SSE Some basic questions for first ever attempt at creating an NPC...

[xxx696]

Hello All,

Having had 'Familiar Faces' crash on me for the upteenth time, I thought I'd try to create some NPCs as a way or learning the basics of modding. I've read some wiki pages, some guides and watched some youtube tutorials and whilst there has been some limited success, I've hit some dead ends. Any help would be greatly appreciated:

 

1 - On completion of making the NPC, I located her in the Bannered Mare, via the Creation Kit Render window. I then saved the file. The file 'Working Copy ESM' appears on my Skyrim 'Mod' menu in game, but is unchecked. It does not appear in Vortex. How do I actually activate the ESM to make the NPC appear in the first place?

 

2 - I tried to import multiple plug ins into Creation Kit to make the NPC, including downloaded mods such as immersive weapons and CBBE. Some loaded, some didn't. I get an error message saying that I can't load multiple files, even though it will let me load some but not all. What is this error message telling me?

 

3 - After porting across the NPC's features from the game, the eyebrows and hair have been replaced with stock; although the skin and body have not. Why have some mods ported across fine and others haven't? How do I bring modded hair and brows into Creation Kit?

 

Any help would be much appreciated, thank you in advance.

[Algabar]

First of all: If you want to use the Creation Kit, you definitely need the unofficial Creation Kit Fixes. This mod makes working with the CK sooo much easier.

 

On to your questions:

 

1. Strange. If you create a plugin with the CK, it should be in your SkyrimSE/Data folder. In Vortex, you should see the plugin in your "plugins" tab (NOT the "mods" tab). You will have to enable the plugin manually in Vortex though. BTW, why ESM? Normal plugin files should be saved as .esp.

 

2. By default, the Creation kit doesn't allow multiple masters. Maybe that's one of the reasons. Not sure, if "Creation Kit fixes" changes this. I think so. If it doesn't, you may want to try this mod in addition:

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2786

 

BTW: You definitely don't need CBBE as a master when creating NPCs. CBBE replaces the default female body. If you don't give your female NPCs custom bodies, they will use CBBE by default. If you want to give your (female) characters custom bodies, create paths to custom body meshes. You can now create whatever body you want in Bodyslide and copy the body .nif files over to the custom folder for your NPCs.

 

3. I assume you made character presets in Racemenu or ECE, right? If you did, you would have to copy the hair and brows you used (nifs and textures) to a custom folder and create links to these headparts in the Creation Kit.

 

I'd recommend to watch a tutorial or two about creating followers. There are plenty of them on youtube. Even if you don't want to create a follower, but a "normal" NPC, the basics are always the same. Maybe you can also download a mod containing NPCS (or a follower mod) and have a look at its folder structure and its plugin file. Seeing how other people work is often one of the best ways to learn more about modding.

[xxx696]

Perfect, that explains a tonne and gives me some great steers on where to go next. Thanks so much for your help!

[xxx696]

Ok, moving on with Algabar's excellent advice, that has solved nearly all my initial issues - thank you so much! I'm trying my best to learn as I go so that I understand this and can work out my own solutions, but I've got another couple of issues:

 

1 - Eyebrows. The hair import worked absolutely fine from the tutorial I worked through, but I assumed the same process could be done with brows. However, on getting the brown file name from ShowRaceMenu, I then searched for it in my directory and found that the files were dds, not nif files. I'm assuming that a nif file format is a 3d object? Either way, using Creation Kit (now with two new mods incorporated - thank you!), it appears that I must use nif formatted files and they are not showing up. KS Hairdos has its own folder, but for some reason the Hverg brows I'm using appear under Data-Textures-Actors-Character-Femalebrows-Hverg-Darker/Lighter. What am I doing wrong here and how can I fix it?

 

2 - Body shape. I'm guessing that Creation Kit is not able to incorporate changes made in RaceMenu via the body slide options, or indeed importing a shape straight from BodySlide itself. Are there any tutorials people would recommend on how to alter an NPC body shape so it appears on only one NPC and not for all NPCs?

 

Thanks again for the help with starting me off trying to understand all of this.

