Custom Player Race

[tonicmole]

This thread is something of a brain storm session on Custom Player Races. Not so much in the idea of New races, but duplicating the current races so the player can customize their character without altering all the NPC's as well. I had started a mod to do so, but d_rail1602 beat me to the punch, but unfortunatly he/she blocked comments and discussion so there is a limited chance of ironing out this type of mods hic-ups, and bugs.

 

This is d_rails1602 http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=8720 The mod is as good as it can be given what any body knows, so it works as a perfect base.

 

Most of the bugs are actually bugs within the vanilla game, though techniqually not bugs since your not supposed to change race mid game in the first place, but here we go.

 

d_rail1602 has the foundation down so that we can use cutom textures and meshes, but races still use the same clothing meshes......booooo! So something to figure out. Most clothing is only sepeerated by Male/Female, but it appears some helmets are unique to Argonaian's. Thats something.

 

When changing race mid game things go wonky. There are work around to fix this ,but they are risky and very inconvenient like global warming. I've yet to experiment to see if this is true when going from something like "Nord" to "Custom Nord". Will post with results later.

 

SiberianExpress's Fallout: New Vegas Custom Race mod has already solved these problems. So now these type of fixes need to be applied to Skyrim Custom Race.

 

Alternate solutions are not out of question though. Is duplicate races the only way to be as unique as a snow flake? Is there a unique trigger inside the code that can be redirected by an esp, esm, and so on?

 

So, thats it for now. Post idea's, bug reports and so on so we can work together to develope this further.

 

UPDATE: Changing to any race including from something like Nord, to Custom Nord does indeed result in a semi character reset. You lose attribute points (all return to 100) and obviously all physical traits return to default.

 

Here is D_Rail's work around for this problem:

 

Changing race problems:

If you don't want to start over with a new game, there are a couple

of issues you need to be aware of before you should use this mod.

Bear in mind, these problems exist in the vanilla game, so I can't

fix them. There are two console commands available to change your

race: setrace and showracemenu.

(http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Console)

Setrace, used by itself, causes your head to be gone after you quit and reload your

game. Showracemenu causes your skills (conjuration, light armor, and

so on) to scramble and your health, stamina and magicka either to go back

to 100 or the points get spread evenly among the three.

 

Before changing your race

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make a back up of your save game folder and hit the "skills" key

and write down your current health, magicka, and stamina. You may

need to remove clothing, rings, and such so that your stats aren't

getting bumped up by them. Also, write down what your skills are

at, all of them. I know it's a hassle, but it is the only way that

I know of to fix the problem.

---

Changing race and you want to a new face

---

type showracemenu into the console and pick the race you want.

---

Changing race and you want to keep your face

---

Follow steps carefully:

1. open console and type "setrace CustomRace" (see above for console names

for each race). Close console.

2. open console and type "showracemenu".

3. Go up one race and back down. Do not do touch the sliders.

4. Finish and pick a name

5. open console and type "showracemenu". Fix your face with the sliders

if need be. Pick hair, eye color or whatever. Finish and pick name.

---

Add your skills back after changing race

--

open the console and use "player.setav name ##"

Replace name with health, stamina, magicka, and all of your skills.

Replace ## with what you wrote down before changing your race.

See wiki for full list of skill names. Names are straightforward except

speech = speechcraft in console.

(http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Console_Commands_(Skyrim):Skill_List)

(Credit for changing race fix goes to lunar_silence, see link for

detailed instructions

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2277608)

Edited February 11, 2012 by tonicmole