Hello again all, it's Xaltar. It's been a while. My last pack uploaded here (NWN2 Facelift Pack) was over a decade ago now. Sadly I ran out of time and motivation to finish it back then. I am back with all new models and textures on the way. I will not be picking up where I left off, this will be new work. I won't promise to do every head in the game like I did last time, I will continue as long as motivation and time permit.
It will be fun to see how much I can update the look of the character heads in the game now, some 10 years on from my original mod. I am uploading from a new account as I can no longer access my old one and the Nexus is unable to help me without me being able to access the now long dead email address I signed up with. It's a pity as I can prove ownership of all the uploads I have made here (I still have all my working files). I was told policy wouldn't permit it. C'est la vie I guess.
I will be uploading as and when I have something complete to upload. I am taking my time on this and not rushing like I did last time, that was how I burned out. Updates will come when they come, stay tuned.
More to come.
Xaltar
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Also, for some reason, Shandra's new head won't load even with no other mods present in the override folder. The game just keeps showing her original head.
As for Shandra, she works fine on my end (just downloaded and tested again to be sure). Do you maybe have mods in your other override folder? There is one in My Documents\Neverwinter Nights 2\ and another in the game installation folder. Typically the my documents one takes precedence.
As for Shandra, I do have a few mods in the other override folder, but nothing related to models - just the romance mod, the level 40 cap, and few minor things like Mystra's blessing. Is there anything else that might cause conflicts or prevent the new Shandra head from loading?
You didn't say you were swapping the head to another race before or I would have mentioned it ;)
You could try cloning the head first with MDB cloner then importing the cloned and correctly named head into blender, tweak it and export it again. That should rule out anything being broken while trying to fix the previous issue.
It should be:
override\Xaltar\(Race)\Male\Model
override\Xaltar\(Race)\Male\Texture
override\Xaltar\(Race)\Female\Model
override\Xaltar\(Race)\Female\Texture
override\Xaltar\(Race)\Hair\Male
override\Xaltar\(Race)\Hair\Female
override\Xaltar\NPC\(NPC name)\Model
override\Xaltar\NPC\(NPC name)\Texture
I am following the folder structure Obsidian uses in it's zip files. I have noticed that if the folders go too deep (too many folders in folders) the game ignores them. A simple test is to just make a folder called "Shandra" and dump all her files in there directly, textures and MDB. If you are mix matching my 2 mods you can change the Xaltar folder name to Xaltarnew for my new mod, it won't effect anything. The override folder is read by the game with shallower files taking precedence over deeper ones, ie, if you have mymodel.mdb directly in the override folder and another one in override\mymodel\ then the one directly in the override folder will be used.
override\Shandra
If it doesn't show up then there is likely something broken in your installation. Shandra has worked on all 3 installations I have here for testing.
3dsmax 2012 with import/export scripts from neverwintervault, the latest ones I think
Its a real pain to get working, you need to use the 32bit version to import files but the 32bit version is buggy as all getout in windows 8 and newer.
I work around this by using the 64bit version to work on my models and export, both of which work fine on the 64bit version. I open the 32bit version, import an original model, save it, close the 32bit program and open the 64bit one and work there. I do this to get the skeleton imported. Once I have it imported and saved I can work on it to my heart's content in the 64bit version and even export from there directly. The skeleton import part of the script doesn't work in 64 bit. It may be the problem you are having with blender.
What version of blender are you using? If it's too new it won't work with the import scripts. I believe you need an old version to use them or the skeleton doesn't import properly (or at all like in 3dsmax 64bit). I think Blender 2.79 is the newest version the blender import/export scripts works with. I went through all these headaches with my first mod, installing different 3d app versions, different script versions and tested over and over till something worked. The MDB tools for this game were never official outside of the very first one for Gmax (now a dead program) that Obsidian released. The blender scripts didn't exist yet back then IRRC.
With blender (and 3dsmax for that matter) you need to use the correct script version for your blender version or you get syntax errors as you noted.
I got the blender scripts off Neverwintervault. It lists the versions as well as the corresponding blender versions. I wouldn't recommend 3dsmax, if you are having trouble with blender, max is far worse to get set up. I had done it before (it took over a week of messing with it) and still had issues setting it up again this time. Even now it isn't perfect and I have to use workarounds.
For blender you want:
blender_2.7.2_mdb.7z -- Blender 2.79, November 23, 2017
From Neverwintervault
Good luck and keep me posted, we will get you up and exporting sucessfuly in no time :)
I just got to Act 2 in my playthrough and Shandra's new head finally showed up! But it didn't all throughout Act 1. Not even when I go back and load saved games from there since getting to Act 2. I don't know why being in Act 2 makes a difference. Does the Act 1 (non-party) Shandra use a different but identical head than the party member Shandra?
