SSE nightmare of facegen data

[MightyNINE]

How to port a follower from LE to SE for Skyrim by Sleepytigereyes.

This is a simple but thorough tutorial, assuming you have made a follower in LE and ready to port for SE.

Mods needed: Creation Kit for SSE, Nifscope for SSE, Nif Optimizer, Gimp with .DDS plugin. (Or another program that will import and export .dds files with mipmaps.)

(Please note:) Unlike Photoshop, which is a very good program, it costs money if you do not have it already. The mods required above are all free on the internet, including GIMP which is a great alternative to Photoshop.

(You will not use nifmerge here, that should have been done when you created your follower for LE and is not needed for porting.)

Having Tes5Edit for LE and SSE installed for cleaning your follower files is optional but it is a good idea to have them and learn how to clean up those dirty files, just in case.

Reference: I will use the word 'follower' in the place of the name of your character.

Preamble: Setting things up

If you have not done so, be sure to place a shortcut on your desktop for the SE data folder and another actual folder that has the loose files containing a copy/duplicate of your follower from LE. This will be your final SE character that you can save to your archives or upload to SSE.

Be sure to have shortcuts for the programs listed above and Nif Optimizer.exe on your desktop as well so this will save you more time in porting your character. (Most work is done from the desktop anyway, so that's a good thing.)

You will need meshes, textures, and .ESP file from LE. Be sure all files are correct for your follower, including facegen and facetint.

Section 1: Starting the process.

Once you are set up with these 2 folders, and quick access to your SE data folder and complete follower folder with all files for meshes and textures, including facegen and facetint, you can begin.

Copy and paste all your follower files into the SE data folder and go into the game and make sure the follower mod is active. Close the game.

Next, start the Creation Kit for SSE, double click and activate your follower in the list, then once everything is loaded up, click actor and then find your follower, double click if you want to make sure it is set up the way you want then press ok. Highlight your follower while still in actor and press ctrl + f4 to export. Ignore the messages and close it, click the save icon, close the Creation kit for SE. You're done with that.

Creation Kit has made some changes that you will need to correct.

Go into your original follower file on your desktop and go to Data\Meshes\actors\character\facegendata\facegeom\follower.esp file and find the .NIF file. It may look something like 00000D62.nif, copy that and place it in your game data folder Data\Meshes\actors\character\facegendata\facegeom\follower name\follower.esp file and overwrite.

Now, you will open NifScope for SSE and find the file you just placed in the SE game data folder. (not your follower folder on the desktop)

Once you have found your .NIF file that you just placed in the SE game data file, you will open it and begin a very easy process. Click the subfolder under the name to expose all the other subfolders parts such as hair, face, mouth, eyes, brows, etc. Each subfolder will contain a specific part. Basically the same way you did when you created your follower for LE.

If the first one you see is, for example: FemaleEyesHumanhazelBrown, that is the first subfile you will open. All you need to do is start with the first in the list and work your way down.

Since you are there after opening the subfile, you should check and make sure your path references are correct just as you would or should have done when you made the follower in LE. Do not assume anything at this point as many mistakes are made or subfiles are forgotten to be referenced to your follower. Be sure to make all corrections first or as you move to each reference.

Once a subfile is open, such as the eyes, for example, another sublist will open. Click the first one under that subfile and look for vector flags. It should read, UV_Set_1. (If you do not see this, you are in the wrong place or you did not copy and paste the original .NIF file over.)

Double click the UV_Set_1 bar to expose a popdown list, just click the right side arrow of the list and it will pop down for you. Once the list is open, scroll down and find 'Has_Tangents' and click it to activate. Once the check mark is there, you can now close that by clicking somewhere else in the block details and move on to the next one in the list such as brows. Continue doing this with one exception. You do not need to add tangents to the head. Add tangents for the mouth, hair, hairline, and so on. Once you are finished, click the save icon under View and click the save as from the drop down menu and overwrite your .nif file. Once this is done, you can close the SE NifScope.

(If using custom armor and/or weapons, you will need to find those .nif files using NifScope and add the tangents to avoid anomalies when testing in your game.)

Section 2: Getting things done

You are almost done porting, so let's move on to the next step.

Open the folder with your original follower, assuming you put this on your desktop, go to the textures file, Data\Textures\actors\character\facegendata\facetint\follower name\follower.dds file and you want to copy and paste the .dds to your desktop.

For example: 00000D62.dds. Once pasted to your desktop, close the follower folder and open GIMP. Others may use another program for this, but for this tutorial, I use Gimp because it's a simple way of completing the final step.

