AION - Prime Guardian Royal Captain Breastplate Mod

The newest AION NA patch (5.6: Omens of Ice) was launched last week (19 July 2017) with the awakening of the Dragon Queen of Ice, Ereshkigal. The trailer shows her (in her human form)descending from the sky in a blue semi-translucent dress which is both sexy and classy. But would anyone believe a destructive Dragon Queen would look so beautiful and enchanting (that is until her eyes turned black when sucking life force out of an Elyos guardian captain   O.O  )?

Ereshkigal - From AION 5.6 Trailer

Whether Atreia can survive the onslaught remains to be seen but with the patch, new costumes have been added!  :D 

And wow! Six new mesh packages and five new texture packages have pushed the file numbers of my mods out. But don't worry though, just rename my packages to "Mesh_Textures_110.pak" and "Mesh_Textures_115.pak" if you use them and all will be fine.

In this post, we'll be mod-ding the plate version of the new abyss armor, a.k.a. Prime Guardian Royal Captain Breastplate. This chest armor is very much how a plated armor will look like, except that it is so highly polished to the extend that one can use it as a mirror.  XD

It is designed to have a plated torso armor worn over a shiny, leafy blouse (which I suspect to be metallic due to its shiny surface), coupled with black long sleeves and a pair of glossy stockings.

Let's have a look at the original armor below.

Front View - Original Armor

Front Close-up View - Original Armor

A closer look at the shiny, leafy skirt with a slanted cut at the bottom.

Rear View - Original Armor

Rear Close-up View - Original Armor

Other than the cleavage area on the front, the armor also reveals a bit of the back. On closer inspection, you can even see reflections on the skirt.

Side View - Original Armor

Side Close-up View - Original Armor

Does it feels like, she's wearing a mirror?  XD

What I did for this mod is actually just some simple recoloring and minor adjustment to the skirt, since I don't want to change too much of the design. I even refrain from turning the bra area into transparency because I have done that for too many armors.  >.<"

The tummy area makes modification difficult due to its layered design. The region cannot be simply transformed into skin as that will have 'floating' skin layer effect. I did, however, adjust the area to change with skin color so it looks like a kind of glassy layer over skin.

Front View - Modified Armor

The legs are now without stockings and the skirt is noticeably shorter, exposing a bit of the panties.

Front Close-up View - Modified Armor

The long sleeves are also replaced by skin layer. I left the shoulder pieces (not shoulder armor) intact, which have straps that wrap round her armpit.

Rear View - Modified Armor

Rear Close-up View - Modified Armor

The armor piece that is at the top of her back (just below her neck) cannot be removed or recolored to skin. As the armor piece is a layer over the basic skin layer (which is missing due to empty mesh structure),  it will leave a hole if removed, or look like 'floating' skin layer if recolored.

The back of the skirt also reveals a bit of the panties.

Side View - Modified Armor

Side Close-up View - Modified Armor

So, that's all for this simple mod. You can verify the mirror like surface in the video.

Oh, by the way, don't be alarmed if you do see a giant stingray 'swimming' in the sky when you watch the video. It has been doing that for a long time now and doesn't bother anyone, except giving a few new players a jaw-dropping view.   :D

Download Link: 
https://drive.google.com/open?id=11DotuBRa3j46oKK1dW9gH1uHRgVXDkD6

AION - Prime Guardian Royal Captain Jerkin Mod

In this post, we'll be looking at the new Abyss armor set, starting with the leather version. As the title has shown, this jerkin has a really long name, so I'll just simply refer to it as the Royal Captain set. That should be sufficient since almost all the versions that share the same skin model has the "Royal Captain" label in them.   >.<"

The Royal Captain armor sets were introduced in AION 5.5 (NA patches) for Archdaeva of level 75 and can be bought from NPC vendors with the new Spinel medals, in addition of Abyss points. Similar to the Adma armor sets, the Royal Captain sets also feature golden frames over the basic armor; but the most prominent feature in their design is that feather-decorated shoulder armor and golden translucent feather accessory that hangs from the armor.
 

But since I am only dealing with the chest armor here, I'll just skip the shoulder armor in the images and video.  XD
 

As for the jerkin, it is a tight fitting, full body suit that is a little similar to the Sauro Commander jerkin. The similarity comes from the fact that they both spot a hot pants on one leg and long pants on the other, except that the Royal Captain jerkin has a stocking over the leg spotting the hot pants.
 

