What character mods should I use?

[shokti]

I'm sure this probably gets asked 100 times everyday, so please feel free to link me to the answer!

 

I'm just starting Skyrim for the first time, but I remember the first time I tried it, the character models were super ugly!

 

So which character mods should I use to improve facial aesthetics?

 

Also, I was quite keen to set up a beautiful female character, and I've heard that people can do this using CBBE and similar mods - but then I've also read that normal armour just overwrites this?

 

So how would I play the game with CBBE and similar mods? What do you guys normally do, so that you can use enhanced character rmodels, yet still enjoy the core game's armour and aesthetics?

 

It seems that you need to also install special armour mods? Any suggestions?

 

Thanks for helping out a total Skyrim and modding newb!

[ymf331]

i personally use sg textures renewal for my skin needs. to make the faces a bit easier on the eyes, there's pretty face (just the mesh fix), better makeup, northborn scars, and battle hardened warpaints. to make the npcs look even more better, i like inhabitants of skyrim along with the weight painted skyhairs. for a player character, these hdt ks hairdos are basically the rolls-royce of hairs.

 

for either cbbe or unp all you have to do is get bodyslide and build whichever you want. i prefer unp for one very simple reason: the book of uunp armors. for the standard duds i use remodeled armor and minidress collection. they look really good with book of silence and rustic clothing textures. all 3 are bodyslide compatible, so you can make fat chicks, or thin chicks. chicks with giant legs and tiny arms. whatever your heart desires.

 

if you're an animal lover, you'll love these feminine khajiit and feminine argonian textures. of course, no lusty argonian maid would be complete without argonian improvements horns and bigger argonian tails. seriously, if you don't get the tails they look like they're coming directly out from between the butt cheeks.

 

of course, your mileage may vary depending on what lighting mod(s) and/or post processing you use, game settings, etc. and with all the pretty girls around, you may wind up wanting to glam up the guys, kids, dogs, and skeevers as well as the entire continent and everything in it, while you're at it. it's a slippery slope.

 

edit: forgot brows and superior lore friendly hair too and also this eye normal map fix is amazing.

Edited May 31, 2017 by ymf331

[shokti]

Thanks! :)

[shokti]

Hey, I installed the bodysliders, UNP, and minidress collection - but in the character creation screen, the sliders have no effect? I can see that she's wearing the mini-dress item, but the body sliders don't change anything? What am I doing wrong?

[ymf331]

you have to build the outfits in the bodyslide program. it's a lot easier than it sounds. in outfit/body you just scroll down to unified unp or the hdt variation if you have hdt pe installed. then in preset you select either zeroed sliders or whichever of unp variant you want to use. check the box in the bottom left that says "build morphs" and click the button that says "batch build...". from there just hit "build" and it will let you choose between hdt and non-hdt versions of each outfit, then click "ok".

[shokti]

Thanks ymf! It's working now! But whenever I take my characters clothes off - the body seems to revert to a different preset UNP body, rather than the one I created in game using the sliders. How do I get it to apply those sliders to the nude body?

[Jeir]

Exactly the same way. Select the body, select your preset, hit build.

 

There are walkthroughs in both typed and video formats to take you through this.

[ymf331]

Well yeah, the body should've been included in the batch build but you can build it separately. I don't mind answering questions anyway, but I should've mentioned that the posts tab on the bodyslide page links to the official documentation. Sorry 'bout that.

[shokti]

The problem I'm having is that every instruction is slightly different :) Some say you just hit batch build, some suggest that you then need to copy paste files from one place to another if you are using mod organiser, it's all a bit overwhelming.

Thanks for your help though!

I'm going to try the batch build thing now to see what happens.

[shokti]

I tried the batch build - it replaces all the NPC bodies, but not mine! Even when I try to click just the build button - it says that it has created a fie in the Skyrim directory - but there's nothing there!