Pose and Character Refresh Project (Patreon)

Hi all, I would like to announce a big project that I have begun work on. Its something that I have been putting off for half a year, but the workload will only compound if I leave it longer so I might as well confront it. This is going to be a long  post for the sake of transparency to those who wish to know the details, so I have bolded out the important bits for those who just want a TLDR.

There are three projects that I will be working on for the next two to three release cycles (30-45 days), during which, I will not be putting out any new pose packs, however I will be adding variations to existing pose packs as I go through and update/reiterate each of them. The three projects are:

• Pose Refresh
• Create VNGE Library
• HS2 Character Refresh

Pose Refresh:

I have been unhappy with the file structure of my pose folders and have wanted to rearrange things. I have also been unhappy with the quality of my very first poses and want to revise them and rename them. Doing any of this would mess up things on your end, as I cannot reach over and delete the redundant folders from your PC. Given this fact, I know that if I want to clean house, it would have to be for the ENTIRE pose library at the same time.

My aim is to make the process as painless for you as possible. You will simply delete the entire "Freelancer604" folder and replace it with a new one. A side effect of this is that I will finally clean up and provide all poses in a single package. This convention will remain in place going forward (meaning no more need to go back to each post to get the poses you missed).

Here is an example of one of my first poses which I have reworked. I have learned a lot in the last two years and will be bringing my first sets of poses up to par:

I am currently working through the 'Stand Model' and 'Cute' pose folders and have already created several new variations of old poses to round out the collection. Here are a few examples (subject to change):

Given that the library has grown to something like 400+ poses and every single one will need some level of work done on it three times over (for HS2 then HS/PH then Koi), I estimate that the whole project will take 2-3 release cycles as mentioned earlier. I hope that you can forgive me for the drought in new content! I do not anticipate interruption to releases for HS2 characters or exclusive poses.

Though, that being said, patrons will be provided with a working library that mirrors the current state of my own on each release cycle (15 days), so they will get access to the new variations and poses in their various updated forms and directories.

Koikatsu: Koi users please note that you may not see any update until the 2nd or 3rd cycle, given my workflow... however, you will see the greatest net gain in the number of poses in the end, as there are many poses from the early days that I never got around to converting for Koi.

I haven't really attempted something on this scale before so the work time may lengthen or shorten, 3 cycles is just a guess.

Patron Portal for Current WIP Build Download

New VNGE Library:

All this work goes hand in hand with the inclusion of VNGE files. Speaking of which, here are my conclusions from the recent poll:

Going forward, I will release the following file formats for each game:

HS1: DAT, VNGE
HS2: DAT, VNGE
Koi: PNG
Playhome: VNGE

The 'DAT' format is illusion's default. I will start building up the VNGE libraries in parallel with my pose refresh project and will be releasing it when the entire project is complete.

As a result of this effort, Playhome users will finally have access to all of my past and future poses in an easily usable format and HS2/1 users will be able to access my poses from the VNGE UI.

My poses will be found under the "Freelancer604 'group' and be sorted via tags such as Stand and Seated, similar to how it has been done on this patreon.

HS2 Character Refresh:

As stated in my previous update, we will be moving to take advantage of the new NGS3 and associated shaders for our character cards. All future HS2 character releases will come with an NGS3 variant. NGS2 cards will be discontinued but existing ones will remain available.

Required Mods for NGS3 cards:

Next-Gen Skin Shader 3
Next-Gen Skin Textures
Next-Gen Eyes
Next-Gen Tongue (free)

Of course we will not be leaving our old cards in the dust. I will be updating all of my existing HS2 cards with the new shaders. This introduces a problem with regards to the limited time card variants that have since expired.. As I cannot realistically dispense each expired limited-time card to everyone who had access to them in their respective release windows, I will be making all of the limited-time HS2 cards and their new NGS3 counterparts available on their respective pages as I complete them. The closing date for these revived cards will be announced at the end of month update, when I have a better idea of when all the characters will be processed. Please note that not all of my HS2 cards had limited-time companion cards to begin with!

Here is a list of the characters that I have converted so far. Their download pages have been updated with the new cards:

• Nina
• Jean
• Eunji
• Lilly
• Rose
• Grace
• Ivy
• Gena
• Eve
• Lyra
• Trinity
• Lizzy
• Faith
• Truth
• Helen
• Cindy

Why is NGS3 worth it? Because it allows for the benefits of supple, life-like skin without most of the downsides that were present with NGS2. NGS3 is actually usable in most lighting conditions, and does not mask the details on facial textures as badly as NGS2 did.

Wow this will be a lot of work, I regret everything!