Body change

[Asike1201]

Hi all. I recently downloaded a nexus mod for the Tifa Lockhart companion (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/76659). The problem is that she uses the default body that all vanilla NPCs have. I tried replacing the meshes with body, but it did not help, she still has the same vanilla body. Can anyone suggest what to do in such cases or are there any mods that will help with this. SLE has a PS Universal PC NPC Body Changer, but with its installation through the mod manager, I could not figure it out. SSE version of the game.

[scorrp10]

Generally, what is involved in creating a custom body for an NPC:

1. In the 'textures' and 'meshes' sections of the mod, create folders for body textures and meshes. (I.e. in this case, under Data\textures\Tifa Body\ and Data\meshes\Tifa Body)

2. Downloading the skin texture mod that you want to use. A good idea is to use its FOMOD to pick the options you want, but not actually deploy the skin. Then go to mod's staging area, and copying all the files from textures\actors\character\female to the NPC's body folder (i.e. under Data\textures\Tifa Body\Body)
3. Creating 3 projects in OutfitStudio: For each, load the body part reference (i.e CBBE body, Hands, Feet) and save these like this:

Display Name: Tifa Body Torso (Hands, Feet)

Output file: femalebody (femalehands, femalefeet)

Output Path: meshes\Tifa Body\Body (same for all)

Select low/high weight output

Slider set file: Tifa Body.osp (same for all)

Shape Data Folder: Tifa Body (same for all)

Shape Data File: femalebody.nif (femalehands.nif, femalefeet.nif)

 

4. Then, in BodySlide, select a preset you like, and save a copy of it, named 'Tifa Body'

Build the 3 Tifa parts you created, to this preset.

 

5. In Creation Kit, load the mod. You want to create copies of Texture Sets 'SkinBodyFemale_1', 'SkinHandFemale_1', 'SkinHeadFemaleNord', named something like 'TifaSkinBodyTx', TifaSkinHandsTx, etc

In those texture sets, you change the file paths. I.e. for Diffuse, SkinBodyFemale_1 uses textures\actors\character\female\femalebody_1.dds TifaSkinBody should use textures\Tifa Body\Body\femalebody_1.dds

 

6. In 'ArmorAddon' section, find 'NakedTorso' and make a copy of it, i.e. 'TifaSkinTorsoAA' Under Female Biped Model, select it to use 'Tifa Body\Body\femalebody_1.nif', and change SkinTexture to use 'TifaSkinBodyTx'

Do same for 'NakedHands' and 'NakedFeet' (For feet, also use TifaSkinBodyTx texture set)

 

7. In 'Armor' section, look for 'SkinNaked' - make a copy (TifaSkinNaked). Uncheclk 'playable'. In Models, check 'show All', select everything and delete. Then use right-click - New to add 'TifaSkinTorsoAA' as well as addons you made for hands and feet.

 

8. In 'Actor' section find the form for Tifa (use filter box), edit it, an under 'Traits' tab, change the 'Skin' (under 'Race', not 'far away model') to use 'TifaSkinNaked'.

 

Save, and close CK.

Next, you need NifScope. In its settings/resources, make sure to add the path to Data folder in SSE home.

 

9. The location of file you need to edit will depend on which version of Tifa you installed. I.e. if melee, it will be meshes\actors\character\facegendata\facegeom\Tifa_follower_melee.esp\00000807.nif Open it with NifScope, no worries if it kinda looks messed up.

You wanna dive down: BSFadeNode - BSFaceGenNiNodeSkinned - AAAGirlHeads - BSLightingShaderProperty - BSShaderTextureSet.

Any textures using a file from actors\character\female should use same file from Tifa Body\Body.

Also, it looks like the tintmask path is messed up on ALL head variants (stil pointing to a file under Data\SKSE).

I.e. if you chose the 'Tifa-melee' version, it should use actors\character\facegendata\facetint\Tifa_follower_meele.esp\00000807.dds

[scorrp10]

Also note that the the above will have her body in that shape if she is naked. If you want her to have same shape clothed, you will need to rebuild her clothes in BodySlide using the 'Tifa' preset from step 4 above.

 

Another option is to use OBody, but that is a bit more complex.

 

P.S. If you tell me:

Which variant you chose (melee/unarmed/one of replacers)

Which body system you favor (CBBE, CBBE 3BA, BHUNP)

Which skin you want to use (and with what options)

 

I can re-package it for you.

 

Here, fixed face tint, CBBE 3BA body using 'The Nordic Bombshell' with Demoniac skin.

 

 

[Asike1201]

Thanks for the detailed explanation. I'll try to do the same with another follower later. Is it difficult to understand CK and NifSkope??

Thank you in advance if you re-package Tifa. I would like CBBE 3BA, unarmed, with Diamond Skin texture

[scorrp10]

For CK, there are a ton of YouTube totorials one can learn from. And there are a fair few for NifScope as well.

Looking at this mod, .esp actually already has all the needed forms created (texture sets, armor addons, armor) - but they are pointed to default meshes/textures and are not actually being used.
So making the needed changes took a lot less time.
Anyways, here is the repackage. It is specifically for her 'Unarmed' variant.

A few notes:
Install:
install via mod manager. Just have it overwrite everything in your Tifa mod. (Or you can just uninstall original Tifa mod first)

Skin: I chose the Diamond skin settngs that I thought worked best. If you want different settings, or other skin, you just:
Download that skin via mod manager
Install, go through fomod, pick your choices.
Do NOT Enable/deploy. Instead, go into that skin mod staging folder, textures/actors/character/female, and copy everything from there to 'textures/Tifa Body/Skin'

Body:
In BodySlide, there are 3 items: Tifa Body, Feet and Hands. You can use those to build her to whatever preset you want. Any clothes you put on her should be built to that preset as well.
I included a 'Tifa' preset which is just a copy of CT77-Body preset. The included prebuilt meshes use that preset.

Head:
I fixed a couple things. The face tintmask path was wrong - fixed.
Also, the hairband textures were pointing into KS Hairdo's directory. I corrected it and included hair band textures in the mod.

[Asike1201]

Thank you so much for the detailed explanation and repackaging of the mod. I have already looked all over the sites, but I could not find someone who could help. Now I'm going to deal with CK and NifScope