I feel like an idiot, but I can't remember if the plant looks the same before and after it's harvested, or did a tex replacer I just installed break something?

Could someone explain to me how a plant changes in appearance from before to after it is harvested so I can fix this? It really bugs me for some reason.

AFAIK, they look the same but not so many flowers, flowers a bit smaller. And once harvested of course you don't get the cue text when you mouseover the plant.

Thats possible, I think the harvested plant/growing plant are different models/meshes but they should be using the same textures unless something has overwritten the default meshes of one or the other...

It must just be my lack of perceptiveness. I'm so used to the huge difference between harvested and un-harvested, that It startles me when nothing happens. I'm still going through my mesh replacers to see if anything changed the plant, but I don't quite get how the change is implemented.

When you "pick" flora, what is actually changed? Is the unharvested mesh changed to a harvested one or is it a texture change? I installed a new mountain flower tex replacer and though there is just one tex and one normal per color (not including ingredients), the bush definitely changes in-game. However, the remaining flowers on the bush after harvest do look like the replacer version.

If I'm grasping this concept, each plant is made up of several "billboards" and harvesting removes most, but not all of those billboards. Maybe, since the Dragon's Tongue is a flower on a stalk, there is only one billboard and it's all or nothing? If this is the case, I would prefer nothing, since it makes my brain itch to think the PC is picking a flower stalk and nothing disappears. If I were cutting irises or gladiolas, I would cut the whole stalk, not just pull off a single flower.

It reminds me of one of Wiseman's fixes. It always made me laugh to think the PC was carefully butchering pheasants, fish and rabbits, leaving the skins intact. Wiseman simply set it up so the whole thing disappears when each one is harvested. I can see my character shoving a fish in her backpack on the run, but she's no taxidermist, taking only the meat and leaving the carcass pristine.

In my game, the flowers disappear off the plant after harvesting. It doesn't look like the plant is missing anything else as far as I can see. I don't, however, have any flora replacers or retextures added so I assume this is vanilla.

Thank you! I'll keep looking for whatever it was that changed it.

EDIT: Mystery solved and it makes me sad. After your post, Nowena, I extracted the vanilla meshes and textures and checked them in game. With the vanilla mesh and vibrant re-tex, no change from pre to post harvest. With vanilla textures, it looked completely picked, leaving just the leaves post-harvest. I so enjoyed that re-tex, too. I guess I'll have to find another one. It isn't that the vanilla Dragon's Tongue isn't pretty, it's just so bland it fades into the landscape and I don't even see them.

Wow, therre are no other re-texes for the Dragon's Tongue that I could find. The one I'm using isn't even available anymore.

This is the one I was using: https://volmangaming.com/game-mod-reviews/the-elder-scrolls-mods/skyrim-mods/skyrim-texture-city-environment-mods/a/3-dragon-s-tongue-hd-natural-colors

That site is a review and it states there were three versions available and the mod was included in something called "HD Flora Overhaul mod" I haven't been able to find that mod either. Dragon's Tongue isn't included in the Skyrim Flora Overhaul (SFO), so unless that was an old version, they aren't the same mod.

Is there anyone out there who could help me make this little dream come true? I have a copy of the 4K version, both white and the red and purple. What I would love is to have the red and purple colored flower in 2K with a texture that works like the vanilla, meaning the flower is gone after harvesting.

Since I've already given my firstborn to SHEESON, we'll have to work out some other deal.

So sorry my response led to your sadness.

Do you already use the HD texture pack that Beth provided? My computer won't handle that so I haven't used it, so I really don't know if it helps or not.

Oh yes. I have that already. It's a lovely little flower, it's just that with all the other replacers I use, it fades into the background. The Dragon's Tongue replacer I use is vibrant red and purple; they really stand out in a field. It's okay if the flowers don't disappear, though. I can certainly still use it. Such a little thing, really, I won't let it get me down.