Blade & Soul - Profane Shroud (Gon Outfit) Mod

First of all, I will like to wish you all a 🎄 Merry Christmas 🎄 for people who celebrated this joyous occasion; and for people who don't celebrate Christmas, hope you have a nice holiday too! Hope everyone will have a great new year ahead!  😃

For this week's post, I'll work on another Gon outfit, the Profane Shroud. Yup, this is the same outfit that I have shown before for the Jin race in a previous post. And since, I got started on the Gon skin, I might as well do up another one that I know.  😅

Anyway, most of the background story for the Profane Shroud has been described in the Jin post, so I'll go directly to the outfit itself. 

There is a slight difference between the Gon and Jin Profane Shroud, which is the tight fitting layer below the front shroud. As seen before, the Jin's outfit has a plain tight fitting layer,which has a grey color tone, under the shroud. For Gon's outfit, this layer is separated into a skin layer plus a black netting, which looks just  like plain skin layer, but darker, when look from afar, due to Level of Details (see note below if you are interested in LoD).

Let's take a closer look at the original outfit below.

Front View - Original Outfit

From a distance, the Gon's Profane Shroud looks exactly same as the Jin's outfit.

Front Close-up View - Original Outfit

But when we take a closer look, we can see the black netting on the torso over the skin.

Rear Close-up View - Original Outfit

Gon's outfit has the same fierce looking leg guards and creepy spine-tail.  😱

Side View - Original Outfit

Although I'm very tempted to do the exact mod of the Jin outfit, on the Gon's one, I decided to take a leap of faith to try out another concept which I have been thinking of.

I have reduced the tight fitting layer to plain skin layer as in that for the Jin outfit, but for the shroud, I tried something different. I recolored the shroud to a whole piece of talisman and then having it torn up.  😆

Compare the modified Gon Profane Shroud, as shown below, to that of Jin.

Front View - Modified Outfit

In the image above, we can see that the skin layer is now actually skin color without the netting.

Front Close-up View - Modified Outfit

And the shroud is now a huge torn-up talisman.  😅

Rear Close-up View - Modified Outfit

Side View - Modified Outfit

Side Close-up View - Modified Outfit

Also, drew two strings for the bikini bottom. But as you can see, there's a slight discontinuity at the side. This is due to the front torso and back mesh being stretched differently at the same point where they meet, and that's something that I can't mod. 😦

Well, I can just choose to forget about the strings but the panty area will look weird... as if only a black piece of something is pasted over it. It is fine with the netting because it can be considered part of the netting, but over plain skin, it can only be explained as a snap-on panty?  😲

So that brings us to the end of this post. After comparing both, do you prefer the Gon or Jin one?  😅

[Updated with video]

Side Note:

Level of Details, a.k.a. LoD, is an effect applied to textures in game so that the GPU (Graphic Processing Unit), or simply, the graphics card, can render less details on items or characters, when the player zooms out to see a bigger world. It also applies during loading of game or scenes so that everything can be loaded and displayed faster, and refreshing the textures with greater details can then be followed up.

Download Link:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1oYuPl-RmQiLDIPrT2RFtbzs74z8ni1To

Blade & Soul - Ashes In The Fall (Gon Outfit) Mod

A week ago, a reader asked to see the mod for the Gon Outfit, Ashes in the Fall and so, here it is.  😃 As mentioned before, this outfit looks very similar for all the different races (Gon, Jin and Yun) so from afar, it is difficult to tell is it a Gon, Yun or Jin wearing the outfit.  😆  But the look and motion/animation of each race is unique, thus, you can tell the race of the character by the way they move or stand.

I also mentioned before, think of Gon as bodybuilders but I guess that's largely exaggerated because they can be made to be as petite as a Jin. I myself has encountered some Jin-size characters wielding those super huge axes that only Gon character can carry and was thinking to myself "since when did the Jin race has the Destroyer (see note at end) class?" It is only when I mouse over them that I realized that they are actually Jin-size Gon.  😆

But of course, if any player prefer to make a character with muscular physique, Gon is the one for them because the other races just can't be customized to that extreme.

Well, most of the information about the outfit "Ashes in the Fall" has already been told in the Jin and Yun mod, so let's head straight to check out the original Gon outfit below.

Front View - Original Outfit

Front Close-up View - Original Outfit

Rear View - Original Outfit

Side View - Original Outfit

This Gon model in the images above is around the height of a typical Jin and doesn't have that muscular physique that Gons are known for. But the way she is standing is a dead giveaway of her race.

