Sacred 2 - Vishankas Mod corner

[Vishanka 242]

Hi, I wanted to make a thread for my mods since I do that quite a lot.

I don't think many will want them but perhaps someone would like one or the other.

Most are simple or more complex recolors, some require changes in the itemtype and surface.txt, and I also changed some of the sounds.

I do not use the mod enabler since I have no idea about it, so if someone wants to use something I just offer the file and the path it needs to be copied into.

--

First thing will be the Seraphim Skin, I wanted it to look a bit more natural and toned down. I gave her eyebrows and tried to achieve a different eyeshape.

There are helmets that also have a face texture on them, I've changed a few of them but not all so that is not part of this download. The item changes will be in the next one. If you equip Revelation helmet or Endijian type you will still see the old face.

Spoiler

 

Download: https://hidrive.ionos.com/share/cpsvz81l97

needs to go into: pak/mq/maps/heroes/seraphim or with elite textures enabled: pak/hq/maps/heroes/seraphim

[gogoblender 3,582]

On 1/28/2022 at 5:58 AM, Vishanka said:

Hi, I wanted to make a thread for my mods since I do that quite a lot.

I don't think many will want them but perhaps someone would like one or the other.

Most are simple or more complex recolors, some require changes in the itemtype and surface.txt, and I also changed some of the sounds.

I do not use the mod enabler since I have no idea about it, so if someone wants to use something I just offer the file and the path it needs to be copied into.

--

First thing will be the Seraphim Skin, I wanted it to look a bit more natural and toned down. I gave her eyebrows and tried to achieve a different eyeshape.

There are helmets that also have a face texture on them, I've changed a few of them but not all so that is not part of this download. The item changes will be in the next one. If you equip Revelation helmet or Endijian type you will still see the old face.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Download: https://hidrive.ionos.com/share/cpsvz81l97

needs to go into: pak/mq/maps/heroes/seraphim or with elite textures enabled: pak/hq/maps/heroes/seraphim

Great new corner.

I believe when creators of intent can see others' work its motivating and lends power to an imaginative work flow.  I like your mod style, the skins with tech, and fire are beautiful. You've pulled out beauty from this old little game 

gogo

[Vishanka 242]

Working on the grass and I cannot decide if I want to work with the base colors of the grass mod

 

or with the original color

[Hooyaah 3,198]

I prefer the grass mods colors.

[gogoblender 3,582]

Grass mod for me as well 

gogo

[Lindor 574]

For me original. I like the visible difference between Tyr Lysia and Artamark, yellow-ish grass looks more like hot summer and green more like untamed wildlife.

[Flix 5,234]

You might as well start with the originals and work from there.  Each time the file is saved with compression the quality will degrade slightly. I typically only apply DXT5 when I know the texture is final and ready to publish, so one extra save from working with mine wouldn't be noticeable, but still...

All I did for the grass mod is scoot the hue slider a little towards green and then de-saturate slightly because green tends to look more vibrant than yellow.

Of course I did the same thing to Artamark to keep the relative distance between the two about the same.  Overall the grass was too yellow and sickly for me, in both regions.

[Lindor 574]

20 hours ago, Flix said:

Of course I did the same thing to Artamark to keep the relative distance between the two about the same.

Never doubted that. I'm sorry if it sounded like I did.

20 hours ago, Flix said:

All I did for the grass mod is scoot the hue slider a little towards green and then de-saturate slightly because green tends to look more vibrant than yellow.

Did the same thing here. See:

21 hours ago, Lindor said:

I like the visible difference between Tyr Lysia and Artamark, yellow-ish grass looks more like hot summer and green more like untamed wildlife.

Both top two and bottom two circles have same relative amount of yellow. But one has a visible difference and one has not or just slightly. The decrease is definitely noticeable, the eye doesn't care about relative distance, it cares about absolute distance.

To clarify: For Tyr Lysia I'd prefer original, for Artamark I'd prefer mod but overall losing Tyr Lysia yellow is not worth gaining Artamark realism for me. That doesn't mean that I don't like your mod, you definitely achieved what you wanted. We just have different visions. But those are more like details to me, the one region which really could look better imho is Nor Plat.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Lindor
Reason: Spelling mistake

[Vishanka 242]

I chose the darker version and it seems like I will change almost all the textures.

Taking more of the brightness out of elven region, means I will also need to change all the buildings, trees etc.

