wondering how to change npc to custom races

[Enochatron]

How do you do this without killing the game?

 

when I try it the game just explodes whenever i see that character.

 

wondering why I am not able to do it, and how to do it. thnks and please!

[SavageArtistry]

The way I do it is first I check the custom race I want to use and make sure it's using the same vanilla voice set as the NPC in question. If not, then change the voice of the race to match the NPC's original voice. Next make sure the race is checked "playable." If not, you'll get the "I have no greeting" bug.

[kadath]

If by "explodes" you mean it crashes, then I would guess you changed the race of the npc using the resources from a race .esp. Several times esp to esp dependencies don't work well with races, and you need first to convert the race .esp to an .esm (use wrye bash for that). Use that .esm duplicate to create and save your .esp with the modified npc; now, back on wrye bash, manually change your mod dependency from RACE.esm to the original RACE.esp (you will not need the esm anymore, it was just needed in the CS). Now you should have bypassed your crashing issues (as long as your load order and bashed patch are in good state, BOSS is your friend here, really, races can quickly get messy), but look out for other common bugs as the one SavageArtistry just mentioned.

 

If you are, instead, modifying an already custom made npc, let's say a companion, then look if it already uses a custom race: quite often they do, as they either need specific attribute settings or specific textures. Anyway, if that's the case, the most compatible - and easiest - way to remake their appearance is not to change their custom race, but to edit the race itself it to point to the meshes and textures of the race you want them to look like (and also to enable the new relative eyes and hair). As you'll be going to just change where the meshes and textures tabs point to, you will need nothing else to make it work: still, you'll probably want to load the race mod you want to "imitate" so you can quickly glance at the correct file paths to reproduce; be careful of not creating unneeded dependencies, best way is to load that one in TES4EDIT for quick comparison.

[StanIsTheLaw]

I seem to be having the same trouble and think I have missed a step. I happily created 4 custom races and was playing along when suddenly I entered a tavern and it was a black hole with all NPc and myself falling endlessy in the dark. I identified the trouble as 2 of my race esp files and removed them and started again. Now for the life of me I cannot get anything to work at all. I tried the most basic thing again and it failed. Either taverns are black holes, or the game just wont load or in one case, the roads in Amvil disappeared and became canals with all the npc's falling into them. My latest attempt.

 

I am using Tes4Gecko.

 

Started CS

Clicked only oblivion esm and started up.

Copied Elf race, renamed it, changed some body and face data, saved as an esp.

Using Gecko converted esp to esm.

Using Gecko converted back to esp.

Loaded the Esp as active file in CS with Oblivion.ESM and a partners cm esp clicked as well.

Made 2 new wood elfs. Placed them inside and outside Anvil.

Game freezes on start :wallbash: :wallbash: :wallbash:

 

I did not change any hair, eyes for the 2 NPC,s used only vanilla clothing, basic staright no changes to anything and yet it still wont work.

 

Thanks in advance for any help.