SR1 - Better Beginnings (v2)

[CommyGT]

Better Beginnings will change the starting racial presets and the starter outfit. No more hideous characters. You can play as practically super models now! Assuming you have already made a save and would still like to use one of these presets, fear not! You can take your ugly ass to the nearest Image as Designed and still select one of my presets. Note that by using a pre-existing character the hair and eye color will not change. You can still manually select the eye color at a plastic surgeon, and for hair you must visit a barber. Below are before and after pictures of what each race's preset entails as well as some of the new presets that have been added.

*If you showcase this mod or want to include it in a mod package, please credit me. You have my permission to use it, edit it, reupload it, do as you please. All I ask is you give credit to me, CommyGT/Commy, the creator.

Better Beginnings Before/After:

Better Beginnings Version 2 Added Presets:

Requirements:
Xenia Xbox 360 Emulator or RGH/Jtag
Copy of Saints Row (you can obtain this from Flippy's website)
Xbox 360 Backup Creator to extract files from the SR1 ISO
SR1Tools (you can obtain this from Flippy's website)

Install:
1.) Put SR1Tools in the root of your Saints Row directory (Make sure there's no spaces in your directory at all, sometimes it causes it not to work).
2.) Go to Saints-Row\packfiles and copy "misc2.vpp_xbox2"
3.) Paste in Saints-Row\SR1TOOLS\1-input
4.) Go to Saints-Row\SR1TOOLS and run the "unpack" batch file
5.) Go to Saints-Row\SR1TOOLS\2-workspace\VPP\misc2
6.) Replace these files within the misc2 folder: "player_presets" and "customization_default_items"
7.) Go to Saints-Row\SR1TOOLS and run the "pack" batch file
* - This will create a new "misc2.vpp_xbox2" and install them to your packfiles folder in your root folder.
** - If you get unauthorized access then most likely the misc2.vpp_xbox2 packfile is read-only. Just delete them in your packfile folder and then run the pack batch file again.
8.) You can open the game and start having fun!

Changelog:
v2 - Added several new voiceless presets including four female presets, an albino preset, a preset with high melanin, and a preset which has max fat and muscle stats simultaneously.

Bugs:
None.

Notes:
I tried to match the outfit to fit the Hip-Hop fashion of the 2000's whilst not including too much purple since you're not a part of the Saints yet. But the little there is could serve as grounds for the gentleman in the beginning to warrant shooting you. Maybe you're just a fan of a particular basketball team? Maybe you're down on your luck and it's the only thing you could find at Sloppy Seconds. Either way, it makes sense why you'd be shot at and why Julius and Troy would save you. Something for headcanon.

v2 - The female presets are still male in the sense of their body types, this is not changeable like in SR2 or without changing the actual player model to someone like Lin or Samantha. With my Playa Choice mod you can create the illusion of a female Playa with crop tops. Tank tops look like sports bra personally which looks good with an overcoat thrown on top. Anywho, if you use normal clothing styles expect your female playa to look like a stud, masc. female, or a femboy. Just know that every customization item was tailored around men so you will have to get creative to make them appear female. Also note that because this mod does NOT replace the Playa's model you may create saves with this and even use them online and use them on retail Xbox consoles!

 

[reina3]

Pretty cool! It's really nice for SR1 to have so little player dialogue that these'd fit right in with how someone wants to start their game.
Facial morphs that you did really add variety, even just looking from the pictures.

 

[Lucas9]

 

[Spadita]

great stuff

 

[CommyGT]

Sounds like a fun mod! Does it also change any facial features or body presets, or is it mainly the starter appearance and outfit? And are the presets available for all races in the game?

Yes, this mod overwrites both facial features and body types of the original four racial presets in the game. As well, the character voices still match the new preset’s race accordingly since Saints Row 1 doesn’t allow you to choose a voice as the later entries do. You may also use them at any time—they’re not just beginner presets, you may select them on saves with a pre-existing character at any plastic surgeon (Image as Designed). I actually need to update this mod. I ended up making a fair bit of extra presets I haven’t released yet. They include four voiceless female characters and characters that use modded/unobtainable skin types and body types. They manipulate slider values past what the game allows the player to use without editing the slider itself. Meaning you could use them on Xbox 360, Xbox One, or an Xbox Series X. I’ll probably upload it this weekend. I think the only thing I need to do is make touches on two of the female races.

 

[reina3]

I ended up making a fair bit of extra presets I haven’t released yet. They include four voiceless female characters and characters that use modded/unobtainable skin types and body types.

That's cool! Does the voiceless option persist across saves? I remember Femme Fatale having a problem where the chosen voice would only apply on a new game (so if you load it the male voices would come back).

 

[CommyGT]

That's cool! Does the voiceless option persist across saves? I remember Femme Fatale having a problem where the chosen voice would only apply on a new game (so if you load it the male voices would come back).

When you begin a game in Saints Row 1 you may select four races. Each race has an assigned voice based off of some factors in the programming (such as the Mesh ID in each preset and actual name of the preset, e.g. “asian1”). When you use the plastic surgeon these factors don’t change. The only values it changes are the actual sliders you use to customize the Playa. I haven’t personally used Femme Fatale but if it uses female voices (I believe I saw Lin’s in a comment is used in it) and voices revert back to male, I would assume the female voices potentially replace the male voices in-game and aren’t assigned when creating a character. So uninstalling the mod would revert it back to male. Same with saving the game and loading that gamesave on a different device. I would guess the Mesh ID is still the same as the Asian voice’s (or whatever preset the creator made use Lin’s voice) and instead of that Mesh ID calling for Asian Playa’s voice it calls for Lin’s instead. I actually tried to find where the game calls for this. I got lucky and found out how to replace voices as well but not how to add them so I opted not to replace anything. I wanted to add female voices myself too but sadly I’m unsure if I will because I couldn’t seem to find out how to add Mesh IDs myself. Couldn’t find anything on how they correlate to Playa’s voices! Due to this I decided to make all the presets I added mute. And since I do this through arbitrary Mesh IDs they stay voiceless and that saves to your savegame. I have a character on my Xbox Series X for example that is mute on a vanilla version of the game.

 

[CommyGT]

Version 2 out now!