Resources for USSEP

[alt3rn1ty]

@ Arthmoor

 

Reproducing a post here in case its lost among the other topic which is not really relevant ..

 

And so others can post links to useful resources / contributions for the project if they cannot upload to AFK Mods

 

There were resources copied across from USKP / USLEEP into the new Skyrim SE patch .. USSEP .. Some of which need to be looked at for the new game.

 

Textures for example, quite a few of which were still the same size ( in pixels ) as they were for the old Skyrim, but have since had higher res versions of the same in SSE, therefore the lower res replacers in USSEP now need to be redone with the newer high res textures as a basis for doing the same fixes where necessary ...

 

 

 

... For example - Good grief, I cant believe they are still using the same awful looking 512x512 archery target texture for Skyrim SE ( which even looked awful in Old Skyrim before we replaced it ) .. Just browsing through all the extracted files now :

 

Skyrim SE 

 

Reworked with new rope resources

 

 

Skyrim SE in game

 

 

Reworked in game

 

@ Arthmoor have you put in the Higher res version of the one I did for USKP / USLEEP into USSEP ( remember I sent a zip with a few options in case you wanted a higher res size in the Unofficial High Res Patch ) - No need to stick to vanilla size anymore for this version of the game, it incorporates the Hi Res DLC anyway

 

If it got lost along the way heres the Zip again, including the ..

 

    1024 Dirty version     

 

>> https://www.dropbox.com/s/rdcyhexh85mqunu/Alt-Archery-Target-MKIV-BAIN.7z?dl=0

 

 

 

Edit : Also heres the Hagravenveins texture ( foresworn tent skin ) ( this is the one redone with Alien Skin Blow up v3 PS plugin, and a few filters applied to get a much better detailled texture for the game, and a lot less fuzzy / pixellated when up close inside the tent )

 

    in 1k and 2k flavour     

 

>> https://www.dropbox.com/s/h3w5l1493u2gnet/hagravenveins01%20texture.7z?dl=0

 

The game is still using a 512x512 version of that texture too, I would use 2k for USSEP ( which for a tent sized object should be fine, when you consider vanilla body textures are also 2k )

 

Skyrim SE still 512x512 and needs to cover that tent

 

Skyrim SE in game looking blurry

 

 

Edit 2 : The stonequarry texture you were using for USLEEP should be fine for USSEP aswell, that one was whichever one was chosen between Nico and my attempts on that texture .. But they were all the same resolution at 1024, so just keeping the same for this game should be fine I think."

[Arthmoor]

Thanks, got them. They'll be in the next update.

[alt3rn1ty]

Another fix for USSEP

 

After looking through lots more USSEP textures to see if any were redundant, I came across one which is a good fix .. But could be better

 

textures \ dlc01 \ soulcairn \ scbonetile.dds

 

 

This has been fixed before, but the USSEP version is only 512x512

 

Its not just about the resolution on this one though, the fix documented for this texture was to solve the various bits of crap / artifacting around the edges of the texture, which in game stood out as a partial seam and mismatching of an infinite texture

 

However the fix still had mismatched edges as far as it goes for an infinite texture.

 

Imagine wrapping it into a cylinder shape along its vertical axis and looking where the edges meet, the pattern of the texture - in this case bones - should meet perfectly instead of how some of them look sheered and slipped slightly so that they do not have a perfect edge to edge match

 

Then do the same for the horizontal axis .. and again there were instances of mismatching

 

There was also slight differences in not only pattern matching, but also colour / shade matching, where this happened made a visible seam :

 

 

I spent about 6 hours on this today, using the Skyrim SE new 1024x1024 texture as a basis for the work, converted it to a png to work on without losing any detail.

Created an infinite texture resource to make it easier to edge match opposites .. And then worked on getting rid of the crap artifacts, and also the pattern / shade mismatches

 

Then saved the result out as DXT1 at 1024x1024 ( same as the new Skyrim SE texture ), and generated mipmaps

 

 

I have not been to the locations in game where the texture will be used .. But I am quietly confident this texture will be the dogs bollocks ( or at least far better than the original or the USSEP fix <polishes nails>

 

Comparison of USSEP and SSE textures

 

Making a new resource out of the better SSE texture, and reworking the edges of the infinite texture at an increased size

 

New resource completed with fixed edges all artifacts removed

 

New texture created with fresh mipmaps generated, at 1024x1024

 

 

 

    Grab the file here    

 

>> https://www.dropbox.com/s/nno00ea49nmkmzv/DemBonesDemBonesDem-DryBones-v1.7z?dl=0 <<

[alt3rn1ty]

Another fix for USSEP ..

