A mod that removes the 'default faces' from various npcs?

[InDarkestNight]

Looking around on the uesp, I've since found out that many npcs share the same default face. Some examples:

Erikur, Sond, Barknar, and countless other npcs including BANDITS

Nazir and the Ebony Warrior

Malborn has the default word elf face. I don't think he shares this with any npc, but he does have his own unique head that went unused for some reason. I've long used a mod to fix that, but still.

All the the afflicted it seems. Forsworn, vigilants of stendarr, various generic unnamed npcs, you get the idea.

Now that I've noticed this after all these years, its starting to annoy me. I even just now ran into two bandits in the same area with the default nord face. Its like I killed the same npc twice.

I know about Diverse Skyrim, but it doesn't touch bandits it seems. Besides, it lacks compatibility with Immersive Patrols beyond version 2.0.3. Not necessarily a deal-breaker, but I've always liked that mod. Also, it seems more aimed at increasing racial diversity in various factions, possibly why it doesn't touch bandits (though come to mind, are there ever any argonian bandits in the game? I have run into quite a few khajiit I know).

Some of the named npcs I mention do have dedicated overhauls that I would think mitigate this problem somewhat. However, I've never liked them. They make all your women look like supermodels, and there isn't even a replacer for every npc in the game (I have yet to find one for Fastred, or seemingly any npc in Ivarstead, to give you an idea). Also, I never liked how everyone looks nothing like the characters you can make with the default character creation. I can't make a model to save my life, so I've never been able to use things like racemenu. I can't even hardly use the default system keep in mind; most of the time I just choose a preset and either play with that straight or maybe tweak it slightly.

I really think something needs to be done about this. Its starting to get on my nerves and there doesn't seem much I can do about it.

Edited May 12, 2024 by InDarkestNight
typo in title

[anjenthedog]

There IS a body randomizer, which helps, but yeah, the auto-spawns (be they from Skyrim or any mods that spawn NPCs) tend to use a predictable set of characteristics.

At a guess, probably one contributor to why they reuse the same faces is because of chargen issues with dynamically generated *custom* NPCs (specifically I believe, their head related textures and lighting) that lead to dark-face bugs. If you use a pre processed face, then all's well, you create a new one, and it's likely you end up with a broken rendering.