EDIT: The script you gave me works, so I'm able to import and export now. But that half-elf head is invisible again even though the textures are in the folder. Do their names have to match the mdb filename? And do I need to set them in Blender as well? I was just trying to get the unaltered human version of the head into the game on the options for half-elf just to make sure I could do it before making her ears pointed. I loaded the head in MDB Cloner and cloned it with the existing HHF texture files but the head was still invisible in-game.
Also, I hope you'll do some female half-elf heads soon, for both normal and half-drow. They don't have a lot of good options even with mods. And another vote for doing Casavir next (or sooner rather than later) for NPC's. His default head has always made him look old imo even though he's only in his mid-thirties. Oh, and also Sand. He's one of my favorite characters, his wit is priceless - it's almost worth losing the trial just to hear him quip that Torio dresses like a Luskan prostitute lol. The way he phrases it is really funny.
It's quite possible she has 2 models, I'll have a look into it. I have no playthrough saves so I had to use the DM cheat to spawn her for testing.
Here's my modified Regina half-elf head (haven't lengthened her ears yet):
And here she is with her ears adjusted:
It looks like your specular level is off, that can make textures look too bright. I generally keep my glossiness at about 10 - 30 and my specular level to about 50 - 80. The key is the specular map which resides in the alpha channel of the normal map. You want it set pretty dark and add some noise to it so your specular is broken up a bit rather than an even sheen. Take a look at the ones in my mod. Having a bit of grit in your normal map helps a lot too, pores, blemishes etc.
I will also release my eye models later today for anyone who wants to use them too. It makes all the difference :)
If you want to add an all new head it needs to be rigged to the skeleton. The easiest way to do this is to import an existing head then merge your new head to that model group and delete the original head. I don't know if it works the same in blender but in max it will assign ballpark vertex weights to the new model when you do this.
Rigging is an art unto itself. I would look at some blender tutorials on how to do this, I am afraid I have no idea how it works in blender and it would take me a novel to explain it in 3dsmax. I have gotten passably good at it over the years but it's grueling work and very time consuming, particularly with the rather limited max export/import script where I can't get the envelopes to align to the model without breaking everything. Manual vertex assignment is the only way. It may be easier in blender but you are delving deep into the hard stuff with this ;)
Basically, the model needs to be rigged (skinned) or it won't show up.
An alpha map on the tint map only indicates what tints and to what extent, tint and normal maps use Alpha Test (8bit alpha) for tint amount and specularity respectively. If you want to have transparency in NWN2 it must be on the diffuse texture and it is limited to Point Alpha (1bit alpha). This is what gives me nightmares with hair, eyelashes etc, point alpha is far too sharp and jagged unless you have a stupid high resolution texture.
Transparency on the eye is a waste of time however, transparent texture parts have no specularity, you are basically turning off the texture for that area vs normal alpha test transparency in more modern games. I tried to use the water "shader" on the eye but it wouldn't work either, it's an FX. I wanted a concave iris with a transparent but high specularity convex cornea... Nothing I did could make it work. In the end I physically modeled and textured a fake glint and positioned it where it would reflect off a cornea. In game it looks the part and tricks the mind into thinking that it's a reflection.
Her eyelashes are the last piece of the puzzle. How do I get them to show up?
Also, I was curious, what sort of innate abilities would a half moon elf/half drow have? Because the stat bonuses and innate abilities are somewhat different between subraces, I wasn't sure if there'd be a blend of the two. Not as much as either full race, but a bit of both. A pity the only elven half-bloods that typically tend to get attention are the half-human ones. But I think an elf with the blood of two different subraces could be an interesting character, to say the least. More so half drow and half any other type of elf, probably, given how different they are from all the others.
Also, you don't need LODs, that was something necessary when we ran the game on potatoes but today a modern title/system can have billions of polys on screen at any one time. I do know the MDB format is limited in the number of triangles/vertices it can have in a single file though. In 3ds I think it's 35k. I try to be efficient with my models where possible where I can get away with it.
https://forum.neverwintervault.org/
It's a lot more active than the community here. The nexus is more download centric and the vault is more community centric. Great place to post WIPs and get feedback ;)
But my guess - It is her body. In Act 1 in Highcliff she is in her farm clothes (unique). And in Act 2 she is in standart tunic (not unique). Sorry for my English, it is not my native.
Thanks for the help, I hope you are enjoying the mod :)
Now I'm patiently waiting for elven heads.
P.S.: Ponytail hair is just perfect for me)
Edit: endorsed, voted and tracking this mod. Thank you for your work!
Edit2: Tested in game. Heads look small compared to shoulders. (I know this work in progress, just saying. Your Facelift Pack from 2014 looks proportional). Don't get me wrong, pls. Just an observation. And new Shandra looks great!
I had noticed the new heads are a little on the small side. I will update them for my next release. It isn't a difficult fix. If I recall correctly I imported one of the vanilla heads and scaled to that last time, a step I missed this time around.
Shandra should be accurate, I scaled her head based on the original one so it should look right in game.
All the best for the new year and thanks for the observation :)
Anyway. Take your time.
Lots more to come ;)
New head up and another to follow soon.
Happy Holidays :)