 

This one is a redo of the daedricaxe, originally noted in changelogs as needing shadows removed which are especially noticeable in first person ( They are like painted on shadows which look false and unecessary )

 

The USSEP v4.0.1 rendition of this texture was a carry over from USKP / USLEEP, complete with normal map and reflectivity map

 

The diffuse texture in USSEP is 1024, smaller than SSE which is at 2048

The Normal map and reflectivity map are both the same size as SSE, but with added work to eradicate the shadow

 

Here is a reworked SSE Diffuse 2048, DXT1 with regenerated mipmaps, with the same fix done and shadow removed

And matching Normal and Reflectivity map, with the same fix at SSE size 1024

 

Original SSE texture with strange shadow

 

New fixed texture at 2048 reworked from the SSE texture

 

Saved out as DXT1 with new mipmaps generated at 2048

 

 

  Grab the file here     ( Link Fixed .. )

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hxzq2kfb9gpgmtj/daedricaxe.7z?dl=0

[VaultDuke]

Oh that brings back memories. I remember hand painting that missing part in Gimp

[Nico coiN]

Depending on SE textures size, issue 19066 may need to be redone.

[alt3rn1ty]

Hey Nico, I am still making headway through them to see if any more need redone at SSE sizes, as mentioned by Arthmoor here

 

... But no, that shield fixed texture is still fine ( very nicely done too ) and the same res as SSE

 

For a shield,1024 is a good size too compaired with the res of Body textures which are still 2048 in SSE

 

Edit : Scratch this answer, see post #18

[alt3rn1ty]

Oh that brings back memories. I remember hand painting that missing part in Gimp

 

Your work is still incorporated ..

 

Masked just those bits out of the fixed texture, and exported it as a png

Used Alien Skin Blow Up v3 to double its res without degrading the quality

Then applied the doubled clip as a brush to the new SSE texture ..

Works perfectly and when highly zoomed in there are no telltale edges to give the game away, I had no need to do any feathering

 

So your heart is still in there Gruftlord

[alt3rn1ty]

Another fix ..

 

textures \ architecture \ farmhouse \ stonewall01_n.dds

 

Original had edge artifacts ( left edge and top edge ) causing a seam in game

 

USSEP fixed it, but at 1024, DXT3

 

SSE re-introduced the same problem, at 4096, DXT5

 

This file has the texture fixed at 4096, DXT5

 

 

 

 

 

   Grab the fix here     ( Link fixed .. )

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pka3l0gat4e8qel/stonewall01.7z?dl=0

[alt3rn1ty]

Aand another fix ..

 

textures \ architecture \ farmhouse \ pelt01/02/03 normal maps

 

SSE originals have inverted Red and Green channels

 

SSE = DXT5 4096x2048 ( double the size of Skyrim original )

 

The fixed files have had the inversion corrected, and mipmaps regenerated (to include the same but scaled down data for each reduction layer)

 

SSE Original

 

SSE Fixed

 

SSE Original

 

SSE Fixed

 

I have never done this trick before, had a search and found people talking about flipping the green channel, but the result was not too great even though it was an improvement.

Found it also needed the Red channel inverted aswell, anyone for fluffy rugs ?

 

How to

 

  Grab files at the following link   

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lrj0ixkz9zj8pw6/pelts010203.7z?dl=0

[Arthmoor]

Thanks, got it

[VaultDuke]

I think i did the original fix. don't remember specifically which channels i flipped, i do remember testing all combinations ingame and then running with the one that looked best on the most pelts (there was one pelt in particular, that never ended up perfect). I should have the exact flip combination written on one of my mod's (soft pelts, which included this fix) descriptions, but Nexus is down atm.

 

btw: damn, that's a lot of 4k textures you're posting here. Kind of makes me want to buy a new computer right way (SSE runs at 30 FPS only), but would still leave me without SkSE.... gahhh. stop posting textures

[alt3rn1ty]

.. I tried all combinations, adding blue aswell as doing red and green = Pelts from the void sucking all light out of the room 

 

As you say it was a case of choosing the best overall effect for all three pelts, red and green brought more fluffyness to the whole than any one single colour inversion.

