Hello everyone,

I have finished converting the character creation presets into NPC templates, so you'll probably see them out in the wild with the next update. I still need to assign them to specific NPCs, or possibly create new NPCs to use them. There are currently 35 in total (28 for the 14 races and then 7 extras or alternates).

Additionally, I haven't yet decided whether to include in this mod or make a new one, but I will be adding a few hundred of the now-unused named Purge NPCs to spawn lists. You'll be able to find such illustrious NPCs as Mixmaster Festus, Thror Boozehound, Fric the Trapster and others out in the field, at your tavern, in cages, or from vendors. Something to look forward to, I suppose.

Thanks for reading,

Dread Swoop

@Wolfman Any thralls that have at least started the conversion process (so any in a Wheel of Pain, in an inventory, or placed in the world) will be unaffected by the mod. Thrall appearances are more or less a snapshot of the customization values they had when they were captured.

The purpose of this mod is to change the templates from which NPC appearances are generated, thus it will only ever affect new NPCs. While there are of course downsides to that, any old thrall appearances you actually like won't be obliterated by the mod, and removing the mod won't obliterate any of the new thrall appearances.

@Wolfman read the Q&A in the mod description. It answers your question there.

Does this change the appearance of thralls that have already been placed, or only newly spawned thralls/npcs?

I finally made the companion mod for Heritage and either of my hair color mods:

https://psteamcommunity.yuanyoumao.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3543675504

In short, it expands the selection of blonde hair for Aesir, Nordheimer, Hyborians, and Hyperboreans, as well as tawny / light brown hair for Hyborians and Hyperboreans.

I'll expand on it if and when the need arises.

Thank you,

Dread Swoop

Hello everyone,

The mod documentation guide is now up-to-date with regards to information, but I'm still going through and adding some extra lore details.

I re-did the images for each race on the mod page to better reflect the state of the mod after Update 3. Some characters are randomized like before while some of the character creation presets have been sprinkled in.

The new images use my True (Hair) Colors V2 mod. The Hyperboreans as well have a tawny hair color which they will not spawn with normally with this mod, they will require a small companion mod which I aim to have released tomorrow, barring any issues.

I hope to fix any errors from the last update soon, so if you've noticed anything out of place or have suggestions for a change to the mod, let me know.

Hope you enjoy,

Dread Swoop

Ultimately, I didn't get the races as distinct as I would've hoped, but I think on average the randomizer now produces better NPCs.

Some of the mod page images are likely no longer accurate, so I'm going to have to re-do them at some point (not right now).

Hello everyone,

Update 3 has been released. I would normally say to check the Change Notes, but they're too long! Check the Update Progress Log instead. Here's a brief summary:

* Most character creation presets have been changed by the mod (all but Himelians and Vendhyans). Some only had minor changes while others were changed significantly.

* Redesigned all of the randomized race templates. Lots of face slider adjustments and selection changes. Way too much to relay here.

* BUST PASS: Randomized female characters' bust sizes now vary based on race (likely controversial).

* Race templates have been made for Hyperboreans. They are little used at the moment, but have been added to select Jailors as well as the elusive Hyperborean armorers of the Exiles and Dogs.

Apologies for the delay, some stuff came up.

The biome lighting mod has just now been released, here's the link:

https://psteamcommunity.yuanyoumao.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3539687496

Love it. Looking forward to its release and the update.

Alright, I may be able to on Friday, as I will hopefully have the update for this mod ready to go by then.

Speaking of which, I'm a little over halfway through re-working the random templates, so I'm getting there. A couple templates are still giving me trouble (always the Zamorians), and a few CC presets still need to be finalized, but overall pretty good.

The design of the races (with regards to face sliders) has shifted away from 'minimum / maximum tolerable ranges for each value for the relevant head shapes' and instead is now more centered on the CC preset as an average. I think there's been improvement, but the random nature makes it difficult to be certain.

I second the request to release the lighting mod.

I think you should release it. Specially for single player people like me it'd be a god send. I personally avoid the south east area of the map because of the bad tinting there, and thats a shame cause Id love to put Yamatai Town or Khitan Town there. So yeah just put a big warning and do it !

