Override facegen nif texture paths

[dcd111]

So, from what I gather from various google searches, nobody has ever come up with a way to override face texture paths specified within the facegen nif file for a particular NPC. Or am I wrong?

 

In other words, if you want to change the path of the skin texture files used on a particular NPC's face (femalehead.dds, femalehead_msn.dds, etc., I'm not talking about the facetint file), you need to modify the facegen mesh file or regenerate it using CTRL-F4 in CK, this can't be done by overriding NPC records or head parts records in CK/TES5edit using a defined texture set, or by some other similar plugin-specific method.

 

The reason I ask is because it would be helpful if default body/default texture plugins for any particular custom follower mods could be distributed by others if the author is not interested in creating that plugin themselves. You can do this for the body by overriding body part records and referencing the game's default textures in those records. But if you change the body texture to the game's default texture paths, you have to do the same with the head to avoid mismatches and if the only way to do this is by modifying the custom facegen nif, then you can't distribute it. Even with permission, the changes need to be reapplied or updated every time the author distributes a new facegen mesh, it would be cleaner if it could be done with plugin records.

 

Anyway, I'm just hoping I am missing something about the way the game uses head parts records and facegen meshes. Thanks for any suggestions.