(I want to make sure you know, that if you use a custom body type, be sure your mesh and textures files all match up, or it may not work as you think. So for this tutorial, assume I am using the CBBE or UNPB body type and all is well when tested in LE and all files were deleted and reinstalled in LE and checked again to be sure no problems exist beforehand such as file references in the .NIF file and perhaps a friend has helped test your mod on his/her computer.)

Section 3: As easy as GIMP

Once GIMP is open, click 'file' at the top for the drop down menu and then click open. Look for the file you just placed on the desktop, for example: 0000D62.dds. You should see a panel open with eyes and a mouth, now all you do is click the file drop down menu again and click, 'export as'. The same .dds file should be seen at the top, So if you opened 00000D62.dds, you will export the same 00000D62.dds. Be sure to click the add mipmaps before you export. This is important. Now, overwrite the file on your desktop and close GIMP.

Copy the .dds file, (Not cut, as you will need the same file again later), you just exported and put that in the game data folder, Data\Textures\actors\character\facegendata\facetint\follower name\follower.esp file and overwrite. While you are there, delete the .tga file. (Creation Kit automatically generates this and will not be needed.)

Section 4: Final step

Place Nif Optimizer.exe on your desktop if you have not already done so for quick access.

Go into the data folder and find your .nif files. Data\Meshes\actors\character\follower name and locate the .nif files such as body, hands, feet and hair. Highlight all the files in that folder (not any folders that are actually folders, you will go into them in just a moment). One step at a time.

Once you have highlighted the .nif files, drag and drop them into the Nif Optimizer.exe on your desktop. (Yes, you can do multiple .nif files all at once. The program will recognize this and process all the .nif files for you.)

The Nif Optimizer will activate and you will follow the prompts. Press "Y" for yes and then enter. When it is finished, press enter again and the program will close. The .nif files will be optimized for you automatically.

(Do not use this program for the NIF file in Data\Meshes\actors\character\facegendata\facegeom\follower.esp folder.) Unless you want to sit on your hands and wonder what went wrong.

You will want to do this for any additional folder containing .nif meshes for your follower. Example: In the mesh file, you have made other folders that have seperate .nif files for the hair, body, etc. You want to open each folder one at a time and use the Nif Optimizer.exe as you did before. Do this for any addition folder such as weapons and armor if you have them installed.

Once done, all your .nif files will optimized for SE and ready for testing.

Congratz, you have just ported your follower from LE to SE! Go into the SE game and test.

Section 5: The final test.

Either find your follower where you placed it or use the cheat command console shown below to quickly see if your follower looks correct in your SE game.

Quick Cheat console command:

Once in SE game, use the console ~ key and type: help "follower name". The name of your follower and you should see the code for your follower. Then type: player.placeatme "code", for example; player.placeatme a2000D62, press 'enter' key then ~ again to get out of the command prompt and wait for your character to show up. If your follower looks like it should, you can exit the game. You are done.

Troubleshooting section: Oh, the dreaded things that went wrong.

If your follower does not look correct, you may have missed a step.

If you see weird things like stretched out hair or flickering, you will need to make sure the tangents are or have been correctly added and saved to your .NIF file in the game. (See instructions in Section 1: Starting the process.)

A dark head or anything abnormal such as a blue body, hands, feet means you do not have the correct mesh and texture files installed. Sometimes this happen as it works great in LE but not in SE. Installing the correct mesh and texture files should fix this. Be sure to use Nif Optimizer if you make any changes to the .nif meshes file as instructed above in Section 4.

Check your .NIF file and make sure all references are correct and the meshes and textures in your files are complete and in the right place. The biggest problem many have, for example: is that having a hair mod installed in their LE game works great and should work for everyone else when actually they don't even have that hair mod. So the next player only sees a bald head. Be sure all hair, hairline, eyes, brows, head, body, feet, and hands are all installed into the correct files and referenced to those files by using Nifscope for LE and CK for the body, hands, head and feet and the files are actually in the correct folders.

Missing or incorrect meshes and textures are usually the biggest cause. To correct this, go back to nifsope for LE and make sure that the references for all the meshes and textures are copied over to the follower folder and then re copy all mesh and texture files back into your data folder and test again to see if that worked. (Be sure not to put extra things into the texture folder that do not pertain to your character, such as wet hands and wet body, if you do not use these for your follower.) All files within the mesh and textures should be one body type.

Example: If you use CBBE body type, all meshes and textures should match to that particular body. In the texture folder you should have 4 body files, 4 hand files, 4 head files, 2 mouth files should be included and referenced in your NIF file, especially if modified because of mouth clipping. Be sure you have the correct eyes, brows, hair, and hairline along with any weapons and armor, etc. in their appropriate folders and referenced in the NIF files as well. Go back to NifScope SE and make sure if you have doubts.

