Vanilla body and Skeleton.. how to change it

[Lycabear]

Hello, I recently downloaded a standalone race character i really liked, excpet he comes with a vanilla body and skeleton... I use SAM Light and XPMSE. I can't use certain animations due to him only using the vanilla skeleton, so thats why im on here searching for help. I have tried to use racemenu as i know how and Im unfamiliar with CK , even though the mod artist has said that the CK is best option to modify the race's settings. I have not found anything truly useful so if anyone is tech savvy at this sort of stuff, id be grateful for help.

 

[scorrp10]

I had a similar experience when I downloaded Yamato Nadeshiko Followers mod. The NPCs are of a custom race that uses a skeleton file bundled in the mod. As a result, any 3BA clothes reliant on all the extra XPMSE bones, behaved real weird.

Mind, the reason a mod NPC is set up with a custom race/skeleton is because their skeleton is NOT vanilla, but rather includes some extra bones which are needed for their custom body/ animations. So you have to be real careful before making the change.

Often enough, those extra bones are already part of XPMSE, sometimes not. Usually best to open both skeletons in NifScope and compare. In case of Yamato Nadeshiko, their extra bones were in XPMSE already.

 

The easiest way to fix this is via SSEEdit. After loading it up, expand Skyrim.esm - Race - Default Race. Scroll down to where it has ANAM - Male Skeletal Model and ANAM - Female Skeletal model. Make a note of which files these point to.

Then find your character mod. Expand their Race secrtion, their custom Race record. Scroll to skeleton models and change them to be same as those for Default Race. That should take care of the skeleton.

 

Next thing, body. If their included custom body does not have weights for all the extra XPMSE bones, it will not respond to certain animations/physics. Only generally applicable when naked, though. Best way to handle this:

In your character mod, in their Racee, look for WNAM-Skin - this tells which Armor is their naked body. Find that Armor, look at it Armature section, which indicates ArmorAddons being used for torso/hands/feet.

Find those in the ArmorAddon section, and note the paths and names of the files.

 

To continue with that Yamato mod example: Their custom race listed 'MBWSYNFSkinNakeed001' as Skin

That Armor form had a bunch of armatures for alternate races, but those of interest were: MBWSYNFNakedTorso001, MBWSYNFNakedFeet001, MBWSYNFNakedHands001,

And the ArmorAddon forms for these respectively pointed to femalebody_1.nif, femalefeet_1.nif and femalehands_1.nif under actors\character\character assets\MBWSYNFollowersACT2\YNFBody01\

 

With that info, I fire up Outfit Studio, load up CBBE 3BA Body reference, and just save it as:

Display name: YNF Torso

Output File Name: femalebody

Output Data Path: meshes\actors\character\character assets\MBWSYNFollowersACT2\YNFBody01\

Low/High Weight Output

Slider Set File: YNFNakedSkin

Shape Data Folder: YNFNakedSkin

Shape Data File: YNF Torso.nif

 

Same thing goes for hands and feet, just different display name/output file and shape data file.

Now in BodySlide, I have the YNF Torso/Hands/Feet outfits that I can build to whichever preset I want. Once I build, these followers have proper 3BA bodies.

[Lycabear]

I had a similar experience when I downloaded Yamato Nadeshiko Followers mod. The NPCs are of a custom race that uses a skeleton file bundled in the mod. As a result, any 3BA clothes reliant on all the extra XPMSE bones, behaved real weird.

Mind, the reason a mod NPC is set up with a custom race/skeleton is because their skeleton is NOT vanilla, but rather includes some extra bones which are needed for their custom body/ animations. So you have to be real careful before making the change.

Often enough, those extra bones are already part of XPMSE, sometimes not. Usually best to open both skeletons in NifScope and compare. In case of Yamato Nadeshiko, their extra bones were in XPMSE already.

 

The easiest way to fix this is via SSEEdit. After loading it up, expand Skyrim.esm - Race - Default Race. Scroll down to where it has ANAM - Male Skeletal Model and ANAM - Female Skeletal model. Make a note of which files these point to.

Then find your character mod. Expand their Race secrtion, their custom Race record. Scroll to skeleton models and change them to be same as those for Default Race. That should take care of the skeleton.

 

Next thing, body. If their included custom body does not have weights for all the extra XPMSE bones, it will not respond to certain animations/physics. Only generally applicable when naked, though. Best way to handle this:

In your character mod, in their Racee, look for WNAM-Skin - this tells which Armor is their naked body. Find that Armor, look at it Armature section, which indicates ArmorAddons being used for torso/hands/feet.

Find those in the ArmorAddon section, and note the paths and names of the files.

 

To continue with that Yamato mod example: Their custom race listed 'MBWSYNFSkinNakeed001' as Skin

That Armor form had a bunch of armatures for alternate races, but those of interest were: MBWSYNFNakedTorso001, MBWSYNFNakedFeet001, MBWSYNFNakedHands001,

And the ArmorAddon forms for these respectively pointed to femalebody_1.nif, femalefeet_1.nif and femalehands_1.nif under actors\character\character assets\MBWSYNFollowersACT2\YNFBody01\

 

With that info, I fire up Outfit Studio, load up CBBE 3BA Body reference, and just save it as:

Display name: YNF Torso

Output File Name: femalebody

Output Data Path: meshes\actors\character\character assets\MBWSYNFollowersACT2\YNFBody01\

Low/High Weight Output

Slider Set File: YNFNakedSkin

Shape Data Folder: YNFNakedSkin

Shape Data File: YNF Torso.nif

 

Same thing goes for hands and feet, just different display name/output file and shape data file.

