Make npc look like player

[3WINTERS]

I've just recently gotten the hang of making my own basic follower in the CK when I came across another tutorial that showed steps to importing your player character's data into the CK, apparently a better way to get a more exact look you want for your custom NPC. That all works relatively good, as far as I can tell anyway, though the CK render seems to be missing certain make up applications and things like freckles ( I use a set that replace the dirt options). Anyway, I do the 'ctrl+F4" thing to export the data back into the game, I get the DDS and tga, nif files as expected but not matter what I try, I just can't get the npc to have those assets shown on her, so she's just looking plain with the standard, body, face texture. Is there any way around this problem which doesn't seem to be mine alone?

 

Also, while I'm at it I might as well ask, would I have to make my new NPC a custom race to assign unique textures and such to her and her alone? Directly editing the face and body textures to include the features I want is a possible way to counter the first problem I guess.

 

I thank you in advance for any advice you can offer me.

[Andross2000]

Hello! I know this is late but I'd love to reply for google search reasons, and b/c I just learned how to do this myself.

If you have a character you made in-game, you can use the console command "SavePCFace" to save the customizations ("SPF" for short).
Here is an example:
~console
spf Andross

This will save ANY character you made into your Skyrim folder. Yes, INCLUDING custom races. It will be saved as, in my case, "Andross.npc", and once in the Creation Kit, on the create new actor wizard, I will select "Import", and there will be my file. Open it, and the NPC in the preview is my character to an exact science.

No items will carry over. And if this doesn't work for custom races/options, go ahead and try selecting the .esp's related to the mod in your File->Data... menu.

Hope this helps
Andross2000

Edited April 11, 2013 by Andross2000

[AJay22285]

Hey guys I'm having a problem with making a follower look how they do in CK or via player creation and using anything else I know outside of skyrim. I've re-installed the game from scratch and reloaded etc etc.

 

I was trying to take another way to get over the problem as its only my follower in the whole game that's effected by the problem.

 

The problem I have is the face I make of the follower I designed has darker skin than the rest of the body so I thought I could just make a new female character then transfer the face over?

I put in:

CHARACTERID.MatchFaceGeometry Player 100

However this comes up with the following errors. See attached screenshots of the issues and what I entered into the console.

Failing this I exported the face as suggested using the console and got the file in my skyrim folder. I then used CK to import also as suggested and went back ingame still with no change. HELP :P

Once again I've ran the game with no mods present and I still get this skin problem. I've even updated my gfx drivers with no luck http://www.loverslab.com/public/style_emoticons/default/sad.png

 

Any help would be appreciated as I've spent days trying to sort this problem and lost all my game saves in the process of re-install (long story)

Thanks guys http://www.loverslab.com/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.png

 

 

[AJay22285]

Other image

 

[TheGreenLion]

After you make your NPC, highlight it in the Object Window and press Ctrl+F4 and it will export the FaceGen stuff required to fix that up. One issue with doing that is the texture doesn't export fully, most notably the lip color doesn't get transferred.

 

Not sure if there's a good way to get that fixed, I just edited mine with Photo Shop. :confused:

 

It'll end up in Data/textures(or meshes)/actor/facegendata I'm pretty sure.

[AJay22285]

Hey Lion :)

Thanks for trying to help first of all :)

I've exported them and some files have appeared both in Textures and in Meshes.

The files appearing in textures are both the same just in different file formats and it looks like just her eyeliner oddly enough lol nothing else.

The one in meshes opens up in CK and is like for animations or something and her head appears there fine. Its just ingame I get the skin defect, she always looks fine in editor. I've also exported a created character face from ingame to my skyrim folder then applied that face to the npc I've made and still I get the same problem.

[prod80]

Simple... Import your NPC, after that open the tab "Character Gen Parts" click on "Head" -> check the image. If you character has red-ish, brown-isn, purple-ish colors on the forehead or side of the head you need to do some corrections. Check if any interpolation value has been imported from your npc file... most notably Upper/Lower Eye Socket, Cheeks, Lips, Eyeliner, etc... check them all, and if you find the interpolation has been changed from 0 to anything else, put it back to 0. The face should return to normal. After you've done all that (dont mind the character looking a bit different than in game - it doesn't have all its mods active) click on OK and highlight the NPC in the Object Window... make sure you are under "Actors" and not under "*All"; hit Control+F4 to export the facegen data (textures/meshes), save & exit, load up Skyrim and check. All should work now

 

If it doesn't work, post here which file you try and edit, which masters it has (or should have if CK removed 1 or more of them due to being .esp and not .esm) and it's requirements which might not be listed as being a master.

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

Simple... Import your NPC, after that open the tab "Character Gen Parts" click on "Head" -> check the image. If you character has red-ish, brown-isn, purple-ish colors on the forehead or side of the head you need to do some corrections. Check if any interpolation value has been imported from your npc file... most notably Upper/Lower Eye Socket, Cheeks, Lips, Eyeliner, etc... check them all, and if you find the interpolation has been changed from 0 to anything else, put it back to 0. The face should return to normal. After you've done all that (dont mind the character looking a bit different than in game - it doesn't have all its mods active) click on OK and highlight the NPC in the Object Window... make sure you are under "Actors" and not under "*All"; hit Control+F4 to export the facegen data (textures/meshes), save & exit, load up Skyrim and check. All should work now

 

If it doesn't work, post here which file you try and edit, which masters it has (or should have if CK removed 1 or more of them due to being .esp and not .esm) and it's requirements which might not be listed as being a master.

 

 

Before opening the CK, I always temporarily remove the "tintmasks" folder, located at ...\Skyrim\Data\Textures\actors\character\character assets. This avoids all the above tinting problems, which seem to be caused by the CK not handling some modded tintmasks well. When I'm done in the CK, I put the folder back. :thumbsup:

 

For making an NPC which looks like the character, the easiest route I have found is the same method I use to create my presets & NPCs. Here's how:

 

- Load up your game, enter the console (" ~ "), type "spf yourcharacternamehere", hit return. This will create an .NPC file containing your character's appearance in your Skyrim folder, which you can then import to your custom NPC. Look above the "interpolation" slider you mentioned, and there should be an "Import" button. Click it, and a popup of your Skyrim folder will appear. Scroll down & browse until you find the .NPC file you want, then select "Okay". Done! :happy:

 

*Remember if you're modifying the appearance of a non-custom (ie: "it's an NPC who is already in the game - I didn't make them") NPC, do not change their weight. Take note of what it is in the "Traits" tab, and make sure that the weight is the same value after you import the .NPC file (ie: if it was 70 before you monkeyed around with it, change it back to 70 when yer done with yer monkeyins'). This will avoid neck seams (NPC's do not seem to like having their weight altered). :huh:

[AJay22285]

Prod80 & FastestDog thankyou very much, I've sorted it :)

I took both of your advice with Interpolation and removing the tintmasks and problem solved :)

 

Really, thankyou very much :D <3

[prod80]

You're welcome :)

 

 

(NPC's do not seem to like having their weight altered).

Weight changes only work on new games... otherwise you get seams/discoloration :) So they do like it, just not to be changed when they are already "alive" :O -- it does not matter however if you already met the NPC in game, I have tested it and even NPCs I had not met before in game had problems with adapting to new weights.... on a new game this worked perfectly.