...Okay, so now the program is called, "uMod," but same diff. The point is, uMod is a program that allows one to mod a variety of Direct X based games with great ease, and without any alteration of the game's program files themselves. And while the general stance is that we're not going to add mods willy-nilly as a requirement to play on this server, it would be fully permissible for users to make custom, cosmetic mods and pass it around to other users.
So that's what I'm hoping to do- make some simple mods here that would add a bit of flavor to CotH. Fix a glaring issue in the texture of otherwise grand equipment, tailor some gear to guild tastes, and maybe fix some of those God-awful hair textures, etc.
What I'm not looking to do is turn the world visually topsy-turvy or irreparably change unique items to suit the interests of a single character. Unless agreed on by the majority of users of such a mod, all changes would strive to maintain the color and "feel" of the original equipment. Blue hoods would remain blue, spooky shields would remain spooky, etc.
Special attention would need to be paid to be sure that any texture modified for the purpose of one model would not adversely affect the appearance of others.
For Mac Users:
One thing to note is that, to my knowledge, uMod and its mods are incompatible with the Mac client because that uses OpenGL rather than Direct X, but WineHQ reports it to be fully compatible with Wine. This means that Mac users should be able to use the PC version on their Mac, as long as they have an Intel computer and at least Tiger.
Useful links:
uMod
And informative article about WoW models and their limitations
A uMod tutorial to get you familiar with what the program does
Suggestions/Requests open!
A mod is no fun if there's no content!
General suggestions are for making changes that would affect all instances of an item to either make an object more relevent to roleplay, (Making a shield with the Lordaeron crest blue) or to just to be a general improvement. (Like smoothing out aweful hair textures) Though texture edits can be made to pretty much anything in the game with uMod, unless there's just something in the environment that just needs to be changed, I'm going to be focusing on equipment. Items which, when the texture is edited, show up that way for everyone include weapons/shields/held items, pauldrons, helmets and capes.
Many item glows are also able to be removed!
Many items, especially vanilla weaponry, are pretty generic, and adding details that are either neutral or are lore-relevent (putting a bird on a shield, or putting the Ironforge emblem on an axe) are generally welcomed.
But because of the universal effects of these items, I'm reluctant to mod them to be tailored to the tastes of an individual. I mean, adding blood runes to those pauldrons may work for a Death Knight, but not so much for the Blood Night who also uses them for their ensemble. Items that are visual duplicates but don't share the same textures may be candidates for being edited for guild tastes, as that is within the interests of several people.
Some other ideas for these general changes are for items that seem to never otherwise be used, or have features that could be used in new ways, especially with transparency. For example, I've been experimenting with those silly, high collar priest head items, hoping that they might wrap around the entire neck and possible serve as a model for Kidnapped collars. Making the antlers on some druid helms transparent also seems like a possibility, as RPing with antlers isn't really a thing on CotH and we could always use more nice hood models. Feel free to think outside the box!
As for Personal Requests, well, uMod perceives WoW character textures in a very interesting way. Instead of thinking "this model is displaying texture X, Y and Z, layered over each other in a certain way" It seems to think "The values for items X, Y and Z are assigned to this model. Clearly, Blizzard are very patient people and made a texture for every face, skin and armor texture combination imaginable. The texture here is therefore: beard#1-Skin#2-face#4-hair#5-shirtX-pantsY-bootsZ."
This may make uMod seem a bit dumb, but God bless it for this, because this means that, short of the unlikely event in which another character has the same race, gender, skin tone, facial feature and hair color, on top of having the exact same outfit, (other than the aforementioned pauldrons, cape, helm, and held equipment) you can alter the texture of a character to your heart's content without affecting anyone else's gear, with essentially the entire character model being a blank canvas. Keep in mind, though, that the geosets (shape of boots, gloves, etc) are still dependent on the character's base set, and the lower half of the tabards are not individually moddable and still rely on the content of the chest area of the character texture, due to the model UVs.
