Stoja’s Warpaints – A High Resolution Makeup Kit for Skyrim
Stoja’s Warpaints is a simple texture replacer for female warpaints–with a difference. Using RaceMenu’s “Overlays” selectors, you can assign up to six warpaints simultaneously, with full control over hue, brightness, and transparency. Unlike most warpaint mods, Stoja’s Warpaints is designed to be layered in such a way.
Stoja’s Warpaints – A High Resolution Makeup Kit for Skyrim
Please update to Version: 1.1
Date: 12/24/2014
Category: Hair and Face Models
Requirements, Player-Created MOD(s):
Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE) (http://skse.silverlock.org/)
RaceMenu
Author(s): Veeblix (plugin and script by Tr3x4Arms3237)
Description
Stoja’s Warpaints is a simple texture mod for female warpaints–with a difference. Using RaceMenu’s “Overlays” selectors, you can assign several warpaints simultaneously, with full control over hue, brightness, and transparency. Unlike most warpaint mods, Stoja’s Warpaints is designed to be layered in such a way.
Stoja’s Warpaints includes detailed (2048 px) overlays for Kohl Eyeliner, Powder Base, Lip Stain, Running Mascara, Blush 1: Cheeks, Blush 2: Temples, Eyeshadow 1, Eyeshadow 2, Lipliner, and Undereye. You can create looks that are either deceptively subtle or incredibly bold through the interplay of these different makeups.
Additionally, I provide a Photoshop template that includes guides and the source for my textures in Stoja’s Warpaints. This is so you can easily make and release your own makeup kits just as you like (I would love to try more!). I do not require any credit, and everything is permitted. Mod makers may even include my files in new works without worry.
Details
Stoja’s Warpaints for Players
Important: In order to use this mod, you must have a section in your skse.ini file (in ..\Skyrim\Data\SKSE\) that allows you to use high resolution tintmasks:
[Display]
iTintTextureResolution=2048
If you do not see this section in the ini file, then add it. If you do not find the file, then create it and add the two lines above–and also add the following:
[Memory]
DefaultHeapInitialAllocMB=768
ScrapHeapSizeMB=256
To apply Stoja’s Warpaints, open the Skyrim console (usually the tilde key, ~) and issue the command “showracemenu” to open Expired6978’s interface for the Skyrim character creator. Choose the “Overlays” tab (highlighted in green in the attached picture of the menu), and go to the “Makeup” section, the one marked with an icon of a face.
If using the loose files version, Stoja’s Warpaints will replace the vanilla warpaints for female heads.
With the plugin version, however, the makeup is appended without overwriting any vanilla warpaints. They are also logically named, e.g. “StojaKohlEyeliner.” You will select them in the “Makeup” pane of RaceMenu’s “Overlays” tab by highlighting a slot and pressing “T.” This opens up a RaceMenu dialog where you can scroll to find the textures. Since textures sort alphabetically, you will probably need to scroll down a ways to select them.
As illustrated by the picture, you will see a selection of warpaints to choose from. Skyrim has a hard limit of 15 tints that can be applied to head at any time. In order to apply more selections from Stoja’s Warpaints, you may wish to switch off (move a color’s sliders all the way to the left) some vanilla head tints in the Sliders menu. You can find those in the “Sliders” section of RaceMenu, under “Colors.” I found I was able to apply all ten of Stoja’s Warpaints at a time, though I usually prefer around six or so.
Stoja’s Warpaints v1.1 offers the following (the plugin version does not replace any femaleheadwarpaint textures, while the loose files do):
StojaKohlEyeliner – femaleheadwarpaint_01, a laterally radiating eyeliner inspired by Cleopatra that also treats the upper eyelid.
StojaPowderBase – femaleheadwarpaint_02, a soft tonal layer used mainly for color correcting complexion, be sure to try dark, opaque green because it’s funny.
StojaLipStain – femaleheadwarpaint_03, a lip stain with incomplete coverage on the upper center of the lower lip.
StojaRunningMascara – femaleheadwarpaint_04, assymetrical running mascara/eyeliner.
StojaBlushCheeks – femaleheadwarpaint_05, soft accentuation of cheekbones in a gentle curve.
StojaBlushTemples – femaleheadwarpaint_06, circular brushed blush on the temples.
StojaEyeShadow1 – femaleheadwarpaint_07, complete coverage of upper eyelid to eyebrow.
StojaEyeShadow1 – femaleheadwarpaint_08, upward-raking eyeshadow option to use instead of StojaKohlEyeliner
StojaLipliner – femaleheadwarpaint_09, hard-edged lip liner that blends inward with the lip stain.
