Skin / Head color question

[LordEmm]

This might be easily fixable i hope, but i have no idea at the moment what the problem may be. I only noticed it when i checked for googly eyes (had them on argonians after some race mods, fixed by correcting load order), and wanted to make a new char for a face copy.

 

Suddenly two races had the wrong ear (or maybe wrong skin) color, namely Rens Mystic Elf (the feminine tattoo variant) as well as Necs Dark Elf Remake. Both have dark ears, but light skin. I attached pics. All other races are fine. I did try to simply reinstall the races, and also change load order as well as unloading all other races. The color problems stayed.

 

 

 

 

 

Not gamebreaking (as i don't play one of those races in my main game, but could be bothersome for companions that use those races), but still funny...

 

My second question is about the color discrepancy i often get between face and my body skin. What could cause that? I use HGEC Hi rez skins for head and body, so it is the same source, but often the head seems darker than the body. Also fooling around with the skin tone sliders only makes it worse. It is so hard to get a character smooth looking. Anybody else have that problem? What causes that and how to fix? It also is not gamebreaking and only annoying when the char is nude (with gear it usually it is not so noticable), but definitely of interest.

 

Thanks in advance.

[LordEmm]

Forgot to add screens for my second question. Those are different chars obviously :)

 

 

 

 

 

So hard to get a real dark dark elf (the discoloration around the mouth is also a problem, but that seems to be Oblivions own, not a texture one, right?)

[Maigrets]

Yes, it's Oblivion own textures if you use the vanilla races, much like trying to create a decent looking Redguard without the sickly green tinge. One reason I don't use vanilla races among others. If you have custom races they should match more easily.

 

I don't use Ren's Mystic Elf but I do have a Nec's Dark Mystic Elf Remake character. I have no idea why the ears are different colours for you though, since you reinstalled them. It sounds like the ears have been assigned incorrectly in the CS somehow, but if you haven't done anything to the races it's obviously something else.

My Nec Mystic Elf is highly customized with different ears with earrings, hair and eyes, but the colours match properly.

 

Besides that...do you have the Improved Facial Textures mod by Shady Tradesman? It smooths out the aging lines and improves skin resolution. Then you can install other textures over the top of IFT like Enayla's facial textures for a smoother look.

 

IFT

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5643

 

Enayla's Textures

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=9534

 

I use IFT but not Enayla's, only because I use Ozmo's HGEC Hi Res face and body textures which look fine to me, but I'm not that obsessive about it. I can make faces pretty easily without the neckline though. It takes a bit of patience.

 

A hint to getting a smoother look is, quoted from one of my readme's and in other race mods:

"When creating your character it is a good idea to Reset the face before making any adjustments, then move the complexion slider all the way from one side to the other and back to where you want it to be. This allows the game to get the correct texture."

 

Sometimes no matter what you can't get rid of the neckline. It's my conspiracy theory that the prison clothes are so high on the neck for that reason. You can't see it when making a character and then afterwards you're horrified to see a glaring mismatch between the neck and body. Thank goodness for "Showracemenu" and the console.

[LordEmm]

Thanks for the quick answer.

 

I will try IFT, it looks really nice. I also use Ozmos HGEC Hi res skins including for heads (at the moment i have the 2048 ones installed, because i wanted to see if i can detect a difference to the 4096 ones). The problem with the neckline is not really that bad though i guess it can't be helped if the color discrepancy is somehow coded into the game. I have sometimes tried for hours to create a smoother look, but at one point i also want to actually play the game, so i gave up ;) I thought it might be a texture problem, but i think it may be rather a skin toner problem. Did that occur in vanilla Oblivion too? It's been so long since i used one as well, haha... maybe your skin gets paler because you rot in a cell for so long ;) But you can sun your face in the light from that small window...

 

The funny thing about the ears is, all three others of Rens Mystic elves (the tatooed masculine looking and both non-tattooed) have the right configuration. Also Necs Mystic High Elf is correct. I am actually guessing it is not the ears that are wrong but the body skin maybe? I think it should be darker in both cases. Could it be an override from another race mod?

 

I have these installed (in that order)

 

SC_Drow Race.esm

IceElfRace.esm (Ozmos not the Ice Elves and Wolf Elves)

 

Elves Of Lineage II.esp

_Ren_BeautyPack_full.esp

Nec Mystic High Elf-Remake.esp

Nec Mystic Dark Elf-Remake.esp

Lattamer.esp

AsharasSirensAndTritons.esp

DemonRace.esp

 

I also have (but unchecked)

 

IDKRRR_KFME4rev.esp

idkrrr_sarams_race.esp

idkrrr_sarameyesNhairs4originalrace.esp

Ice Elves and Wolf Elves.esp (no need after getting the Ozmos IceElf)

Sun_&_Night_Elves.esp (not yet activated)

 

I deavtivated them after one of them caused googly eyes in the "normal" races. Probably the Sarms for originals.

