Beautify the NPCs?

[Razorwing]

A number of the character faces Bethesda created for Morrowind are exceedingly ugly, and I personally think they kindof draw down the impression of our mod, especially in light of the many exquisite faces produced by the community. See the attachment for an example. I think it would be a good thing to give at least some of our NPCs an extreme makeover :]

I also think it would be great to give our special NPCs a unique appearance that differs from all the other NPCs in the plugin.

What are your opinions on this?

If it's wanted, I'd be happy to do as much as I can. I could investigate our plugin, and compile a list of suggested changes, which can then be approved or rejected. I could also put together plugins, that can easily be merged with the main esp with as little trouble as possible, with new faces that we like.

[Quentin Fortune]

I voted with no for various reasons

- The faces are ugly - so what? That's life in my book.
- We have added lots of face packs, but the main reason was for variety. With all the NPCs we added it shouldn't look like another clone war.
- I'd find it extremely unrealistic, if the 'main characters' would all look like movie stars ... it's Morrowind, not the Academy Awards. (Sorry, couldn't resist)
- Considering the description of the Dunmer, it's okay for me that they don't have the touch of Legolas.
- When we started the game the faces from the game were all we had and for me it's part of our history.
- If a player doesn't like the faces in our mod, s/he can alter it anyway.

That's it for now.

On a sidenote: I'm - very personally - not too fond of any face/texture replacer packs, so should the poll come out as a 'Yes', we shouldn't use any of them. But, as I said, that's a personal preference.

Oh ... and I have to state that I wouldn't like it, if the NPCs I made would be changed ... unless I see some really convincing faces that would fit with the character.

[/rant]

Greetings

Quentin

[Razorwing]

Well no, I didn't intend to imply that my suggestion was that the faces would be replaced in that manner, by overwriting the files in the player's Data Files. In my idea there would be suggestions posted, and if you gave the to a particular suggestion, I could do my part in making that happen, if you wanted that. I wouldn't mind the opportunity to make a handful of my own characters unique.

[Quentin Fortune]

I see, so it seems I misunderstood at least parts of your posts ... hehe we had over 32?C here so I have been in a rather fluffy state.

Nevertheless, I stick with my decision, but you can see it as a "generally No, but we can talk about details" now.

Greetings

Quentin

[Razorwing]

In hindsight my post was probably unclear on that, so it's not surprising you thought that.

Ok, theoretical scenario:
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(Me) I think Areya would look better if he used "this" (link to screenshot I made) face.

(You) Ok, looks good

(Me) Cool. I've attached a zip file with an .esp plugin and the mesh + texture in appropriate folders in a folder tree. The ID of the new face body part is: "sltw_rw_face_areya".

(You) [merges the plugin with the main esp / scrolls down to Areya in the NPC list / doubleclick his entry / in the face list, scrolls down to the ID of the new face]
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Would that be ok? When your time permits, of course.

[Quentin Fortune]

Excellent, this is a good idea.

But I'd like to have it somewhat consolidated ... and to be honest ... a part of me hopes that there won't be too many requests for changes.

Greetings

Quentin

[Razorwing]

I'll summarize some or all of my suggestions in one post, then.

[jonrd463]

Hi all. This is my first post here, so please be gentle.

If I could offer an opinion on the matter, I think a compromise should be struck somehow. I think the "ugliness" people talk about when referring back to the original Morrowind character meshes is more about the ugliness of the meshes themselves and the textures used on them.

Let me see if I can explain. I, too, am not a big fan of most of the head replacers out there because they make all the characters look like fashion models and Hollywood Hunks. I wish someone could make higher definition meshes and textures, but keep some of the rugged appearance of the people.

While Vvardenfell is the more rugged environment of Morrowind, I tend to think of all of the province is more rough around the edges than the posh and fancy Imperial-heavy areas, and the appearance of the people living there should reflect it.

I hope this makes sense.

-Jon

[Razorwing]

Originally posted by jonrd463
Hi all. This is my first post here, so please be gentle.

If I could offer an opinion on the matter, I think a compromise should be struck somehow. I think the "ugliness" people talk about when referring back to the original Morrowind character meshes is more about the ugliness of the meshes themselves and the textures used on them.

Let me see if I can explain. I, too, am not a big fan of most of the head replacers out there because they make all the characters look like fashion models and Hollywood Hunks. I wish someone could make higher definition meshes and textures, but keep some of the rugged appearance of the people.

While Vvardenfell is the more rugged environment of Morrowind, I tend to think of all of the province is more rough around the edges than the posh and fancy Imperial-heavy areas, and the appearance of the people living there should reflect it.

I hope this makes sense.

-Jon

Hi jonrd463, and welcome to Silgrad Tower!
:wave:

For me personally it's the fuzzy (and sometimes downright bad) face textures that hurt my eyes the most. I believe Bethesda had to create the game so it could be played on as wide a range of computers as possible, which makes economic sense. For some parts of the game, like the water, they could accomodate both low-end and high-end players at the same time, but I don't think faces was that easy for them. I remember that the water effect, when having the graphic settings maxed out, was one of the coolest things ever seen in 2002.

[DarkEclipse]

We had a problem with this over at Tamriel Rebuilt a while ago. We eventually got everyone to think it was a bad idea, which I thought it was.

I don't believe I would like seeing a Dunmer Orlando Bloom.

And the water still is the coolest thing.