WHAT THIS MOD DOES:

BLOOD AND SAND - IMPERIAL AND REDGUARD PRESETS by FASTESTDOG overhauls the first 5 Male & Female Breton Imperial & Redguard racial presets (ie: the different faces you see when you cycle through the "Presets" slider during character creation or while using "showracemenu"). It comprises a simple .esp plugin containing all the needed information to make the presets shown above.

Treat these new Imperial & Redguard faces as being something of a fresh canvas for your new characters. All the heavy lifting in terms of facial structure & proportion, and a basic selection of tints, has been done for you! You can use them as they are with no further work required, or use RaceMenu to REALLY make them your OWN - it's up to you! Be sure to add pics of your new creations to the image section here! :)



WHAT IT DOES NOT DO:

This mod does do not alter your existing skin texture mods, or apply other authors' mods to your game. There are no "required" mods for these presets (for example, hair). The appearance of your new BLOOD AND SAND presets will vary greatly depending on what face textures, skins, tintmasks, lighting, etc. you are using. This is because not only do people use different combinations of mesh and texture mods which apply colour gradients in markedly different ways, they play with different settings on different machines, meaning that what's fine-tuned for use on my rig may look completely different on yours.








Q: ... so like, seriously - HOW long ago did you say you'd make these?

A: ... don't ask. Long story short - ask & ye shall receive. Kinda. Maybe. Eventually. If I get around to it. :)


Q: Why release a lighter-toned Custom version? And why only for Redguard females?

A: There's a number of reasons. Bethesda seems to have treated Redguard females somewhat differently to Redguard males during the game's creation. Out of the box, the female tones seem much darker than the males, even though they share they same basic selection in Vanilla. Some custom skin textures can further exacerbate this difference. Add a heavy ENB on top of that and/or a fixed-contrast laptop, and the result is that many Redguard characters can end up having a very "flat" or dull appearance in-game, with much of their facial detail obscured - particularly when viewed away from direct light sources or at a distance. All the Custom version does is borrow from the game's other skin tones to create a basic selection for Redguard females that is a little more comparable to the Males. In any case, with either plugin you can achieve almost any skin colour tone you wish using RaceMenu with very little additional effort.


Q: ...o_O ?

A: ...XD   !


Q: Why a set of just... regular ol' presets? Why not a full set of RaceMenu presets with everything already done?

A: Heh! Because you should still need (and want) to actually DO something to make your character UNIQUE, and YOURS. I use RaceMenu to make my own characters - I take one of my presets made with the game's Vanilla creation sliders, and work it up in RaceMenu from there. The part of character creation that most people struggle with is the structure & proportion of the face, and if that includes you, then with these presets that work is done for you. From there, it doesn't take long, and at the end of it you have something NEW - not just an identical copy of someone else's fully-formed vision. My presets all began as characters that I could want to play in my own game. Seriously, it's fun - have some FUN with the creation process, and BE creative!! :)








At the time of posting this mod, I have recently updated my texture installation. For those already familiar with the main texture sets I have tended to use, this is really just an updated & refined (and better-planned) version of the blend I have used in the past. I am currently using my own blend of freely-available skin texture assets, which basically consists of:

- Navetsea's excellent 1_8 "fuller lips" head for Vanilla & UNP, with Svarog's fixes to the mouth.

- The "FT2" skins option set from Seren's Ningheim race, again overlaid with UNP skin blending options from Svarog.

- The tintmasks ONLY from Hellosanta's SG skin pack.

- The default "underwear" high-res. male skins from Chris57's "Better Males".

- The default "detailed" (rugged) high-res. male face maps from Geonox, and also his warpaints.

- Tetrodoxin's "Freckle mania" overlays.

- And of course various little tweaks & tricks in "RaceMenu" by Expired.

(*Structurally, my presets are always made using only the game's Vanilla sliders - there are no RaceMenu edits baked into these that will not be present if you are not using that mod. However, I strongly recommend that you DO use it - it is an AWESOME customisation tool!)








MissLexi for giving the beta-test version of this a thorough workout!