 

Edit : heh, SSE doesnt allow potatoes , they are vanilla SSE size

[VaultDuke]

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/54457/?tab=3&selected_game=110&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fmodimages%2F%3Fid%3D54457%26user%3D1%26gid%3D110&pUp=1

 

ah, it's here, it's still amazing flipping back and forth between the two images in two tabs. description is sadly not mantioning which channels, but it looks like a full 180° flip (both channels) in the images.

 

edit:

https://afktrack.afkmods.com/index.php?a=issues&i=15857

red and green channel confirmed as the old fix, too.

[alt3rn1ty]

On 11/2/2016 at 5:45 PM, Gruftlord said:

edit:

https://afktrack.afkmods.com/index.php?a=issues&i=15857

red and green channel confirmed as the old fix, too.

 

Thanks, the resulting comparisons I did were obvious, but its nice to get confirmation I got that right ( especially for the Unofficial Patch Project - the impatient hounds would have been nipping at our heels for anything found to be wrong )

 

-----------------------------------------------------

 

So that concludes the texture work that needed doing after the transition from USKP / USLEEP to USSEP

[alt3rn1ty]

.. Well maybe one more

 

textures \ architecture \ solitude \ sdoor02

 

SSE and this fixed texture are both DXT1 2048x2048

 

 

The problem with this texture is minor, and depends upon lighting conditions in game, but heres the fix done once again

 

The bottom edge of both door thresholds is highlighted, and shows up as lightly glowing blue in game

 

A few of the places these doors are used, they are positioned so that you would never see this problem because its buried. But there are a few where it is noticeable.

 

 

Originally fixed in USKP / USLEEP, but the texture was too small and a little blurry in comparison to Skyrim Special Edition

 

This is the same fix, but using Skyrim SE texture as the base for the fix to keep the same detail quality of the SSE texture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   \/ GRAB THE FILE HERE \/  

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/60gjcce8de5r4tr/sdoor02.7z?dl=0

[Arthmoor]

Thanks, will get that one back in then for 4.0.3.

[alt3rn1ty]

Depending on SE textures size, issue 19066 may need to be redone.

 

.. Actually .. I take back my previous answer, this does need a bit of attention

 

I realise now why Nico brought it up ( it bugged me because I know Nico has a good eye and knowledge of texture problems ) :

 

Because the fixed texture crammed in the whole height of the shield onto a 1024 texture, I now believe the whole diffuse texture should be 2048 and redone to preserve more detail from the newer SSE texture which still has the body of the shield texture in two halves ( well, roughly ) which effectively gives the shield body texture more vertical pixels to hold detail, whereas the fix put the whole shield together ( the tail of the shield added to the bottom of the main body of the shield ) on the same amount of vertical space at 1024 pixels = Losing a bit of detail )

 

Consider this as a simple example :

 

The following represents the body of the shield with the two |, and the Single | to the right is the tail of the shield ..

 

|  |

|

 

The next one represents the tail of the shield being added to the bottom of the body, but then vertically squashed into the same amount of 1024 vertical pixels if you keep the texture the same size as vanilla ..

 

|

|

|

 

So the fix texture needs to be larger than the original due to the remapping, to preserve detail.

 

.. Well, there is a bit more to the story, the old fix was also an upped res texture from an originally 512x512 Oldrim texture, maybe taken from the High Res DLC for oldrim .. I just didnt want to confuse the above explanation anymore than necessary. But to explain it simply, the newer SSE texture even though still needing the same fixes, is better in its detail, so needs reworking to how the USSEP fix was done preserving detail as much as possible, and which necessitates another up res of the newer texture because of how the fixed and mapped texture has been arranged.

 

Edit : So there is no confusion, I will include the normal map from the current USSEP ( which is fine at its current size 1024, there are some exceptions but generally for performance normal maps are half size the diffuse texture ), and the mesh, so that if the zip is referenced again in future it has the whole fix ( which aswell as the visible seam on the front of the shield, it also had UV mapping problems hence there is a mesh involved in the fix )

 

Should this mesh ( taken from USSEP v4.0.2 ) have any more work done before I am finished ( because of emmerging mesh issues with SSE ) then it will also need replaced in my zip. Gimme a heads up if thats the case

 

For Reference : http://www.afkmods.com/Unofficial%20Skyrim%20Special%20Edition%20Patch%20Version%20History.html

 

v3.0.1 (2016-01-30) USLEEP Fixes

 

UV and texture seam corrected on the Dragonbone Shield. (meshes\armor\dragonbone\dragonboneshield.nif, textures\armor\dragonbone\dragonboneshield_n.dds, textures\armor\dragonbone\dragonboneshield.dds) (Bug #19066)

