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What do you think the best nude mods available are?

HongChongRongDong

By HongChongRongDong
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HongChongRongDong Rookie

HongChongRongDong

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Downloading the game for the first time since I played in on 360 when it released and thought I'd try to mod it out to make it a brand new experience. Couldn't pass up the idea of nude mods so I wanted some suggestions on which may be the highest quality. Also if you have any other suggestions for mods I should download let me know.

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Jeir Veteran

Jeir

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CBBE for women. Highest polygon count, most customisation, and probably with the most support from active modders. You can get realistic shapes (such as the default Slim body), less realistic shapes, and can ever get shapes that look like other bodies (including ones like UNP). Pretty much every popular female body texture mod supports it as well.

Better Males for men. I use the SLE/'Oldrim' version because I prefer the SunDracon mesh, but the SSE version is fine if you can ignore the tree-trunk thighs at low-weight.

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TygerxEyes Enthusiast

TygerxEyes

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(Obviously, all of the follow is... IMHO):

I think it depends. CBBE tends to offer curvy women with scaling from butts and breasts from normal to ridiculous (e.g., breasts that would make walking upright difficult let alone combat). UNP tends to be much more of physically defined ranging from in really good shape to hard bodies within what I would regard as much more realistic proportions [Cup A-C] (though variations exist that offered large size or some extreme muscle builds hardbody x10, but UNP is again less curvy). Remember, CBBE and UNP are body structures over which the skin textures are set.

 

In addition, I have found that head meshes vary with each of the builds and I much prefer the UNP Heads which I find a bit more fair and their fairest are the fairest of them all. If you go to Shiva's Beautiful Presets and open the Images Tab and go to Comparisons you can see what I mean same presets over different meshes... which maybe more related to 'standard head meshes' that come with than options.

CBBE and UNP are for women. So, like Jeir said, you have to choose for your guys, if you are equal opportunity nudist. Men are bare chested, obviously, but they can be covered with underwear, flaccid, or not, etc.,. Shiva's Beautiful Presets comes with side by side comparisons for men, too, and out-of-the-box head meshes differ, too.

Skin Textures - depends on what you are looking for and which of the body structures you chose (CBBE & UNP are not the only ones but tend to be what most people use). In my experience, I have found that CBBE skin textures tend to be a bit more porcelain and anime styled for my tastes. While Jeir is correct (and should be as a very talented mod author - CBBE and Bodyslide) about better more realistic skin textures looking better and more realistic, I believe that applies to both UNP and CBBE. I think that the subtle difference for me is that CBBE is curvy build, UNP is more defined from normal in shape to hardbody, and the textures map on to the bodies as such. So, IMHO, even the highly realistic textures seem to me to map out different on curvy forms - better by far than some of the early CBBE Skins, but for me... UNP is better choice.

 

Personally, I think skin textures are just about as essential as underlying body structure (CBBE & UNP) and visiting a view of the skin textures that support UNP and CBBE will give you reasonable side-by-side comparisons. Oh, and if non-humans are important, remember that their are fewer skin textures and they do not work with everything... so check them.

 

Body Physics - from combat to bouncing busts and buns are factors, too. CBBE and UNP have physics as well. Personally, since I play the game to play the game, physics are something I sometimes include but do not miss it much when it's not there... for your purposes gather it's important so consider physics options.

Fashionista - one of the bigger differences between CBBE and UNP though - not really that big a difference as some suggest is - clothing and armor mods. CBBE is probably the better choice for players who want to dress-up a lot and have fashion shows, because it is true that certain clothing and armor mods do not work as well and some of these clothing and armor mods are for sex-oriented fashion or ultra skimpy armor (and UNP has a host of these options as well). However, IMHO... as a player who tends to play the game and not have fashion shows and worry that I cannot dress-up in everything at the store, I have never found myself lacking when it comes to options. So, while this an advantage if you want to have sex parties or play dress-up, I use UNP and have never found myself crying about it and, in truth, a lot of the better ones are modified for UNP.

So.... What Now?

So, CBBE (Curvy) or UNP (Shapely-Hardbody) or something else? What kind of skin do you want - porcelain or a bit over photoshopped/airbrushed or realistic. What do the out-of-the-box head meshes look like... are they attractive to you? Realistic textures look great on both CBBE and UNP, but given the shape of nature of UNP, I personally think the best skin mods look better on UNP - it can be close, but... UNP gets my vote. Skin Textures are probably as important and their are several great ones - my preference is always realism vs porcelain and over airbrushed. In this regard, I recommend you visit Nordic Skyrim (see below) along with SEPTIM & TUCO because they will link out to some great skin textures. And, finally, do you want physics, because both options come with them.

 

Personally...