@The Archivist

I've been personally using it for the past several months. I made it to change the lighting in the Jungle / Swamp as well as the Highlands, as I don't like whatever is going on with them in the base game. I also removed the orange / reddish tint from Sepermeru and the western oasis.

Those biomes should be much clearer like the Noob River and the desert. You can see some of the effect in a few of the images included in this mod. While not perfect, it does help a bunch for me.

The reasons I've held off on releasing that mod are two-fold:
* The only way I have figured out to change the lighting is to directly edit one of the map files
* There may be compatibility issues with other mods that edit the map (including big ones like AoC and EEWA)

Ultimately, so long as I make sure players will be informed, I'd be willing to make it public. I'll have to go through and make sure everything is as it should be first, though.

Ohz! Im super interested in this lighting mod you are secretly developing!

Hello everyone,

Work continues on the next update. While still a ways off, I am tentatively looking at an August 1st release.

I believe I have finalized the second version of the hair color mod, so I feel now I can properly set up Hyperborean templates. The color selection for them from Heritage will still be limited, but an optional add-on will be made to expand them, and additionally for Hyborians in general and Nordheimer (especially Aesir).

Thanks for reading,

Dread Swoop

@Public_Enema Can't be too careful, I'm sure you've seen some of the things people post in the game's Community Hub lol

* Will you warp the mod to satisfy my fetishes?


I'm guessing this happens more than you'd like... to the point that it's become part of the Faq. 🤣

I'm still tweaking some of the presets, probably spending too much time on too minute changes, but they are important to get right.

Overall I'm probably about halfway through what I want to do for the update, the remaining half will be pruning the race templates to be more distinct. But working on the presets has given me more inspiration as to how each race should look, so that will help going forward.

For the CC presets which were heavily re-done, I may also add the original appearances to some named NPCs, just to keep them around for whoever may be interested.

Cool! Thanks for the clarification, I was confused about those too. Looking forward to the next update either way, and should you ever make such another mod, I'll be sure to check it out! :)

@Sowilo I feel dumb, but I had forgotten that there was a randomization feature for CC until just recently. I must have visually tuned-out those buttons.

With that in mind, to address your earlier comment, the randomize function is purely random and does not take race into account. That being said, theoretically it could be made to select from certain selections or ranges for each race / sex combination. I think that would be pretty cool.

That would probably require adjusting or making a copy of the character creation blueprint, so it would be a more long-term project, possibly in its own mod depending on what needs to be adjusted. But that is something I'll consider doing in the future.

@Nickola Works Not yet, but that's the plan with the next update. Only for the racial presets though, not the customization options.

@Wurm That is a good point, and I ultimately decided on doing so. Some Conan-related sources agreed, some didn't specify, so looking to the real-world analogue would be the best option. That change will be coming in the next update as well.


Over the course of working on the presets, I have been reminded that Funcom recently broke the eye makeup selector for male characters, which is a bit of a pain if you don't want guyliner on your character. Fixing that problem is for another mod to handle, but at the very least the eyeliner can be removed from most of the male presets.

I guess this also affect the character customization, Interesting

Given that green eyes are a thing for the Nordheimers' real-life counterparts, I'd say yes.

I'm a bit over halfway through the first revision of the CC presets. Changes range from very minor to substantial. Zamorians in particular have changed dramatically, which brings its own issues, being that they are now very similar to the Vendhyans. I'll work something out with them.

I can also adjust the heights of the presets to the average for their race/sex. Funcom fixed the height-related hair / cloth physics bug some time ago, but some out-of-date mods re-introduce it. If that's something people are worried about, I can keep them at default.

And because I'm not entirely sure, should Nordheimer be able to have green eyes?

Thanks for reading,

Dread Swoop

Thanks for the update and your continued work on this, and looking forward to those presets! :)

Great work as always, Dread.

The span of time between this update and the next should be far shorter than the previous wait. Some additional changes like this update may be made (depending on feedback), and I do intend to adjust the character creation presets as well. I'll try and preserve as much of the existing looks as I can when it is feasible.

Hello everyone,

Update 2 has been released, albeit a bit smaller than I had envisioned. As always, check the Change Notes section for full details, Here's a brief summary:

* Eye makeup has returned to randomized Stygian males.

* Tightened skin color ranges from 3 to 2 selections for randomized Cimmerians, Zamorians, and Zingarans (slightly lighter on average as a result).