 

In Game this item is named ( confusingly ) Dragonplate shield ... O_o @ Bethesda, all resources for this item are called Dragonbone

( Heh, also not to be confused with Dragonscale shield  http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Dragon_Armor )

 

 

Edit 2 : New Fix Done  \/ \/

 

I have done, the process utilised one slightly cheating method .. I used the majority of the new SSE texture to get better detail, upscaled that using Alien Skin Blow Up v3 ( the reason for the upscale is explained above due to the remapping of the two halves of the shield into one vertically, as per the original fix if we were to keep the new fix at vanilla size it would result in a reduction of detail on the finished fixed texture in comparison to the SSE texture )

.. And then did a separate layer with an upscale of the USSEP fix, purely to grab a clip of the part of the texture where the seam had been fixed, then merged down and feather in that lassoo'd part of the previous fix onto the new texture to recreate the same fix at a higher res but using the majority of the new texture ( I thought it was quite clever anyway, saved a bunch of manual retexturing work and looks really good )

 

 

Screenshots :

Open the spoiler, titles of the images comprises most of the explanation, the pictures will do the rest of the talking .. Where there is a comparison image, right click and open in a new tab each image, so you can click between the two and your eyes will catch the differences / improvements.

0 Old Skyrim unfixed DXT1 512

 

1 SSE DXT1 1024

 

2 USSEP DXT1 1024

 

3 NEW FIX DXT1 2048

 

4 SSE Before And After

 

5 SSE Before

 

6 SSE After

 

7 SSE Fixed front

 

8 SSE Fixed back

 

9 Mesh from USSEP remains the same and fixes SSE UV mapping of the texture

 

10 USSEP Fix using Old texture At 1024x1024

 

11 Fixed using better SSE detail At 2048x2048

 

12 Normal Map remains the same As USSEP At 1024x1024

 

 

   \/ GRAB THE FILES HERE \/   

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/k2dj9ov4at6bloo/dragonboneshield.7z?dl=0

[Nico coiN]

I'm reposting here my comment on the original topic. It includes links to raw / not resized / uncompressed resources I designed, just in case it may help you. Yes, it was made from the Hi-Res DLC as start point.

Fix here. Both mesh and textures were redesigned at the cost of a slight resolution loss for the bone texture and its normal map.

 

 

Edit : And if someone cares here is the original full-res resource I primarily did.

[alt3rn1ty]

Ah, so it was your good self did the original ..

 

Well see the edited post above, its done

( I think you posted while I was editing )

 

Both mesh and textures were redesigned at the cost of a slight resolution loss for the bone texture and its normal map

 

Your slight resolution loss is now compensated for, I understood technically why that was the case, hence the reason for doubling the size of the SSE diffuse texture with Blow up before applying the same fix to it.

( and I was pretty sure thats why you gave me a poke in post #6 .. Thank you )

[alt3rn1ty]

I need a bit of help in deciding if something needs done, or at least investigating further with meshes if this texture is determined not to be necessary :

 

 

migal130 on USSEP posts on nexus has been enquiring about a problem that apparently others on LL have been trying to figure out.

 

And I agree I think there is a slight problem .. But determining exactly what is at fault is proving to be elusive.

 

 

Anyway what I want to do is "fix" a normal map. But visually in game it makes very little difference unless you are really looking for its effect close up.

 

Skyrim Special Edition has a new model space normal map for female heads, which looks alarmingly different from the previous ( albeit crappy with artifacts and blocky nose / chin / upper lip and ears ) Oldrim version.

 

textures \ actors \ character \ female \ femalehead_msn.dds

 

The new version is 1024 8888, old version was 512 DXT1

 

The normal map data that the colour is representing ( which I believe has no bearing on any in game colour, just bump mapping ) ..

Is visually quite different to the old.

I think the normal map was baked in a different way to the original, and the grey scale data in each channel has seemingly just been swapped between the Red and Blue channels ( this is not the same as a colour inversion problem )

 

So fixing that is a piece of cake, just copy the Red Channel to a new one, copy the blue channel to another new channel, then copy back from copy of channels to their respective opposite coloured channel.

 

 

Did it need doing : I think that solves a very slight visually detectable edge match difference where it meets the body ( But does not solve the whole head and neck being a slightly lighter shade than the body skin in shadowy areas ), and though I have not seen this myself, apparently it can affect the look of foreheads ( hair related ? )

 

If you look at the zoomed in neck hole in the body texture below, and look at the top ( back ) of the neck in the middle, follow the edge round counter clockwise it goes from green to orange to red to blues and then back to green again when you get back to the start point.

