Annoying visual bug

[DaedricBard]

This can occur anywhere in Skyrim, but I can reproduce it consistently whenever I use the "Disarm and Destroy" shout.

 

Obviously, it's a bugged mod, a combination of mods or a mod conflict. Unfortunately, I've recently re-installed and/or updated dozens of mods (as part of the annual headache of Bethesda breaking SKSE yet again), so I can't just start troubleshooting by disabling the most recently-installed mods. It might help if somebody who's experienced with mod creation could at least tell me the root cause of this phenomenon.

 

 

[anjenthedog]

your example image didn't go through.

[DaedricBard]

Damn, it showed up here just fine, then next day it's gone. I'll try uploading it here instead of linking it to the file sharing service.

 

Those flesh-colored beams originate from a dead NPC. Sometimes, it manifests itself as NPC feet that look like star fruit or oversized slippers.

Edited September 3, 2019 by DaedricBard

[Grospolina]

That looks like a mesh explosion, which is typically caused by mismatched body meshes. For instance, in the picture of the feet, it's probably using the following meshes:

data\meshes\actors\character\character assets\malefeet_0.nif
data\meshes\actors\character\character assets\malefeet_1.nif

The _0 mesh is for character weight 0, while the _1 mesh is for weight 100. Any weight in between (1-99) is interpolated between the two meshes, and a mismatch causes it to go all wonky like that. If it's a modded NPC, then it could be using custom versions of those meshes, so you might only see it on certain characters. Find out which character(s) and whether they come from a mod or not. Then check the meshes that come with that mod. If it's (nearly) everyone, then you may have a mesh replacement mod like Better Male Feet.

[DaedricBard]

Thank you for that observation.

 

That second image is of a vanilla Hunter; no hunter (or feet) replacement mods in place AFAIK. I also sometimes see it on static items such as fallen trees.

 

One clue is that it always occurs after using the Disarm and Destroy shout, which undresses enemies. (Which used to be my favorite shout because it's hilarious being attacked with fists by naked bandits.) That would seem to point to an incorrect body mesh that's normally obscured by clothing/armor. Next time it happens I'll try changing the NPC's weight and see what happens.

 

Thanks again!

[DaedricBard]

Problem solved. It was from a totally unexpected source, a mod named Underhanded Slavery that had inadvertently added a foot mesh named malefeet_1.nif. After deleting that file, the problem went away.

[Grospolina]

Thanks for getting back on this. Yes, a mod only including malefeet_1.nif and not malefeet_0.nif would definitely do that. Glad you figured it out.