Texture replacers

AlienSlof

Is this, or will this even be possible? I'm talking of client-side texture replacement mostly, as I'd really love to retexture the horses (and the horse icons as the palomino icon is incorrect!) for my own enjoyment.

I just want to know if this is possible, where I might find the textures and whether it's legal and all that.

Smaxx

No, not possible and not allowed (possible reason to get your account permabanned). UI modifications (like different icons) are possible, but you can't touch anything "in world".

MercyKilling

Smaxx wrote: »

No, not possible and not allowed (possible reason to get your account permabanned). UI modifications (like different icons) are possible, but you can't touch anything "in world".

Which is a complete and total shame, as there are some very talented people out there that could certainly improve upon the "painted on" look of some armor textures.

They could also make some highly detailed and varied weaponry, too. I'm dying to see a morning star in this game.

AlienSlof

That's unfortunate. I'd have liked to make my imperial horsie into a dapple grey.

parangea

You can use sweetFX to make the game look a lot better tho. The game loses most of it's "foggy" appearance.

conradwongkyrwb17_ESO

This will never be possible/allowed in an MMO because it happened in the past (in another game) that people changed the texture of certain material node in the world such as iron ore, so that the new texture extend upward 10 times and can be easily spot from afar. This is obviously unfair to other non-modded players.

AlienSlof

So yet again, some fools abuse such a thing, ruining it for the rest of us who just want to make their horses a different colour. I wanted to make the horses resemble the ones I grew up with, all long dead from old age now, but I still like to see them in my games. I have never cheated in a game, EVER. Not even single player games.

I've seen people asking for way more game-changing things than a mere client-side texture replacer.

Always, there are the few who spoil it for the rest.

stevenmhardyub17_ESO

how care what people do, so what if someone makes it so the crafting stuff is more visible for them then maybe someone else be honest, game already has built in cheats that allow this all you have to do is spend skill points on it and its technically a cheat anyways, as it is client side - texture changes like this are not very catch able - sure the company may frown apon it but dosnt mean you cant do it, look at every other MMO out there - they all have texture changes even WOW, there pretty for example a nude textures out for every single MMO.

all that they can do is have game run a file check every single time game starts up so that files are the same - but that would cause game to take for every to run every single time- file validations take a long time - and just because a client side file does not validate does not mean that - it was hacked a lot of things can cause a file to not validate, so be honest really there is not a lot then can do there's already client side textures and MAP for the nodes used for crafting to tell you where they are in the game world. even skyshards.

on this aspect there is nothing really they can do.

SirAndy

Too many ways to exploit and gain an advantage over other players, so i really hope they prevent this from ever happening.


I would, however, fully support a HD texture pack DLC from ZOS for us PC players ...
;-)

claudekennilol

SirAndy wrote: »

Too many ways to exploit and gain an advantage over other players, so i really hope they prevent this from ever happening.


I would, however, fully support a HD texture pack DLC from ZOS for us PC players ...
;-)

I know they have to say no, but really, how could they turn down Slof's offer to retexture their horses?

ChampionSheWolf

Honestly, I say they need to let the artists loose on the in game model. Don't allow for anything crazy like being able to change how powers work or something but being able to change the aesthetics would be nice. Especially since some of us are not using PCs from the Dark Ages in this game and wouldn't mind being able to use that horse power we have and not exactly concerned if the consolers will see stuff as beautifully as we might desire..

Mitsarugi

All i found on the net is this:
http://www.gamevixenzone.net/mods-20/eso-texture-mod-tools-skins-1601/

people can mod the textures already but with injection software it seems

murklor007neb18_ESO

cbrown15_ESO wrote: »

Honestly, I say they need to let the artists loose on the in game model. Don't allow for anything crazy like being able to change how powers work or something but being able to change the aesthetics would be nice. Especially since some of us are not using PCs from the Dark Ages in this game and wouldn't mind being able to use that horse power we have and not exactly concerned if the consolers will see stuff as beautifully as we might desire..

You think shiny glowing red skins on enemies is going to look beautifull?

MMOs are competitive. People cheat even without the ability to mod MMOs. With the ability to mod MMOs... Lets just say that bots is going to be the least of your concerns. It doesnt matter what YOU will use this flexibility for. Other people will use it to gain a competetive edge. Just like everyone is going to use addons like FTC in Cyrodill. Even these walk a very fine line IMO and I question their right to exist but... they do. Nothing one can do to stop that.

If people use texture "mods" with file injectors - even for something as stupid as nude skins, it doesnt matter what the it is - I hope ZOS ban their accounts on the spot.

Yajirobi

it is allready possible.

Mightylink

Everyones saying no but I believe it is possible, they got character skin mods for WoW and look at minecraft the devs give you the texture pack support, its got amazing hd textures, why not this game...

Blackwolfe5

Possible, perhaps. But if they catch you doing it you will probably get banned. Also, minecraft isn't a mmo.

zshadez_ESO

Yeah, every game needs a nude elin mod.

Tieberion

An Updated Full HD client would be awesome, and have a standard client for lower systems like laptops and older game rigs. (and of course work PC's, but no one would ever play from work.....lol)

AlienSlof

I made a full HD texture mod for Minecraft - it has my own cats in it!

zgrssd

AlienSlof wrote: »

I wanted to make the horses resemble the ones I grew up with, all long dead from old age now,

Colors for armor is comming. Horses might be a bit harder, but doable afterwards.

murklor007neb18_ESO wrote: »

Just like everyone is going to use addons like FTC in Cyrodill. Even these walk a very fine line IMO and I question their right to exist but... they do. Nothing one can do to stop that.