Some good ideas for custom details
Scars
Tattoos
Lack of eyes (hint hint, for all you demon hunters)
Runes, emblems and rust on armor
customizing the affect of eye glows (reflected light on the face could make them seem brighter, a yellow tint would suggest a female druid with a pale, amber glow)
Customize Forsaken bone color
Customize forsaken features/ give ghostlight-less characters more features options
Making facial features softer or harder, more youthful or aged
custom tabards
Manly manly draenic chest hair
nail polish (possibly removal, for blood elves)
Jewelry
Changing the color of existing gear
Combining details of existing gear
Putting clearly suitable, but mechanically unavailable gear on a character (such as blatantly cloth-ie Druid or Shaman gear)
sticking a small dagger in your characters' boots
Ghouls looking especially ghoulie
Removal of the gold Draenei rings
Some more difficult or unlikely to be included ideas
A, from-scratch, entirely new set of armor (You're free to do it yourself, but I'm not)
textures indended primarily for /adult use
Using textures of armor that appears to be of an off-limits type (no putting your priest in full plate, K?)
Things that are not lore friendly (srsly, guiz)
Ideas that can't be done
Asymmetrical anything (That's just how WoW works, sorry)
transparency (shows up as black on the model)
custom hair, (Other than eyebrows, a close shaven facial hair and the roots of hair)
Modifying eye glow effects
Editing of Tauren horns and tails? (seems to be the "hair" geoset of the Tauren, and it uses a universal texture)
What I need for character customization
-A picture of the character at the login screen with a plain view of their hair, skin and face
-A list of the exact names of all of their equipment, other than pauldrons, cape, helmet and held gear
-A clear description of what you'd like done to your character
To Do
Fix hair for all the Vanilla races.
So that's what I'm hoping to do- make some simple mods here that would add a bit of flavor to CotH. Fix a glaring issue in the texture of otherwise grand equipment, tailor some gear to guild tastes, and maybe fix some of those God-awful hair textures, etc.
What I'm not looking to do is turn the world visually topsy-turvy or irreparably change unique items to suit the interests of a single character. Unless agreed on by the majority of users of such a mod, all changes would strive to maintain the color and "feel" of the original equipment. Blue hoods would remain blue, spooky shields would remain spooky, etc.
Special attention would need to be paid to be sure that any texture modified for the purpose of one model would not adversely affect the appearance of others.
For Mac Users:
One thing to note is that, to my knowledge, uMod and its mods are incompatible with the Mac client because that uses OpenGL rather than Direct X, but WineHQ reports it to be fully compatible with Wine. This means that Mac users should be able to use the PC version on their Mac, as long as they have an Intel computer and at least Tiger.
Useful links:
uMod
And informative article about WoW models and their limitations
A uMod tutorial to get you familiar with what the program does
Suggestions/Requests open!
A mod is no fun if there's no content!
General suggestions are for making changes that would affect all instances of an item to either make an object more relevent to roleplay, (Making a shield with the Lordaeron crest blue) or to just to be a general improvement. (Like smoothing out aweful hair textures) Though texture edits can be made to pretty much anything in the game with uMod, unless there's just something in the environment that just needs to be changed, I'm going to be focusing on equipment. Items which, when the texture is edited, show up that way for everyone include weapons/shields/held items, pauldrons, helmets and capes.
Many item glows are also able to be removed!
Many items, especially vanilla weaponry, are pretty generic, and adding details that are either neutral or are lore-relevent (putting a bird on a shield, or putting the Ironforge emblem on an axe) are generally welcomed.
But because of the universal effects of these items, I'm reluctant to mod them to be tailored to the tastes of an individual. I mean, adding blood runes to those pauldrons may work for a Death Knight, but not so much for the Blood Night who also uses them for their ensemble. Items that are visual duplicates but don't share the same textures may be candidates for being edited for guild tastes, as that is within the interests of several people.