I prefer UNP for a lot of reasons (UNP Female Body Renewal & UNP Body Fit Armors and Clothing [shiva182]). I prefer in-shape and define over curvy and do not need butts and breasts of inordinate size. I am not playing to have a fashion show or open a sex dungeon or have a Noble Dance Ball with all the trappings - some people get into it and more power to them - but I have never sat around as a character and thought... damn... I am so sad I cannot fit into that high heel or thong or what have you, lol. I have always found plenty of cool things for UNP. It also helps keep my mod list down because I have too many plugins as it is... so do I want 30+ beautiful armor mods or just the 5 I love. I love the way the skin textures look on UNP. I do use WICO, which truth be told is a UNP Only Mod, and is a real work of art. It is a bit complex, but the Character Options and NPCs (around 800 are covered) are stunning. Frankly, given some of the hassles involved, if it was not a real piece of art, it would have fallen into oblivion. Even Nordic Skyrim List (Creator) notes it as work-of-art kinda mod even though he prefers CBBE.

 

Unfortunately, WICO requires a little bit of work before you should use it (cf., SEPTIM Mod List). It does require some advanced edits, but you do not need to know anything... just follow directions. I used MO2 and followed the instructions on YouTube (PreCaliber and TUCO has a video that's otherwise outdated that does have accurate WICO fix part)… just remember make a Nude Version (and Non-Nude Version if you want to make Let's Plays to Post on YouTube) then open in explorer and save your modified mods into archive and you will never need to go through the hassle. I have a completely functional versions - nude and non-nude - of WICO that work like a charm, but the authors been absent for 2+ years and I cannot upload for public use.

If I was not using WICO, I would still use UNP because I prefer body types - normal in-shape to hardbody, but I would use one of the following skins - Mature skin texture & body, Fair Complexion, Women of Skyrim female textures, Pride of Vanilla and I would probably use TCM. WICO covers men, too. So, I don't need a male model - WICO is as good to men as women (but it does not have totally nude men and, thereby, anatomical parts that work... so, if you're chasing that stuff, WICO as beautiful as it is... is not what you'd be looking for.... If I was not using WICO, I find there are a lot of good ones but for nudes (a) Tempered Skins for Males or (b) Vitruvia - Skin Textures for Males. 4K maybe SkySight Skins - Ultra HD 4K 2K Male Textures and Real Feet Meshes.

 

I use Diverse People and Botox to round out my NPCs (WICO covers 800+ but these hit a few not covered), but I still have WICO Immersive People and Dawnguard (2 esps included in WICO) and assign them priority over all other mods for appearance.

As to physics, more often than not, I don't use any physics options though HDT is/would be my choice if I did... again, if I want beautiful nude women with real physics, I go the photo studio and/or the internet provides options for those without a photo-studio - but that's just my thought... everyone has their own thing.

~Tyger~

PS: Obviously, I favor UNP as do others, but there a lot of fans of CBBE, too. They might say UNP is too blocky (muscular) or to slim (in shape) vs curvy (round) thicker (meaty). It really does come down to taste. CBBE folks have done a lot of hard work on their mods, these are exceptional mods, and they have their folks. UNP the same... I am one of the later.

Some Major Mod Lists To Visit:

YouTube will provide you with a fair amount of comparisons as well... whichever meshes, textures, and physics you choose good luck. Great thing about mods is... you can do what you want.

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Jyotai Enthusiast

Jyotai

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I found the UNP bodies to be too blocky / low polygon looking.

 

CBBE can do a large bosom, but it also does a small bosom better.

Don't look at criticism that attacks CBBE for what it can be used for... look at, well... what it can be used for... the full range.

 

CBBE concentrates polygons on areas that are likely to be reshaped or animated - so the bosom is high polygon. The joints seem to be also. UNP just splits polygons evenly - which at least in 3D art applications can actually tax your graphics engine when you try to make animation renders... so I assume it will have the same issue in gaming graphics.

 

(this also means that if you do go in for a physics mod, the body parts will move better on CBBE).

 

For males I use the Schlong's mod - so that I can get full 'usage' out of things like Flower Girls and 'more adult mods from places'...

- On this regard I went for the full version and not the light one because the light one, from the docs at least, didn't have size adjustment... and schlongs gives men 'micro-equipment' that makes a squirrel's toolkit look big... So I needed the full one to dial it up a bit (and you can go from micro to silly huge - just like CBBE will do for female anatomy).

 

For physics I use the CBP mod, and the 'sinful' mod. The sinful mod lets you adjust CBP's setting to have your choice of more or less physics in different parts of the body - that can be handy if you want physics that are less 'jiggly' and more 'firm and athletic'. And it can also be handy if you want stuff flopping all over the screen so fast it takes out dragons on it's own... :)

- Once again... the ability to handle a wider range of options is the superior choice. It is then on the end user to choose if they're going to dial things up or down.