Nope FTC is explicitly allowed. Zenimax invested work to make it even possible. If they had any reason to think it unfair they would just disable the API functions needed.
Like they did just turn off the ability to track DPS done group wide (twice, propably because not yet ready).

There is also a huge difference between Addon and Mod. Addons are explicitly allowed. They are tighly controlled by what they can and cannot do. They are a core of the gameplay, just like skills. If you insist on "not using them", that is like insisting to "never use heavy attacks" or "not use skill X". Your decision, your downsides.
Mods are considred non-allowed third party software, until word of god tells differently (like it did with SweetFX).

thelegendaryof

Possible and already started:

http://www.gamevixenzone.net/game-modding-14/using-umod-eso-1591/

However no word if it 's allowed or not (I didn't test it so I can't tell if and how it works).

To be honest those Standard-Textures are hurting my Eye 's at 1440p @ Ultra.
And forbidding a HD-Texture Mod* (that you can identify via a simple Checksum-Check / File-Scan) is a very weak excuse if it 's for security reasons.

Those claims that it 's forbidden and could be used to get an unfair advantage are mostly made by / for people that have no clue how Hacks or a proper Anti-Cheat works. Hacks don't even remotely come close to touching a modification of that scale - and if they do they're lightning fast identified as they leave traces in the scale of the Grand Canyon.

I see no reason why anyone would forbid that even when it 's an MMO
(especially since it plays in everyones favor).

TLDR:

If it gets "forbidden" it 's mostly due to

a) laziness
b) limited knowledge
c) political reasons or
d) throwing DICE's

Just do it. Provide them the source-code before you release it to the public and give them a proper timeframe to react to it (like 4-8 weeks). Stating that you will release it to the public after that grace period if they don't forbid it explictly or don't give a response. That may sound arrogant to anyone not knowing the business but it puts them at ease rather then force them to react (unless they want to). At least in my opinion / to my experience. That goes without saying that you need to prepare to take it down at all time - and not include any bogus Copyright Infrictments

* Nude Mods excluded ... I can't even understand how people need that. But each to their own. Maybe for RP purposes or something.

zgrssd

thelegendaryof wrote: »

Just do it. Provide them the source-code before you release it to the public and give them a proper timeframe to react to it (like 4-8 weeks). Stating that you will release it to the public after that grace period if they don't forbid it explictly or don't give a response. That may sound arrogant to anyone not knowing the business but it puts them at ease rather then force them to react (unless they want to). At least in my opinion / to my experience. That goes without saying that you need to prepare to take it down at all time - and not include any bogus Copyright Infrictments

You should read the Term of Service. The ones we all agreed too when using the gameclient for the first time.

As sweet FX was deemed okay, chances are high a pruely "higher grade texture" mod would be allowed too.
But there is no guarantee and Zenimax is fully in thier rights to disallow any mods.
We all agreed to that when starting the client. And I would have been odd if it would not say something like this. It's best practice for the industry on a legal point of view.

In any case texture replacement on this scale seems a Dark Souls style Big Fat Hammer, for changing the textures of the horses (what the OP asked for).

thelegendaryof

Terms of Service are there for legal resons to protect them when ultimately nothing can be agreed upon. As simple as that. They also already somewhat allowed (?) this alternative Launcher (which whilist not changing the Game-Files directly but is injecting into the Game the modification could be considered somewhat similiar by the level of intrusion):

http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/eso-launcher-graphics-enhancer/

So all in all - don't take the ToS to lightly but also don't take it to hard if you're doing something in your / everyones favor that doesn't break anything or abuse any game mechanics. They're still just people that can be communicated with. They're are no devils (probably ).

Either way if you're serious about something this indirect way of communication will get you nowhere (posting a thread somewhere). That holds true even for the smallest sites and companies (it really is a pain in the a** to constantly check all new threads )

Write them a PM, Ticket or E-Mail (at best like I suggessted above). And don't just point to this thread but write a proper inquiry that they take serious.

Cheers.

gryphdnb14_ESO

A TESO contest for new textures wouldn't be a bad idea. To get the community involved and excited for the game. Would love to see some more textures from the talented people in the community.

Seerah

I'm going to copy what I said here: http://www.esoui.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1699

To actually change the colors of armor is a whole lot more involved than editing graphics settings, shaders, etc. We're talking about turning a piece of armor from red to blue - without turning everything else more blue in the process.

This would involve directly editing the game's files. I would have to look at the ToU again to know if this is for sure not allowed, but it's usually frowned upon (if not bannable) in MMO's to get into texture editing.

/obligatory IANL comment...

murklor007neb18_ESO

gryphdnb14_ESO wrote: »

A TESO contest for new textures wouldn't be a bad idea. To get the community involved and excited for the game. Would love to see some more textures from the talented people in the community.

How would it be implemented then? "Official" ESO patch after a contest winner was announced? Problem with that is that not everyone will like the texture. Forcing such a change only promote further complaints from those that again want the texture changed back to "normal". If its only a highres version of the texture... well then we shouldnt have this argument as ZOS can easily do it and add it to the max graphics setting option.

To allow for different textures the entire addon structure has to change to become more mod like. But that in turn would require far more involvement from ZOS to make a digital signature/certificate of some sort that means its OK to use - doesnt change gameplay, doesnt give players an edge, doesnt "cheat" - you cant enable it otherwise on the live game.

But that would be alot of work and of course start the slippery slope of uncertain advantages. Oh so this texture is a little shinier/bluer than the stock one? Well it does allow you to better notice it at max range... Maybe its just a 5% difference. Is that supposed to be a big enough difference to become a "cheat"? When is the change too great?