AsymFaces - Dawntrail Edition

SQUARE ENIX - base 3D head models & textures
spiswel (myself) - extracting assets, 3D editing, texture editing, resources compiling, overhaul of the UVs & topology of Vanilla Bites
Kartoffels (Kart) - base face texture upscales
ulli - original Vanilla Bites (DT) teeth models & resources

---- IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ (!) ----
As of 7.x, this mod uses custom-named materials (FAC_ASYM) and human-readable texture pathing conventions for each face.
In accordance with the original vanilla assets' distribution, certain textures like masks are shared between different faces in order to lighten mod size & improve performance.
Please use PENUMBRA's race or character-specific mod collections system for further splitting how different races look.

The core pathing is as follows :

chara/asymfaces/GENDER_RACE_[FACE_]TEXTYPE.tex

Note every component is written in LOWERCASE letters
with NO special characters like hyphens - or apostrophes ‘ and NO spaces in any of them in the entire path.
---
[GENDER] = character model's gender
- male
- female

[RACE] = character’s race identifier, between :
- midlander
- highlander
- elezen
- miqote
- roegadyn
- lalafell
- aura
- hrothgar
- viera

[FACE] (optional) = for unique textures that aren't shared with other faces in the same race/gender, such as base & normal maps.
lowercase 'f', standing for 'face', followed by the character's facetype number identifier as follows :
- f001 - f004 (first clan ie Raen, Wildwood, Seawolf etc)
- f101 - f104 (second clan ie Xaela, Duskwight, Hellsguard etc)
Please note that certain race/gender combos reuse assets across multiple faces, such as Roegadyn Males - and mask maps are very often shared for all faces of that race/gender.
FOR HROTHGARS OF BOTH GENDERS : player characters materials' use numbers 005-008 and 105-108 in the vanilla game files, however this framework respects the 001-004 and 101-104 convention for them still out of QOL concerns.
Most race/gender combos have 4 face choices, but Hyur Midlanders (both genders) have 6 distinct face choices. Note Midlander Male F5 & F7 also share most of their texture set as they are the same face with stubble.

[TEXTYPE] = type of texture, identified between :
- base
- norm
- mask
Some textures as of DT have changed names but still have the same function.
Formerly "Diffuse" maps are now named "base" and formerly "Multi/Specular" textures are now named "mask" in the game files.
"Normal" maps are still simply abbreviated as "norm".

--------- WHAT IS ASYMFACES? ---------
A large collection of framework mods by me (Spiswel) implementing full asymmetry support for all player characters, namely by replacing the characters' 3D face models & 2D face textures with asym ones.
Updates regularly and currently supports all playable races, genders and face model choices as of the 7.x Dawntrail expansion.

This large-scale project, mods and associated resources therein are provided freely and as-is to the community. The author accepts thank-you donations through their Kofi page for those willing to show their support but they are not required.

The intents of these frameworks are to
- provide robust yet versatile bases, both for immediate use as-is and for a number of additional face options, such as common popular choices for teeth/horns/scales/ears
- provide fully documented DIY resources for both users & creators
- provide a community-friendly workflow that allows the addition of extra features to faces more easily
- encourage DIY, derivative works and creative expression among users & creators

This project is NOT meant as an alternative to, or as a replacement to other mods replacing the vanilla face models or textures, such as
- 3D teeth and horns
- sculpts
- vanilla make-ups, freckles and face scales mods
Any such mods created for regular vanilla faces WILL NOT WORK with AsymFaces out of the box. With that in mind, it is 100% possible to modify such mods and make them compatible with AsymFaces through DIY.
The author strongly encourages creators and users alike to do so if they are able to.

Starting with the Dawntrail 7.x edition of this project and going forward, all updates, changelogs and other iterations to this project and its sub-entries will be posted under a single modpage in order to create a single point of reference and link for the entire project. This change is to mainly make it easier for others to find, refer to and share with the rest of the community.
The old pages for each separate race/gender entry for the older versions created through 5.x-6.x have all been taken down since this project has now fully updated to 7.x Dawntrail.

--------- PERMISSIONS (Dec 9 2024) ---------

Public edits & derivatives - OK
Private edits & derivatives (ie "server exclusive" and other hidden or non public content) - OK
Paid Private edits & derivatives (ie offering & seeking commissions) - OK
Temporary Paywalls - OK + READ BELOW
Commercial Profits, reuploads, reselling, claiming as your own - NO
Vaulted (permanently paywalled) edits & derivatives - NO
Unsure - ASK THE AUTHOR

ABOUT TEMPORARY PAYWALLS
Permanently paywalled (vaulted) works are not allowed.
Early Access-style and temporarily paid mods (such as Patreons, Ko-Fi memberships, etc) are allowed.
However, these temporarily paid works MUST be made available to the general public for free eventually.
A period of grace of up to SIX (6) MONTHS will be observed before considering works to be "permanently paywalled."

"Server-exclusive" and other private, VIP or otherwise hidden contents are not considered public and fall under Private and/or Temporary Paywalled content permissions.