 

Also two Companion Mods i got actually installed their own races (which is why i reinstalled the Nec and Ren in the first place)

 

Poseidon_ii_Super Sexy

DAKaleahSuccubus

 

I think i noticed it after installing these two. But i can't be sure it was not there before, because i did only after that create a new char from those races. Deactivating them had no change at all.

 

Would it be worth a try to overwrite the Textures with say the ones from the lineage folder or would that mess it up even more? Can the .esp files get messed up so that they point at the wrong textures? or is that in the .nifs?

 

Sorry for the many questions, i am still new to all this modding and have not scratched the surface yet i am afraid.

 

The only other mods that add/modify the races are Corean Hair for all, Capucines Character Expansion, and _rens for hairs only (i somehow had to activate that as well, because a CM needed it, and would not work with only Ren beauty pack full. No problems with them so far.

[dezdimona]

if all else fails there is this!

 

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=18669 neck seam

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=19738 body seam

[SavageArtistry]

In addition to what maigrets suggested about the sliders, it may also help to hit the "reset" option before you begin customizing your face. The discoloration around the mouth can be fixed somewhat with the beard color sliders if you make them lighter.

 

Also, I would suggest looking here in the file tab, scrolling down to miscellaneous, and grabbing the smooth egt file. http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=21608

[LordEmm]

Good replies :) Yeah, i know about luchaires seam concealers, but you can not wear any other necklaces with them can you? It also does not conceal that head color is still very different from body color.

 

Savage, yes i always do the reset trickm but the tone sliders have really frustrated me (when i finally get the face i like the tone sliders make it so easy to destroy all that work). I'd rather just random it and see if that fits my color and shape ;) But sadly there still is that color discrepancy.

 

I will try the add from the Lattamer V3... i already tried rens meshfix, but it did not really do much, probably because of the mesh changes with the HGEC body.

 

The seam is not really deal breaking, i mean the characters still look great, but i always wonder how people get so many seamless screenshots. Especially at 1920x1200 (which is what i use to play) it is noticable.

 

Oh any by the by i solved the ears and skin problem:

 

It was caused by installing DAKaleah and Poseidon_ii Cm pack. They both install Necs mystic elf again. also poseidon installs some esms. What i had to do was. Deactivate them. Delete all Rens and Necs meshes and textures... install them again. Activate the CM partners. DO NOT activate any of the .esms that came with the CM packs. You will have to have them in the Data folder (just not activate them). Et Voila, right color skin and ears :)

 

Why the esms have to be there i do not know. Probably the .esps refer to them. I do not know how that works.

 

You are all very kind for your help. This place is fantastic for mods, i just wish the mods would be tested some more (or at least with more warnings) so you know what can be installed with each other, and what will cause googly eyes or such.

 

I will tell you how the seam thing goes :)

[SavageArtistry]

This place is fantastic for mods, i just wish the mods would be tested some more (or at least with more warnings) so you know what can be installed with each other, and what will cause googly eyes or such.

 

Well, from my own perspective, I test mods that I make plenty.. however there is no way to test with every possible combination of mods and I have no way to know what people downloading my mods have installed.

 

As far as googly eyes go, I know exactly what causes it and I've explained it and how to fix it so many times that I'm tired of explaining it. That's one of the reasons I've updated my readme. It would help people understand why it happens if they understood how the cosmetic and race mods behaved and what it is that they alter. Because I know about this after much tinkering and reading, I've been able to get about 25 custom races work together just fine, but that's because I use a single .esp for all of them.

[LordEmm]

Savage, i know what you are saying. I did not mean my comment to offend, and i understand that it is impossible to test all kinds of combinations. I always read the readmes, but as you said you can't possible foresee what another mod could do to it. What i meant is that more people should share their experiences so that unforeseen incompatabilities that come to light with other mods can be documented.

 

I also now know what causes the googly eyes and once i find out how to edit esp's and esm's i will probably do the same as you did, but as you said yourself it takes a lot of tinkering and reading and for somebody who is new to mods and modding it can be a little frustrating to find out that two mods do not work together after all even if there was no indication of that beforehand.

 

To be fair many mods DO include incompatibility notes. So i am not really blaming any of the modders at all (in fact i praise all that have the knowledge and ability to actually create mods. Without you all we would not have so much fun with Oblivion still). But from a users point of view, it helps to know other users experiences with the mods as well, you know.

 

So please know it was not meant to offend or criticize modders, just an offhand comment about how i would love to see more comments on how it could actually cause problems that users have experienced.

[SavageArtistry]

I did not mean my comment to offend...

 

I wasn't offended. Maybe I came across that way, so if I did I'm sorry. It's more a point of exasperation at seeing the same question over and over (in regards to googly eyes). I do realize that for the people posting about it, to them it's a new problem. My comment was meant to say that it's easier to understand why certain problems happen once you understand what it is that the mods are actually doing to the game.

 

The point is that it just takes time to learn these things. The whole reason I put together a cosmetic mod was that I could not get the mods I liked to work together in the way that I wanted. It started originally as Daeger's cosmetic compilation, and I wanted some other hairs, and weird things happened until I understood more. This was two years ago.. so it took me that long to get to the point I'm at now.