High Poly Serana replacer has neck gap

[mmest]

As seen in this photo, there's a gap between serana's neck and body. The mod is a high poly head Serana replacer, and is using default meshes and textures. Anyone can provide some help on being able to figure out how to fix this gap?

[7531Leonidas]

Go to the mod page for the Serana replacer, and ask what the npcweight setting is for that replacer.  Such gaps are often caused by differences in the weight settings between the face model and body model.  Such a gap might also occur from a difference in the skin textures of the replacer and the body, so you could also ask about the skin textures used in it, and find a way to make the textures match.  Such texture conflicts can also cause a difference in color at the border of the two textures.

[scorrp10]

If you have SSEEdit installed (and you really should), run it,   expand Dawnguard.esm, Non-Player Character (Actor)   and look for FormID 02002B6C which is Serana.    Scroll the description a fair bit, and you should find entry:    'NAM7 - Weight'.     In Dawnguard.esm, its value is 20, but the replacer mod you got likely changes her weight to something else.    Make note of the value.

The problem is, once you start playing and meet Serana, her base record is 'baked' into your save with whatever weight she had at the time - most likely 20.     If you now load a mod that changes her weight to say, 50, your save game will still render her body at 20.    If you were to start a new game (with this mod already loaded), she should appear normal.

In fact, it is quite easy to verify.     Start game, at main menu open the console and use command 'coc elsweyr'.    You will end up in a tiny room  with a Khajiit NPC.    Now, use 'player.placeatme 2002B6C' to summon Serana, and check that she has no neck gap.

So, how to fix a neck gap for replaced NPC mid-game:    Open console, click the NPC, and use command  'setnpcweight  X'   where X is the new weight value.     After this command, NPC face is likely going to turn weird and ugly.   
Now, you need to use 'disable' command and NPC will disappear.   
Next, use 'enable'.  The NPC will reappear, and should have the correct face and the neck gap should be fixed.     Make sure to save your game after this.

However, there is a caveat:  if the NPC uses high poly head, it is quite possible that when you issue the 'setnpcweight' command, your game will instantly crash.  This has something to do with wrong morphs being applied.   
If  you experience this issue, install the attached mod.    Note that in order to use it, you will also need UI Extensions mod.   

Once in game, you need to obtain the spell. 
Option 1:  in console, type 'help setweight'   look for:   SPEL: (fe###800)  SetWeight,    and  use command: 'player.addspell fe###800'    (replace ### with the shown value)
Option 2:  if you have AddItem or QUI or Simple Mod Item Spawner, just use it to obtain  SetWeight Spellbook   from 'SetNPCWeight.esp'.
Option 3:  Visit Sleeping Giant Inn in Riverwood.    The book is on top of a barrel next to Delphine's room.

SetWeight is an Illusion spell.    When you cast it on an NPC, it will prompt you to enter a new weight.    Once you do, the NPC will fade out and a second later, fade back in, and should be at the new weight - hopefully with a fixed neck gap.

SetNPCWeight.7z

[mmest]

Thanks for the help! So it turns out that even in the completely new game Serana still has a neck gap. Regardless, I tried doing the setnpcweight trick, changing hers to 20 (in the mod, her weight was set to 100), and that did remove the gap. However, now there is a slight mismatch in skintone between her head and body - the body is slightly tanner than her head. Is this fixable or should I just contact the mod author?

[scorrp10]

Mod link?  This is most likely caused by using custom head texture while sticking to default body skin.  Also could be that the mod does not set the skin tone correctly.

And just FYI, my favorite Serana replacer is this one (be sure to get one of Serana files)

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/61521

 

[mmest]

https://mega.nz/file/ckpw1DDB#RmuPWQ88OqzslI9og_vas7sjBRP4J25CrP7fQ-3f8zU

[mmest]

I was able to solve this using your advice. Checking the record shows that there are textures for the body included in the mod, but the mod was using the default game's textures. I changed the worn armor to use the mod added textures and now it works.