So far, so good?

Section 6

If everything is working correctly and you want save your work.

Be sure to copy all your optimized .nif files from the meshes to your follower file on the desktop. (Hint): You can copy and paste all the files and folders from the Data\Meshes\actors\character\follower to your follower folder on the destop into the Data\Meshes\actors\character\follower folder and overwrite. Copy the .nif file from the facegendata file and paste that into your follower file in the correct facegendata\facegeom mesh folder. Do the same with Data\Textures\actors\character\facegendata\facetint\follower and overwrite. Once this is done, you can save your file or upload your new follower to SSE after using a program such as 7zip to make it nice and clean.

(You will not need to do anything with the Data\Textures\actors\character\follower file as this is not affected by any of the programs used.) Unless you have made changes to the textures file, then make sure those texture files are copied over into your followers folder to keep all your files up to date.

Life is so hard, isn't it?

Don't be in a rush. This can be done in just a few hours for the beginner, but that's how learning works. If your good at it, it will only take half an hour for each body type to do the porting. Uploading your new follower mod to the internet is a different story.

Posting a follower on the internet such as Nexus SE.

From this point on, you can now begin the copy and paste process from your game data folder to your follower file on your desktop. you will need to copy the .NIF file from the SE game data folder and copy/paste the .DDS file you have on your desktop into your follower file. (Be sure to delete the .TGA file as you did in the game data file.) Copy and paste all your .nif files in the mesh folder to your follower folder also. Now, copy the .ESP follower in the SE game data folder to your follower file and overwrite. (You should not have to do anything with the textures folder unless you have modified or changed something, with the exception of the .dds file you should have already copied into your Data\Textures\actors\character\facegendata\facetint \follower.esp folder.) Done.

(If you are not planning to use different body types for your archives, delete the .DDS file you made earlier from your desktop.) If you change your mind later, you can always find it in your follower data folder so you won't have to use GIMP again.

If you plan to package your follower files into a .BSA for SE

(Warning, before you do this, make sure you have copied all your new files from the SE game data folder into your follower file as a backup measure and label your file something like 'Jane CBBE SE' if you like.Very important!)

Assuming you know how to make a .BSA, you will make that from your follower file or the game data file, once done, delete all your mesh and texture files from the game data folder including the facegen and facetint. Place the .BSA file in your data game and retest by starting your SE game and follow the instructions previously above using the console commands.

If your follower has no hair and black head, missing textures, it will not work. Delete the .BSA file in your game data folder and copy your follower meshes/textures files from your follower folder back into your game data folder and retest. If your follower looks like it should, then delete any of the files BSA maker made for SE from wherever you put them. (These files cannot be used.)

As with some programs, BSA maker for SE has been, for me, hit and miss. Sometimes it works and all is well, or it doesn't. (Do not dispair, loose files are just as good. It's only a different wrapper.)

Hints: To use other body types without going through the process again, make another copy of your follower files with a new name, for example; If you make follower XYZ CBBE, I would label the next one Follower XYZ UNP and merely place the new body meshes and textures into the appropriate folders along with the .ESP, .NIF and .DDS files from the previous follower mod you just made. (Be sure you have copied all the new files from the game data folder over into your follower file before deleting any files in your game data folder, or you will have to start all over again.)

Delete all the mesh and textures including the facegen and facetint files from your game data file and copy/paste your new files into the game data file and test for the new body type. Always remember to check and make sure the .TGA file is not there in your texture facetint file. Repeat this process for any additional body types.

Thanks for reading my tutorial and hope this has been a big help for you as well as having fun learning.

Sleepytigereyes

[sattyre]

So I of course have the dark face bug in a mod ported from skyrim Le. I went into the creationkit and exported facedata, but it only exports the textures and not the meshes. I believe this is why so many people are having trouble fixing the dark/grey/black-face bug. So how do I export the meshes?

 

Edit: Thank you Markykiller. I was doing it wrong as i had the chargen box checked. You will find his post on page 1

[Calgon101]

 

 

@Wolfer4004 but I can't use ctrl+f4 on npc with chargen, I belive that facegen data of presets is stored somewhere else or skyrim create it in real time in memory. Now I try to load custom head and again facegen is a problem so it seems to be totally bugged in SSE, never had something like that in standard.

You can export facegen data on those, just need to uncheck the box for Is CharGen Face Preset, hit OK, then Ctrl+F4 to export, then go back in and re-check that box. Had the same issue with some changes on Tolfdir; he was gray faced until I exported the data properly.

 

Perfect ! How much time I wasted looking for that. Cheers