To be fair to all the races, I created the mod for the Gon outfit to look exactly like the Jin and Yun ones. That means a G-string bottom with a 'tail'... again...  😅

Well, let's go straight to see how it looks on a Gon, shall we?

Front View - Modified Outfit

I choose to do the Gon mod on the red version of the outfit since I will be putting it in the same video with the Yun one, which is white.

Front Close-up View - Modified Outfit

Rear View - Modified Outfit

Side View - Modified Outfit

Side Close-up View - Modified Outfit

Would you agree that she looks exactly like a Jin except for her poses and darker skin tone?

It isn't very obvious in the images above but there is a vertical line running down the tummy area and another at the butt cheek, that I can't seem to get rid of through coloring or bump map. Those lines coincide with the edges where the different parts of the meshes join and thus, could be a mesh issue. It is fine for the full black pants, since it needn't be smooth, but not for a skin layer. Unfortunately, I couldn't amend the meshes and have to let them be.  😓

In the video below, you will get to see the Gon's dance animation for the first time. While Jin's dance moves are cheeky and Yun's elegant, Gon's dance moves are energetic with lots of twisting and shaking moves.

Download Link:
Red version only: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1U_7D94IpLCtcW-oDRKJ9U0AYuUFs04S_
Both versions: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PtSc_PMthZmWtsjnV92Z-2BlkcKHHQhX

Side Note:
There are currently ten classes that players can choose from but each race is limited to a few classes as shown below. As such, Jin race definitely will not have axe-wielding Destroyer.

Gon: Destroyer, Force Master, Kungfu Master & Soul Fighter
Jin: Assassin, Blade Master, Gunslinger, Kungfu Master, Soul Fighter & Warlock
Lyn: Blade Dancer, Force Master, Summoner & Warlock
Yun:  Blade Master, Force Master, Gunslinger, Kungfu Master & Soul Fighter

Blade & Soul - Oblivion (Yun Outfit) Mod

This week, we will look at another Yun outfit known as "Oblivion". This outfit can be obtained by chance after defeating the final boss, Lord of Flame,  in the Desolate Tomb dungeon. And, there's a reason why it is called "Oblivion". The level 50s Desolate Tomb is not the first visit for most players as it is in fact a re-designed dungeon from the Tomb of Exile, that level 30-40 players used to farm for in-game gears. 

The Tomb of Exile is the home of a corrupted Sacred Beast, the Infernal Lord, which sealed itself within to prevent harming innocents, after it became mad from the corruption. Unfortunately, some greedy Stratus soldiers wondered into the tomb seeking treasures and ended up needing rescue from the player. After defeating the Infernal Lord, the tomb was sealed away slowly fading to oblivion but curios Talus soldiers and engineers dug another path into the tomb in search of ancient artifacts. 

Their rivals, the Stratus army caught wind of this and captured the Talus engineers to help them revive the Infernal Lord, in hope of making a weapon out of it. The Talus engineer then reaches out to the player to rescue their comrades. So, once again, the player entered the tomb, which has since faded into oblivion, to face the resurrected Infernal Lord, now known as the Lord of Flame. 

Check out the Lord of Flame below.

Lord of Flame, Image from mmoexaminer.com

The Infernal Lord can be seen equipped with electrical armor pieces, which are placed by the engineers to revive it. The electrical armor pieces also grant the Infernal Lord new lightning attack capabilities and increased its power by several folds, elevating its status to Lord of Flame. This dungeon, in normal mode, was a nightmare to most players before the nerf and remains a challenge in hard mode due to the complex boss attack mechanics. As such the Oblivion outfit, which has higher chance to drop in hard mode, is still not easily available to most players.  😰

So much for the outfit's background.. Let us check out the original outfit below.

Front View - Original Outfit

Front Close-up View - Original Outfit

Electrical sparks can be seen arcing on the arm guard.

Rear View - Original Outfit

The 'tail' is another electrifying part of the outfit.

Side View - Original Outfit

As seen above, the outfit is an almost full body armor with bare shoulder design and has more resemblance to the electrical pieces on the Lord of Flame, instead of the Sacred Beast itself. The only parts that remind us of the Infernal Lord are those orange glowing bits littered around the outfit and the glowing gem on the necklace. The outfit also contains bulky arm and leg guards, which seem a little exaggerated.

