. You can still see the white line.

http://filesmelt.com/dl/5256.png

Here's the image with the line layer at opacity zero.

http://filesmelt.com/dl/6221.png 

And here's the whole thing zoomed out.

http://filesmelt.com/dl/zoomedout.png  

Should I keep going the way I'm going, or am I doing something really bad/stupid?

Also - kind of related, but I'm not sure if that's the right...texture to overlay? The material of that hood has always kind of eluded me.

Thanks to SaltisGood for his video tutorials, Smarteck for helping me before on Origin and the information he's posted, DeadMeat for all the technical information he's posted in the past, and anyone who helps me with this. And, oh yeah, after attempting this: dear god, I cannot believe the amount of work you have all done. This is...my mind can't fathom what you've all accomplished. I have a new appreciation for it.

EDIT: Upon reflection, that is more like a very dark navy color. Huh. I'm not sure what kind of fabric that is - it's not stiched, like denim. It's almost like spandex or something. Not sure, not sure what'd be better...

Basically I kept messing with it until I learned to do it and make it look good. It isn't easy to do when you are starting out. I actually wanted that outfit for her too, but I haven't gotten very far on it. It's in my massive back log.

The first thing I do is resize the image. I sometimes make a sharpening pass on the texture depending on how it looks. I undo it if I don't like it. Photoshop's Smart Sharpen tool gives me a lot of granular control over the amount of sharpness it creates. So I play with that first. I then make a duplicate layer of the original so I always have a backup. I create a new layer above the texture layer and label it outlines.

I usually do outlines in black. I do them on a separate layer above everything else. And when I'm done I erase the ones that don't need to be there. I simply follow black lines or whatever color they used on the original texture. I use the magic wand to select areas I want to cut out completely, I also use the lasso tool when I can't use the wand.  Sometimes the lasso selects too much or not what you want it to. Sometimes you don't even need to remove the texture at all. Just create an overlay of a different texture and mess with opacity of the layers until you get it right.

Typically one of my mods will use a combination of techniques. It just depends on the complexity of the texture as to how much of one thing gets done vs. another. On Tali's texture I started with the headdress part. On that one I did the outlines and then mapped a different texture as "normal" and then adjusted the opacity until the shading so that some of the original details came through but not the pattern itself. As for the pattern chosen, it really depends on what you are doing. A lot of trial and error goes into it and testing of incomplete textures in game. Especially starting out. You'll want to figure out what looks good and what doesn't.

For the headdress on Tali's outfit, I chose a cotton shirt pattern. I believe the same one that Smartek used on Vega's casual outfit. However I adjusted the scale to make it finer. It helps to size the texture and then make it into a definable pattern. For most cloth samples I set them for 128x128 or 256x256 for these texture mods. I can then adjust the scale once it's defined if needed.

I'll step you through part of it.



So here I have Tali's texture. I have already upscaled it to 4096x4096. I've done some work on her head dress and scarf thing already. I've used a blending technique and I'll show you that and how to replace entirely. This assumes Photoshop CSx as your image editor of choice, and I don't know how to do it in other tools, but I do know many image editors have similar functionality, but perhaps not all of it. I know that Paint.NET doesn't do everything Photoshop does for example.

What you may not be able to see well is the grain texture of Tali's scarf and head dress. Not final by any means, but this is an example.



So I've cut out some things I want to replace. The layer for the head dress main texture is turned off. The dark spot is what I've put on it as an overlay as is the material under the neck piece where the scarf is. So ignore that. Lets concentrate on the empty spot on the upper right.

So I have a couple of options for doing this. I can simply replace that part with another image / texture of my choosing. Or I can blend a new texture with the original portion of the texture. Both have their pros and cons but what it really boils down to is what looks best. Sometimes you need finer details that you can't easily duplicate. Other times those details are so bad you don't want to carry them over.



So I've taken a metal texture and placed it under the texture layer with the sections removed. This more or less automatically shapes the section I need. Any part that bleeds over to another section I can erase. In Photoshop I can actually highlight what I want cut out on a different layer, like the original texture backup, then select inverse, whcih cuts out everything else. Then select the new texture layer to shape it if desired. I do not know if other software lets you do that. In any case you don't actually have to shape it properly if the extra parts are covered. Just erase any overages if they end up showing where you don't want them to be.