 

Lastly... I have my own homemade mod that removes the clothing of everyone in the game by tweaking outfits and leveled lists... but that is not ready for the public as I haven't yet 'rebalanced' the game (some fights end up being extremely lethal for one side or the other when you remove all torso armor - I know what I want to do to fix that, but it's a long slog through the creation kit to fix it the way I desire it fixed).

- so if you are looking for a LOT of nudity... there are also a few other mods out there that do this (I think only in oldrim so you will need to convert them - but that was easy when I did it with one before deciding to write my own)...

 

You can hit google for mods like schlongs, and some other adult mods depending on what it is exactly that you are trying to do here...

 

Lastly... if you are looking to have a LOT of nudity on your screen, I recommend Enhanced Character Editor over Racemenu... The reason being what breast sliders are available. ECE has sliders to add in 'sag' and remove or add cleavage. With racemenu the 'size' sliders for the bosom will just create two rockets that jut straight out of the chest as if held up by half the silicon in Miami... Racemenu does have two sliders for cleavage (they work in reverse and each covers one breast - one moves away from center when going up in value, the other moves away from center when going down in value).

- With ECE the slider is just 'up to space apart and down to bring together.

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HongChongRongDong Rookie

HongChongRongDong

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(Obviously, all of the follow is... IMHO):

 

I think it depends. CBBE tends to offer curvy women with scaling from butts and breasts from normal to ridiculous (e.g., breasts that would make walking upright difficult let alone combat). UNP tends to be much more of physically defined ranging from in really good shape to hard bodies within what I would regard as much more realistic proportions [Cup A-C] (though variations exist that offered large size or some extreme muscle builds hardbody x10, but UNP is again less curvy). Remember, CBBE and UNP are body structures over which the skin textures are set.

 

In addition, I have found that head meshes vary with each of the builds and I much prefer the UNP Heads which I find a bit more fair and their fairest are the fairest of them all. If you go to Shiva's Beautiful Presets and open the Images Tab and go to Comparisons you can see what I mean same presets over different meshes... which maybe more related to 'standard head meshes' that come with than options.

 

CBBE and UNP are for women. So, like Jeir said, you have to choose for your guys, if you are equal opportunity nudist. Men are bare chested, obviously, but they can be covered with underwear, flaccid, or not, etc.,. Shiva's Beautiful Presets comes with side by side comparisons for men, too, and out-of-the-box head meshes differ, too.

 

Skin Textures - depends on what you are looking for and which of the body structures you chose (CBBE & UNP are not the only ones but tend to be what most people use). In my experience, I have found that CBBE skin textures tend to be a bit more porcelain and anime styled for my tastes. While Jeir is correct (and should be as a very talented mod author - CBBE and Bodyslide) about better more realistic skin textures looking better and more realistic, I believe that applies to both UNP and CBBE. I think that the subtle difference for me is that CBBE is curvy build, UNP is more defined from normal in shape to hardbody, and the textures map on to the bodies as such. So, IMHO, even the highly realistic textures seem to me to map out different on curvy forms - better by far than some of the early CBBE Skins, but for me... UNP is better choice.

 

Personally, I think skin textures are just about as essential as underlying body structure (CBBE & UNP) and visiting a view of the skin textures that support UNP and CBBE will give you reasonable side-by-side comparisons. Oh, and if non-humans are important, remember that their are fewer skin textures and they do not work with everything... so check them.

 

Body Physics - from combat to bouncing busts and buns are factors, too. CBBE and UNP have physics as well. Personally, since I play the game to play the game, physics are something I sometimes include but do not miss it much when it's not there... for your purposes gather it's important so consider physics options.

 

Fashionista - one of the bigger differences between CBBE and UNP though - not really that big a difference as some suggest is - clothing and armor mods. CBBE is probably the better choice for players who want to dress-up a lot and have fashion shows, because it is true that certain clothing and armor mods do not work as well and some of these clothing and armor mods are for sex-oriented fashion or ultra skimpy armor (and UNP has a host of these options as well). However, IMHO... as a player who tends to play the game and not have fashion shows and worry that I cannot dress-up in everything at the store, I have never found myself lacking when it comes to options. So, while this an advantage if you want to have sex parties or play dress-up, I use UNP and have never found myself crying about it and, in truth, a lot of the better ones are modified for UNP.

 

So.... What Now?

 

So, CBBE (Curvy) or UNP (Shapely-Hardbody) or something else? What kind of skin do you want - porcelain or a bit over photoshopped/airbrushed or realistic. What do the out-of-the-box head meshes look like... are they attractive to you? Realistic textures look great on both CBBE and UNP, but given the shape of nature of UNP, I personally think the best skin mods look better on UNP - it can be close, but... UNP gets my vote. Skin Textures are probably as important and their are several great ones - my preference is always realism vs porcelain and over airbrushed. In this regard, I recommend you visit Nordic Skyrim (see below) along with SEPTIM & TUCO because they will link out to some great skin textures. And, finally, do you want physics, because both options come with them.

