AION - Kunax's Jerkin & Boots Mod

Finally, we have come to the end of this series of mod. Some might be wondering why did I, as a leather wearing class, not mod the Kunax's Jerkin until now? Especially since, I have already done so for the Hauberk, Breastplate and Tunic.   >.<   Actually, this is one of the mod that I have done very early, even before the birth of this blog. But because I love this armor and the mod so much, I decided to keep it with me for as long as I could.  XD  Plus, I have that tingling feeling, that has been lingering in my heart, that this will be the last mod that I will show, if it is ever published. After completing the previous post on Heavenly Hauberk, I have a strange feeling telling me to show this very last piece of the Kunax's chest armor. Does this signifies the end of this little adventure or just a season finale? Hmm... I don't know either.

 

Anyway, the Kunax's Jerkin is a very beautiful full-body armor, which has a really tight fit, showing off all the curves very nicely, without distracting accessories that distort the smooth flow. I find this armor perfect except for well... that "tail".   ~.~"  In fact, the very first time that I mod this armor is basically just to remove that tail.  :p  But then, if you know skin design or mod, you will know that the area under such accessories will be greyed out, to give it a shadow. And thus, when I removed the tail, the dark patch is clearly visible on the butt.  >.<

 

After some time, I got frustrated with that dark patch and so, I tried to recolor it away. That's when I realized I could probably repaint all the cloth areas to skin color (well... this was when I was still new to skin mod-ding). And that's what I did! Stripping away all the cloth until only the frames are left.. with vital points covered though.  XD

 

However, to show this mod in the blog, I have done some more alterations to add in transparency and cover up more, especially at the butt area.  XD

 

The images below show the original armor before mod.

 

Front View - Original Armor

 The above image shows the full body armor.

Front Close-up View - Original Armor

What a great view of the cleavage area. :p  Also, the skin color here is actually of a darker shade, like a thin translucent layer above the skin.

And that bronze color, sun-like thingy is not part of the chest armor, but the shoulder guard.

Rear View - Original Armor

Here, we can see the unique "tail" with a hook and the end.

Rear Close-up View - Original Armor

And it totally covers the butt area.  ~.~

Side (Left) Close-up View - Original Armor

Side (Right) Close-up View - Original Armor

Looking at the sides, we can see those patterns, with 3D depth, that seem to overlay the skin.

 

From the above images, do you agree that this is a really nice armor?

 

So, as mentioned earlier, most of the cloth are replaced with either skin color or transparency. And this is what it looks like after mod.

 

Front View - Modified Armor

Specially for this blog, I have tuned the darker skin shade to true skin color. It will probably be more obvious in the video.

Front Close-up View - Modified Armor

From this image, you can see the cloth has been repainted to either skin or transparency. The skin area are on the inner side of both legs, while the transparency area covers the front torso, waist and outer side of both legs. 

Front Close-up View 2 - Modified Armor

Well... the black frame ran directly through the middle of both breasts, and that saves me from the crackling headache to try to find ways to hide the sensitive points.  XD  

Rear View - Modified Armor

Gone with the tail but at the expense of a nice décor on the outer side of the left thigh, because they share the same texture.  D: 

Rear Close-up View - Modified Armor

Like what I have done for the butt area? The back here is modified on the earlier mod to cover up a little more. It used to be just a G-string over a bare lower back!   >.< 

Side View - Modified Armor

I find the patterns on the outer side of both legs interesting and so I kept them. But because they have a bit of 3D depth, I can't just simply leave them plainly on the skin as that will seem like ring-worm on the skin. Therefore, I have to add the transparency layer on them.

 

Side (Left) Close-up View - Modified Armor

Side (Right) Close-up View - Modified Armor

So that is all for the chest armor mod. But since I often use this mod, and the unmodified boots looks really weird when worn together with the modified chest armor, due to a sudden discontinuation, I had also modified part of the boots to skin color, while retaining the side patterns. I usually don't do this for the other mods such as Sauro Commander's Tunic.  :p

 

And last but not least, the video.

 

Note:
AION 5.3 has just been launched in NA two weeks ago and NCSoft seem to have added a lot more armors and costumes into the game.  :D  The last skin package number has been increased to 104, overwriting all the filenames of my previous mods. But don't worry though, just change the filenames to 105 and it will be fine.   For example, change "Mesh_Textures_101.PAK" to "Mesh_Textures_105.PAK". The same goes for the "Mesh_Meshes_XXX.PAK" package. This instruction can also be found in the readme.txt that comes with the mod package.  :D

Download Link

 

AION - Heavenly Hauberk Mod

To close up on the Heavenly armor sets, we'll be looking at the chain type in this post. And as the title suggests, I will only work on the hauberk (chest) but not the chausses (pants). This is because the pants is really nice and I doubt that I can make it better.

