[Mod Request] Force "cutscene" faces

[Mezziaz]

[Mod Request] Force "cutscene" faces

As you people might have noticed many character get a higher quality face model during cutscenes compared to regular gameplay. I will use Triss as example to illustrate this.

Here in the image above I've used console commands to play as Triss (Ciri with model swap) and then Triss always has her more much higher quality "cutscene face" even during regular gameplay. The Triss sitting down on the chair on the left is the real one with with her much lower quality gameplay face, here comes a closeup showing this more clearly.

So it is possible with the current tools to always force these higher quality faces (the same way cutscene lighting was forced) even when the character is secondary and not directly controlled by the player?

 

[Guest 2364765]

TBH i know what you mean, character LOD'ing is brutal in this game.

Though on the other hand i have no idea how to influence this, almost certain that i can't control any LOD behavior via scripts, which would leave it either to game config files or recompiling mesh files as it contains LOD configurations, though that'd be very time consuming and inefficient in the long run.

It's most visible on females from the main cast as almost every of them uses mascara.
Dialogue/cutscene LOD has proper face texture resolution, so it looks fine. But in normal gameplay it seems to be dumbed down and the mascara starts to look smudgy, almost weird. It's most visible with Ciri as NPC where walking few meters away from her causes blobs to appear around her eyes.

 

[Sarcen]

recompiling mesh files as it contains LOD configurations

I already tried that a while back, it doesn't work. Probably because the faces require facial mimic weights (or whatever you want to call it), the thing that drives the detailed facial animations. And that simply isn't active for other characters, and I've seen no way to force this behavior to be active... At least, this has been my observation from doing a simple LOD level increase...

But yeah... I really wish this was easily possible as well, the normal faces are terrible, would like detailed faces for all major characters.

 

[Garrison72]

Wow, that is a huge difference. Cut scene Triss looks amazing. Geralt's LOD is bad too compared to cutscenes.

 

[Mezziaz]

Do the different LOD states use different textures or is it the same texture but with different geometry (lower poly count) and different shaders?

If the texture files are different then maybe the lower quality ones can be tweaked to at least to me more similar in style so that change isn't as obvious, or is that not possible either?

The biggest and most obvious difference seems to be around the eyes from what I can tell.

Lower quality Cirilla for example looks she has been crying her eyes out next to her higher quality cutscene twin. If the mascara could be lessened/tweaked to look more similar to one and another at least it would be something.

 

[marvelmaster]

i guess finding the right meshes and textures might be the problem...replacing them should be easy(?) i Guess

 

[Mezziaz]

Geralt's LOD is bad too compared to cutscenes.

Hmm, really?

Gameplay

Spoiler

Cutscene

Spoiler

I only notice a slight change in lighting. Granted my Geralt is modded, maybe that has something to do with it?

 

[CarolKarine]

Hmm, really?

Gameplay

Cutscene

I only notice a slight change in lighting. Granted my Geralt is modded, maybe that has something to do with it?

He's modded, so yeah, that has everything to do with it.

As far as modding things to achieve this fidelity even in gameplay, Mesh replacements has so far been the only way I've managed to get static meshes to use a higher-quality LOD. I don't know how feasible this is with characters.

 

[JasonShepard]

Hmm, really?

Gameplay

Spoiler

Cutscene

Spoiler

I only notice a slight change in lighting. Granted my Geralt is modded, maybe that has something to do with it?

Unmodded Geralt actually looks pretty decent compared to NPCs. I don't have any good pictures though because I modded him as soon as I could to be more lore-friendly. I do remember the vanilla lighting making him look rather unflattering during gameplay though.
And God those gaps in the hairworks hair...Is there a mod that lets me just have the hairworks beard?

 

[Mezziaz]

He's modded, so yeah, that has everything to do with it.

Fine, then here is the same thing with vanilla Geralt

Gameplay

Spoiler

Cutscene

Spoiler

And God those gaps in the hairworks hair...Is there a mod that lets me just have the hairworks beard?

Yes, under optional files. If you are running the game with a Maxwell GPU (GTX Geforce 900 series) however, be prepared to watch that beard disappear within a few minutes.

 

[Septerra_Core]

i guess finding the right meshes and textures might be the problem...replacing them should be easy(?) i Guess

You can take a look at it, when you finish working on Novigrad buildings. You're the expert here

 

[marvelmaster]

You can take a look at it, when you finish working on Novigrad buildings. You're the expert here

swapping them textures should be easy...but i have to say...in the Ciri pic OP posted on page 1, i dont see any difference except makeup...on the geralt PIC i dont see any difference...

 

[Mezziaz]

on the geralt PIC i dont see any difference...

Because there isn't one.

On Ciri the biggest difference apart from the make up mismatch, appears to be the actual eyeballs (much darker like they are not reacting to the surrounding light) and lower quality lashes but those aren't textures.

On Triss though there appears to many things different between her cutscene and non-cutscene variant but I will have to investigate further to know for sure.

EDIT: Yeah how Triss face model is handled between cutscenes and gameplay feels like a cruel joke

Cutscene

Gamplay (the horror)

Lower poly, rougher and far less smooth skin texture on the face, no relfections in the eyes and no lashes.

The situation with Yennefer is similar but nearly as bad as Triss.

I aslo tried to same with a male character (Eskel) and found that there is almost zero difference between the cutscene and gameplay model (just missing eye reflections).

 

[IrregularJohn]

As you people might have noticed many character get a higher quality face model during cutscenes compared to regular gameplay. I will use Triss as example to illustrate this.

Wow @Mezziaz! Triss on the right in that screenshot looks like a cosplay model in that she looks like a real human as opposed to her regular model with poor LOD. I've never payed much attention to that but now the difference is painfully obvious.

P.S. I agree that on Geralt there is no difference at all. Although check the conversation with Dijkstra in the 2014 gampley vid - Geralt in the clip was way more detailed. Or am I idealising it?

---------- Updated at 09:17 AM ----------

Some more.

---------- Updated at 09:18 AM ----------

IMHO his hair in motion in that video looked more detailed - a higher version of Hairworks or is my imagination playing tricks on me?

 

[G3nome]

P.S. I agree that on Geralt there is no difference at all. Although check the conversation with Dijkstra in the 2014 gampley vid - Geralt in the clip was way more detailed. Or am I idealising it?

dont use anything from 2013-2014 for reference ,those videos shouldnt exists

 

[IrregularJohn]

dont use anything from 2013-2014 for reference ,those videos shouldnt exists

Had the same exact thoughts, man. I wish CDPR would just announce the game like Bethesda did with Fallout 4, about 5-6 months before release. But then again there would be no preorders and 2 years of hype.

 

[patryk1194]

@IrregularJohn

You are idealising as many others. Geralt has actually a little different face shape, but in terms of quality it is the same. And it is not Hairworks but standard hair. I reallly don't see reason to decrease quality of main, most important character.

 

[Mezziaz]

P.S. I agree that on Geralt there is no difference at all. Although check the conversation with Dijkstra in the 2014 gampley vid - Geralt in the clip was way more detailed. Or am I idealising it?

Yes, I know everything was pretty much perfect in the 35 minute demo.

Don't think there any changes done to his facial texture though, just way superior lighting and shaders.

 

[Sarcen]

does anyone know if you spawn a player geralt or ciri if they have high quality as well, or if its just the main one you are controlling? (what I'm wondering if it might somehow be something inside the player entity files that we can turn on)

 

[Mezziaz]

does anyone know if you spawn a player geralt or ciri if they have high quality as well, or if its just the main one you are controlling?

Spawn as NPC/companion = Low quality

Player controlled = High quality