I was wondering if somebody could explain how I go about making a custom EffectShader?

What I want to do is make an actor into either a corundum or dwemer-metal statue. In my previous attempts, no matter what, the best I could do was turn my actor black.

As always, any help is greatly appreciated

- Hypno

Anybody?

- Hypno

All I can say is look at vanilla ones. You can apply textures, coloring, and other things over your character. You can make them emit light, textures, etc. You can tweak coloring and a whole bunch of other things. Look at a vanilla effect, and try to piece together what you need to do. (Probably apply a gold texture over your actor?)

Have you tried this as a magic effect? Cast a scripted spell with the http://www.creationkit.com/EffectShader_Script in it.

Cheers Antares, but I already knew how I'm going to apply the shader. It's just that when I first attempted this a while ago, the shader just kept coming out black. I must have missed a setting or something. I'm just going to have to do what AV suggested and have a butchers at a few vanilla ones.

I'm going to begin my search tomorrow, I just realised what the time was If anybody knows of a specific vanilla shader that only adds a texture (and maybe a bit of shine) that I could base mine off, it would be a great help

- Hypno

I know the Orc Berserk ability adds a blood splatter shader. Certainly you could copy that and simply change the texture to a simple golden/bronze sheen. You could probably even make it in gimp/photoshop real fast. Or there may be a vanilla texture you can use lightly. (Like some of the actual dwemer objects?)

http://imageshack.us/a/img402/4362/screenshot109y.png is a screenshot of my progress so far. Better then pitch black, but the shader is still too see through to make a convincing metal statue

http://imageshack.us/a/img189/7239/settingsscreen.png is a screenshot of the EffectShader settings. Anybody got an idea what needs changing to make the shader completely opaque? i have a feeling it has something to do with the four drop down boxes at the top (Source Blend Mode, Dest Blend Mode, Blend Operation and Z Test Function), but i haven't got a clue what they are

- Hypno

Last night I tried different combinations of those dropdown boxes for a few hours last night and I'm still no closer to getting this working. I wasn't expecting this to be such a struggle

After doing a bit of research, it seems the EffectShader window has been exactly the same since oblivion. Maybe asking in one of the other forums might bear more fruit?

When I get home from work tonight I might have a go at opening the Oblivion Construction Set and having a peek at the settings for the shader used in the vanilla player statue. Am I right in assuming that it should work the same in the skyrim engine?

- Hypno

When I fist figured out how to script well in Oblivion I got a little spammy with effectshaders on various objects. I think having a look around the CS is a good idea.

Your alpha ratio's are all 1.000. Wouldn't this make your Shader 100% transparent?

*EDIT: According to the wiki page a value of 1.000 is completely opaque (a little counterintuitive), nevertheless I would try adjusting this down to 0.75, 0.5 and 0.25 and seeing if it prompts any changes.

Also try Dest Blend mode: "Zero".

Just out of curiosity how are you actually applying the shader? A Magic Effect will need the FX Persist flag checked.

Cheers mate. I'll try out your suggestions first before I blow the cobwebs off the CS.

Hopefully I'll have this sorted by tonight. It was only meant to be a quick small mod. I wasn't expecting this to pose as much trouble as it has

- Hypno

I said exactly the same thing when I set out to remake my http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=oblivionmods.detail&id=4903 mod (Oblivion) for Skyrim. For the most part non-actors won't emit particles.

Just got home, going to unwind for a lil bit then time to dive into the CK! I'll keep this thread updated with any progress


Sorry mate, didnt clock this question earlier...There are no magic effects involved, its getting applied by script during the "creation process" of the player statue by using EffectShader.Play(PlayerStatue).

Am I right in saying that with all the time settings set to 0, the shader should play indefinitely until told to stop?

- Hypno

I'm not 100% sure, with respect to the color box's they either represent the initial effect or the persistent effect. I would recommend setting R to 255, 0.0000 and B to 255, 5.0000. That should give you a pretty clear picture of what is doing what.

After 4 Years of working with shaders (a LOT) I got very good at them in Oblivion. I was even able to make BLOOD effects that did not glow in the dark.
Skyrim shader tool is definitely not the same but is similar in many ways.

Download my Oblivion mod http://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/files/file/780-duke-patricks-combat-magic-ii-duke-patricks-incursion-into-fortress-of-fear/

If I remember correctly I used several Stone type shaders to make stone golem type creatures.
I also had a Oblivion mod that changes ALL the magic shaders to look more realistic rather than cartoon like.

As I said I got very good at it, but as an art form not a science!
So sorry I cannot just tell you do this and do that. You will need to look at my settings in my Oblivion mod and then do a lot of trial and error in skyrim. One interesting NEW thing they are doing is add SOUND files to the shaders in skyrim. So if you use a Skyrim shader as a base for your shader be careful of that.

http://imageshack.us/a/img534/9919/settingso.png
http://imageshack.us/a/img210/7312/screenshot110q.png



I went for a marble texture in the end. Doesn't look too bad in-game.

With the above settings, the alpha layer in the texture.dds file determines the shader's transparency (black = 100% see through, white = 100% opaque)

A massive thank you to everybody in this thread for all your help

- Hypno

EDIT: http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/4693/screenshot111h.png