Now in BodySlide, I have the YNF Torso/Hands/Feet outfits that I can build to whichever preset I want. Once I build, these followers have proper 3BA bodies.

 

 

So just for reference, when I find the data path would be something like this SC\0_Followers\000_Martin\Body\malebody_0.nif correct? cause i don't wanna touch it and than boom whole character messed up. Cause im getting that from under its male model tab. Yup, I can't seem to find this guys data path file. At this point the main problem is his head doesn't go with his body; like theres a gap when he wears clothing and armor, plus his body is still vanilla outside and in armor too.

Edited May 27, 2023 by Lycabear

[anjenthedog]

 

cause i don't wanna touch it and than boom whole character messed up.

 

Create a backup folder and drop all the resource files into it

 

Ex: you're working in the SC\0_Followers\000_Martin\Body\ folder. Create a folder off it called "backup meshes", or something like that. Drop a copy of all the files you'll be messing with into that folder...before you mess with them!

 

Do one for the associated meshes, (and one for the associated male textures, if/when you happen to dive into those at some point).

 

That way, if you f-up when fiddling, you can just paste the original file(s) back into place no harm no foul. Kapiche?

 

Any time I start messing with a folder, I create backup to store the original copies of whatever I'm screwing with. Saves headaches later.

[scorrp10]

If you looked in SSEEdit and that is what the guy's 'Naked Torso' ArmorAddon points to, that path is relative to Data/meshes. (so, Data/meshes/SC/0_Followers.... etc)

If you can't find that folder (i.e. no SC under meshes) it is possible that the mod has its resources in a .bsa archive. You can still setup a BodySlide project to generate custom body files at that path. If it is for a male, you will likely need HIMBO.

 

Now, about that neck gap. That is most likely a head/weight mismatch. If his head was exported at weight 0, that would be its neck seam size. If the NPC record itself does not have weight 0, game will render a higher weight body, causing a neck gap.

 

Now one thing of note is that the path points to 'malebody_0.nif' It really should be malebody_1.nif. (_0 id forr weight 0, _1 is weight 100, anything in between is interpolated.)

Just wondering, in that ArmorAddon record where you got that file path from - does it have 'Enabled' under Weight slider - Male? Cause looks like author just decided to make the follower always use weight 0 body. Which works naked, but still results in a neck gap for any armor clothing.

 

In any case, in SSEEdit, under that follower mod section, got in to 'NPC', click that follower record, look for NAM7 - Weight - it should be shortly after the Skills. If it is not 0, you should set it to 0 for that guy.

But that would only fix things for a new started game. If you have a game in-progress, and want to fix him: open console, click the NPC, and type 'setnpcweight 0'. His face will likely get all ugly. Give command 'disable', then 'enable'. See if the neck gap issue is now fixed.

[Lycabear]

If you looked in SSEEdit and that is what the guy's 'Naked Torso' ArmorAddon points to, that path is relative to Data/meshes. (so, Data/meshes/SC/0_Followers.... etc)

If you can't find that folder (i.e. no SC under meshes) it is possible that the mod has its resources in a .bsa archive. You can still setup a BodySlide project to generate custom body files at that path. If it is for a male, you will likely need HIMBO.

 

Now, about that neck gap. That is most likely a head/weight mismatch. If his head was exported at weight 0, that would be its neck seam size. If the NPC record itself does not have weight 0, game will render a higher weight body, causing a neck gap.

 

Now one thing of note is that the path points to 'malebody_0.nif' It really should be malebody_1.nif. (_0 id forr weight 0, _1 is weight 100, anything in between is interpolated.)

Just wondering, in that ArmorAddon record where you got that file path from - does it have 'Enabled' under Weight slider - Male? Cause looks like author just decided to make the follower always use weight 0 body. Which works naked, but still results in a neck gap for any armor clothing.

 

In any case, in SSEEdit, under that follower mod section, got in to 'NPC', click that follower record, look for NAM7 - Weight - it should be shortly after the Skills. If it is not 0, you should set it to 0 for that guy.

But that would only fix things for a new started game. If you have a game in-progress, and want to fix him: open console, click the NPC, and type 'setnpcweight 0'. His face will likely get all ugly. Give command 'disable', then 'enable'. See if the neck gap issue is now fixed.

Yes his weight is at o and it says under it unknown 0. I tried to enable it but that only seemed to mess up his naked body, so I had to restart over. But as much as i try to look, he's not a NPC, he's a race. So I confused on what to look for now.

Edited May 28, 2023 by Lycabear

[scorrp10]

Would really need to examine both body .nifs (the _0 and _1), head .nif as well as the entries in the .esp. If NPC has a neck gap with most clothes/armor, it means wrong weight for their head.

 

For example, I take Falk Firebeard, weight 60. I use head from 'Pride of Skyrim' mod. I load a HIMBO reference in Outfit Studio, and import Falk's head (Skyrim.esm/00013274.nif)

 

With weight slider at 0, body is clearly too small for the head, there is a gap like this:

 

 

Weight slider at 100, body is too large for head, the gap looks like this:

 

 

When slider is set at NPC's correct weight of 60, head and body match perfectly:

 

 

So, need to figure out the weight, and set it for the NPC...