 

Personally...

 

I prefer UNP for a lot of reasons (UNP Female Body Renewal & UNP Body Fit Armors and Clothing [shiva182]). I prefer in-shape and define over curvy and do not need butts and breasts of inordinate size. I am not playing to have a fashion show or open a sex dungeon or have a Noble Dance Ball with all the trappings - some people get into it and more power to them - but I have never sat around as a character and thought... damn... I am so sad I cannot fit into that high heel or thong or what have you, lol. I have always found plenty of cool things for UNP. It also helps keep my mod list down because I have too many plugins as it is... so do I want 30+ beautiful armor mods or just the 5 I love. I love the way the skin textures look on UNP. I do use WICO, which truth be told is a UNP Only Mod, and is a real work of art. It is a bit complex, but the Character Options and NPCs (around 800 are covered) are stunning. Frankly, given some of the hassles involved, if it was not a real piece of art, it would have fallen into oblivion. Even Nordic Skyrim List (Creator) notes it as work-of-art kinda mod even though he prefers CBBE.

 

Unfortunately, WICO requires a little bit of work before you should use it (cf., SEPTIM Mod List). It does require some advanced edits, but you do not need to know anything... just follow directions. I used MO2 and followed the instructions on YouTube (PreCaliber and TUCO has a video that's otherwise outdated that does have accurate WICO fix part)… just remember make a Nude Version (and Non-Nude Version if you want to make Let's Plays to Post on YouTube) then open in explorer and save your modified mods into archive and you will never need to go through the hassle. I have a completely functional versions - nude and non-nude - of WICO that work like a charm, but the authors been absent for 2+ years and I cannot upload for public use.

 

If I was not using WICO, I would still use UNP because I prefer body types - normal in-shape to hardbody, but I would use one of the following skins - Mature skin texture & body, Fair Complexion, Women of Skyrim female textures, Pride of Vanilla and I would probably use TCM. WICO covers men, too. So, I don't need a male model - WICO is as good to men as women (but it does not have totally nude men and, thereby, anatomical parts that work... so, if you're chasing that stuff, WICO as beautiful as it is... is not what you'd be looking for.... If I was not using WICO, I find there are a lot of good ones but for nudes (a) Tempered Skins for Males or (b) Vitruvia - Skin Textures for Males. 4K maybe SkySight Skins - Ultra HD 4K 2K Male Textures and Real Feet Meshes.

 

I use Diverse People and Botox to round out my NPCs (WICO covers 800+ but these hit a few not covered), but I still have WICO Immersive People and Dawnguard (2 esps included in WICO) and assign them priority over all other mods for appearance.

 

As to physics, more often than not, I don't use any physics options though HDT is/would be my choice if I did... again, if I want beautiful nude women with real physics, I go the photo studio and/or the internet provides options for those without a photo-studio - but that's just my thought... everyone has their own thing.

 

~Tyger~

 

PS: Obviously, I favor UNP as do others, but there a lot of fans of CBBE, too. They might say UNP is too blocky (muscular) or to slim (in shape) vs curvy (round) thicker (meaty). It really does come down to taste. CBBE folks have done a lot of hard work on their mods, these are exceptional mods, and they have their folks. UNP the same... I am one of the later.

 

Some Major Mod Lists To Visit:

YouTube will provide you with a fair amount of comparisons as well... whichever meshes, textures, and physics you choose good luck. Great thing about mods is... you can do what you want.

Thanks for the answer. Does either of those mods include body textures for the none human races? If not what should I download for those?

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Jyotai Enthusiast

Jyotai

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For non human bodies look for:

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/183

That is female Khaajit, but the description page has links to the other 3 mods by this same modder for the remaining options.

 

On the UNP looks real vs CBBE... I always find this baffling.

 

This is the kind of body you get out of UNP:

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1699

 

It is often used for follower mods with bodies like this:

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/11744

 

And this is CBBE:

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/198

It is often used for follower mods with bodies like this:

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/18716

 

- this is what I mean when I say I find UNP to be a bit blocky. I can almost see the polygons with it.

 

Look at the 7th image on the UNP page itself. A side profile of a woman in plate armor - the polygons are visibly there. Her bosom is a clear series of straight lines rather than a curve. Of course it is a valid argument that armor should not be 'form fitting'... BUT this armor is... and yet the form, is blocks.

 

This image:

https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/1704/images/1699-0-1479427529.png

 

Now look at this from CBBE:

https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/1704/images/198-2-1506859059.jpg

- four figures in form fitting. The one on the left is almost blocky, but still retains a smooth curve.

 

That is basically comparing the best UNP can do against the worst CBBE will leave you with. And even in that unfair test, CBBE comes out ahead.