[Sphered]

Lot of ppl dont know you dont actually need the mods for headparts at all. All you really need is a facegen nif (like an exported head) with what you want on it, and the names of the parts can be whatever, just the name needs to match something that exists

 

Like Brows. Just name the trishape BrowsFemale01 or whatever in nifskope, and make sure they are using BrowsFemale01 in your mod. The actual brow model can be something else entirely, all the game cares about is the string in the nif matches a headpart name the npcs uses in your mod, be it them or their race. With HP heads you can do this too, but you need to point the main tri. Still dont need the original mod there either. Anyway this is just a bonus later, not needed just saves a lot of time and hassle once you see how the game reads headparts for npcs

[xxx696]

Thanks for the help, I've downloaded nifskope. Am I reading your post correct in that I need to alter the brow dds file I want to use into a nif file, or at least trick CK into thinking that by changing the file name? I'm still getting used to this all but my limited understanding is that a nif file is an object, whereas a dds file is a 2d image. Either way, both nifskope and CK won't read dds files. I'm left really confused as to how I can import modded brows into CK when CK wants object files, and brows are simple 2d images! Any further help would be hugely appreciated!

[Algabar]

Thanks for the help, I've downloaded nifskope. Am I reading your post correct in that I need to alter the brow dds file I want to use into a nif file, or at least trick CK into thinking that by changing the file name? I'm still getting used to this all but my limited understanding is that a nif file is an object, whereas a dds file is a 2d image. Either way, both nifskope and CK won't read dds files. I'm left really confused as to how I can import modded brows into CK when CK wants object files, and brows are simple 2d images! Any further help would be hugely appreciated!

NEVER change file extensions manually - unless you absolutely know what you're doing. This doesn't only apply to Skyrim modding, but to working with computers in general. Changing file extensions is (almost) always a big "NO NO".

 

In fact, Nifskope is designed to work with meshes (more precisely .nif files). You CAN however change the textures, that are used for a certain .nif (or even a part of it). Here are some screenschots from Nifskope, that hoppefully illustrate the concept a bit:

https://imgur.com/a/WKQSA6U

[xxx696]

 

Thanks for the help, I've downloaded nifskope. Am I reading your post correct in that I need to alter the brow dds file I want to use into a nif file, or at least trick CK into thinking that by changing the file name? I'm still getting used to this all but my limited understanding is that a nif file is an object, whereas a dds file is a 2d image. Either way, both nifskope and CK won't read dds files. I'm left really confused as to how I can import modded brows into CK when CK wants object files, and brows are simple 2d images! Any further help would be hugely appreciated!

NEVER change file extensions manually - unless you absolutely know what you're doing. This doesn't only apply to Skyrim modding, but to working with computers in general. Changing file extensions is (almost) always a big "NO NO".

 

In fact, Nifskope is designed to work with meshes (more precisely .nif files). You CAN however change the textures, that are used for a certain .nif (or even a part of it). Here are some screenschots from Nifskope, that hoppefully illustrate the concept a bit:

https://imgur.com/a/WKQSA6U

 

 

Thanks, I'll continue to avoid that! But I'm still confusing myself here...what is the quickest way to utilise a DDS format file in CK? It seems that nifskope is, as the name suggests, intended for nif files and not dds. Can't CK just work with image files for brows instead of always looking for object files? The link you've sent looks to be my most useable option so far, but this seems to be sourcing a brow from an existing head rather than using the top quality ones already in existence as stand alone, modded files. I'm not even sure where I'd get a head from to rip the brows off. That sounds really bad, now I've re-read it.

Edited April 9, 2022 by xxx696

[Algabar]

 

 

Thanks, I'll continue to avoid that! But I'm still confusing myself here...what is the quickest way to utilise a DDS format file in CK? It seems that nifskope is, as the name suggests, intended for nif files and not dds. Can't CK just work with image files for brows instead of always looking for object files? The link you've sent looks to be my most useable option so far, but this seems to be sourcing a brow from an existing head rather than using the top quality ones already in existence as stand alone, modded files. I'm not even sure where I'd get a head from to rip the brows off. That sounds really bad, now I've re-read it.

 

 

Okay... Making a follower (or an NPC) is a longer process. During this process you'll need several tools: The CK, Nifskope, Nifmerge and a program like SSE Nif Optimizer, that can convert meshes from Skyrim LE format to SE format (or vice versa, if you're working with Skyrim SE/AE as your base).

 

No offense, but your posts sound like you haven't figured out the basic workflow yet. Unfortunately, that's not something that can be explained in a few sentences. There are some good guides out there though.

A very comprehensive and up to date video tutorial is this one:

 

If you prefer a written guide:

https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/smpwy8/guide_to_creating_a_custom_follower_with_racemenu/

 

I know, it is a somewhat steep learning curve (it was for me, too). So, don't be discouraged. You'll get there!

[xxx696]

No offense taken whatsoever, thank you for your patience. I'm 100% willing to learn, it's just tricky finding the resources to actually learn from in the first place. I'll try this tutorial you've recommended - thanks again!