Modded character assets "resetting" upon saving the plugin

[EmissaryOfWind]

I'm trying to change a bunch of NPCs by giving them hairstyles and addons from Commonwealth Cuts and Looksmenu Customization Compendium. Since the CK doesn't add those as masters, I added them manually through FO4Edit, but still when I save the plugin in the CK all modded assets are removed (additional makeup and face details, as well as hair which resets to "default" (hairstyle 1). Is there something I need to do so that it saves correctly?

[DWooT]

I have not used the CK for that purpose but if you're already using FO4Edit perhaps try a different approach. Use a mix of the "Face Ripper" mod and Console Commands such as SLM.

 

I would recommend creating your plugin first, copy as override the NPCs you want into the plugin, and adding masters before getting started. That will give you a nice clean starting point. I've run into hiccups if I used Face Ripper and it needed to add masters to my plugin.

 

An extra note, I've found editing or re-editing NPCs cranky when trying to extract the NPC data from the save files using Face Ripper. My work around that seems to work great is to use Face Ripper from a plugin with the original face (in your case the nice clean NPC plugin I suggested above) and apply it to the player setting in a save file. Then load the save, use Console and SLM on the player, then save new game. Next Face Ripper to copy "player" face back out and onto your NPC in your plugin. If you use this approach make sure you have a save game with the correct "sex" male or female.

 

I used this technique with some success in several of my published mods.

[EmissaryOfWind]

Using the CK is so much faster and more precise though, rather than having to copy dozens of faces back and forth. The only problem is that it won't save properly modded assets, the character creator is much better than the one in-game for the rest of the edits I'm making.

[DWooT]

No worries. Just offering what I know. I'll jump into the CK soon if it gives more finesse. Though if you can't figure out the hiccup with saving assets I may stick to my current approach ;)

[EmissaryOfWind]

I suppose I could just note which actor I want to give which hair and do that part from FO4Edit, but I'd really rather not. I'll let you know if I find a solution.

[zilav]

All masters must have ESM flag set in TES4 header or CK will remove them when saving.

[EmissaryOfWind]

So what exactly should I do?

[zilav]

ESMify esp masters by setting ESM flag in their TES4 plugin header while working in CK, remove (or restore from backup) when loading game.

[EmissaryOfWind]

Sounds simple enough, thanks!

[EmissaryOfWind]

Okay, it looks to be working, thanks a ton!