Looking at the SSE fixed head normal map, at the edge of the neck starting on the left, the colour data now matches that progression, which I believe means that the bump map data edges now also match where they meet ( or as good as can be without re-baking it without the original resources which Bethesda hogs ) 

 

Anyway, should you wish to include it, the fixed normal :

 

As usual, right click and open up images in their own tab to flick between them and instantly see differences

Original Oldrim for comparison what Bethesda did in SSE

 

SSE Fixed the artifacts, but switched the data in the red and blue channels

 

Fix preserving good quality but switching back the data in Red and Blue channels

 

Body msn for comparison of edge match progression

 

 

 

 

Edit : Files for this fix redacted - See Post #46

 

 

----------------------------------------------------

 

 

So we have a very slight picky fix to an edge, but it does not solve the lighter head problem when an NPC is in shadows

 

I think that needs a mesh fix to a head model, some value of a head mesh is possibly not a perfect match anymore for Body texture + Armour / Clothing where they show through the body texture .. So in shade female heads will always be an overall slightly lighter colour and cause a visible neck seam.

 

For anyone who wants to look into it further heres the problem highlighted which I think is possibly a mesh value which needs adjusting

 

Best representation I could find is Ysolda, while in the shadow of the market stall

 

 

 

I am pretty certain its not just a texture problem now.

 

 

Edit on behalf of migal130 from nexus posts :

 

Afkmods won't let me post. I can "like" but not post. Maybe because my account is new? At any rate, if I could reply over there, I would say this:

 

As you say (and as I've been trying to say for days where ever I hoped someone would listen), the normal map isn't the only problem. The new normal map makes the neck seam more pronounced, but the heads are going to be lighter anyway.

 

I also don't believe the problem is in the new head nif, because the problem is still exhibited when you replace the SSE head nif with the Oldrim head nif.

 

The QNAM lighting and Tint Layer values the CK produces in the plugin match the base RGB values of the tint masks in Photoshop, so it doesn't appear to be an error in the plugin itself.

 

What does that leave? The only thing I can think of is that the game itself is interpreting the head nif differently than Oldrim did. In my own mods, I was able to compensate by manually reducing tint mask brightness in Photoshop. But, the amount you need to reduce varies based on the skin tone. Darker skin tones need more, lighter skin tones need less.

[InsanePlumber]

@alt3rn1ty

Gentle correction.
FemaleHead_msn.dds that you corrected contains one MipMap too much.

From what I noticed textures in SSE does not contain 1x1 MipMaps.

 

Example setings for nVidia DDS plugin. (1024x1024 8.8.8.8)

[alt3rn1ty]

Just redid it just in case, its at the download link in post #21

 

.. But no, I cant see why you are getting that, the DDS plugin in PS generates the same amount of mipmaps every time, if you load an image and do not load its mipmaps, then when saving use the option to Generate mipmaps ( to ensure the work done on the main surface is duplicated scaled down in each mipmap )

 

PS saves it with 10 mipmaps

 

And as a second opinion, I then loaded up the newly generated texture ( with mipmaps for viewing ) into G.I.M.P which displays mipmaps as layers, the Main Surface being mipmap 0, and the last mipmap 9 being the tenth mipmap

 

And if you select just the last mipmap visible, and zoom in say 800%, it has produced a 2x2 pixel mapmap as the lowest

 

Anyway, in case I had a fubar somehow, its now re-uploaded after this redo ( which is the same process used yesterday using the SSE texture as the base to work from, and resaved uncompressed as 8888 1024, same as the new SSE texture ). There will be no detail degredation due to no compression being used at any stage on this texture, and all that has been done is the swap of red and blue channel data. 

[InsanePlumber]

"And as a second opinion..."

 

Here you have a faster method (then GIMP) to preview "statistics" for DDSs.

Personally, I use plugin for Total Commander for quick preview of MipMaps in DDSs allows preview MipMaps in one second.

It also allows me to preview the individual mipmaps when I click on it.

 

First image in GIF is an older version, second image is the version that You updated today.

Do not pay attention the quality of the image GIF compression.

[lmstearn]

@IP: Just curious about the NVIDIA setting circled in red. It looks like it only refers to existing mipmaps. Confusing. Are there docos on it anywhere?

MSDN discusses a chain of 5 mip maps in dx9, 10 makes it quite large but is standard now apparently.