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Apparently it's necessary to have a DISCLAIMER about my mod. Not for my sake, mind you; it's for your own peace of mind.
If you feel adverse towards this mod in any way, please review the contents of the Spoiler below before you bear down on the comment section 😉
Spoiler:
Show
Halsin is a Wood Elf. Not only is he a fictional character, but he also belongs to a fictional, long-lived race, and this race is depicted in the lore of Forgotten Realms universe.
Every fictional character is susceptible to individual interpretation of character features, including physical. So if one person experiences a fictional character in one way, the other can experience that same character entirely differently. They are both right in their impressions because it's individual experience.
All forms of fiction exist to entertain. If you find a form of fiction relatable, inspiring and/or enlightening in some way, it means that it's successfully doing its job. But your own experience is not uniform for everyone, and that is normal.
Fictional characters should not serve as an example for a real-life person, issue or group. They are a product of imagination, and as such cannot set a standard for elements of real life. If you have real-life issues and feel strongly about some things in real-life society, using fiction as a weapon to beat the problem does not have any merit - because the example you're using comes from an imaginary setting.
Modifying a fantasy character to personal taste and imagination by using any form of art is perfectly fine, and even expected. If people never allowed themselves to imagine things in their own way, often differently than many others do, then we wouldn't have any artistic expressions at all.
If a person (in this case, a modder) wishes to share their vision with others, they are doing so for the sake of other people who share the same view, and perhaps lack the ability and/or time to make the same type of mod for themselves. It is essentially a generous, friendly act (at least for me it is). It does not mean that the modder, or people who like the mod, are making a statement about something in real life and trying to push it onto everyone.
In my personal canon, all Elven subraces (in all fictional lore universes, not just Forgotten Realms) don't visually age over 40, no matter how old they are. This is why it bothered me that Halsin looks like a 50+ year old human - and only in facial features, while his body is perfectly youthful. On the other hand (for the sake of comparison), Minthara who is also an Elf and claims to also be very old, looks barely thirty.
How developers visualize characters in their games is, again, personal taste of creators of these characters. And mods exist to cater to personal taste of users who nurture their own vision.
So to sum it up:
Downloading mods, and even taking them into any sort of consideration, is completely optional and based on the free choice of an individual.
If you like my mod exactly as it is, and perhaps like it for similar reasons that inspired me to make it, feel free to happily use it in your game.
If you don't like my mod for whatever reason, please move on and refrain from harassing other people. Please be respectful to others if you expect to be respected in turn.
If, however, you are genuinely convinced that I am doing real harm to Nexus users - or you personally - by publishing this mod, feel free to report me.
Thank you.
Every fictional character is susceptible to individual interpretation of character features, including physical. So if one person experiences a fictional character in one way, the other can experience that same character entirely differently. They are both right in their impressions because it's individual experience.
All forms of fiction exist to entertain. If you find a form of fiction relatable, inspiring and/or enlightening in some way, it means that it's successfully doing its job. But your own experience is not uniform for everyone, and that is normal.
Fictional characters should not serve as an example for a real-life person, issue or group. They are a product of imagination, and as such cannot set a standard for elements of real life. If you have real-life issues and feel strongly about some things in real-life society, using fiction as a weapon to beat the problem does not have any merit - because the example you're using comes from an imaginary setting.
Modifying a fantasy character to personal taste and imagination by using any form of art is perfectly fine, and even expected. If people never allowed themselves to imagine things in their own way, often differently than many others do, then we wouldn't have any artistic expressions at all.
If a person (in this case, a modder) wishes to share their vision with others, they are doing so for the sake of other people who share the same view, and perhaps lack the ability and/or time to make the same type of mod for themselves. It is essentially a generous, friendly act (at least for me it is). It does not mean that the modder, or people who like the mod, are making a statement about something in real life and trying to push it onto everyone.