 

People love to complain that CBBE can do big butts and bosoms - but that's a poor complaint. A good complaint would be if it could ONLY do that...

Edited by Jyotai
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TygerxEyes Enthusiast

TygerxEyes

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With regard to non-humans, I find it gets a little tricky... because not all of the skins work with full nudity ('slongs') so to speak:

  • Females (Non-Human)
    • Female Khajiit - are a little easier because Feminine Khajiit Textures (Monster Raider) is the one main option, but the good news is that it has several options from multi-nipple (aka as a true cat might have to human furry variations) and it comes for UNP and CBBE.
    • Female Argonians have two solid options Feminine Argonian Textures (MonsterRaider) or Female Dragonic Textures (2K and 4K). MonsterRaider textures do come with several variations from more mammalian-human breasts and nipples to full scales without nipples... unlike cats, which are mammals and suckle their young... lizards not so much. So, more human variations, more mammalian have nipples; more lizard variations, no so much. With Dragonic (geeze I want to keep typic Draconic, but it is Dragonic)… anyway, it is colorful (though so is Monster Raider Chameleon Option), but I think you only have the lizard full-scale no nipple option for Dragonic.

Males âare a little more tricky and it really comes down to 'slong' or 'dick' options because not all male skins come with full anatomy for male characters. As I mentioned, I would visit a couple of the pages for mod lists because they do a decent job summarizing and rather than rewrite in my own words... I am going to cut-and-paste from Nordic Skyrim:

 

----- Quote -----

  • Beast Textures and Schlongs Of Skyrim Lite

    • Unfortunately their doesn't seem to be the perfect option because non of the male beast textures have built in support for SOS Lite. Some have it for the full version of SOS, but that version isn't available for SE. Just to note, there are two versions of SOS Lite. One made specifically to be used with Tempered Skins for Males (TSOS), and a standard version (SOS). After lots of testing, and staring at so much beast dick it made me feel sick, I think the following install orders for the different options give the best results. None of them are perfect.

      • Masculine Khajiit and Argonian Textures - Tempered Skins - TSOS. - Reasonable, but you lose the bare chest.

      • Masculine Khajiit and Argonian Textures - SOS - Vitruvia. - Reasonable, but you lose the bare chest.\

      • Muscular Khajiit Textures (The Skeleton File) - SOS - Muscular Khajiit Textures (The Textures File) - Makes the dick darker, with a darker patch above.

      • Male Dragonic Argonian Textures SOS version - SOS . - I think the best option for Argonians, at least as far as the dick is concerned.

    • (Tyger Again - So Now About Authors More Specific Thoughts):

      • Masculine Khajiit Textures - I choose the 4K file, and pick grey for the males. If you chose Leopard over Grey, install the hotfix under updates.

        OR

        Muscular Khajiit Textures and Skeleton - A good option, but I would probably only choose it if I wasn't having male nudity in my game. It only has the body textures included. For the head textures, install the Male file from Cover Kajiits (Oldrim). I recommend installing cover Kajiits after the Masculine Kajiit Textures too. (Tyger Insert - I have not used, but if the skeleton is too large - especially tall - you get weird shrinking when they use equipment or furniture... not saying this is a problem with this mod as I have not used it... but keep that in mind).

      • Masculine Argonian Textures - I choose the 2K file and pick lizard for the males. I would choose this if using Tempered Males.

        OR:

        Male Dragonic Argonian Textures 4K - 2K (SOS and Vanilla) - A decent choice anyway, but I think a better choice for SOS.

----- End Quote -----

  • Cover Khajiits - I'll be honest... I have never seen the "Cover Khajiits" mod before and I think I want to give it a try (depends how well head mesh blends with body mesh) because they look great as head replacers, but I have no real experience - merely - I plan to give it a try. As long as it is purely textures, it would be fine to use straight from Oldrim… if it includes meshes then I guess I will be converting them.

Personally...

I have been using Feminine and Masculine Argonian and Khajiits Textures by MonsterRaider (2K), but I am currently working on a Mod List that replaces Argonian with Dragonic Mod. In truth, I encounter so few Argonians… I am not overly aware of the situation (Side Note: It's always funny how people notice and sometimes complain, but truth is... if they were reptilians (cold-blooded) and not just humans in a polymorphic experiment gone wrong - what the hell are they in the great white north - they are cold-blooded). Anway…

With MonsterRaider Skins, I stick with Grey Cats (not Leopard) and Lizard (not Chameleon), because I want consistency in my races and head seam issues were around when I started and just never change and coloration in chameleon did not strike me.