--------- CONTENTS ---------
AsymFaces as a project appears as a general folder with multiple "sub entries" pertaining to each specific race & gender covered.
These sub-entries folders contain the basic framework install for that race/gender along with the associated entry-specific addons and related changelogs, as well as its library of 2D & 3D resource files. The changelogs on this modpage will refer to these sub entries and don't pertain to the general progress of this project.

⚠ ⚠ ⚠ At the time of this writing due to time limitations & vastly increased difficulty in time required to implement 3D modded teeth options properly, all releases will only offer vanilla teeth for the models. Custom 3D teeth choices will be reintroduced at a later date once groundwork has been done on all races. ⚠ ⚠ ⚠

Additional teeth combinations & baseline options WILL NOT BE ADDED to the basic installation modpacks in the future, as doing so would increase exponentially the workload needed for the creation & update of new addons for each race within the project.
Instead, users desiring alternative teeth variants not already packed inside the modpacks directly should OPEN THE BLENDER DEVKITS FOR THE RACE THEY WANT to *export for themselves any new face model variants with the wanted different Vanilla Bites options, allowing choosing which teeth models and/or additional alterations to export with it.

Additionally, number of races sub-entries may offer additional model variants on top of the basic vanilla features such as
- alternative scale colors & 3D horn shapes choices (horn roulette)
- alternative ear shapes (pointed ears etc)
- alternative 3D facial hair or other miscellaneous facial feature options (beards, garlean eye etc)
These addons will offer the same teeth choices described above as the basic installations.

--------- USER FEEDBACK AND BUG REPORTS ---------
Users are STRONGLY encouraged to give the author (Spiswel) their feedback and suggestions as to what popular options for new addons for XYZ races would be, and to send detailed bug reports for this project via any channels they see fit (XMA, Discord etc) should they find any. Below is a suggested template for bug reports information.

1 - RACE/GENDER + MOD VERSION : which race/gender entry(ies) is/are concerned + the version of the mod you're currently using
2 - CLAN + FACE NUMBER(S) : which sub-clan you play and which face(s) the bug appears on
3 - USER SETTINGS : which settings you use on the mod if any - if the same bug appears through multiple options, list them all
4 - OTHER MODS : list here all your other mods that affect the character's face textures or models, such as horns, teeth, sculpts, makeups, eyes, etc
5 - BUG DESCRIPTION : a DETAILED (!!!) description of the bug, what it looks like and when it appears - including any information about what you tried to fix it and whether any worked

Sharing the knowledge of the project or derivative works related to it online, on social media and/or tagging the author about them is also encouraged and highly appreciated.

--------- TECHNICAL ---------
Only the parts for the face, ears, horns and horn accessories have been altered, all other parts have been intentionally left 100% untouched such as :
- eye meshes (use IRI_A mtrl/tex)
- eyebrows, eyelashes & associated jewelry/tattoo toggles (use ETC_A mtrl/texs)
Note as of the Dawntrail expansion, the separate mesh for the RPR eyes no longer exist as part of the face models. Instead they are handled directly by the game engine itself, using a shared combination of shaders and textures applying itself automatically to all face models.
As such, 7.x vanilla and modded RPR eyes should work out of the box with AsymFaces.

Finally, the parts of the models for the inside of the mouth, tongue and teeth for all options are UV-mapped to the right hand side of the face textures provided by default.

--------- GUIDES AND RESOURCES ---------

AsymFaces Tools (Photoshop 2021+ Action) : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ez7pg2qnkUXgyqZFtRQ71fnDEy963TIc/view?usp=sharing
Simple Photoshop macros to quickly unmirror a face texture of choice (Base/Mask or Normal) - please note only the Diffuse/Mask macro works reliably at this time, I haven't figured out yet how to fix the normal map one since Dawntrail ⚠

(6.x) AsymFaces - Master Documentation : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IyTJdXU4A1QrpnKuGBjZ_H2VOT4e-d0OXO7gotfCSt0/edit?usp=sharing This guide is partially in need of updates since Dawntrail but should still majorly be accurate

(6.x) AsymFaces - DIY & 3D Creator Guide : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q7zwFx9RpY_kRZHq2EvFE6lP1s1DGySN_gsYpA3SAIQ/edit?usp=sharing This guide is partially in need of updates since Dawntrail but should still majorly be accurate

(6.X OBSOLETE) How To AsymEyes : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d-IgLD6kVcSjcaj6u1zqUf1PMn3A4by_0J1H1K6Mdc8/edit?usp=sharing This guide is currently defunct. It is only left up for archiving purposes and needs remaking after Atramentum Luminis for Dawntrail is released.

Pre-7.0 legacy releases of AsymFaces : https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gexuDucL56amyzuZkgVROm--YNxvoZN3&usp=drive_fs
Please note these works are completely defunct as of 7.0 Dawntrail and are only left up for archiving purposes.

--------- CONTACT ---------
@Discord : spiswel
BlueSky : https://bsky.app/profile/orchestrion.bsky.social
Ko-Fi : https://ko-fi.com/spiswel