THIS MOD IS CURRENTLY UNDERGOING "MAINTENANCE". I had a massively inconvenient design issue that conflicted with my plans, and then life got in the way, as it usually is. I have already started (very slowly mind you) the learning process to fix it. I am back on track to finish this project, but I don't really know when. Most likely in Summer, since I don't leave the house (like a true gamer), and there's no school to worry about. I'll keep working on things in the meantime. 



WHAT THIS IS AND DOES

This mod is a replacer for the vanilla armors, and is a standalone expansion of these, adding unique new sets, and more distinction to the imperial ranks.

This was mainly a passion project for personal use, but it turned out good enough, and thought that when it was fleshed out enough to be considered functional, I'd publish it with permission. I loved NRM's soldier equipment overhaul for the imperial armors, and seeing the new armor in Heavy Legion for the Legates just made me want the best of both worlds. So I mixed them together. 

This changes all armors in the vanilla game and adds a few, giving the heavy armors NRM's officer look (red with mail), the studded armors NRM's trooper look (blue with mail), the light armors NRM's crossbowman look (blue with no mail), replacing the Penitus Oculatus armor with a mix between NRM's penitus oculatus and Nordwuars Penitus Oculatus, and keeps the Legate Armors and Tullius Armor from Heavy Legion. It also replaces the shields with NRM's wooden square shields, while keeping the new swords from Heavy Legion. It adds the Imperial Battlemage armor from the NRM soldier equipment to Imperial Mages, and I provide an additional addon for the Imperial Dragon set from Civil War Champions.

CREDITS

Before I continue, I don't wanna take credit for "making" this mod, since this is essentially a collage of the work of talented modders which I wholeheartedly thank for their work: Gechbal, Nerimir, and NordwuarUA. I'd like to mention that if I am not respecting their wishes uploading this, I WILL take it down ASAP. I asked Nordwuar for permission and he said that there was no problem as long as I credited him and Gechbal. As for Nerimir, he's been inactive for two years, and I've received no response. In his mod's page, "Soldier Equipment Overhaul", the only specification regarding permissions is not uploading his mod outside of Nexus. Since this is the Nexus and it's not his mod, only some of his assets, it should be fine. Again, if they personally tell me it's not, I will have to take it down.



COMPATIBILITY

It should be compatible with anything that doesn't alter the armors or the distribution. If you don't use another imperial armor replacer or retexture, then you don't need to worry about it. Also, there's not much point in using a retexture, since basically all armors are replaced with a new mesh, and the only one that isn't replaced (the general's armor), you will not see, since there's n alternate set in use. One issue I've faced is that legates don't wear the Bear Furs like they're supposed to, but this may just be an additional mod on my end causing the issues. If you find an issue and would like to fix it, you can send me your fix and I'll add it. You can also publish it separately, but it's probably easier to keep it in one page so people don't have to go out of their way to find it, and I don't have to add any links. Again, I'm very lazy.

To make it clear just in case, this is as of version 1.2 fully standalone, so it will now be incompatible with Heavy Legion and other overhauls of the sort. If you want the Heavy Legion replacer, download the old 1.1 version in the old files.

Mods that Add Imperial Armors as standalone will most likely use Vanilla assets, or keep the vanilla aesthetic, looking out of place. The aMidianBorn Outcast set and the Immersive Armors Heroic Imperial set are two examples, but It can also happen in more subtle mods. By this I mean e.g: Imperial Gratitude, which adds a special set of PO armor. You would think it would just use the vanilla paths, and therefore the replacer in this mod would function, but since the PO set is specifically a Standalone in this mod because of how the vanilla game was done, it is not the case, and it has broken textures and the wrong body mesh. I will provide patches for these three, but there are more mods with which this will happen. Please post which mod is giving you a similar issue and I'll address it.

