After you have your Overlays

If you've gotten here, well done! From here, I'd like to explain a few extra things you can/should do with your overlays, especially if you're converting an Endwalker one to Dawntrail.

1.  Use the loose texture compiler to convert your stuff. Yes I'm serious. Having overlays is wonderful, and makes using loose texture compiler even better at doing it's job. While the body diffuses haven't really changed, the channels for the normal map have, and the multi is an entirely new texture called a mask. You will want to use the loose texture compiler to convert your overlays to the dawntrail correct versions of the maps if your tattoo/skin detail had either normals associated with it, or used the multi to make it not change color as much with your skin. 

   1. 1. • The loose texture compiler is also REQUIRED if you used this to create face or scale overlays, as those completely changed, and face UVs are entirely different now. You do NOT want to be doing this by hand.

         • Loose texture compiler can also help you make a Gen 3 version of your overlay (or a bibo one if you started with gen 3) much more painlessly than using Xnormal alone, or reprojecting the texture in a 3d software. If you aren't concerned about having compatibility across the 3 fem bodies it's less of a concern, but it's always good to have, and LTC works best with transparent overlays

   2. Make a "raw files" folder somewhere on your PC, and save these there for later use. If you ever decide to change your skin or add to it, it'll be helpful to have them saved somewhere so you don't have to go through the effort again.

   3. If you are using Textools to create mods, slap your overlays in there using the "add overlay" button on top of your base body's new skin! (Keep in mind this only works with a single overlay layer. If you have tattoos+body hair+ scales for example, you'll need to combine them into one overlay for this to work. If you wanna keep them separate and combine them temporarily or as permutations, use a PSD for that please)

It isn't required to do any of these things, but I Highly recommend you do so for your own sanity. Also keep in mind that in order to reduce neck seam, you'll want to either add these overlays on top of a NEW AND UPDATED base body texture, or use the corresponding body's Neck overlays for the diffuse and normal if you want to use an older version of the base textures. if you don't there will be a neck seam. 

I also HIGHLY recommend saving your raw overlays as .png, and your final textures as .tga (or .dds bc7 if your program supports it)

If you have multiple overlays and are wondering what order to stack them in, the correct order is 99% of the time:

1. Base modded body texture

2. Neck overlay (if applicable and not Au Ra)

3. Tattoo/skin detail 1 (I usually put a tattoo first)

4. Tattoo/skin detail 2 if applicable (i would put scars here)

5. Tattoo/skin detail 3 if applicable (if you have bruises or bites or something, idk)

6. Body Hair (if applicable)

7. Scales (if Au Ra)

8. Scale neck overlay (if Au Ra)

You can obviously mix up the order if you want to and have a specific look you're going for, but it may cause things to look a little strange if you don't know what you're doing.