“So… whatcha doing?  Working on the Cloak of Gray Tomorrow more?” – Kitty
Yeah. Just doing some small tweaks to it now.  I think it’s almost done, but I have a couple things I can’t fix.

“Show me.” – Kitty
Well first there’s that section between the hood and the dust cloak that’s open.
“Oh, the boob window?  I thought that was cute!” – Kitty
Me too – but it’s not cannon.

“You know, if you’d taken Kaz’s advice and ‘learned to mesh’, you could fix that.” – Kitty
I know.  But you’d have been old and grey by then.

“With THIS body? Never! What else?” – Kitty
Well – the cloak has a clear red inner liner.  I’ve not figured out yet how to paint the INSIDE different from the outside.
“Oh, you’ll figure out some way.  Anything else?” – Kitty

Well, I’d like to use the normal map and raise those triangley-thingies to make them look more like separate clo… HEY! What’s that outfit?
“What, this?  Oh, it’s just something I got from Whiterun.  You like?” – Kitty
Me like!  But it’s not cannon either.
“Cannon my butt – it’s gorgeous and you know it.  Now let me try on the cloak again or I’ll scratch your eyes out.” – Kitty

OK OK! Sheath those claws.  Here you go.

“How do I look?” – Kitty
Sexy as always.  Love the shoes by the way!
“Thanks.  So, what did you change?” – Kitty
I told you it wasn’t much.  Cleaned up some neck issues mostly and added that little red button in the middle of the clasp.
I tried to get rid of the old clasp completely but…

“But you didn’t learn how to mesh.” – Kitty
Well… yeah.
“Hey – it may not be cannon, but >I< like it.  If you can get that inner color changed, I’ll be satisfied.” – Kitty

And it’s all about satisfying you, right?

“I’d like to think it’s mutual.” – Kitty
Hey, you’re warping the mesh!

I’ve not been idle dear followers!  But it is awfully important for me to pick the right starting place for the Cloak of Gray Tomorrow – or, as I’ve decided to call it officially, the Festive Holiday Disaster outfit (which is also better because it describes the whole outfit, not just the cloak). 

Ok, so when last I left FHD, I was trying to decide on what to start the base with.  I wasn’t happy with Cloaks of Skyrim though, primarily because that mod didn’t really wrap around the front much and, from most views, the front is the most important part.  Well, guess what I found?  Check it out:

THAT is just the front I needed!  That mod is 

Imperial Investigator Armor UNP – UNPB by Calyps and can be found here – http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/19377/?

Just the top blue part here – known as the Dust Cloak by Calyps.  Not the underlying outfit.  But of course it has no cape.  But what if I can combine it with a cape from Cloaks of Skyrim?  http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/12092/?

Fortunately, even without modding, I can already start putting pieces together, which I’ve done on this lovely Khajiit (shying away from the Katia Managan model now.  I honestly think this is prettier even if she doesn’t look much like Katia)  Let’s call her Kitty.  Yeah, I’m not very imaginative today. Here’s Kitty with the Dust Cloak and Investigator outfit in a green tone:

Now, this mod uses the base body UNP/UNPB.  I’m not personally a big fan of UNP  If nothing else, her waist is just TOO thin for me.  This will be important to note in a moment.

Enjoy it while you can – now it begins to go downhill – but not too badly to be redeemed by mod work I don’t think.  So, now let’s add a green Cloak from Cloaks of Skyrim:

Definitely potential here.  Granted there’s some clipping around the shoulders.  That may not be fix-able much, but if they were both the exact shade and texture, it may not be all that bad.

Imagine, if you will, the front of the cloak cut with my transparency-scissors a bit below the clasp and curving downward across the shoulders to join with the cloak in the back.  It’s so crazy it Just Might Work.  Now though, let’s throw a standard Redguard outfit underneath instead of the Investigator outfit (that’s made for the UNP body while this Redguard outfit is using the CHSBHC body):

Yeah – clipping just got nasty.  Granted CHSBHC does have big boobs.  Yet the waist is reasonable.  And to make matters worse, she is at MINIMUM weight here.  On the plus side, if I take my transparency scissors and cut away most of the front for the Festive Holiday Disaster curve, MOST of the clipping goes away anyway as there’s no material there anyway.  Plus, I don’t NEED to keep the CHSBHC body anyway.  I can revert to a more normally-curved one.

Perceptive followers may also be asking, “Uh… dude.  Tail?”  Yeah, there’s that too.  Cloaks of Skyrim by default remove the tails when worn by Argonians and Khajiits.  But fortunately there’s a fix for that.  Plus using transparency-scissors I can cut the back “vent” up to tail level so it doesn’t appear to be poking out of a perfectly placed hole (clipping really).

SO!  I think I’ve got a good base here at LEAST for the actual Cloak.  Now, one downside.  Calyps, author of the Dust Cloak and Investigator mods, isn’t terribly keen on allowing mashup mods like mine to use his stuff.  I can do whatever I want with it personally, but he would have to approve it’s use to be made public.   No need to sweat that now, but before I could allow others to use the end result mod, I’ll need to get his approval.  Maybe I can organize a write in campaign to overwhelm him with requests to let me use it though!   But at very worst, I can still use it personally and do screenshots.  I think it’s worth the risk – that front is just PERFECT.

Ok, I know this was long.  Next up, trying to mash together the Dust Cloak and a Cloak of Skyrim into a single piece.  Hope I remember how!