I've spent hours to find a grass color I like.

So far I'm quite satisfied.

[Flix 5,234]

Very, very impressive results.  Honestly the whole game could use a similar texture pass.  Of course the simpler option remains to just desaturate the whole game with a 3rd party post-processing utility like ReShade.

[Vishanka 242]

20 hours ago, Flix said:

Honestly the whole game could use a similar texture pass.

Especially Nor-Plat, I'm not yet quite sure what I will do with that. Some of the grass textures are also used in the swamp so there's not very much room for experimentation.

 

New colors for the beach today:

[Vishanka 242]

Liked that picture of Artamark

And I really tried to do something to Nor-Plat but I consider it beyond redemption, it's just bland and boring

[Vishanka 242]

Always thought it was strange that the jungle is yellow like a swamp.

[Lindor 574]

Uh I really like this one

[Vishanka 242]

Did some testing with replacing some of the plants again.

Edited April 10, 2022 by Vishanka
+shadows

[Vishanka 242]

Flowerwork today

[Hooyaah 3,198]

This really is impressive and so much eye candy."

[Vishanka 242]

Adjusted the grass again, I think it looks really pleasent now

[Flix 5,234]

Are you adding flower graphics to the textures?  This looks amazing.

[Vishanka 242]

27 minutes ago, Flix said:

Are you adding flower graphics to the textures?  This looks amazing.

The only place where I replaced grass with something else was in the jungle since it looked a bit monotonous there.

One of the grass textures is also used in Dryade and Elven Regions so these orange flowers show up in some places, but they did fit well where I saw them.

 

For the rest I changed some of the flower images to just different flowers but kept the colors. These files were called "Doesn't Stay Like This"

 

So I'm not really adding something; it's already in the game, just less visible, because everything was so bright so the flowers didn't stand out.

Edited April 13, 2022 by Vishanka

[Vishanka 242]

I would need someone to test this texture overhaul soon; it will be somewhere between 500mb and 2gb.

I'm not done yet but I'm approaching something I would call beta and it would be very helpful if there were extra eyes to see if I've missed something, or if something doesn't look right, or if something could be done better.

Also I would need help to addjust it for the mod enabler, based on the files I downloaded I think I know what to do but I would definitely need someone to look at this.

 

The changes are purely visual and can be disabled at any time without altering or affecting the (save)game, items, whatever, in any way.

It will mainly include changes to the .dds files of the "patches" and "miniobj" folders, some parts of the "objects" textures and some adjustments to the appearance of the physiX debris.

 

So yeah, I could really use some help with that and general advice on how to go about it.

[Hooyaah 3,198]

Since I am already exploring Ancaria, I would be happy to enjoy the fruits of your beautification project.

[Flix 5,234]

14 hours ago, Vishanka said:

I would need someone to test this texture overhaul soon; it will be somewhere between 500mb and 2gb.

I'm not done yet but I'm approaching something I would call beta and it would be very helpful if there were extra eyes to see if I've missed something, or if something doesn't look right, or if something could be done better.

Also I would need help to addjust it for the mod enabler, based on the files I downloaded I think I know what to do but I would definitely need someone to look at this.

 

The changes are purely visual and can be disabled at any time without altering or affecting the (save)game, items, whatever, in any way.

It will mainly include changes to the .dds files of the "patches" and "miniobj" folders, some parts of the "objects" textures and some adjustments to the appearance of the physiX debris.

 

So yeah, I could really use some help with that and general advice on how to go about it.

Just preserve the folder structure of the original files and you should be fine.  I'd look at other published mods to see how to structure and organize for the Generic Mod Enabler.  It's up to you if you want to pack it all into a graphics.zip file. People with slow internet will be grateful for smaller download sizes.

I usually save DDS files with DXT5 compression and generated mipmaps before publishing, unless it's an icon or something specifically FX-related that was never compressed.

[Vishanka 242]

I thought my own seraphim skin modification could use some love so I'm working on a new one.

Wanted to do something with the face tattoo so I created a tribal from it to make it more dynamically, and then I added some scars since she's a warrior right, and burn marks and oh well why not a few piercings too and now it looks like this:

Most of it is quite subtle but I thought it's worth sharing

[Vishanka 242]

A friend of mine said the burnmarks need to be bigger so I made them bigger and more nasty

...and some abs...

haha! I'm having way to much fun with that