DESCRIPTION
This mod gives Dr. Liara T'Soni an outfit in the shape and style of Aria T'Loak. I've attempted to make the outfit somewhat harken back to Liara's default outfit aesthetically with some additional flourishes. The jacket is leather with an elegant cloth inner lining and white accents and carbon fiber guards, inner collar and upper sleeves. The carbon fiber around her breasts is more of a shell and has stronger gloss similar to her original design. There are multiple types of leather used between the jacket, the abdominal wrap, chest guard, and gloves. The leather base layer around her legs and lower body is perforated leather. The emblem on Liara's back is the symbol of the Asari Republics and Thessia, her home planet and the homeworld of the Asari. As a final highlight, Shadow Broker emblems appear at certain angles on the white leather portions of the outfit. There is also a Shadow Broker emblem hidden away somewhere else on her outfit--see if you can find it!

There are two versions of this mod: one replaces Liara's default outfit so it will show up in normal cutscenes, on the Normandy, in the Citadel battle simulator, on missions, etc. The other simply replaces Liara's alternate outfit that comes with the Collector's edition (the grapefruit colored version of her default outfit that also has a headband). You can install one or both simultaneously.

The packages include the diffuse, spec, and normal textures at the highest resolution possible for ME3 (4096x4096 px) so this is memory-intensive but very high quality. Squad selection images are also included but at twice the normal resolution (1024x2048). I've also included the necessary MOD file that will actually change the mesh files (the shape of the character's body/outfit) in your game files.  The skin used in these textures is based on ThinkBlueN7's Liara skin that looks scalier and has a lot more detail. I highly recommend all of his skin mods and use them in all of my screenshots.  Look for the file called "Liara TSoni Skin.tpf" here.  You can install it or TexMod it.

Because this mod requires a mesh modification you cannot just rely on TexMod. You must use ME3 Explorer to perform the mesh modification and texture installation. I have not provided TexMod TPF files but you could create one from the provided DDS files if you wanted to do so.

And finally: don't f*ck with Liara.


INSTALLATION

Attention: First Time Modders
If you're new to modding ME3 please use these resources to help you set up everything correctly:
TexMod Video Tutorial by saltisgood [Youtube]
TexMod Tutorial by Ottemis
ME3 Explorer Tutorial by Ottemis
ME3 Explorer Forums

MAIN FILES
You must install this mod via ME3 Explorer. You could use TexMod for the texture portion but I find that pointless as you've already modified your game files with the mesh MOD so I've not included a TPF package. After first installing the included MOD file you will need to install the textures.

In the Restore folder of the archive I've included a MOD file that will restore the original mesh files should you choose to remove this mod. I would still make backups of the affected files but this may be easier for many. There you will also find the original squad selection textures since many people won't remember to back those up :). As for the other things, I encourage you to make backups as needed. In the Mesh folder you will find the UPK file used for making my MOD file. If you know what you're doing you can use this file as you want (otherwise just stick with the MOD file). I should point out that it is modified from the original file to prevent some minor clipping on Liara's head model so it may not work seamlessly on other characters.

Note: Please only use the latest stable SourceForge version of ME3 Explorer as the subversion versions are meant more for developers and testers.

Detailed install instructions:

• First we'll need to install the mesh files, so open ME3 Explorer
• Click on Tools on the top menu
• Click on Mod Maker. If there are any Jobs in the window then Clear them out by clicking on File then Clear Jobs.
• Click on File on the right side of the top menu and then Load Jobs
• Navigate your file structure to the correct .MOD file (in the root directory of the archive) and load it. You will see multiple lines appear. Note the affected PCC files mentioned here because these are the ones you should back up before completing the next step
• Click on Run and then on Run All.
• The Mod Maker will take a few minutes to update the TOC and then tell you that all mods were installed successfully. Done with the mesh!
• Now for the textures, open TPF/DDS Tools 2.0 from the Tools menu.
• You can simply drag and drop the DDS files into the TPF Tools window and it will load them. You should have one diffuse, specular, and normal as well as two squad selection textures. If you have more then you're duping or overwriting something.
• Click on Analyze to identify the textures and you should see that all of the textures are found and matched in the tree. If not then you may have to install some manually through Texplorer or you need to scan your tree first. This can also happen if you have a different version of the game than I do or lack certain DLC.
• Click on Install Valid to install your selected and matched textures. I've made sure that none of them need to be converted.
• Wait for the tool to finish and you're done!
  

Note: If you're installing v1.1 over v1.0 you can just install v1.1 normally as if you never installed the initial version.  Reinstall the mesh and the textures to make sure everything is correct.

This mod is only compatible with Mass Effect 3.


CREDITS
1. smarteck, I used small portions of his upscaled Aria T'Loak texture
2. ThinkBlueN7, for his Liara T'Soni scalier skin textures
3. Logo vectors by Karlika
4. Bioware, for creating ME and all its assets
5. All developers and testers of ME3 Explorer and its tools

Thanks to everyone who has endorsed my work!  Endorsements are hard to come by especially for ME3 which is somewhat troublesome to mod so I truly appreciate anyone who takes the time show appreciation.


VERSION HISTORY
1.1:

• Default - Updated mesh MOD to affect 3 more PCC files.  Please update to ensure you have the correct mesh for the installed textures.  This only affects the default replacer.
  

1.0:

• Initial version
  

TO DO
Fix some of the mesh seams to be less jarring. They seem to be in the original mesh so I have no idea how to fix them.  If you do let me know.