StojaUndereye – femaleheadwarpaint_10, a tonal layer use similarly as StojaPowderBase for color correction.
Experiment with different hues, brightnesses, and opacities to create an appealing combination of warpaints.
Tip: To get a good closeup of your character’s face, open the console (~) and issue the command “fov 35” (or whatever) to change your field of view (change it back the same way). Then use the controls on RaceMenu’s “Camera” tab to pan to your characters face. You may also wish to turn off the RaceMenu light, as it tends to overexpose faces.
Stoja’s Warpaints for Modders (or Makeup Artists)
Creating makeup kits for RaceMenu is pretty easy. You will need Photoshop and a free Photoshop plugin for writing DDS files, the image type Skyrim uses for textures. You can get NVidia Texture Tools for Adobe Photoshop at:
https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop
I have provided a Photoshop document for you to use as a template if you wish. I have set up a grid and guides (CTRL-semicolon shows the guides if you do not see them.) I did not include a base head texture, but you can use any that abide by the vanilla Skyrim set-up (almost all head textures do). You will probably want that as your bottom layer to use as a guide.
In the PSD, you can see that the tintmasks are just black and white negative images. You can work on it as a positive image (much easier) and then invert it just before you “save as” DDS.
When exporting, the defaults should be okay. In any case, you want t make the following selections: “DXT1 RGB 4 bpp | no alpha,” “2D Texture,” and “Generate MIP maps.”
Tip: I found that the “Guassian Blur” and “Add Noise” filters in varying degrees helped hand-drawing look more like applied cosmetics.
Tr3x4Arms3237 created the plugin with the assistance of vwr Racemenu Mod Maker
Install
I recommend using Mod Organizer to manage your mods (though it’s tricky for modders to compile from within the Mod Organizer environment). If you use NMM or install manually please make sure that files you are replacing are safely backed up prior to installing this mod.
To manually install loose files:
Extract the files to a temporary location.
Examine the folder structure and make corrections where necessary.
Ensure the files you are replacing are safely backed up.
Copy new files to ..\Skyrim\Data\ and overwrite the enemy files.
To manually install the plugin version:
Copy StojaMakeupPack.esp to the Skyrim/Data/ folder.
Copy StojaMakeupPack.pex to the Skyrim Data/scripts folder.
Copy textures (*.dds) to “..\Data\Textures\actors\”.
Uninstall
To manually uninstall loose files:
From ..\Skyrim\Data\Textures\actors\character\character assets\tintmasks\, Remove the ten files femaleheadwarpaint_01.dds through femaleheadwarpaint_10.dds and replace them with the original files you backed up.
To manually uninstall the plugin version:
Remove the above-mentioned files.
Run a save game cleaner to remove script dependencies to be safe.
Incompatibility
The loose files version of this mod will conflict with others that modify female warpaints, while the plugin version should not conflict with anything.
This mod adds high resolution tintmasks, and you are intended to use several at a time. Slower computers or those without SKSE properly configured to alter Skyrim’s memory allocation may experience poor performance.
Known Issues or Bugs
I am able to include the Stoja’s Warpaints v1.1 plugin when rebuilding a bashed patch with Wrye Smash, however Wrye Smash or TES5Edit might throw an exception when loading the plugin for some users or some operations. I believe this is an artifact related to the plugin generator, vwr’s RaceMenu Mod Maker. Fixing this is beyond my technical understanding at the moment, but I will try to update the plugin as vwr’s (really cool) mod matures. I am looking forward to making another version of Stoja’s Warpaints with a much wider selection of makeup, too.
Until then, I would recommend either disabling the plugin when patching or just using the loose files version. The loose files replace femaleheadwarpaint_01-10. As far as I can tell, these are reserved for players–the housecarls still have their regular warpaints, and I haven’t seen any Forsworn with the makeup on. If neither of these options work, then maybe wait for a second version later on.
History
1.1. 2014/12/24 – Path and file names were incorrect in plugin version, and it only worked because the files acted as replacers for certain warpaints. Everything should now work as intended.
1.0, 2014/12/14 – Initial release.
Credits
Thanks to:
Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE) is by Ian Patterson, Stephen Abel and Paul Connelly (ianpatt, behippo, and scruggsywuggsy the ferret).
RaceMenu is by Expired6978 on Skyrim.
Tr3x4Arms3237 for making the v1 plugin.
vwr Racemenu Mod Maker is by vwr.
Licensing/Legal
We’re just putting makeup on elves.
