4 replies to this topic

[ghaleon1103]

Hello all.
I've created a custom race, which is a copy of Ren's Mystic Elves, but with some changes to the base face and textures. (This is for a personal character, nothing worth releasing).
I had to use a program called DXTBmp to create and use my textures, as Photoshop CS2 kept freezing when trying to save my modified .DDS files.
I've got the file for the custom face texture in a file path like so: Oblivion\Data\Textures\characters\(racename)
Then the rest of the body files are in: Oblivion\Data\Textures\characters\(racename)\female

[Obviously, the file's not called "(race)"]

In the Face Data tab, I've gone into CS and changed the Head .nif, then the Head .dds, then the Ear .dds files for the female (I'm only doing this for a single custom female).

In the Body Data tab, I've changed the Upper Body, Lower Body, Hand, and Foot .dds files.

As Ren's Mystic Elves use the "BP_and_Soya.esp" mod, so does my custom race. I then name it and write a Description on the Text Data tab, check it as "Playable," save it as its own .esp (not done with it yet, just doing this to test it), and leave the rest.

Ren's Mystic Elves have all the custom hairs from BP and Soya...

Then, after saving it, I can go back into the CS, load BP_and_Soya.esp and (race).esp with (race).esp being the active file, and it tells me it can't find all these hairs and asks if I'd like to continue. I allow it to do so, and when I go into the Race box, NONE of the races have any of the BP or Soya textures! The eyes are googly, and many of the facial textures are fully black, including my custom race's.

Activating the (race).esp in OBMM and Wyre Bash (as I've noticed I hafta have some of the .esp's activated in both sometimes), then trying to boot the game up, it freezes after the Bethesda screen - I hit the spacebar, it brings up the initial loading screen, and freezes.

I'm using the Unofficial Oblivion Mod, which allows for custom races - my current character is a Mystic Elf, as a matter of fact.

And as far as I can tell (granted, this is my first race creation), I've done everything correctly.

This has been a huge strain on my time, patience, and sanity. Can anyone PLEASE offer guidance? Thanks in advance.

[Hector the Hooded]

Ok, your error is probably due to using so many race files. I would say make a new .esp, and put the textures and Rens face meshes there.

[Luchaire]

Then, after saving it, I can go back into the CS, load BP_and_Soya.esp and (race).esp with (race).esp being the active file, and it tells me it can't find all these hairs and asks if I'd like to continue. I allow it to do so, and when I go into the Race box, NONE of the races have any of the BP or Soya textures! The eyes are googly, and many of the facial textures are fully black, including my custom race's.

You can't make an .esp dependent on another .esp in Oblivion like you could in Morrowind. The TESCS will not load things properly (as you've discovered). You either have to make an .esm out of the ones you want to have as masters (Wrye Bash can do this with a click), or manually put the hair/eyes/etc into your own .esp, or merge them together using the TESCS "merge plugins" utility.

[ghaleon1103]

Thanks for the replies, guys.
Would having that many races really affect it? It's only BP_and_Soya.esp's races, plus one more...
Now, I tried creating a BP_and_Soya.esm, and loading that and my race.esp, with the race.esp being the active plugin, and somehow, I get the same thing - can't find hairs, CS stops responding...

Luchaire, you were talking about potentially merging them... would that "break" all my other mods that are dependent on the BP_and_Soya.esp? ...Or would that not be the case, since I'm merging the .esm with my race.esp?

Thanks again in advance guys. I really appreciate the help.

Edited by ghaleon1103, 27 May 2007 - 12:33 PM.

[ghaleon1103]

Okay, problem's solved.
I pretty much restarted everything - re-uploaded BP_and_Soya.esp into my Data file, re-created the BP_and_Soya.esm, re-created my race with the .esm as the Master file, and re-implemented my custom textures.

Much to my overwhelming joy, it's worked exactly as I needed it to. Even the color changes on the textures are almost perfect! There's a very slight line on the wrists and neck, but that won't take but a nudge or two in the color Lightness bar in Photoshop. Now I just need to tweak the face to how I want it, which won't be as difficult as the rest of this has been.

A HUGE thanks to everyone who's read and replied to this. It's comforting to know that if I'm having troubles, there are people out there who are willing and able to help.

Thanks guys.