Extracting Character Heads?

[GowiHasti]

I want to work on some custom character heads in blender. I have a script for .nif's but I have no idea if its possible to extract them and if so, how to. Anybody who can confirm one way or another, please let me know.

[prensa]

GowiHasti - Hello!

"I want to work on some custom character heads in blender."

Depends on what you mean here, character head meshes or specific NPC's faces.

Face's are controlled by FacGen data which are settings & not separate models.

FaceGen data for individual NPC's would be tweaked with sliders using GECK.

All NPC's & even the player use a basic head that's tweaked by FacGen data to have different appearances.

The head itself is a model, a .nif.

There's several head models in game for elderly, males, females & children.

"I have a script for .nif's but I have no idea if its possible to extract them and if so, how to."

If it's just models you're after, they are easy to extract.

The models/meshes are in the form of .nif's & are packaged in .bsa's which are basically archives.

Fallout 3's meshes are all in the Fallout - Meshes.bsa, the DLC's all have separate .bsa's.

You can unpack the model you want from the .bsa files with something like FO3 Archive Utility:

http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/34

I actually use the BSA Unpacker built into Fallout Mod Manager (FOMM) but the above program will do if you don't have that installed.

Head models are in:

Meshes\Characters\Head

As mentioned there are several types like:

HeadHuman.nif
HeadFemale.nif
HeadChild.nif
Headghoul.nif

For an example there have been custom head meshes released to add more or different details like this mod:

http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/19674/?

Mods that change faces of NPC's en masse using Geck to change their FaceGen Data would be something like Fallout 3 Redesigned - Formerly Project Beauty HD:

http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/6341/?

Hope this helps!

Prensa

[GowiHasti]

Thanks for all the info!