* Provided double weighting to certain head shapes for randomized Shemite males, Stygian females, and both Zingaran sexes (meaning they have a higher chance to appear).

* Minor selection adjustments to Zamorian female heads and hair, as well as Hyborian eyes.

This is representative of the kinds of changes I may be making to the mod in the near-future, constraining some excess variety within a racial group in an effort to enhance the distinction between groups.

Feedback and suggestions are always welcome.

Thanks for reading,


Dread Swoop

@Sowilo Thank you :)

I can certainly do the CC ones soon, though I probably won't have enough time to get those changes in by tomorrow since I plan on releasing an update then. But I intend on being more active in the future.

I've made adjustments to some of the random race templates, hopefully that doesn't throw off the balance. I'll do more testing and won't include anything I'm not content with.

The base game's CC presets are rather odd in that several deviate quite a bit from how they made the other members of that race appear in-game. I can't remember enough of the EA days to know if they once aligned, maybe they changed course midway-through and forgot to go back and change them.

Either way, as you say it's worth changing them for completeness' sake.

Since you asked for others to let you know in an earlier comment, if you still would be up to touchups/additions of the CC presets sometime, I think it'd be a great change for sake of completeness -- assuming I understand right, and that those are the presets that are used when you select starting race/gender and (I think?) that the random option is keyed off of.

I use IQOL for thrall customisation, and I sometimes use those options as a starting point for them. It would be great if they conformed to your mod's higher standards. Plus, it'd mean I could 'upgrade' older thralls to a look based on your new presets.

Your presets are all awesome improvements, and feel like how the game characters were meant to look. Plus, the fix of vanilla's slider-maximums-being-exceeded-bug is huge, and would be worth using this for even on its own. Thanks a lot for this mod!

Hello everyone,

I'm going to try and aim for an update release for the mod within a week from now, provided real-life permits it.

Randomized Stygian men will once again be able to spawn with eye makeup, that much is already resolved. The main focus will likely be shaving down / adjusting a couple customization options for some races to have each be more visibly distinct; variation within racial groups becomes less important when the number encountered at one time is relatively small.

I also planned on having Hyperboreans ready alongside a companion mod for True Hair Colors to ensure more tawny-haired options were available, but I haven't settled on colors yet, so they will be delayed until then.

Of course, if you have suggestions, feel free to leave them here or in the Feedback discussion tab.

Thanks for reading,

Dread Swoop

@Arual Yes, just about every NPC in the game should be affected.

Sepermeru is distinct in that it has a lot of NPCs in poses, and the poses are bugged so that the bones in the face become distorted. The talking and 'crossed-arms' emotes in particular cause the cheeks to expand. Perhaps that explains the issue you're experiencing.

There's also a base-game issue where primarily female NPCs appear with distorted face sliders, which are fixed upon turning them into a thrall or otherwise refreshing their appearance.

It's also possible that there's a mod conflict, but that seems rather unlikely because it would involve another mod overwriting the base race templates, or re-assigning copies of them to all NPCs.

should the npc's from Sepermeru be affected? Because i dont notice any difference..

1

@Yjorun I know what you mean with regards to the base game Zingarans. To be honest, they could probably do with being slightly lighter than they are in this mod. Howard described them as of a Shemite-adjacent native population (tan-skinned) intermixed with Picts (darker) and later Hyborians (lighter), so on balance likely similar in skin tone to most Mediterranean peoples.

The problem with the mod is that there are quite a few races which have dark hair and tan skin, so to differentiate them I made Zingarans slightly darker, but still lighter than Zamorians.

I have been considering some adjustments to the templates, but I have to try and balance variety within group with distinction between groups, which isn't always easy with the base customization options. I'll see what I can do.

Glad you're enjoying the mod!

@Yjorun I know, I feel the same way. This mods adds so much to the immersion.

'Course, Hyboria's Zingarans aren't a 1-to-1 analogue for the European Spanish, being the descendants of intermixing between Hyborians and Picts, taking some inspiration from the Hispanic peoples of central and south America being a mix of Spanish colonists and indigenous peoples. Just like how Conan's own people the Cimmerians are meant to be proto-Gaelic, so Celtis, yes, but not the super pale-skinned, red-haired Celts whose descendent we see today, but closer to the ancient neolithic peoples who lived in Ireland before the coming of the Beaker culture, who were dark haired and darker skinned (but still probably fairly pale compared to say, sub-Saharan Africans).

