Black Face When Using Any NPC Replacer in SSE

[DickyDee]

I am astonished how I seem to be the only person that has this problem. Any time I use any NPC face replacer, I get black face. I've tried everything - clearing conflicts in SSEdit, Refreshing every NPC in the game/mod with F4 on Creation kit, placing all the NPC overhauls at the bottom of the left panel on MO2, removing ALL mods aside from the ones used to change faces. I don't get what could be causing this. It's literally giving me blackface on its own with no other mods installed. I am using MO2, I've been using mods such as Bijin AIO and Pandorable. All of them give me black face. Every single one.

Edited November 20, 2019 by DickyDee

[HadToRegister]

Bijin is the only one that's lowest in my load order.

 

Do you have this in your Skyrim.ini

bInvalidateOlderFiles=1

sResourceDataDirsFinal=

[Grospolina]

Did you set up Bijin AIO correctly? Contrary to its name, it's not an all-in-one that contains everything in one download, but is actually just a merged ESP. You need to:

1. Install all of Bijin Warmaidens, NPCs, and Wives.
2. If you're using the SV version, then you also need Seranaholic and Valerica.
3. Enable them all in the left pane of MO2.
4. Either hide the plugins in the mod or disable them in the Plugins tab on the right.
5. The only plugin that should be enabled is a single Bijin AIO esp.

If that's all fine, then you can debug dark face this way:

• Find the BaseID (NOT RefID) of a dark face NPC. You can either look it up on UESP, or use the in-game console (~) and type "help <NPC name>". e.g. Serana is xx002B6C
• Change the first two numbers to 00 and add ".NIF". e.g. 00002B6C.NIF
• In the Data tab in the right pane of MO2, navigate down to meshes\character\FaceGenData\FaceGeom\<PluginName>\. e.g. Dawnguard.esm
• Look for the filename that we specified in step 2.
• Scroll over to the right column to see which mod is the last to change it.
• In the Plugins tab, make sure that the ESP for this mod is below any other mod that changes that NPC.
• You can check this by loading all your mods in SSEEdit and looking for the NPC record. The one furthest on the right is the one that's used.

If you want to change the order of NPC mods, then you can change it on the left pane. However, the ESPs should be sorted to match in the Plugins tab.

 

The rule is that the FaceGen meshes and ESP must match.

[DickyDee]

Did you set up Bijin AIO correctly? Contrary to its name, it's not an all-in-one that contains everything in one download, but is actually just a merged ESP. You need to:

1. Install all of Bijin Warmaidens, NPCs, and Wives.
2. If you're using the SV version, then you also need Seranaholic and Valerica.
3. Enable them all in the left pane of MO2.
4. Either hide the plugins in the mod or disable them in the Plugins tab on the right.
5. The only plugin that should be enabled is a single Bijin AIO esp.

If that's all fine, then you can debug dark face this way:

• Find the BaseID (NOT RefID) of a dark face NPC. You can either look it up on UESP, or use the in-game console (~) and type "help <NPC name>". e.g. Serana is xx002B6C
• Change the first two numbers to 00 and add ".NIF". e.g. 00002B6C.NIF
• In the Data tab in the right pane of MO2, navigate down to meshes\character\FaceGenData\FaceGeom\<PluginName>\. e.g. Dawnguard.esm
• Look for the filename that we specified in step 2.
• Scroll over to the right column to see which mod is the last to change it.
• In the Plugins tab, make sure that the ESP for this mod is below any other mod that changes that NPC.
• You can check this by loading all your mods in SSEEdit and looking for the NPC record. The one furthest on the right is the one that's used.

If you want to change the order of NPC mods, then you can change it on the left pane. However, the ESPs should be sorted to match in the Plugins tab.

 

The rule is that the FaceGen meshes and ESP must match.

