Famous Brown Face bug

[BigBallsLarry]

I've been struggling with the brown face bug for awhile now and I haven't found a fix. The root of the problem as many people have said is differences in texture resolutions and the game tries to use all of the textures and make a terrible stew (brown face bug). You can use GIMP to scale the textures up or down but when I've tried the face textures turn green. I'm using CBBE, Collections of textures and presets, Valkyr face texture fair skin and looks menu and looks menu tattoos, HIpoly faces. (yes all of which are different texture res). I have also heard that the High Res Texture pack DLC can cause this which I'm going to try uninstall it and see if that fixes anything. It just takes up so much more space than needed and I didn't really notice a difference anyway. (that's right Bethesda, its not that cool). Is there a certain way to rescale these textures in GIMP (ie export file type, certain files to scale to what res, etc.) so they don't turn out green or is there so other workaround with load order that I'm unaware of as I'm letting Vortex use whatever load order it suggests because its the quickest and I figure that's how the mod creators intend for their mods to load unless explicitly stated otherwise.

 

Note: I have been able to have the brown face bug not happen to my character (very pale character however you can still see a very slight difference in completion between the face and body) however a few NPCs have this bug. One of which is Curie who I am using EdDante34's Curie ESP Replacer - MiscHairstyle and The Eyes Of Beauty ( I also have these two mods)

 

Any comment and suggestions are greatly appreciated as I'm sure most people will since A LOT of character presets and various other mods require these mods in order to function as intended and this is a very common issue and is very annoying to look at.

 

P.S. : I'm also kinda new to modding (I am learning tho, so like...yay :D) So just give as much detail as you can, this will also help anyone else that's new so if a definitive fix is found more people are able to use it. After all power to the people and all.

Edited December 4, 2022 by BigBallsLarry

[StormWolf01]

Hiya Larry.

Ok, so I really don't know much about actually doing texturing work. I know a little bit of the basics about what they are, and whatnot. So I'm afraid that I can't help very much on that front.

 

Other than to ask for some of the more knowledgeable people, if the diffuse, normals, and speculars also have to be re-res'd?

And whether that might be why your results are showing up as green?

 

As for the hi-res DLC. It's garbage. Feel free to get rid of it, post-haste. It is totally NOT optimized properly, and as you said... takes up a lot of space that isn't needed. Especially for something that hurts performance. There are definitely much better done hi-res packs available from competent authors here on Nexus.

I mean... there's a reason why it's the only DLC that Bethesda gives away.

 

I will also agree, you are working with a lot of different textures. I wish that I could give you some advice on that. But again, I know just enough to get myself into trouble. :laugh:

 

I do want to add tho, that while YES, a lot of the reasons for the brown face bug ARE texture related... that this game can also cause the problem with some of it's lighting effects. From my own experience I get it sometimes when underground, with lighting effects mixed with fog effects. To the point that fast traveling doesn't fix it, and I'm forced to move to a previous save. Which if it's a save where the bug had already gone into effect, it is still there, on the reload! The brown face is even apparent in the save preview thumbnail.

[Stormie]

Hello. THAT issue has been around since Skyrim... Game engine issues. What StormWolf posted, definitely disable the hi-res DLC, there's plenty of great texture replacers to choose from.

I don't know about the technical side of things but there are a couple of mods that deal with the brown face problem. I can post them if you like.

[BigBallsLarry]

I found a very useful tutorial posted by Gatsby1304 ( Tutorial page at: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/65832?tab=description&BH=0 ). Load order is also a much bigger factor than I originally though. I did just completely uninstall the HD texture dlc like you said StormWolf which I feel liberated from that already. But In Gatsby's tutorial he mentions installing the Looks Menu Customization Compendium Fix. INI ( mod found here at: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/56465?tab=description ) Once the mod is installed if you file navigate to your fallout 4 game folder and go to Data \ F4SE \ Plugins. From here you should see a file named F4ee.ini

 

In this fine what you are looking for in a line that reads:

 

uTintWidth=1024

uTintHeight=1024

Change these values to whatever your other body/face textures res is and save the file, 1024 being 1k, 2048 being 2k, 4096 being 4k.

The tutorial will guide you through a few different mods to install depending on what texture res you are using (2k and 4k specifically), in my case Im using 4k resolutions since I have CBBE. However what got this method to work was for whatever reason when I disabled the two files 4k Face and 4k Face makeup (Find these mods on Gatsby1404's tutorial) The brown face just went away. I also disabled Collections of textures and presets and Valkyr face from since I figured these would interfere with the method that Gatsby used. I still have yet to see if this is a temporary fix or if this is "THE MAJIC BUTTON"

Load order as per Gatsby1304's 4k Fix:

HiPolyFacesCompanionPlugin.esl
LooksMenu.esp
CBBE.esp
HiPolyFaces.esp
The Eyes Of Beauty.esp
4K Face + LMCC.esp
LooksMenu Customization Compendium.esp

Edited December 5, 2022 by BigBallsLarry

[Blinxys]

The brown face bug, by my experience, is the result of several factors.