In my personal canon, all Elven subraces (in all fictional lore universes, not just Forgotten Realms) don't visually age over 40, no matter how old they are. This is why it bothered me that Halsin looks like a 50+ year old human - and only in facial features, while his body is perfectly youthful. On the other hand (for the sake of comparison), Minthara who is also an Elf and claims to also be very old, looks barely thirty.
How developers visualize characters in their games is, again, personal taste of creators of these characters. And mods exist to cater to personal taste of users who nurture their own vision.
So to sum it up:
Downloading mods, and even taking them into any sort of consideration, is completely optional and based on the free choice of an individual.
If you like my mod exactly as it is, and perhaps like it for similar reasons that inspired me to make it, feel free to happily use it in your game.
If you don't like my mod for whatever reason, please move on and refrain from harassing other people. Please be respectful to others if you expect to be respected in turn.
If, however, you are genuinely convinced that I am doing real harm to Nexus users - or you personally - by publishing this mod, feel free to report me.
Thank you.
Our dear hench elf has received a facelift.
Jowls are flattened, eyelids are tighter. Textures are cleaned up of aging spots, grooves and wrinkles are less prominent.
In addition, Halsin's unique hair model is tweaked, it's fuller and the ends are a bit longer.
Optional files:
- Sharper teeth: features sharper teeth on my modified head mesh. I have sculpted them out of his original teeth mesh, they aren't replaced by teeth from other head meshes. It's a flavor to support Halsin's dual beastly nature, use if you like it. The Main File has his normal, default teeth.
- Custom with sharper teeth: the same as above, but the main mesh has been slightly altered. I have kinda "elongated" his face and ears a bit, to make him look even more elven (personal perspective, of course). This mesh is featured in the header image of the mod.
- More aged textures: Halsin's default textures are more prominent, while keeping details of my custom textures. A flavor if you prefer him more weathered and closer to vanilla.
Optional files can also work as a standalone.
Head meshes support Halsin's default hairstyle and textures made for default head.
Installation:
The mod is in the form of loose files, not to be used with mod manager. Unpack the archive and drop the Data folder into your BG3 directory (the folder Baldurs Gate 3 where the game is installed).
You can install and uninstall this mod at any time, it won't affect your saves.
QOL Tips:
If you want Halsin to look more older, or conversely even younger, you can experiment with some textures which significantly influence his face.
You can omit installing some (or even all) of my face textures, and thus keep using default ones.
Or you can replace them with textures from some other mod, if they are to your preference (such as Younger Halsin or More Detailed Halsin).
Textures are located here, for easier reference:
Data/ Generated/ Public/ Shared/ Assets/ Characters/ _Models/ Humans/ HUM_MS_NKD/ HUM_MS_NKD/ HUM_MS_Head_Halsin/ Resources.
Here are simplified descriptions of crucial textures:
_NM.DDS - Topography of the face, responsible for wrinkles, creases, grooves, pores. Basically defines age. In Halsin's case, also features his baked-in scars.
_HMVY.DDS - Color-based shading. Can contain baked-in tattoo patterns, blemishes, moles, freckles etc. For example, this is where Halsin's aging spots and tattoo are defined.
My mod is confirmed to be compatible with the following:
Halsin No Tattoo - just replace my texture in game files with the texture provided in Halsin No Tattoo (ELF_MS_NKD_Head_Halsin_HMVY.DDS)
Halsin's Beard - don't mix with Halsin's Salon, the main mod from Halsin's Beard already darkens the facial tattoo
Beard for Halsin
Halsin's Salon (darker facial tattoo)
Quick n Clean Halsin Scrubber - removes persistent dirt overlay from his entire body
I suck at screenshots. I may add more as I progress in my current playthrough. Initially I was focused on different expressions to show you Halsin's facial emotes with this tweaked head model, so the screenies reflect that.
Please post your own screenshots if you like the mod, they will probably be better than mine.
This is my first attempt at modeling, Blender had tortured me thoroughly 😅
I hope you enjoy the fruits of my labor!
😘