Let's first look at the original armor here.

Front View - Original Armor

On the top image, you can see the hot pants with stocking on the right leg and the full long pants on the left leg. There's also a nice accessory with golden translucent feathers, hanging from the left side of her waist. 

Front Close-up View - Original Armor

How to know that the armor is tight fitting? Well...By the belly button of course!   XD

Rear View - Original Armor

Rear Close-up View - Original Armor

There seems to be some black feather design on her back too.

Left Side View - Original Armor

Right Side View - Original Armor

Left Side Close-up View - Original Armor

Plenty of stuff can be done for this mod because of its tight fitting design. First of all, I take the uneven pants design further by turning the long pants side into a super-high-cut, revealing her full leggy left leg, while stripping off the stocking on her right.
 

Next, the dark long sleeves on both hands are recolored into skin, followed by the torso and side regions. A belt of sort is drawn onto the tummy-waist to break continuity between torso skin and pants areas. For some time, I thought about whether to apply transparent layer for the torso but finally decided to just leave it as pure skin layer.
 

Let's check out the modified armor below.

Front View - Modified Armor

I guess from the top image, you can see what I meant by super-high-cut on the left leg.  :p
 

The stocking on her right leg is also gone. 

Front Close-up View - Modified Armor

So are the long sleeves, and the leather around her tummy and waist. Notice the added belt to separate the skin and pants areas.
 

Rear View - Modified Armor

I retained the golden translucent feather accessory because it looks nice.  :D
 

Rear Close-up View - Modified Armor

Side View - Modified Armor

The modified armor looks really 'clean' on the left side, don't you agree? This design concept feels like the Frigida Hauberk.
 

Side Close-up View - Modified Armor

In order for the shoe to match the legs, I have also repainted them to skin color. However, I did not do the same for the gloves since they don't look as weird as the shoes, if not recolored. Imagine wearing socks of different colors on each leg.   ~.~"

 

OK. With this, I wrap up this post. Don't forget to check out the video.

 

Download Link

AION - Adma Hauberk Mod

For the last Adma armor set series, we have the chain chest or Hauberk. Well... The word 'chain' is a bit misleading because you will find that the armor is almost entirely made up of cloth...  >.<

The hauberk mainly looks like a short dove-neck blouse with long trumpet sleeves ( -.-), black stockings and a furry scarf (wrapped around the neck) which is a nice addition. Similar to the other versions, the hauberk also has a golden frame on the torso and has two 'antennas' at the back like the cloth version (tunic).   >.<"  The back of the dress has an extended layer over it which slightly reminds me of a sparrow-tail tuxedo.

For this post, the video and images are captured in a special instance in Inggison for level 55 characters, known as Esoterrace. It is special because, unlike other instances which are mostly 'contained' inside a structure, it is created to look like an open-world area with beautiful landscape, a lighthouse and even its very own version of Niagara Falls in the background.  O.O   Too bad though, that we can't get to the falls except to admire it from afar.  D:   But I think most players just jump right into the Windstream at the start of the instance and arrived at the first action area, which is a beach, without stopping to enjoy the scenery.   :p

My images do not capture major part of the fall because of the glaring sunlight.  >.<

Well, that's all for the description of the instance. You can see more of it in the video.

And back to the armor mod, the images below show the original armor.

Front View - Original Armor

Front Close-up View - Original Armor

From the front images, you can see those long trumpet sleeves, the furry wrap around her neck and err... 2 'antennas' sticking up above the shoulder.

Rear View - Original Armor

Here, we get to see the extended cloth over the back of the dress.

Rear Close-up View - Original Armor

A closer look at the 'antennas'.   >.<

Side View - Original Armor

Side Close-up View - Original Armor

Both sides look similar except for the 'tattoo' on the stocking of the right leg.

For this mod, I did not use any transparent layer because it can't be applied without giving the armor a weird feel. Firstly, the bra area (including the dove-neck) is a flat piece of cloth over the cleavage and thus, cannot apply transparency because the cloth is not adhering to the skin surface. Secondly, the torso and side area is slightly floating above the skin layer and thus, will cause them to look like protruding or floating skin surface if transparent layer is forcefully applied.

