custom facegen not showing in game

[He11cat]

so i'm TRYING to make a follower, and i follow this tutorial to the letter http://wiki.nexusmods.com/index.php?title=Using_a_face_made_with_Chargen_Extension_on_an_NPC_for_Skyrim. i have a .esp file from where i tried to make them previously since it doesn't say ANYTHING about saving the file. now every time i try load the game, it looks NOTHING like what i made, and no matter what i try, i can't get it to change to the way it should look. someone help me out here, because it pisses me off when nothing works as it should. this is not a custom race, just a breton with different face settings through racemenu.

Edited June 8, 2015 by He11cat

[psychoslaphead]

I can help you, but need more info on what you are trying to do. Adding custom head mesh, hair, brows, eyes,? Been in the same predicament, I'm guessing you'll need to understand the nif merging process to get what you want. If the game can't find what it's looking for, it will just show a default Breton head if it shows anything at all.

[He11cat]

problem is, i did merge it as the tutorial instructed. the nif and dds files are in my facegen folders. i created a character in game to use as an npc follower on another character. sculpted it in racemenu to my liking and exported it. i also did the console command spf for the face texture.

Edited June 9, 2015 by He11cat

[psychoslaphead]

problem is, i did merge it as the tutorial instructed. the nif and dds files are in my facegen folders. i created a character in game to use as an npc follower on another character. sculpted it in racemenu to my liking and exported it. i also did the console command spf for the face texture.

So you are saying you imported the SPF export, did the ctrl f4 export in the CK and then merged the meshes from the Racemenu chargen folder into the CK export mesh that is in the ____.esp folder, right? Open the merged nif file to see if it looks like it should in nifscope. If it does, then you have an issue with 1. the esp is not calling the head assets properly (hair, hairline, brows, eyes, etc) or 2. the mesh file is not pointing to the proper directories for textures. Either of those errors will get you a messed up head. I use TES5Edit to check on what is happening in the esp file, far less chance to make a dirty edit than using the CK.

[He11cat]

i tried again. i think i'm getting a little closer, but still no cigar. she looks like this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v14/psylocke/2015-06-16_00006.jpg

 

but SHOULD look like this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v14/psylocke/2015-06-16_00007.jpg

[psychoslaphead]

It's hard to tell exactly, but it looks like it's still throwing a default preset up instead of what you exported. The brows and head shape look different or maybe it's the angle or character expression. Even the hair color looks wrong - it looks like a color set by the game presets instead of what looks like a custom color in the RaceMenu pic. When you get the merge right you'll get everything to look exact, war paint, hair color, brows, tints, etc. Are you using custom tris at all for the head (ECE, etc.)?

[Zylice]

@He11cat I don't know if this is what you're after, but In order to export FaceGen Data, go to the Actors tab and scroll down until you find your NPC. DO NOT search in the filter or it won't work. When in the Actors tab, click on any NPC and start typing the ID of your NPC. When you have found the NPC, press Ctrl + F4 and export the FaceGen data. If you look in the meshes & textures folder in the Data folder, go to: Actors>Character>FaceGenData>'YourEspName'. That is where your FaceGen data is stored. Now when you load up the game, your NPC should look how she does in the CK.

Edited June 17, 2015 by Zylice

[He11cat]

It's hard to tell exactly, but it looks like it's still throwing a default preset up instead of what you exported. The brows and head shape look different or maybe it's the angle or character expression. Even the hair color looks wrong - it looks like a color set by the game presets instead of what looks like a custom color in the RaceMenu pic. When you get the merge right you'll get everything to look exact, war paint, hair color, brows, tints, etc. Are you using custom tris at all for the head (ECE, etc.)?

 

not sure what tris is. as i said, i am VERY new to all this and basically trying to teach myself. i'd be tempted to just have someone make the mod for me, but then i have to worry about distribution and use because it is a roleplay character created by my friend.

[He11cat]

@He11cat I don't know if this is what you're after, but In order to export FaceGen Data, go to the Actors tab and scroll down until you find your NPC. DO NOT search in the filter or it won't work. When in the Actors tab, click on any NPC and start typing the ID of your NPC. When you have found the NPC, press Ctrl + F4 and export the FaceGen data. If you look in the meshes & textures folder in the Data folder, go to: Actors>Character>FaceGenData>'YourEspName'. That is where your FaceGen data is stored. Now when you load up the game, your NPC should look how she does in the CK.

 

i got it to work briefly, but when i tried to change her lip color due to it not showing in game, i ended up back at square one. i'm ready to just give up.

[psychoslaphead]

@He11cat I don't know if this is what you're after, but In order to export FaceGen Data, go to the Actors tab and scroll down until you find your NPC. DO NOT search in the filter or it won't work. When in the Actors tab, click on any NPC and start typing the ID of your NPC. When you have found the NPC, press Ctrl + F4 and export the FaceGen data. If you look in the meshes & textures folder in the Data folder, go to: Actors>Character>FaceGenData>'YourEspName'. That is where your FaceGen data is stored. Now when you load up the game, your NPC should look how she does in the CK.

 

I wish it were that easy, but if you are using a custom face sculpt/paint/color etc. in Racemenu 3 via CharGen, it won't look like it does in Racemenu when you generate the FaceGen data in the CK. It didn't work that way for me anyway. You would think that the CK import/export thing would do that stuff for you, but it didn't for me. I had to nif merge the mesh exports from Racemenu with the FaceGen export generated by the CK and then copy the DDS file from CharGen and the tint mask over to get my custom hair colors, face morphs, paint etc. And if you don't have everything set correctly in Nifmerge, you get a garbage result. I'm new to this game as well, but everything I've read said those are the steps to get a Racemenu chargen character into the game, and are how I've made all of mine.

 

Just remember, every time you make a change, you have to repeat the process - generate the FaceGen in the CK, merge the CharGen file you export from Racemenu, open the CharGen texture, save in the proper DDS format with mipmaps generated, put in the correct folder (I put it in something with the mod name i.e. \textures\actors\character\modname\)and point to that in both the esp (I use TES5Edit) and the mesh file (with Nifscope). The tint mask goes in the ____.esp folder located in textures\actors\character\facegendata\facetint\____.esp\

 

He11cat don't give up - I know it's frustrating, I had the exact same frustrations, but I got through it, so can you. The character looks worth it, and once you've conquered that first one, you'll want to do more.