So you can see my new metal texture here. I forgot to do my outlines but I'll go back and do them on the outline layer with the original layer selected at some point.



So I've decided to go ahead and blend this part with the original texture as an overlay.



But I don't like that. So I set the new texture back to normal and I have altered the opacity to alter how much of the original portion of this texture shows in the new one. It's really just a grainy mess and not an improvement over the original. There are new details but too many of the old ones remain.



Well I decided to change materials to something completely different. Not as worn. I went ahead and added my outlines. Now I can call that part good or not. But here is what happens when I want to blend this with the original.



I tried overlay but didn't like it. In this case normal with an opacity adjustment did better. And as you see I was able to retain two lines I wanted to keep while minimizing the original whethering appearing in the new texture. Thsi also keeps any shading from the original texture if I desire. Now while this may look better here, the new texture will probably actually look better in game. But this is why you have to test the materials constantly. Once you've done this for awhile you come to know what looks good and you develop your own style. Like I see some of the same texture patterns in Smartek's work and you'll see many of the same ones in mine. The style also evolves over time.

When I started I didn't know that much about Photoshop. What I did with it for work was basically adding logos to images. Hardly advanced stuff. You can do it, you just need time and practice. It helps to start with something others aren't really working on and something you really want to see done so the drive is there to get it done. Even though there are easier textures to work with, jumping in and pushing ahead can be a great teacher. Give it a shot. You might be surprised at how easy this is to do. It's just time consuming. Hope this helps.

Mobius 1 wrote...

Is there anyone fancy of doing a video tutorial on how to install al these awsome new textures?
It's kinda complicated for someone who never did anything like that before

Page 1 of this thread. Smartek covered that I think.

Modifié par Dead_Meat357, 28 septembre 2012 - 05:24 .

[Dead_Meat357]

Mobius 1 wrote...

and on top of it, why doesn't bioware pay you take your work, label it "official" and patch it as an extra DLC?

I can't speak for the others, but if BioWare wants my texture work, they can have it. The only way I'd get pissed is if they took the textures and charged for it without cutting me in. And frankly, they don't want to cut me in as it hits the bottom dollar. If there is no monetary incentive to include these textures in the actual game, they won't ever do it. The PC platform is just one platform. The consoles won't really benefit from these the way the PC can. So the amount of work it would take to integrate these into the game and the cost of doing so vs. the revenue they'd make from it probably don't add up as favorable to them. It would be a nice olive branch to the community, but EA/BioWare made their money on this game and will continue to do so. Whether they put out a texture pack or not.

And BioWare doesn't need our work anyway. They already have the high poly assets for the game and can make new textures based off those mesh's. They probably have higher resolution textures than what they gave us anyway, and scaled them down sometime during development. Most likely using the XBOX 360 as the lowest common denominator. They just shipped the same basic version for all three platforms. But if they wanted to put out a high resolution texture pack, they could do it easily. They have everything they need. But again they won't bother unless they believe there is significant money to be made. Honestly, as interest wanes in this series the amount of money they'd make is reduced. If they did release the texture pack as anything but free, they'd have caught hell for it from the community.

Damned if they do and damned if they don't. Right now they are better off doing nothing. What I'd honestly prefer at this point is for them to patch the PC version in such a way as to decrypt the .PCC files so that we can replace the textures permanently. But I'm not holding my breath on that one. If they ever do a higher resolution version of the existing games, they'll do it as a "remastered" version a few years from now for another platform and sell it back to us again for $20.00 or so.

Modifié par Dead_Meat357, 28 septembre 2012 - 04:34 .

[ElectronicPostingInterface]

That is extremely helpful Dead Meat. Thanks for taking the time typing that all up.

I'm gonna get to work and see what I can accomplish. Thanks.

EDIT: Also, I am using an up to date Photoshop, so I can follow those instructions.

Modifié par PKchu, 28 septembre 2012 - 07:55 .