So, I simply removed the dove-neck to give a bare-shoulder feel, shortened the trumpet sleeves to a length acceptable to my eyes (I really dislike trumpet sleeves and legs because they look so 70's...  DX  ), removed the stockings and not forgetting to shorten the skirt.

Let's look at the modified armor below.

Front View - Modified Armor

Front Close-up View - Modified Armor

In the two images above, you can see the shortened sleeves, skirt and trimmed dove-neck. Unfortunately, I cannot do anything more on the bra area due to the issue I mentioned earlier and adding to the difficulty, is that the area under the bra is actually a hole.  >.<"

Also, it is impossible to totally remove that sleeve from the golden arm band because of the discontinuity between the arm and the arm band. If the sleeves are removed, we will see the dismembered arms separated from below the arm band.   ~.~

Rear View - Modified Armor

From the rear view, you will notice the trimmed cloth and skirt which just sufficiently cover the panties.   XD

Rear Close-up View - Modified Armor

Well.... Although I don't quite like the 'antennas', I kept them anyway...  XD

Side View - Modified Armor

Side Close-up View - Modified Armor

The shoes have also been slightly modified by recoloring to skin color in order to match the modified legs.

We have come to the end for this mod. Don't forget to check out the video for the waterfall.  :p

AION - Adma Tunic Mod

The next on the list for the Adma armor set mod is the cloth version, a.k.a. tunic. The appearance of the tunic is very much like a bare-shoulder ballroom dress with a golden frame on the torso. Adding to the elegance is a cloth accessory that is made up of multiple layer of folded cloth, on the right side of the dress, and a big ribbon on the back.  :D

The armor set comes with a nicely designed pair of shoe, which is unfortunately, mostly hidden by the long dress. The golden frame also comes with a neck accessory, which has two 'antennas' pointed towards the sky. Although it looks kind of strange, I still like it (-.-) because it is what sets the armor apart from a normal ballroom dress.

Now, let's take a look at the original armor below.

Front View - Original Armor

Front Close-up View 1 - Original Armor

Do you agree the armor looks like a ballroom dress?

Front Close-up View 2 - Original Armor

Over the top image, you can see the golden frame more clearly and you may have noticed the 'antennas' sticking up from behind her neck.   >.<

The cleavage area is covered by three pieces of hardened cloths (or cards) that overlay each other. Beneath the hardened cloth is not the great view of the cleavage as expected, but a huge hole (as in the mesh structure).   o.o

Rear View - Original Armor

Rear Close-up View - Original Armor

On the rear views, you will be able to see the big ribbon just round the waist level and also a better view of the 'antennas'.  XD

Left Side View - Original Armor

Right Side View - Original Armor

Ah! here you can see the multi-layered cloth that forms a wavy pattern on the right leg.  :D

This is also the only angle in which you get to admire the nice pair of shoes, since the long dress obscure the other angles.   XD

Left Side Close-up View - Original Armor

Having done admiring the original armor, let's now look at the modified version below.

Front View - Modified Armor

The most prominent part about the mod is the shortened dress. Now we can admire that nice pair of shoe from any angle!   XD

I really like the multi-layered cloth on the right leg so I kept it. However, I agree that it looks a bit weird now with the short skirt.  >.<"

Front Close-up View 1 - Modified Armor

Front Close-up View 2 - Modified Armor

The mods applied to the torso area consist of transparent layers (on bra, side and back) and the rounding off of the hardened cloth on the cleavage region.

As mentioned before, the is a hole below the hardened cloth so I took some time adjusting for best result. Unfortunately, if you look from the top, you can still see a bit of the hole there.  ~.~

Rear View - Modified Armor

I like the ribbon so I kept it too and hope it doesn't look too weird!   XD

Rear Close-up View - Modified Armor

The cloth area, on the back, below the frame is not a smooth surface so I cannot directly re-draw it into a skin layer because, you know, skin surface needs to be smooth....  >.<

As such, I have used transparent layer instead and that has to be applied to the sides and tummy area too because they are the same layer of cloth (i.e. to keep continuity).

Side View - Modified Armor

Side Close-up View - Modified Armor

A further mod can probably reduce the armor to just the golden frame and transparent layer like what I had done for the "Kunax Jerkin", but that may turn it into a swimming trunk.   D:

That's all for this mod. Don't forget to catch the video for better view.

 Download Link