Some other ideas for these general changes are for items that seem to never otherwise be used, or have features that could be used in new ways, especially with transparency. For example, I've been experimenting with those silly, high collar priest head items, hoping that they might wrap around the entire neck and possible serve as a model for Kidnapped collars. Making the antlers on some druid helms transparent also seems like a possibility, as RPing with antlers isn't really a thing on CotH and we could always use more nice hood models. Feel free to think outside the box!
As for Personal Requests, well, uMod perceives WoW character textures in a very interesting way. Instead of thinking "this model is displaying texture X, Y and Z, layered over each other in a certain way" It seems to think "The values for items X, Y and Z are assigned to this model. Clearly, Blizzard are very patient people and made a texture for every face, skin and armor texture combination imaginable. The texture here is therefore: beard#1-Skin#2-face#4-hair#5-shirtX-pantsY-bootsZ."
This may make uMod seem a bit dumb, but God bless it for this, because this means that, short of the unlikely event in which another character has the same race, gender, skin tone, facial feature and hair color, on top of having the exact same outfit, (other than the aforementioned pauldrons, cape, helm, and held equipment) you can alter the texture of a character to your heart's content without affecting anyone else's gear, with essentially the entire character model being a blank canvas. Keep in mind, though, that the geosets (shape of boots, gloves, etc) are still dependent on the character's base set, and the lower half of the tabards are not individually moddable and still rely on the content of the chest area of the character texture, due to the model UVs.
Some good ideas for custom details
Scars
Tattoos
Lack of eyes (hint hint, for all you demon hunters)
Runes, emblems and rust on armor
customizing the affect of eye glows (reflected light on the face could make them seem brighter, a yellow tint would suggest a female druid with a pale, amber glow)
Customize Forsaken bone color
Customize forsaken features/ give ghostlight-less characters more features options
Making facial features softer or harder, more youthful or aged
custom tabards
Manly manly draenic chest hair
nail polish (possibly removal, for blood elves)
Jewelry
Changing the color of existing gear
Combining details of existing gear
Putting clearly suitable, but mechanically unavailable gear on a character (such as blatantly cloth-ie Druid or Shaman gear)
sticking a small dagger in your characters' boots
Ghouls looking especially ghoulie
Removal of the gold Draenei rings
Some more difficult or unlikely to be included ideas
A, from-scratch, entirely new set of armor (You're free to do it yourself, but I'm not)
textures indended primarily for /adult use
Using textures of armor that appears to be of an off-limits type (no putting your priest in full plate, K?)
Things that are not lore friendly (srsly, guiz)
Ideas that can't be done
Asymmetrical anything (That's just how WoW works, sorry)
transparency (shows up as black on the model)
custom hair, (Other than eyebrows, a close shaven facial hair and the roots of hair)
Modifying eye glow effects
Editing of Tauren horns and tails? (seems to be the "hair" geoset of the Tauren, and it uses a universal texture)
What I need for character customization
-A picture of the character at the login screen with a plain view of their hair, skin and face
-A list of the exact names of all of their equipment, other than pauldrons, cape, helmet and held gear
-A clear description of what you'd like done to your character
To Do
Fix hair for all the Vanilla races.
![[Image: nIapRMV.png?1]](http://i.imgur.com/nIapRMV.png?1)
![[Image: a7KvoWr_460sa_v1.gif]](http://d3dsacqprgcsqh.cloudfront.net/photo/a7KvoWr_460sa_v1.gif)
![[Image: tumblr_nfm4t0FZcT1rtcd58o1_r1_500.gif]](https://33.media.tumblr.com/3291026593060f4cddcea972b198a89e/tumblr_nfm4t0FZcT1rtcd58o1_r1_500.gif)
![[Image: Ag6tY.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/Ag6tY.jpg)
![[Image: bDCA4.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/bDCA4.jpg)