Dismembering Framework: New Features / Experimental Developments

Hello everyone,

It’s been a while since I’ve shared any updates, and I apologize for the silence. As many of you may have noticed, the mod has received several stability updates since its official release on Nexus Mods. I feel confident in saying that there are no longer any major or intermediate bugs, meaning the mod is now in a very stable state.

As previously mentioned, there are plenty of new features and improvements planned around the framework, and I fully intend to work on them. In fact, two crucial points are currently under development:

1. A Reliable Alternative for Decapitations

The first point concerns the development of a reliable alternative to the game’s decapitation feature. Right now, decapitations of humanoid NPCs aren’t fully handled by the framework because the unique nature of each face presents a significant challenge. While the base game already has a function for decapitation (as seen in certain kill moves), it suffers from several visual, physical, and even stability-related issues, particularly in modded playthroughs (frequent CTDs).

The most practical and reliable solution at the moment seems to be leveraging the framework’s functionalities to replace the game’s original decapitation function through the use of custom assets. I’ve been working for some time now on creating assets capable of dynamically adapting to the appropriate skin tone and hair color in real-time. The framework will receive new features to better analyze the NPC’s face in order to generate an asset that closely resembles the expected result. This is a lengthy process, but it’s proving to work quite effectively.

The only downside is that the faces won’t be exactly identical to the original actors, but I plan to include several visual effects to help mitigate this difference. This approach will also allow the use of specific assets in cases where a blunt weapon is used instead of a blade, as is currently the case.

2. Experimental Dismemberment Algorithm

The second point is far more experimental. It stems from research aimed at allowing more extensive dismemberment than just arms or legs. So far, this research has led to the development of an algorithm that runs parallel to the one currently used by the framework. Currently, the framework relies on custom assets to enable dismemberment of any type of actor.

This new method, however, is based on instantly duplicating the actor’s physical form while manipulating the necessary nodes. In simple terms, this approach doesn’t require any assets to achieve dismemberment (though a few stump models would be a nice addition, I imagine). While this method is far more technically demanding and heavier than the current one, it’s the only way to allow dismemberment while preserving a perfect replica of the actor being dismembered.

Both methods can coexist without issue (as demonstrated in the preview), meaning it’ll be possible to chop up larger pieces into even smaller ones! ;)

That said, I’ll need several weeks (perhaps even a few months) to develop something stable and reliable.

What’s Next?

These two projects will follow the same process as the development of the framework. I will be releasing alpha and beta versions regularly for those who are interested in testing and supporting the development. This approach proved to be incredibly beneficial last time, as it allowed me to fix and improve a lot of aspects before the official release, thanks to your feedback. Without your support, I would likely have had to scramble to fix a lot of issues post-release.

Creature Asset Creation

As for the creation of assets for creatures, this is still very much on the agenda. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the time to dive into it yet, as I prioritized working on the stability of the mod before jumping headfirst into that. However, I plan to gradually return to this project in tandem with the upcoming mod that will improve decapitation handling.

Thank you again for your continued support and patience!