The Dark Faces bug : How to fix it?

[naijiri]

the best way to fix this bug for noobs is:

1) deinstall all mods that change characters (wico, immersive college of winterhold, diversity, bijiin...). also delete all compatibility patches regarding those mods, in case any are installed.

2) run loot and make sure everything is good.

3) install all mods that change characters again. don't run loot ever again now, otherwise you have to do it all again. the bug is now fixed, cause the above mentioned data loading priority is symmetric.

 

I'd modify point 3: Set the loading order in Vortex, Loot will respect Vortex' loading order rules.

Edit: Applied that myself. Worked. There is also the possibility to set load rules in Loot, I figured :wink:

 

Edit2: Didn't work for all faces...

Edited August 10, 2019 by naijiri

[jammerjim]

The so-called 'black-faced' bug, is in almost every instance due to user-generated errors. You people are not even correct when you call it a 'bug'. This so-called 'bug' manifests itself in the overwhelming majority of cases, simply because you all keep installing CONFLICTING mods assets together. [...]

 

 

With respect, I feel the need to point out that these conflicts can show up in the strangest of ways. In my case it was the interaction of Immersive Weapons, some of its patches, Bijin, and a bashed patch, which brown-faced Aela and some other of the Companions. IW carried some info on Aela into it, and the bashed patch had the info from the compatibility patches, and IT loaded after Bijin AIO. I was able to fix it by making a Vortex rule to force IW to load before Bijin AIO in the mod list (I already had Bijin next to last in the plugins). That sorted my bashed patch.

 

I would never have thought of that combo. It took a look in SSEEdit to figure it out.

[DeeJayVee92]

Just throwing this out here, in case you have mod conflicts like with Immersive College of Winterhold. Have you seen this ? https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/18369 it's got lots of compatibility patches that has it's own FMOD that detects what youre using. I'm not sure what your mod list is, but why not have a look and see if this may fix your problem?

[Replay64]

Open console, click on the affected character, type in setnpcweight 35 ,click enter. Voila. Sometimes it only gets to a one shade darker face than the rest of the body but still better than messing with the CK. Also the wrenches mod was the reason I got the error, but I still have it because it's a good mode, some console using on my gray faced people is no biggie in exchange.

dude i don't know who you are but if i ever met you i owe you a drink you saved my life on a 706 mods Game thank you

[MishHimeChan]

Open console, click on the affected character, type in setnpcweight 35 ,click enter. Voila. Sometimes it only gets to a one shade darker face than the rest of the body but still better than messing with the CK. Also the wrenches mod was the reason I got the error, but I still have it because it's a good mode, some console using on my gray faced people is no biggie in exchange.

Thank youuuuuuuuuu!

[copperwolf90]

the set "npcweight" only works on one npc at a time. However if you uninstall skyrim then reinstall skryim on a different drive that has never been modded on, it should eliminate whatever code file is causing the dark faces. its the quickest fix, that just requires starting from scratch with modding. not perfect for everyone im sure but i was looking for a fresh start and this worked.

[GGUNIT]

I wouldn't use any console command or CK to solve a load order / mods mess.

 

Be sure you have Mod Organizer (since Vortex is made by the same guy i guess it works too) and not Nexus Mod Manager, that one leaves a huge mess of loose datas everywhere - you'll experiment bugs anytime at some point with conflicting mods on a heavily modded game.

 

Be consistent with your NPCs overhaul mods - install and load order. Be careful sometimes some mods have huge compatibility issues or don't even blend together well (WICO for example). I'm using Metalsaber's Orcs, Ordinary Women, Bijin AiO and Northbourne overhauls in this specific order and never got a black face so far. Load order is key.

 

Don't mess with aesthetics too much, a dozen mods is what you need to make all your NPCs awesome as hell, don't think that adding a ****load of additional mods will make your game better, you'll only make it more and more buggy. Additional mods for Khajits or Argonians are mandatory cause they're quite exclusive but having 578 haircuts or eye brows doesn't make any sense.

 

Use a proper body mod with the right bones, the right skin and be sure you have used bodyslide properly to have consistent bodies too. Most of body mods rework faces too, you can use high poly faces, True faces, bed head and salt & wind (better hairs) etc. In a few mods, vanilla characters are already slightly better with a few mods only.

[Zymandis]

 

I recently installed skyrim SE with a lot of mods and encountered the famous "Gray/Dark faces bug" on some of my NPC's. I read a lot about it and I now know why it happens.

I tried to look for fixes such as this one : http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/67581/?tab=4&&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fcomments%2F%3Fmod_id%3D67581%26page%3D1%26sort%3DDESC%26pid%3D0%26thread_id%3D3019239&pUp=1

but I don't know if it applies to skyrim SE (it was written for skyrim (oldrim) edition). I also tried to understand what was explained here: https://bethesda.net/community/topic/3995/new-way-of-handling-facegen-data-for-npcs-in-sse-incompatibility-for-mods-modifying-vanilla-npcs

but my knowledge in modding and CK is far too limited to understand what I had to do to fix my problem.

I am using MO2 to handle my mods and I'm not even sure the different methods I read here and there can apply to it. :sad:

This is why I am posting here, desperate to find answers and help to fix my problem.

What I really need, is someone that can take a bit of his time to explain me step by step like a child what to do EXACTLY in the CK to fix the Dark Face bug on some of my NPC's.

Thank you very much in advance for your help ! :happy:

 

IDK if this has been answered but typically you need xEdit and in it you need to find the NPC that has the black face bug. In the NPC description you will see the mods that are affecting the NPC. Usually for me the black face bug occurs when an overhaul is overwritten by another mod. Typically you need to copy the data from the overhaul mod to the rightmost mod displayed in xedit and then save it. This fixes the black face bug in most cases.

[whraven2]

... I read there was no need to fo ctrl-f4 anymore because it was automated. I almost gave up on porting my own mod, but then in a hunch I went through each of the hundreds of NPCs I changed, highlighted them, then did the ctrl-f$ thing.

 

The non-ctrl-f4 method will only work if you have the CK .ini file configured to always create facegen files. In that case, you don't even have to change anything. Just select the mod as 'primary' and save it.

 

Where are the meshes and textures folders located on the CK? After using control and f4 I cannot see the exported data anywhere.

 

They actually appear in a subdirectory of Data\Meshes\Actors\Character\FaceGenData\FaceGeom with the full name of the plugin (i.e., for USSEP, they are in Data\Meshes\Actors\Character\FaceGenData\FaceGeom\Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch.esp -- and yes, the ".esp" is required). If you use Mod Organizer, they will be in the mod directory instead of Data.

[MurkMonster93]

what about on xbox one? i downloaded JWD's Lydia Redone CBBE A Female Nord Standalone Follower I moved it in the upper load order were all my NPC stuff is and I move there more to the bottom and for some reason her and Irielith keeps appearing with Gray face bug and I'm also having multiple vampire npc's appear that way too. i also have Bijin All in One by rxkx22 that overhauls tons of npc faces and their faces are effected and i started 2 new playthroughs with and without Lydia replacer overhaul listed above. if anyone can help thanks in advance.