But you're right on the nose in that finally you can tell the difference between the different races without having to check an NPC's name or statblock.

Wow this is awesome, I'm Spanish my self and ♥♥♥♥ me dude, I cringed so hard every time I see a Zingarian in game but now it feels more like my kinsman, of course many of us are even whiter but at least now it doesn't looks like some copy paste of Darfari or Kushite.

Yippee, thx lovely.

@saph0704 I might have :P but I suppose you're right, it would fit them more (at least more than the other races).

I can change that for the next update, I may try and preserve an even ratio of no guyliner to guyliner, but I can certainly re-add it for them.

Hey, you at least left the guyliner for the Stygians, right?

@Grand Admiral Thrawn

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. If you mean adding the mod to an existing playthrough, then yes it will work, but any existing thralls you have will retain their old appearances, only newly spawned / acquired thralls will use the new appearance templates.

Is this mod save compatible?

@Soft-Hands I should specify that it would be a set of templates that NPCs use, not necessarily an option for players at character creation. But if people would want some touch-ups / additions to the CC presets with this mod, let me know!

Hyperboreans do come under the broad banner of Hyborian in the lore, as they were the first of the Hyborian kingdoms to be built. However, they are distinct in that they are closer to the original Hyborians (despite their penchant for foreign slave women) than most of their southern cousins, with the exception of the Gundermen who do not practice slavery or intermix with a conquered people. I also got the sense they're much taller on average than other Hyborians, but I'd have to look back and find the source.

Funcom set up some templates for Hyperboreans, but they're rarely used. I plan on expanding the coverage of those templates, particularly to Jailors due to the linkage of Hyperboreans and slavery, but to others where it makes sense.

Adding a selectable Hyperborean race would be AMAZING . They're my favourite Conan race apart from the Picts, but I always thought they just fell under Hyborian in-game.

Hello everyone,

The mod is working fine with the new game update on my end, so I assume it will for you, too.

My spare time has been preoccupied with other things recently, so I haven't been working on updates for the mod. That being said, I hope to resume progress fairly soon.

Some things I was interested in doing for the mod were the renovation and expansion of the Hyperborean race, which is almost completely unused, as well as a unified racial template for the Lemurian faction. We'll see what other things I become inspired to do.

Thanks for reading,

Dread Swoop

Any US servers running this mod?

Hello everyone,

Update 1 has been released. As always, check the Change Notes section for full details. Here's a brief summary:

* General race templates have been created for male and female Khitan. These will be used by the Headhunting event NPCs, as well as the exiles of Mek-Kamoses' Spire (the latter can be turned into thrall should you wish).

* New NPCs have received distinct appearance presets, including:
- Darfari Witch Doctor (male and female variants)
- Khalid the Maniac
- Master Carver Huang
- Zoara the Savior (replaced her older preset)
- Zoara of the Marshes (uses other Zoara's old preset)

* Conan is now several inches taller, befitting the legendary barbarian.

@Soft-Hands Thank you!

I go into some detail about the issue in the 'Load Orders and Incompatibilities' section. Essentially race template and sex weighting are tied for specific NPCs, so any NPC I change the template for (Aesir, Vanir Loysing, maybe Lemurians in the future, uniques, and so on) will no longer respect sex weighting changes made by other mods.

I knew some people might have an issue with it as it is outside the implicit scope of the mod (though as mentioned above not technically so), and because this version of the mod is for public use, it's worth getting the public's input for changes like that. I can customize my personal version of the mod however I see fit, so I'm not affected either way.

And in the future I will try and further refine each race. Howard didn't exactly give 'My Immortal' levels of description, so there's room for interpretation.

@Rowdy-03 I don't think there's a solution yet.

I haven't located where the issue is, but I believe it may be in one of the core character blueprint files, which even if found will be a pain to deal with.

My pre-Age of Sorcery installation doesn't have the problem, so Funcom must've introduced it between then and now. I'd hope Funcom addresses it in their bug-fixing initiative, but we'll see.