To be frank, I don't find the Oblivion very exciting initially due to the bulky armor pieces and mostly black color... that's until I come across a particular Gon NPC hacking away at the training dummy with her huge axe...

Check out what she's wearing that change my mind.  😝

NPC in Oblivion Front View

Does her outfit looks familiar?

NPC in Oblivion Rear View

Wow! That bare back... 😆

NPC in Oblivion Side View

That's the base Oblivion outfit without the electrical effect.

Seeing this NPC's outfit, I figured I can do something similar to the Yun outfit and so, off I go mod-ding away at the Yun Oblivion.

Unfortunately, I can't remove the bulky arm/leg guards because I wanted the electrical effects on the arm guard and removing the bulky leg guards will leave holes and discontinuities.  😞

Hmm... what else can be mod? Check below.  😏

Front View - Modified Outfit

Front Close-up View - Modified Outfit

As a start, I re-painted some of the dark region to skin and enlarged the hold at the tummy.

Rear View - Modified Outfit

Next, I opened a hole in the back of the leg guard to reduce that 'bulky' feel but have to leave a 'strap' because there is a discontinuity between the hip and thigh.

With the hole, we can distinguish between the flesh and the leg guard and thus, her thighs don't feel that thick anymore.

Rear Close-up View - Modified Outfit

Side View - Modified Outfit

What's that string doing there? Well, the hip is actually a slightly floating layer above the torso and to hide that, I drew a line. A belt or some accessory may do the job too... but I am lazy...  😆

Side Close-up View - Modified Outfit

So, how does the mod compare to the Gon NPC's outfit?  😃

See more of the outfit in the video below which also includes the Steel Heart (Yun) and Thundergod (Jin) outfit mod.

Download link can be found at:
https://aionskinmod.blogspot.sg/p/links-for-blade-soul-skin-mods.html

Blade & Soul - Steel Heart (Yun Outfit) Mod

For the past four posts, I have been focusing on Jin outfits, so I guess I'll show Yun race some love today by mod-ding a Yun outfit. The Steel Heart is an event outfit purchased off Dragon Express using event tokens, and has a sister outfit by the name of Steel Will, which is a reward for outstanding PvPers during a tournament event. The Steel Heart can be described as a harmonized combination of modern and ancient design concept.

This outfit or rather, a similar one is worn by the lead character, Alka, in the Blade & Soul animation. The lead character got the outfit, without the shoulder guard, from the leader of a village that she has been hired to protect in episode one. The shoulder guard was then given to her 'free' by a Lyn carrier, who then gets back 'payment' by selling information on her to several interested parties.

You can check out several views of the outfit in the screen capture of the animation below.

Screen Capture of Blade & Soul Animation Episode One

In the image above, we can see the similar outfit without the shoulder guard.

Screen Capture of Blade & Soul Animation Episode Two

Screen Capture of Blade & Soul Animation Episode Two

In the second and third images, we can see the shoulder guard added on.

Let's compare the three images, from the animation, to the Steel Heart outfit below.

Front View - Original Outfit

We can see the long boots and knee guard on her right knee cap, over a pair of shiny stockings, as compared to the naked legs in the animation outfit.

Other than color, the in-game outfit also has a lot more details and accessories, probably because it will take too much time for the artist to draw everything in the animation.  😓

Front Close-up View 1 - Original Outfit

We can also see the bandages on her right arm, in the animation, replaced with cloth/leather in the in-game outfit.

Front Close-up View 2 - Original Outfit

The slings attached to the bra, in the animation outfit, is not included in the in-game outfit. Although the mesh does provide for the slings, no graphics are painted on.

Rear View - Original Outfit

In the above rear view, the cloth can be seen to be translucent instead of fully opaque in the animation. Well... Can't hide a sexy G-string with a translucent cloth right?  😝   Anyway, opaque cloth is still much easier to draw than a translucent one.

Also, the shoulder guard for the in-game outfit also has a slit in the middle, as compared to the full piece of cloth in the animation.

Side View - Original Outfit

Oh! Did I mention G-string in the animation outfit?  😍  You can't see it because it is permanently hidden away by that opaque cloth, unless some rigorous movements momentarily reveals it.

Just to prove my point about the G-string, I have captured two more images below from fighting scenes in the animation.