 

Muscular Khajiit looks interesting but is not lore friendly... it's bad enough that Bethseda dropped scaling and physique differences, but I understand because otherwise every race would have it's own skeleton, but I hope that their success allows them to bring it back in future, but.... maybe not because all the furniture, armor, and so on would be scaled, too. Khajiits are not really built like that as a race - sure their might be exceptions - but they do not scale with orcs or nords - or they are not suppose to according to the lore.

 

Cover Khajiits looks great - I am going to begin using it - but as of this writing have no experience. What will be critical will be how well the heads blend with the bodies - mesh and texture - do I get noticeable seams.

 

Important...

Texture Quality (4K, 4K-2K, 2K) - does matter when you get really close-up... again, when I play to play, I want fastest frame rates and 2K is more than sufficient at I am running 1920 x 1080 (60 Mhz) and a very good graphics card and I retexture a lot. Since I am not creating YouTube Vids to Showcase Mods or wanting close-ups of characters for Fan-Fare or Sex Mods, I find 2K more than sufficient. If all kinds of characters are running around at 4K... plus other stuff... it will hit your system hard. VR-wise, I have no experience so you'll have to figure that out on your own.

 

XP32 Maximum Skeleton Special Extended - XPMSSE is a vital addition to your mod list because it is critical for animations from combat to idles to something more intimate in animation, but... last I heard the latest version has some issues and at my last investigation into things - common wisdom was - stick with V4.20 (under "Old files"). I do look forward to updating, but... not until things are worked out. Anyway... I recommend downloading V4.20 unless and/or until the latest is issue free.

In any case, I wish you the best... and good luck with non-human skins. ~T~

 

 

(Obviously, all of the follow is... IMHO):

I think it depends. CBBE tends to offer curvy women with scaling from butts and breasts from normal to ridiculous (e.g., breasts that would make walking upright difficult let alone combat). UNP tends to be much more of physically defined ranging from in really good shape to hard bodies within what I would regard as much more realistic proportions [Cup A-C] (though variations exist that offered large size or some extreme muscle builds hardbody x10, but UNP is again less curvy). Remember, CBBE and UNP are body structures over which the skin textures are set.

 

In addition, I have found that head meshes vary with each of the builds and I much prefer the UNP Heads which I find a bit more fair and their fairest are the fairest of them all. If you go to Shiva's Beautiful Presets and open the Images Tab and go to Comparisons you can see what I mean same presets over different meshes... which maybe more related to 'standard head meshes' that come with than options.

CBBE and UNP are for women. So, like Jeir said, you have to choose for your guys, if you are equal opportunity nudist. Men are bare chested, obviously, but they can be covered with underwear, flaccid, or not, etc.,. Shiva's Beautiful Presets comes with side by side comparisons for men, too, and out-of-the-box head meshes differ, too.

Skin Textures - depends on what you are looking for and which of the body structures you chose (CBBE & UNP are not the only ones but tend to be what most people use). In my experience, I have found that CBBE skin textures tend to be a bit more porcelain and anime styled for my tastes. While Jeir is correct (and should be as a very talented mod author - CBBE and Bodyslide) about better more realistic skin textures looking better and more realistic, I believe that applies to both UNP and CBBE. I think that the subtle difference for me is that CBBE is curvy build, UNP is more defined from normal in shape to hardbody, and the textures map on to the bodies as such. So, IMHO, even the highly realistic textures seem to me to map out different on curvy forms - better by far than some of the early CBBE Skins, but for me... UNP is better choice.

 

Personally, I think skin textures are just about as essential as underlying body structure (CBBE & UNP) and visiting a view of the skin textures that support UNP and CBBE will give you reasonable side-by-side comparisons. Oh, and if non-humans are important, remember that their are fewer skin textures and they do not work with everything... so check them.

 

Body Physics - from combat to bouncing busts and buns are factors, too. CBBE and UNP have physics as well. Personally, since I play the game to play the game, physics are something I sometimes include but do not miss it much when it's not there... for your purposes gather it's important so consider physics options.

Fashionista - one of the bigger differences between CBBE and UNP though - not really that big a difference as some suggest is - clothing and armor mods. CBBE is probably the better choice for players who want to dress-up a lot and have fashion shows, because it is true that certain clothing and armor mods do not work as well and some of these clothing and armor mods are for sex-oriented fashion or ultra skimpy armor (and UNP has a host of these options as well). However, IMHO... as a player who tends to play the game and not have fashion shows and worry that I cannot dress-up in everything at the store, I have never found myself lacking when it comes to options. So, while this an advantage if you want to have sex parties or play dress-up, I use UNP and have never found myself crying about it and, in truth, a lot of the better ones are modified for UNP.

So.... What Now?

