Unclear on body shape and face texture mods

[GnatGoSplat]

I'm unclear on body shape and face texture mods. I see plenty of mods available for download for bigger boobs or butts, cleaner face textures, etc. I get the impression when I read the description on these various mods that they are global, and the body shape ones are almost always shown nude or in custom outfits/armor making me think that default apparel is not affected by them. Is this the case that these mods are usually global, and that body shape ones require custom apparel to show the changes?

[kingtitan]

Hopefully I can successfully explain this:

Two points to start:

1) Body mods are "global." That is to say, the female body you install will show up on all "unclothed" females, the same is true for males.

2) Facial textures go by race. For instance, an imperial won't use the same facial texture as a dark elf.

 

As far as custom clothing or armor, these are models within themselves. For instance a piece of armor modeled to a different body than the one that you have installed will reflect the other body model. Armor doesn't "mesh" to the specific body type you have installed, it is already modeled to a specific body type and tailored for it.

Edited March 21, 2012 by kingtitan

[GnatGoSplat]

Thanks, I think I understand. They work as I suspected, but I had to wonder because I don't really understand the point of body mods that go away when the characters are dressed, but I guess some people like to have naked NPCs wandering around everywhere. Do all the clothing and armor have breast "bones"? If so, I wonder if it's technically possible to make custom body sliders that morph the base meshes based on bone weights. Of course, if that's possible, I'd like custom sliders for the face too like mouth width, mouth scale, nose width, nose scale, etc.

 

I would really like to be able to create custom NPCs that look very unique and different without changing the appearance of any existing characters, so the available body and face mods aren't what I'm looking for. It would be possible to use unique face textures that don't affect any other character, by creating a custom race and assigning those textures to just that race, correct?

[jet4571]

You can create a custom race using new body and face textures. You can also create new NPC's using the default races. Creating the way they look has all the same options as you have when creating your player character. Choices on eyes, nose, lips. and sliders to change those.

[GnatGoSplat]

Thanks, I may try creating a custom race using custom textures. I've created new NPCs using Creation Kit, but unfortunately, just using default races and default sliders and face part selections results in characters that still resemble existing NPCs quite a bit. Edited March 21, 2012 by GnatGoSplat