 

The thing is it's any face overhaul, not just Bijin. And I have done those instructions. I have also checked for conflicts and found none. I've tried your method with looking for the ID in data, but I'm not exactly sure if I get the process you want me to try. I looked at the data through MO2 and I didn't see any actor IDs. But looking at the folders outside of MO2, I found that all of the actors files were adjusted in the way you suggested.

 

 

 

 

Bijin is the only one that's lowest in my load order.

 

 

Do you have this in your Skyrim.ini

 

bInvalidateOlderFiles=1

sResourceDataDirsFinal=

 

Isn't binvalidateolderfiles obsolete in Skyrim? I guess I might give it a try regardless. Edit: It didn't work.

Edited November 21, 2019 by DickyDee

[Deleted21550714User]

what other mods are touching the npcs from replacer overhaul mod?

 

can you post load order?

[Grospolina]

I specified Bijin because people very often set up Bijin AIO incorrectly.

 

The Data tab on the right side shows all of the files that the game sees. See here for an example screenshot. On that note, make sure that "Show only conflicts" isn't checked. If you can't find the FaceGen meshes in the Data tab, then either they're not working or you're looking in the wrong place. Some NPC replacers may be contained in BSA files, but loose files will overwrite them, and Bijin definitely has loose files.

 

Let's look for a specific example, Aela the Huntress. Her BaseID is 0001A696. Since she's part of base Skyrim, her NPC record is found in Skyrim.esm. In the Data tab, navigate to: meshes\character\FaceGenData\FaceGeom\Skyrim.esm\0001A696.NIF. You may need to expand each folder as you go down. Look at the column to the right, and see what mod it comes from. If it's not there, then make sure that Bijin Warmaidens is enabled on the left side.

 

Also yes, load order would help immensely, as well as some specific NPCs that have the problem. And you're not the only one that has problems with the dark face bug. It's an extremely common problem.

 

If you've already done Ctrl+F4 in the CK and you ran the CK from MO, then you may need to reinstall your NPC mods. MO will have overwritten the files in any mods that were enabled at the time. Also, check your Overwrites folder to see if any were placed there.

Edited November 21, 2019 by Grospolina

[DickyDee]

what other mods are touching the npcs from replacer overhaul mod?

 

can you post load order?

Literally none, like I said.

 

 

 

I specified Bijin because people very often set up Bijin AIO incorrectly.

 

The Data tab on the right side shows all of the files that the game sees. See here for an example screenshot. On that note, make sure that "Show only conflicts" isn't checked. If you can't find the FaceGen meshes in the Data tab, then either they're not working or you're looking in the wrong place. Some NPC replacers may be contained in BSA files, but loose files will overwrite them, and Bijin definitely has loose files.

 

Let's look for a specific example, Aela the Huntress. Her BaseID is 0001A696. Since she's part of base Skyrim, her NPC record is found in Skyrim.esm. In the Data tab, navigate to: meshes\character\FaceGenData\FaceGeom\Skyrim.esm\0001A696.NIF. You may need to expand each folder as you go down. Look at the column to the right, and see what mod it comes from. If it's not there, then make sure that Bijin Warmaidens is enabled on the left side.

 

Also yes, load order would help immensely, as well as some specific NPCs that have the problem. And you're not the only one that has problems with the dark face bug. It's an extremely common problem.

 

If you've already done Ctrl+F4 in the CK and you ran the CK from MO, then you may need to reinstall your NPC mods. MO will have overwritten the files in any mods that were enabled at the time. Also, check your Overwrites folder to see if any were placed there.

 

I get that dark face is a common problem, but in my case, black face occurs literally in an empty load order. If I use nothing but Bijin for example, it's black face. I have never seen anyone get black face in that circumstance. How am I getting black face when it's just the mod on its own with nothing else in the load order?

[Grospolina]

I get that dark face is a common problem, but in my case, black face occurs literally in an empty load order. If I use nothing but Bijin for example, it's black face. I have never seen anyone get black face in that circumstance. How am I getting black face when it's just the mod on its own with nothing else in the load order?