So, CBBE (Curvy) or UNP (Shapely-Hardbody) or something else? What kind of skin do you want - porcelain or a bit over photoshopped/airbrushed or realistic. What do the out-of-the-box head meshes look like... are they attractive to you? Realistic textures look great on both CBBE and UNP, but given the shape of nature of UNP, I personally think the best skin mods look better on UNP - it can be close, but... UNP gets my vote. Skin Textures are probably as important and their are several great ones - my preference is always realism vs porcelain and over airbrushed. In this regard, I recommend you visit Nordic Skyrim (see below) along with SEPTIM & TUCO because they will link out to some great skin textures. And, finally, do you want physics, because both options come with them.

 

Personally...

I prefer UNP for a lot of reasons (UNP Female Body Renewal & UNP Body Fit Armors and Clothing [shiva182]). I prefer in-shape and define over curvy and do not need butts and breasts of inordinate size. I am not playing to have a fashion show or open a sex dungeon or have a Noble Dance Ball with all the trappings - some people get into it and more power to them - but I have never sat around as a character and thought... damn... I am so sad I cannot fit into that high heel or thong or what have you, lol. I have always found plenty of cool things for UNP. It also helps keep my mod list down because I have too many plugins as it is... so do I want 30+ beautiful armor mods or just the 5 I love. I love the way the skin textures look on UNP. I do use WICO, which truth be told is a UNP Only Mod, and is a real work of art. It is a bit complex, but the Character Options and NPCs (around 800 are covered) are stunning. Frankly, given some of the hassles involved, if it was not a real piece of art, it would have fallen into oblivion. Even Nordic Skyrim List (Creator) notes it as work-of-art kinda mod even though he prefers CBBE.

 

Unfortunately, WICO requires a little bit of work before you should use it (cf., SEPTIM Mod List). It does require some advanced edits, but you do not need to know anything... just follow directions. I used MO2 and followed the instructions on YouTube (PreCaliber and TUCO has a video that's otherwise outdated that does have accurate WICO fix part)… just remember make a Nude Version (and Non-Nude Version if you want to make Let's Plays to Post on YouTube) then open in explorer and save your modified mods into archive and you will never need to go through the hassle. I have a completely functional versions - nude and non-nude - of WICO that work like a charm, but the authors been absent for 2+ years and I cannot upload for public use.

If I was not using WICO, I would still use UNP because I prefer body types - normal in-shape to hardbody, but I would use one of the following skins - Mature skin texture & body, Fair Complexion, Women of Skyrim female textures, Pride of Vanilla and I would probably use TCM. WICO covers men, too. So, I don't need a male model - WICO is as good to men as women (but it does not have totally nude men and, thereby, anatomical parts that work... so, if you're chasing that stuff, WICO as beautiful as it is... is not what you'd be looking for.... If I was not using WICO, I find there are a lot of good ones but for nudes (a) Tempered Skins for Males or (b) Vitruvia - Skin Textures for Males. 4K maybe SkySight Skins - Ultra HD 4K 2K Male Textures and Real Feet Meshes.

 

I use Diverse People and Botox to round out my NPCs (WICO covers 800+ but these hit a few not covered), but I still have WICO Immersive People and Dawnguard (2 esps included in WICO) and assign them priority over all other mods for appearance.

As to physics, more often than not, I don't use any physics options though HDT is/would be my choice if I did... again, if I want beautiful nude women with real physics, I go the photo studio and/or the internet provides options for those without a photo-studio - but that's just my thought... everyone has their own thing.

~Tyger~

PS: Obviously, I favor UNP as do others, but there a lot of fans of CBBE, too. They might say UNP is too blocky (muscular) or to slim (in shape) vs curvy (round) thicker (meaty). It really does come down to taste. CBBE folks have done a lot of hard work on their mods, these are exceptional mods, and they have their folks. UNP the same... I am one of the later.

Some Major Mod Lists To Visit:

YouTube will provide you with a fair amount of comparisons as well... whichever meshes, textures, and physics you choose good luck. Great thing about mods is... you can do what you want.

Thanks for the answer. Does either of those mods include body textures for the none human races? If not what should I download for those?

 

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TygerxEyes Enthusiast

TygerxEyes

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UNP & CBBE (Revisited)

 

I want to begin, again, by saying that each one has it's advantages and disadvantages. I commend each along with their development teams - each is popular among different groups of people for different reasons. I am not knocking CBBE folks, but sometimes people present things with such a heavy bias that I really do need to comment. Jyotai, offered a bunch of pictures, a lot of bias that runs counter to what you will find if you look out and about....

  • He wrote - "This is the kind of body you get out of UNP (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1699)" and he's right. It is the model I use UPN - Standard (Cup Sizes A to C), but variations exist. However, Jyotai, next line is, IMHO, utter bulls*** - "It is often used for follower mods with bodies like this: https://www.nexusmod...tion/mods/11744." How can you tell? Well, simple, UNP does have alternate spin-off mods like UNPB, UUNPN, blah, blah, blah, but they are not what I recommended and are not UNP. UNP Standard (Cup Sizes A to C). Moreover, I find it laughable that his own case is disproven on the very same page. If you keep scrolling down the Main Mod Page, you'll get to some great examples of equally unbalanced CBBE Models (Ellen CBBE and Lucia CBBE #1 Toward The End). If I were trying to be as biased, I would not add - Stephanie CBBE and Lucia CBBE (very last) - provides a nice example of the reasonable side of CBBE. In addition, if you look specifically at UNP (not variations of UNP), I am pretty sure what I described is again spot-on.