The chest piece of this armor is one of the few that actually remains true to its armor type by including lots of chain mail textures (because it is a chain armor after all >.<   ). Most of the other chain armors just ignore the fact that they are of chain type and are designed with either cloth, leather or plate textures. But I don't think any players would mind that as long as they look beautiful, isn't it?  XD 

In contrast to the chest piece, the pants is of cloth texture and contains no trace of chain mail, except for the two "tails" on the rear sides. Although the leg guards with unequal length on both legs looks a bit funny, it is still one of my favorites  in the game and I have used it many times as part of a mix-match armor set.

So, let's look at the original armor below.

Front View - Original Armor

Notice the leg guards with unequal length?  XD

Front Close-up View - Original Armor

In the above image, we can see the chain mail texture on the front torso and on the upper arms.

Rear View - Original Armor

Two "tails" with chain mail textures on the rear sides.

Rear Close-up View - Original Armor

A stripe of chain mail runs down the rear center portion. Nice hot pants too!  :D

Side Close-up View - Original Armor

The sides look a little dull though.   >.< 

To show support for staying true to a chain armor type, by the inclusion of chain mail texture, I have decided to keep them (chain mail texture). Well, most of them at least.... I still can't resist modifying the front torso to make it a bit sexier.  :p

Let's look at the images of the modified armor below and I'll explain the mod.

Front View - Modified Armor

Hmm...from far, it doesn't look like much has changed...

Front Close-up View - Modified Armor

Front Close-up View 2 - Modified Armor

As described in the image and mentioned before, the front torso underwent a bit of modification. I have modified the look of the chain mail here, which was originally tiny chains over a black background, into bigger chains over a skin background. It may not be obvious here, because of the lightings, but you probably can see it more clearly in the video.

Rear View - Modified Armor

Rear Close-up View - Modified Armor

As indicated, the rear extension of the chest piece was shortened to reveal more of that hot pants.  :p

Side Close-up View - Modified Armor

Wow! I guess the most 'exciting' part of the modified armor has to be the sides!  O.o    To make the originally dull sides more interesting, I repainted the mail texture into skin texture. Thus, the chest armor now looks like some sort of an apron that covers the front and back, while leaving the sides open.  XD 

In order to hide the discontinuity between the chest piece and pants (i.e. the chest piece does not meet the pants on the same layer, but is instead floating above it), I have also retained the bottom portion of the chest piece.

In addition, I have found a sharp discontinuity between the front and back of the torso, which forms a distinct line; and thus, I have drawn some sort of a tattoo, over the line, on both sides. This was found during the video capture, so the tattoo isn't captured in the above images or video. So please don't freak out when you see a tattoo in the mod, if you ever use it.   >.<"

Check out the video for a better comparison.

Download Link

AION - Heavenly Tunic & Leggings Mod

In this week's post, we will be looking at the cloth version of the Heavenly set's chest and leg armor, which are 2 separate pieces. As compared to the plate set, which looks uncomplicated, and the leather set, that looks like cloth armor; the design of the cloth set is very unique (or some would say weird), looking like a hybrid of flower, butterfly and chameleon.    >.<

What do I mean by hybrid of flower, butterfly and chameleon? Well.. the first cue is that flower in the middle of the chest and the extensive uses of colorful layered petal design, which resembles petals forming a flower. This layered petal design can be seen prominently on the skirt, the bottom extension of the chest armor and the trumpet-styled sleeves.

The butterfly-feel comes from the neck lace, which extends upwards into a collar, that looks like butterfly's wings that are stacked together.

But the most prominent aspect of the dress is probably the curvy chameleon tail that trails  from the back of the skirt. 

Let us look at the images of the original armor below.

Front View - Original Armor

Front Close-up View - Original Armor

Would you agree that the armor gives a very flowery feel by looking at the two images above?  :D

Other than looking similar to butterfly wings, I think the collar also resembles some part of a plant, isn't it?

Rear View - Original Armor

Ahhh... Here we can see the curvy tail. It doesn't have the exact same texture or shape of a chameleon's tail, but that curvy part at the end really reminds me of one.  XD

Rear Close-up View - Original Armor

Nice bare back there!   :D

Side View - Original Armor

For the mod, I kept all the designs because I find them so unique.  :D   The exception is the trumpet sleeves that looks so 70's.  ~.~

So, let's look at the modified armor below.