As much as I would love to assert total comprehension, it is a bewildering issue.

 

 

I saved this scrap of reference:

(If I knew where I got this I'd post a link)

 

HEAD Specular Texture Fix

Source Diffuse Normal Specular Vanilla 1024 pxl 1024 pxl 1024 pxl HD DLC 1024 pxl 1024 pxl 1024 pxl Valkyr 1024 pxl 1024 pxl 512 pxl 2k 2048 pxl 2048 pxl 2048 pxl 4k 4096 pxl 4096 pxl

4096 pxl

For tints to work: read carefully.

For anyone using Valkyr textures, they are 1K, so install 1K Diff and Normal textures, 512 specular

Tint texture size has to match up with that of the head's respective texture (diffuse, normal or specular).

(So this changes depending on vanilla textures, HD DLC 2K or 4K face mods, see below).

Diffuse [d], Normal Map [n] or Mask [msn?] textures HAVE TO BE exactly 1024x1024 large for vanilla head texture sizes to work.

All specular maps HAVE TO BE exactly 512x512px for vanilla head texture sizes to work.

Mod that uses the head's diffuse/normal texture @ 2048x2048 [HD], tints HAVE TO HAVE the same size.

Mod that uses the head's Specular Maps to 1024x1024 pixels, then your tints HAVE TO BE the same size as well.

The above article appears to deal with skin tints, but applies equally as well, and may also be an issue alongside any other.

Official HD DLC by Bethesda that makes the head's specular maps to be 1024x1024 large, your tints HAVE TO BE the same size as well.

4K face mod that sets the diffuse/normal and spec textures to 4K then your tints HAVE TO BE the same size as well.

Also:

It also doesn't hurt to make sure each char has a face and skin texture set, (does not assume default).

And the face tints and tint overlays are the same values for each in fo4edit.

Its essentially the result of different people doing things differently, often replicating errors or mixing incompatible resources.

Undoing that is unfortunately, hands-on, up close, and in-depth.

Any mod that messes with these textures or has them in a BA2 can potentially fuzz up everything. (Unique NPCs Creatures and Monsters comes to mind).

It has a face texture packed, removing it (and the above) fixed >95% of brown face issues (except on reload).

[BigBallsLarry]

Sadly I don't have any experience with FO4edit. I at least have enough experience that just trying using GIMP to rescale isn't enough. The spectral and normal maps just make the faces just turning up green instead of brown even if they're all the same res XD. Just like you said Blinxys its not enough to assume the engine will actually know to even use the textures you've rescaled. I've been terrified to touch FO4 edit because after my attempts just trying to use GIMP have failed, and I know that its a very powerful tool that can break things quickly if you don't know what you're doing....like me, I'm that guy. If I find a tutorial someplace that walks through this process that Blinxys mentions, I will post it.

[StormWolf01]

 

 

 

I found a very useful tutorial posted by Gatsby1304 ( Tutorial page at: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/65832?tab=description&BH=0 ). Load order is also a much bigger factor than I originally though. I did just completely uninstall the HD texture dlc like you said StormWolf which I feel liberated from that already. But In Gatsby's tutorial he mentions installing the Looks Menu Customization Compendium Fix. INI ( mod found here at: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/56465?tab=description ) Once the mod is installed if you file navigate to your fallout 4 game folder and go to Data \ F4SE \ Plugins. From here you should see a file named F4ee.ini

 

In this fine what you are looking for in a line that reads:

 

uTintWidth=1024

uTintHeight=1024

Change these values to whatever your other body/face textures res is and save the file, 1024 being 1k, 2048 being 2k, 4096 being 4k.

The tutorial will guide you through a few different mods to install depending on what texture res you are using (2k and 4k specifically), in my case Im using 4k resolutions since I have CBBE. However what got this method to work was for whatever reason when I disabled the two files 4k Face and 4k Face makeup (Find these mods on Gatsby1404's tutorial) The brown face just went away. I also disabled Collections of textures and presets and Valkyr face from since I figured these would interfere with the method that Gatsby used. I still have yet to see if this is a temporary fix or if this is "THE MAJIC BUTTON"

Load order as per Gatsby1304's 4k Fix:

HiPolyFacesCompanionPlugin.esl
LooksMenu.esp
CBBE.esp
HiPolyFaces.esp
The Eyes Of Beauty.esp
4K Face + LMCC.esp
LooksMenu Customization Compendium.esp

 

 

 

OOOOOOO!! That's cool! Thanks for sharing that, Larry! Did it help you out?

 

 

 

 

 

The brown face bug, by my experience, is the result of several factors.

As much as I would love to assert total comprehension, it is a bewildering issue.