Okay, I see how that's unique now. However, it can be explained. If you have the ESP for Bijin active, but the FaceGen meshes are missing or can't be seen by the game, then you'll get dark face. It will try to use the original FaceGen meshes that are contained in the vanilla BSAs, and since they don't match Bijin, boom.

 

That's why I suggested checking the Data tab. If they're not there at all, then the game won't see them. Maybe they're in the wrong directory somehow. Or maybe they really are there and you did Ctrl+F4 in the CK while a different ESP was active and it overwrote the Bijin meshes with bad ones. Or maybe you accidentally installed the Oldrim versions (actually, I'm not sure if this would do it). Have you tried with say, just Bijin Warmaidens SE?

 

Also, is your Skyrim Special Edition main folder clean? There shouldn't be any leftover files from NMM, Vortex or manual installs. Have you cleaned out your MO Overwrites folder?

Edited November 22, 2019 by Grospolina

[HadToRegister]

 

what other mods are touching the npcs from replacer overhaul mod?

 

can you post load order?

Literally none, like I said.

 

 

 

I specified Bijin because people very often set up Bijin AIO incorrectly.

 

The Data tab on the right side shows all of the files that the game sees. See here for an example screenshot. On that note, make sure that "Show only conflicts" isn't checked. If you can't find the FaceGen meshes in the Data tab, then either they're not working or you're looking in the wrong place. Some NPC replacers may be contained in BSA files, but loose files will overwrite them, and Bijin definitely has loose files.

 

Let's look for a specific example, Aela the Huntress. Her BaseID is 0001A696. Since she's part of base Skyrim, her NPC record is found in Skyrim.esm. In the Data tab, navigate to: meshes\character\FaceGenData\FaceGeom\Skyrim.esm\0001A696.NIF. You may need to expand each folder as you go down. Look at the column to the right, and see what mod it comes from. If it's not there, then make sure that Bijin Warmaidens is enabled on the left side.

 

Also yes, load order would help immensely, as well as some specific NPCs that have the problem. And you're not the only one that has problems with the dark face bug. It's an extremely common problem.

 

If you've already done Ctrl+F4 in the CK and you ran the CK from MO, then you may need to reinstall your NPC mods. MO will have overwritten the files in any mods that were enabled at the time. Also, check your Overwrites folder to see if any were placed there.

 

I get that dark face is a common problem, but in my case, black face occurs literally in an empty load order. If I use nothing but Bijin for example, it's black face. I have never seen anyone get black face in that circumstance. How am I getting black face when it's just the mod on its own with nothing else in the load order?

 

 

 

Then Verify your files through steam..

Also, you DO know you need to install other mods for Bijin AIO to work yes?

[DickyDee]

 

I get that dark face is a common problem, but in my case, black face occurs literally in an empty load order. If I use nothing but Bijin for example, it's black face. I have never seen anyone get black face in that circumstance. How am I getting black face when it's just the mod on its own with nothing else in the load order?

Okay, I see how that's unique now. However, it can be explained. If you have the ESP for Bijin active, but the FaceGen meshes are missing or can't be seen by the game, then you'll get dark face. It will try to use the original FaceGen meshes that are contained in the vanilla BSAs, and since they don't match Bijin, boom.

 

That's why I suggested checking the Data tab. If they're not there at all, then the game won't see them. Maybe they're in the wrong directory somehow. Or maybe they really are there and you did Ctrl+F4 in the CK while a different ESP was active and it overwrote the Bijin meshes with bad ones. Or maybe you accidentally installed the Oldrim versions (actually, I'm not sure if this would do it). Have you tried with say, just Bijin Warmaidens SE?

 

Also, is your Skyrim Special Edition main folder clean? There shouldn't be any leftover files from NMM, Vortex or manual installs. Have you cleaned out your MO Overwrites folder?

 

 

I've actually tried just manually installing these mods and it still crops up. It's astonishing to me. I'll try cleaning it to see if that works, I guess.