Front View - Modified Armor

First of all, the skirt and chest bottom extension are trimmed to show off more of her leggy legs. But you can see the flowery design remains though.

Front Close-up View - Modified Armor

Secondly, the trumpet sleeves are shortened with the intention to reduce the circumference of the opening. But it seems I ended up trimming too much though.  >.<"

Front Close-up View 2 - Modified Armor

Third part of the mod is on the chest, repainting the cloth covering her cleavage into skin, and of course, at the same time, I have to remove the flower that blocked my view.  XD

Other modification on the chest also includes turning the cloth texture, on the torso, into transparent texture. Fortunately for me, the straps, that run right through the middle of the breasts, can sufficiently cover the nipples, so I don't have to crack my head trying to find ways to conceal them.   XD

Side View - Modified Armor

We can also see the transparency on the sides as well.

Rear View - Modified Armor

The rear view looks almost identical to the original armor because I kept the tail and its accessories. On top of the fact that, the back is really bare and has nothing else to modify?  XD

Just one last thing that I find on the chest armor is that it seems to have some kind of bust shrinking effect, as opposed to the Sea Feast chest armor's bust boosting effect.   -.-"

So, that's all for the mod and you can watch the video for more details of the mod.

 Download Link

AION - Heavenly Breastplate & Greaves Mod

In the previous post, I have shown a mod on the Heavenly Jerkin and Breeches. So in this post, we'll be looking at its plate version (Breastplate and Greaves). Just to make it clear, the chest piece of this armor set does not include the pants (i.e. not 2-in-1 armor), unlike the newer armor sets, such as "Sauro Commander" or new abyss armor set, where most chest piece also contains the pants. Thus, I am actually mod-ding the chest and pants separately, which is actually twice the number of graphic files of a 2-in-1 armor.   >.<"

 

Anyway, this plate armor looks... surprisingly... like a real plate armor! Unlike the leather version which looks like a cloth dress. But who really cares if a leather or plate armor looks like cloth in a game anyway, as long as they are given the correct attributes, such as toughness. Right?

 

So let's take a look at this armor below.

 

Front View - Original Armor

Front Close-up View - Original Armor

As you can see, the chest portion of the armor has a plate metal texture and the pants is a shorts with plate leg-guard over a cloth stocking. The part of the armor that looks like a "skirt" is actually an extension from the chest piece, which gives the armor a kind of like-a-dress feel.

 

Rear View - Original Armor

Rear Close-up View - Original Armor

From the rear close-up, we can see 2 rings wrapping around her upper thighs, which I think looks weird. And the angle at which the "skirt" lifts off the waist is a bit exaggerating.   ~.~ 

 

Side View - Original Armor

Although the armor doesn't looks too complicated from the screenshots, the same cannot be said of the mesh. The torso portion of the chest piece is actually separated into 3 parts (bra, side-back, tummy) and this makes mod-ding more difficult because removal of wrong areas can leave holes, plus the impossibility to simply paint everything to skin color, due to discontinuity between the parts.  >.<"

 

Due to the design of the mesh, I have to keep the bra intact, with its neighboring areas, and add a belt at the waist to hide the discontinuity between the leg armor and the tummy. 

 

Let's see what I managed to do for the armor below.

 

Front View - Mod Armor

Front Close-up View - Mod Armor

As seen above, the tummy area has been modified to skin followed by a "belt" to hide discontinuity between tummy and leg.

Front Close-up View 2 - Mod Armor

The bra is mostly intact, except for the modification of the plate metal texture over the full breasts, into transparent mid and under. Simply using a dull metal plate to cover the sensitive points is... dull.... so I duplicated a little flowery design there.  XD

 

Rear View - Mod Armor

Rear Close-up View - Mod Armor

From the rear views, we can see that the extended "skirt" portion, that looks weird, has been removed and the shorts was converted into a panties style, without the 2 strange rings around the thigh.

 

Side View - Mod Armor

While recording the video, I have also noticed normal defects around the butt area. For those interested, normals are data points that tell the graphic renderer how light is bounced off a surface, so that the surface can appear curvedly smooth or angularly flat.

The designer probably did not need to pay attention to that area because it was mostly obscured by the existing "skirt". But it now becomes prominent after removal of the "skirt". How I wish I could mod the mesh too...   D:
 

Anyway, check out the video for more on the mod. 

 

 

Download Link