Thursday, August 29, 2013

MOD: Braided hairstyle for ME3

Note that this mod is PC only! You can't replace Meshes on the consoles. 
 


This .MOD will include the permanent replacement of the Mohawk Mesh only. You will have to run texmod to apply the textures. TPF is also included in the download. 

http://www.nexusmods.com/masseffect3/mods/55/?


To use this hairstyle on Shepard, do not forget to edit the following values with Gibbed:

Mesh: BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.Hair_Mohawk.HMF_HIR_Mhk_MDL
Hair_diff: BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.Hair_Short02.HMF_HIR_PROShort_Diff
Hair_mask: BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.Hair_Short02.HMF_HIR_PROShort_Diff

If you have never used Gibbed or ME3Explorer before and/or are running into issues here are several useful guides you should definitely check out:

Gibbed - download
Modifying faces in Gibbed
Basics: Modding hair via Gibbed
Scalar / Vector / Texture 
ME3Explorer - download
Tutorial on how to install .MOD files

For those of you that absolutely can't run with texmod but really do want to use this hairstyle no matter what, I'll include a texture replacement .MOD below.
Two things to note though:

  1. This can currently only be replaced as a DXT1 with 1bit alpha, this means I have no gradual alpha and things are either transparent or they're not. This differs from the texmod that includes a DXT5 which features much softer edges. I'll be asking around to see if this is something the guys over at ME3Explorer can do anything about but 0 promises. As it stands that means it will look different from the texmod version. 
  2. Seeing as the BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.Hair_Short02.HMF_HIR_PROShort_Diff texture is the one all hair mesh modders use, if you want to switch hairmods, you'll have to either revert BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.pcc or run a permament texture replacement .MOD over this one to overwrite it. You can't use texmod on a permanently replaced texture.

Troubleshooting:
I have tried the .MOD but it causes my game to crash to desktop.
a: My advice would be to revert your BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.pcc to vanilla and try again.
If you keep experiencing issues make sure you're using rev 472 or above.

I can load un-modded saves but modded saves crash to desktop.
a: This is likely a Gibbed save error.  Make sure there are no extra spaces before or after the codes you have changed.

Disclaimer:

My support begins and ends with the functionality of my mods. I do not cover the inner workings of the tools you'll need to get acquainted with to use mods beyond giving some general troubleshooting tips. Further problems with them are best discussed on their respective websites or support forums.

Do NOT repack or redistribute these files without permission.

Credit:
Much thanks to Apachii from the Skyrim Nexus (ApachiiSkyHair) for providing permission to use and share this hairstyle =)

Monday, August 19, 2013

Guide: Creating Texmod Package Files (TPF) for ME Series Games

What is Texmod?


Texmod is a utility to browse, extract, save and modify textures in Direct3D 9 applications.
In order to share and distribute texture modifications, packages can be created which are compressed to prevent further modification.