    I do agree with him regarding some of the variations of UNP being over-the-top but these are not UNP.
    • On Faces - Personally, I find that a cross comparison of faces and stomach lines even with the hustler bust-size women of UNPB and UUPNB (or whatever, because these are not UNP), I prefer the faces and stomach lines where they are more 'in-shape' trimmer and such (in my eyes). Personally, Ellen CBBE (Naughty Girls) offers an attractive face, but all-in-all you see the porcelain nature pretty clearly across these images and the facial structure and mapping differs, too. It's not just CBBE. MCBM and 7Base are noticeable different in how skin textures and facial structures map-out, and in my opinion, are much less attractive - skin and faces. In addition, CBBE & UNP do a nice job with hands and feet (and with some skin mods I think CBBE wins with regard to finger and toenails), because some other body mods do a fair to poor job with hands and feet. Again, I am not attempting to be dishonest - skin textures DO make a lot of difference and it is unfair to compare such unless you use identical textures and faces with only variant being UNP vs CBBE (cf., Side-By-Sides below for fairest comparisons).
    • On Bodies - Personally (again it is a personal choice), I find the cross comparisons of the UNP to the CBBE (in Naughty Girls which is hardly representative of either mod in there entirety) to favor my tastes and the skin textures including nipples in UNP (not variations) to favor my own tastes including the less porcelain nature of the skins.
    • Side-By-Sides - BIJIN series is one of the most popular replacer mods for females and was created by RxKx22. BIJIN, like WICO (and they do work together), is artistry level IMHO. In addition, RxKx22 also created several NPCs which have been ported to SSE. If you want a true side-by-side, I suggest downloading these mods and putting them over UNP and then CBBE and compare.
    • Summary - I think that most people will find what I said to be spot-on regarding differences in facial structure and skin textures. Although it is not specifically spelled out in the images... I can often pick-out which used UNP (and often which used CBBE) when I look at the associated pictures for each of the NPCs (used OLDRIM because there are a lot mod authors own images, but you can do the same with SSE just follow the above links and go to images):
    • Keep in mind, 2K vs 4K makes a difference as does ENB, but skin textures and facial look will show out.

BIGGER PICTURE

I will end with a YouTube Link, which I admit is a bit biased and unrepresentative - while video author prefers CBBE and does mention 'atheletic vs curvy,' but I would never suggest it is representative of the full extent of the CCBE nor sole reasons to use CBBE (Here) and, this video reviewer, who prefers UNP mentions porcelain skin issues (Here), but then, begin fair, I would remind you that out-of-the-box skin is not representative of all the skin textures available for both CBBE and UNP (and their variations) and XBOX is not PC or I would be bit less than honest. I could go on and select out all of the great reviews for UNP, too, but that's silly. Really, the truth is most of the more serious mod authors work together and support each other. I doubt high-level body mod creators fight and would probably help one another when and if asked... by the other.

I will end by saying, again, it's about personal choice - each has it's advantages. I prefer UNP and I am happy with A-C Cup & Athletic Build. Skin Mods help though I prefer how skin and facial features map out on UNP (WICO w/ECE Female Head Mesh). Why? I prefer to focus my efforts beauty and so WICO and RaceMenu SE w/UNP (cf., RaceMenu SE is my ported version because you have to port it... if you want it... look-up Dirty Weasel's Video on how to... (RaceMenu SSE) it's great and he speaks in normal speak so it's easy to follow (in fact, for tuning up Skyrim SE, I'd watch them all around - here - 22 Episodes). If I wanted broader body choices, I would probably use Unified UNP [uUNP] along with Body Slide w/Race Menu (cf., less than politically correct, but accurate range of slider mod - here), but I don't....

CBBE advocates are correct about various benefits of CBBE - they are high-poly and are stable and do have a bit more clothing and armor mods - and fashionistas should go CBBE, but some advocates tend to oversell CBBE and sometimes put down UPN in biased ways.

So... if have doubts... do a Side-by-side with NPCs will make the case... Do It! (just kidding... friendly-nudge-smile-wink).

Regardless of what mod, body type, or other such you decide on - CBBE, UNP, or other - I hope you find what you are looking for and enjoy the game. Best Wishes...

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Zanderat Mentor

Zanderat

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Of course, it depends on what you are going for. I use WICO/Mature Skin combo for a more realistic look.

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