 

 

I saved this scrap of reference:

(If I knew where I got this I'd post a link)

 

HEAD Specular Texture Fix

Source Diffuse Normal Specular Vanilla 1024 pxl 1024 pxl 1024 pxl HD DLC 1024 pxl 1024 pxl 1024 pxl Valkyr 1024 pxl 1024 pxl 512 pxl 2k 2048 pxl 2048 pxl 2048 pxl 4k 4096 pxl 4096 pxl

4096 pxl

For tints to work: read carefully.

For anyone using Valkyr textures, they are 1K, so install 1K Diff and Normal textures, 512 specular

Tint texture size has to match up with that of the head's respective texture (diffuse, normal or specular).

(So this changes depending on vanilla textures, HD DLC 2K or 4K face mods, see below).

Diffuse [d], Normal Map [n] or Mask [msn?] textures HAVE TO BE exactly 1024x1024 large for vanilla head texture sizes to work.

All specular maps HAVE TO BE exactly 512x512px for vanilla head texture sizes to work.

Mod that uses the head's diffuse/normal texture @ 2048x2048 [HD], tints HAVE TO HAVE the same size.

Mod that uses the head's Specular Maps to 1024x1024 pixels, then your tints HAVE TO BE the same size as well.

The above article appears to deal with skin tints, but applies equally as well, and may also be an issue alongside any other.

Official HD DLC by Bethesda that makes the head's specular maps to be 1024x1024 large, your tints HAVE TO BE the same size as well.

4K face mod that sets the diffuse/normal and spec textures to 4K then your tints HAVE TO BE the same size as well.

Also:

It also doesn't hurt to make sure each char has a face and skin texture set, (does not assume default).

And the face tints and tint overlays are the same values for each in fo4edit.

Its essentially the result of different people doing things differently, often replicating errors or mixing incompatible resources.

Undoing that is unfortunately, hands-on, up close, and in-depth.

Any mod that messes with these textures or has them in a BA2 can potentially fuzz up everything. (Unique NPCs Creatures and Monsters comes to mind).

It has a face texture packed, removing it (and the above) fixed >95% of brown face issues (except on reload).

 

 

Blinx, you just reminded me of how much I really dunno about texture working....

:laugh:

 

Larry, if you want to see what the files look like for a character in Xedit, I posted one very recently here: https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/12356978-how-to-changealter-appearance-of-nuka-world-npcs/&do=findComment&comment=118658723

That first area that I highlighted, is where the Head Parts data is listed, and that's what it looks like. If you are curious ;)

[Blinxys]

I'm just regurgitating like a freshman at a frat party, :yucky: IDK why what is - is what it is. :huh:

Just complying with it seemed to resolve a lot of ambiguity.

 

@Larry, the green face may be a result of a bad _s.dds file, or more exactly saved to _d.dds or some such one off error.

 

These files a re layers.

_d.dds is for (Diffuse) which is [should be] straight base color(s).

_n.dds is for Normals or apparent height/texture,

Green in a _s.dds would make a chrome sheen appearance on the "outside" of the skin "s" is for (specular).

_msn.dds (somebody help me here, what the fuzz are those)? Screwing with them messes everything up.

 

Anyway, I think they stack in that order, and then get tint layers to boot.

There is a good chance you simply saved one over the other, and should be able to reverse the process by replacing those files.

 

Something else I have found helpful for brown face is to remove all [female ]face textures from characterassets\yada\yada\

(It can only load/overwrite so many layers and if out of sequence, perhaps ->Ergo -> Brown Face). :sick:

[BigBallsLarry]

Blinxys when I tried rescaling the res of these layers I did just simply over write them from the existing files, but I was very carful not to overwrite one of the layers with the other. I used the same file name and location for each of the layers. Is the problem simply that I did not make sure that FO4edit knew these texture were different a different res. I'm assuming this is coming down to everything thing I did not being translated into FO4edit. I'll try my absolute best to learn what I can about FO4edit to see if I can try the method of rescaling the texture rather than getting a, "Hey I kinda accidentally just fixed it by installing a few file and just so happened it worked".

 

EDIT: btw StormWolf I did manage to fix both Curie and my characters brown face, I still have yet to see if it fix a few other npcs that had the bug, or if any raiders show up with a brown face. And I did check your other post out, just looking at the xEdit photo you posted is A LOT of numbers I still don't know what they mean xD. Im assuming you couldn't just edit the color values to solve the problem as characters without a brown (or green -_-) face wouldn't look right after.

Edited December 6, 2022 by BigBallsLarry

[Stormie]

BigBallsLarry Thanks for the tips regarding load order that you posted here. I've applied the them to my LO just in case. With the high poly faces brown face bugfix script update you don't have to fiddle around with textures, the script takes care of that (at least for the player char). I haven't had problems with companion's brown faces in a while, not sure if that's just luck or not (: At some point I was using one of the separate bugfix mods.