Is it possible to add (not replace) a face texture?

[Syntia13]

Hello all.

 

First-time wannabe modder here, please forgive me if I'm talking nonsense and don't even realize it. :)

 

Personally I like the vanilla look of NPCs, and up until now I had no problem with my character looking like they were in their late twenties to early forties, since that was the age I played them as.

Now however I wanted to start a new game as a man in his early twenties, but I also want all the NPCs to stay their intended age.

 

There are plenty of great face mods for Skyrim out there, however all of them (at least the ones I tried) have one thing in common - they replace ALL the face textures in game, which makes Ralof and Hadvar look like they belong in high-school, which is just wrong.

 

So my question is: is it possible to add a face texture to Skyrim which will be only used by PC? As in - in character creator the 'complexion' slider goes through the 5 (6? I forgot how many are there...) vanilla textures, and then goes further to a new one, which will apply to my character but not influence appearance of any NPC?

 

 

[IsharaMeradin]

I have not seen it done before. But it appears that it may be possible.

 

You will need to have the textures you wish to use for the new complexion available in the Data > Textures folder somewhere before you get started.

 

Open the Creation Kit

In the Object window navigate to Misc > TextureSet

Locate a TextureSet entry for an existing complexion for the race you wish to modify

Edit it.

Give the record a new ID name

Change the texture map entries as you desire

Press OK to save your changes and Press OK when asked to create a new form

Edit your new TextureSet form and confirm everything is correct

Press OK again

In the Object window navigate to Character > Race

Locate the race you wish to modify

Edit it.

Select the appropriate gender and go to the Tinting tab

At the bottom left is an entry called "Face Details Texture Set List"

It is a drop down menu used to select the default complexion from the list of entries immediately below.

In the list of entries below the drop down, right click and choose new

A new box of all available texture sets will appear, locate yours, select it and press OK

It should now be in the list of available entries

Press OK to save the race form

Save the plugin

Test it out in game

[Syntia13]

Yes! This worked! Thank you, you wonderful, beautiful person! <3

I tried to accomplish the same in a roundabout way, by adding a new race entirely, but for whatever reason the face textures wouldn't show correctly. Now it's perfect! :)

[IsharaMeradin]

Oh, so it worked? Cool!

[Syntia13]

Argh, it appears I spoke too soon.

Yes, the new complexion is available in the character creator and doesn't affect any NPCs... sadly EVERY TIME I load a save, the texture is reset to the vanilla default texture and my 19-year-old is instantly transformed into 29-year-old. *headdesk*. I tried setting the new 'youngnord' texture as default, but it didn't help.

 

I went back to the idea of a new race, and got it to display proper texture by deleting all other available ones, but now I'm not recognized as a Nord. (It was weird - all the race-specific dialogs were skipped in the execution scene, which made for an awkward moment when the captain yelled "I SAID, next prisoner!", when in fact she said nothing at all. ;D )

Is there a way to make a custom race recognizable as a Nord (or any other vanilla race) in game?

[IsharaMeradin]

No. You cannot make a custom race recognizable as any other race. However, with the RaceCompatibilty.esm (not sure where you get that) the custom races will be able to pass through dialog that does race checks before proceeding with various quests.

 

As for the resetting, not sure why it would do that. Might need to check that for myself.

[Syntia13]

Well, color me surprised. After extended run of trial&error I pretty much gave up - even editing the vanilla texture sets to use custom dds files gave the same frustrating result of the face resetting to game default look after reloading.

 

I eventually said, oh, heck with that, I'll run one game with high-school Nords all over Skyrim, why not. I edited the MaleHeadPart to use the custom (young) texture set instead of SkinHeadMaleNord, convinced that it would affect every Nord NPC out there, I started the game and... SURPRISE! My PC looks exactly like I want him to, regardless of reloading, and everyone else looks just like they are supposed to look, no age reduction included. O_O Huh. I guess this modding thing works in mysterious ways, beyond comprehension of this humble fangirl.

 

Anyway, thank you IsharaMeradin for your insight, without it I'd prolly still be wasting my time trying to make the custom race work. :)

Now excuse me it's time to play a boy becoming a man. ;D

[IsharaMeradin]

I think, what you stumbled upon is the mere fact that every NPC has it's own face gen data files (both mesh and texture). It is created (for mods) when doing Ctrl+F4 on a highlighted NPC within a saved plugin. I should have mentioned it but wasn't sure how to set something up to achieve what you wanted.

 

Anyway, as long as you got something working is all that matters.

[PavleLalic]

Excuse me.Im having a trouble.I stumbled upon I think it was racemenu,but I had many face complexion slider options.And when I installed new version its gone.It even had old man preset,like Greybeards,as Breton.I dont know why.Could you help me.Im searching internet for that for days now but I cant find anything.

[howlingfang01]

i have a similar question is there a mod or is it possible to upload a personal picture to use on your character, what i want to do is add vin diesel or my face to use on my character