FUTURE PLANS

Priority High, estimated time: three weeks


fix slight hair clipping through helmets, and fit the torso armors from NRM's content to females. Should be fixed in 1.2 with some edits in the CK. 

address the heavy shield normal/gnd model discrepancy. Addressed in version 1.2.

improving certain textures. Won't do much here, aside from the chainmail improvement, brought to my attention by jedp15. Coming in 1.2.

adding more armors by implementing the battlemage and champion armor for CC. The Battlemage armor has been integrated in a different way with none of Natterforme's assets, so no permission needed. The CC content replacer is done and ready. These will be added with the release of v1.2.

Adding a winter version with gloves and furs. This was crossed as done, but after testing it causes instant CTD on equip or NPC load, so something's wrong with the mashed meshes. The furs are on the armor and technically done, along with the textures, but until they are correctly configured, this is halted. Coming in v1.3.  All problems sorted. New meshes are functional and working as intended. It will release with support for all armors except the Falx Carius, Imperial Centurion, and aMidianborn and Immersive Armors replacers. The winter version for these will come at a later date. Expect it in the following days, since there's some refining to be done, as of the 16/11/2020 (11/16/2020 for the US Boys). Was unhappy with the result, and I want to do have a more unique take, instead of copying perfect legionnaire. The gloves are now released as a standalone, so that means I will take my time to get this done.

Reduce the size of the mod, my removing from it unused textures. This should be a slight improvement, but together with it being standalone it should be good. Will still provide as an optional file all textures used in the past, testing, and current day, to allow for more manual user customization.  If you want to change a texture for personal reasons, download the Old Version Heavy Legion Replacer file, since it will have all of the assets used. I know it's a pain and an extra 200 MB, but it's just easier on all of us.

replacers for the imperial outcast set, from aMidiarnborn content addon, and the heroic imperial set, from Immersive Armors. I've given this a shot in the past and have failed miserably. I do not have a good enough understanding of the CK to make these replacers the way I want to, so it should be given some time, since it is more of a low priority patch. I am very happy with the Imperial Outcast Set. The heroic set, not so much, so I'll keep working on it, but I thinks it's decent enough. I'm working on equalizing the normal and specular maps, since the chest piece's is currently way too shiny compared to the others. I like that, so I will be increasing the shine on the rest of the parts. 

Make a unique armor for General Falx Carius to also fit the aesthetic, as well as making his armor playable  Done. He has a unique look, and all his gear is obtainable, including the gem in his chest. His "heart" has a raised value, from 120 to 3000, and an added unique enchantment.

Add a unique armor for Imperial Officers, to differentiate the normal captains and commanders from the Legates. Done and implemented in v1.3.


Priority Medium, estimated time: a month and a half, but if the high priorities are sorted sooner, then this will come sooner as well

Add unique military sets for the East Empire Company. I've seen this done only once in the Nexus, and it was a long time ago. Since this would be mostly retexturing and basic CK configs, I may give it a shot. But since it's and extremely small thing, Medium Priority.

Changing the chainmail in the studded set for padding. Changing solely the texture, independent of quality, looks odd and, imo, bad. I will give making a different mesh a chance, but this is going to be quite a process, so yeah, Priority Medium.
 
unique side quest that adds as an improved and free version of the Civil War Champions CC mod, adding a brand new set similar to the CC's, but using none of it's assets.

new young orc voiced follower to come with the quest. 

I'd make these standalone, but the armors included would be fitting this current aesthetic, so it'd be better to use along the replacers.

give this a unique .esp, making it standalone, and leaving myself as actual creator, while still crediting the asset owners. Still working on making it function, but process has started and should be done by the end of this week. Coming in 1.2.

add the Battlemages into this unique .esp. Done, as explained in the Battlemage armor section. Coming in v1.2.


FINAL WORDS

Please, Please, PLEASE! Report any issues and add suggestions. This is something I made for myself, and I will mainly upload the changes I make, but input from others can help improve it further. 

If you don't want to you don't need to endorse. I appreciate the ego boost but I'll keep updating this mod as long as I keep changing it in my own personal setup. If you like it or even gives you a hard-on, keep track of it during the next few weeks and give some support to Gechbal, Nordwuar, and Nerimir, the true geniuses behind the assets.