Looking for help with Mesh Replacement [SSE]

[axwins]

Hello all!

 

[sSE]

So, I'm a complete newb on this forum - apologies if this has been posted in the wrong place.

I am looking for help and potential step by steps on how to go about safely making a plugin that functions as a mesh replacer: specifically, I want to replace all khajiit heads ingame with the Serval khajiit meshes (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/18428?tab=description). [predominantly to allow compatibility with mods that struggle incorporating custom races - like ones from loverslab :p] --- without changing the vanilla RACE (ie. to keep them "khajiitrace" but with new head meshes).

I have already tried placing the Serval meshes in the basegame data directory, inside the meshes0.bsa... this went terribly as I'm sure many of you can imagine. At best I could load a save and see invisible hands, floating heads and just about every kind of graphical glitch possible. At worst my game CTD upon load attempt.

 

This confused me, as I thought that I had followed faithfully in concept, many of the tutorials I've tried to watch - most of which are focused on replacing textures, not meshes [because finding a mesh specific tutorial for my needs seemed nigh impossible]: all say to simply extract .bsa, insert and rename files as appropriate, repack and its good to go allegedly (?).

My process was this: take the Serval meshes and copy them into extracted bsa files; change the filenames of the serval meshes to override the original khajiit ones (ie. ServalKhajiitHead.nif --> FemaleKhajiitHead.nif, or w/e it was); repack the extracted files into a bsa of the same original name (Skyrim - Meshes0.bsa), and then place this into the Data folder.

 

I had actually already tried to make an .esp but it failed and I couldn't figure out how to involve the Serval meshes in CK without making my plugin have a dependancy on that mod. The only .esps I've successfully created thusfar are small settings changes or simple text changes for IDs or dialogue etc.

 

I thought it would be easy, not least because the Serval meshes use whatever textures khajiit use. Silly me :p - doing a clean reinstall as I type! (oh and I did actually make a backup of vanilla meshes0.bsa but the game refuses to accept this now - the damage I did seems permanent)

 

Any help would be much appreciated

 

Thanks

[Grospolina]

First of all, you should never repack a vanilla BSA. There's no need to. Loose files will always take priority over files inside a BSA.

For example, if you want to replace the female Khajiit head mesh, then just place it here (create any folders that you need):

Data\meshes\actors\character\character assets\femaleheadkhajiit.nif

However, I'm pretty sure that this won't work the way you want it to. That is, it won't replace any NPC heads. The NPC heads are pre-generated and found in the FaceGenData folders. Each NPC has its own mesh file. The Serval mod has an optional file (in the Files tab) that replaces 12 Khajiit NPCs by editing FaceGen files. If you want to replace all Khajiit heads, then you'd have to use the CK to generate new heads for every Khajiit NPC. This is entirely doable, but substantially more work than simply replacing a mesh or two.

[axwins]

Thanks for the reply :smile:

Thanks for that info - I must admit I was perplexed to see I couldn't access the folders in my PC like I could through CK (ie. on my PC directories its listed as "Data", but in CK it is "data", and has more files visible) --- if I can just make the folders myself then that makes much more sense.

Whilst it would be nice to have all NPCs aswell, its mostly a priority that my char is serval meshed, but khajiit race (because for some reason the ActorProxyKhajiit keyword doesnt work as well as it ought to, and racecompatibility mod doesnt seem to do anything other than vampire fixes[?]).

Thanks again, I'll let you know if it works when i get round to it ^_^

 

EDIT: so after some preliminary testing, the meshes are working as I wanted - haven't tested other NPC khajiit, but my player char is looking great and is now compatible with the desired mods, including animations --- have to do some work on seeing if I can incorporate the hair meshes and earring meshes [although I dont mind a "bald" char, especially on already hairy khajiit], as well as inclusion of the Serval eye textures, but I think the hardest part is done --- thankyou again for your help Grospolina --- if nothing else I've learnt some valuable info regards file structure and reading for this game :3

PS: any other newbs reading this; make sure you always check your filepaths, and the spellings - one tiny mistake can look catastrophic but is actually easily remedied by double checking the files

Edited July 17, 2018 by axwins

[Grospolina]

Oh, I guess I made a bad assumption. I'm glad it's working for you then!