Fighting Scene from the Blade & Soul Animation Opening Sequence

Fighting Scene from the Blade & Soul Animation Opening Sequence

Well... With the two images above, no one can dispute the G-string, right?  😥

Taking the bare legs design from the animation outfit, I removed the stockings in the mod. But no... I did not include a G-string in the mod.  😥

However, I like how the shiny and translucent stockings look on the legs. Thus, I 'migrated' the design of the stockings to the bra and side torso. Let's see how it looks.

Front View - Modified Outfit

Front Close-up View 1 - Modified Outfit

In the two images above, the stockings can be seen replaced by skin.

Front Close-up View 2 - Modified Outfit

From far, nothing else seems to have been modified. Upon closer inspection, the bra and side torso reveals a bit of skin color, giving them a translucent feel like the stockings was before.  😝

Rear View - Modified Outfit

The hot pant looks more distinct from the legs, now that the stockings have been removed.  😃

Side View - Modified Outfit

That brings us to the end for this mod. You can catch the outfit in the video below, which contains cut scenes from the game play that focus on Namsoyoo's betrayal. The video also contains Yura and Namsoyoo mod, where I gave Namsoyoo a super short mini skirt and translucent mod for Yura.

Side note:
Both Namsoyoo and Yura are two of the meanest betrayers in game other than Lusung. But while Yura is a demon and Lusung was forced into darkness by circumstances, Namsoyoo betrays even her closest family, all for the lust to lead the life of an Empress. She is the perfect example of why some people would say "Humans are the real monster".

Download link now available at:
https://aionskinmod.blogspot.sg/p/links-for-blade-soul-skin-mods.html

Blade & Soul - Thundergod (Jin Outfit) Mod

In this week's post, we'll be looking at another Jin outfit call "Thundergod". The mix of thunder and god automatically reminds me of a certain Marvel superhero but no, this is not the God of Thunder, Thor. The boss (Raijin) that drop this outfit is actually a machine (a.k.a. automaton), with lightning ability, that the long lost Naryu has created to guard the Naryu Labyrinth. This level 45 dungeon is really tough back in the days so the outfit isn't easily obtainable. But now with the increase in level cap, the dungeon can even be easily soloed by high level players. Just keep your fingers crossed and hope that it will drop for you.  😆

Raijin, which is an equivalent Japanese name for Thunder God, is paired up with Fujin, which is the equivalent of Wind God, to guard the last level of the Naryu Labyrinth. When players reach the last level of the dungeon, they will find Fujin waiting alone. Defeating Fujin will start a cut scene showing Raijin descending from the top and resurrecting Fujin. The player will then have to defeat both bosses together within a span of thirty seconds. Back then, this was a really tough challenge meant only for the brave.  😰

You can probably find many videos of warriors braving this dungeon on YouTube. But here's an image of Raijin and Fujin.

Fujin and Raijin (Image from Blade and Soul Zone)

The Thundergod outfit has a twin by the name of Windgod, obviously, and they look very similar to what the bosses wear. Their design is based on ancient illustration of the Thunder and Wind deities (or gods) in Chinese and Japanese mythology. The outfit also comes complete with an adornment call aura (those inverted 'U' shape things on the shoulders of the bosses in the image above) which matches the color of the pants. 

The bosses' outfits are topless but that won't do for a female outfit, so the designer kind of painted the entire torso region of the players' version to a full black, like they have been charred due to being strike by lightning.  😓

Look at the original outfit below and decides for yourself.

Front View - Original Outfit

Check out the full charcoal black torso...  😑

Front Close-up View - Original Outfit

Rear View - Original Outfit

Side View - Original Outfit

Side Close-up View - Original Outfit

By the way that I have been describing about the torso, you can probably tell that I really hate the charcoal body. And so... I recolored the torso region and both arms to skin color. Fortunately, I don't have to worry about exposing the breasts because there are actually multiple spikes-like armor pieces all over the torso. As such, only the mid portion of the torso is exposed.

Take a look at the modified outfit below and you can understand what I mean.

Front View - Modified Outfit

Does it looks better now with the torso and arms back to skin color?  😄

Front Close-up View - Modified Outfit

Thanks to the spiky armor pieces, I don't have to crack my head to find ways to conceal the breasts. 😆

Rear View - Modified Outfit

Side View - Modified Outfit

Side Close-up View - Modified Outfit

Although the lower part of this outfit looks rather bulky, it still fits pretty well given its slope design instead of sudden protrusion. Especially since it also hides the baggy pants which would otherwise looks...hmm... kind of 70's.  😅

Well, that's all for this simple mod. See more of the outfit in the video below.