New Race (new skeleton, new meshes, new textures)

[StratonAce]

Does anyone know of a good step-by-step tutorial on creating a new race? A new race that has a new skeleton, meshes and textures?

 

I found the Creation Kit tutorial, but it does not really get into adding new skeletons, meshes, etc.

 

I also found the "Creating a New Race - The Right Way" tutorial, but again, it does not cover everything or answer all of my questions or clear up all of my confusion.

 

Anyway, I went ahead and tried creating a new Race based off of the Nord (duplicated and then modified). I switched out the skeleton to use a custom skeleton and with just that change everything worked fine. The new skeleton was in use in-game and I was able to use all of the armor I came across without issues.

 

The thing I'm wondering is... is how does the new race know what textures and body meshes to use for its base? I don't see anywhere in the race's field that has a direct link to the skin textures and body meshes that it should use. I'm going to "assume" that it relies on skin textures set up through Armor Sets (I see the naked ones), Armor Add-Ons and Texture Sets, but I just don't understand where in the race's definition that it says, "you use THIS skin-set."

 

I see a field for Body Texture that points directly to:

Actors\Character\UpperBodyHumanMale.egt

 

I'm not sure if that is it or not. What is the .egt?

 

I also see Body Part Data, and for the vanilla Nord race it is set to DefaultBodyPartData (as are most of the other humanoid races like the Imperials and the Redguards, etc.) I'm thinking this is where the meshes and skins are called, but I don't understand how it gets the right ones when all of the races are pointing at DefaultBodyPartData...

 

Also, does a new race need a new, custom Form List?? Anyone know how this is done? How one is set up? What do these form lists control on NPCs anyway?

 

And lastly, in the Race settings, in the Copied Data field, what do Morph Race and Armor Race control? Does an entirely new custom race need them changed to anything specific? The vanilla NordRace has both of these set to NONE.

[StratonAce]

Did some more digging...

 

I'm told that Actors\Character\UpperBodyHumanMale.egt is no longer used by the game. I'm also told that Body Part Data is no longer used either.

 

Looking under the Tinting Tab in a Race, I see Face Details Texture Set List. For the vanilla Nord race, this is pointing to the Texture Set SkinHeadMaleNord (and the various complexions under it).

 

I also see that the race has more head settings under the tab Face Data. In Face Data is a field called Base Head Parts and this field is filled with various things including a reference to MaleHeadNord with is a body part that sets up the head meshes and also sets the texture/skin (Texture Set).

 

So it would seem that the face/head texture (Texture Set) is defined twice. Once by a direct link to the Texture Set through the Tinting Tab and again to the Texture Set through the head part (which is linked to from the Base Head Parts in the Face Data field of the race).

 

Am I understanding this correctly?

[StratonAce]

Thank you very much speedynl! That helped quite a bit!

 

Okay, I think these are the steps I need to take to create a new Race. Note that I'm not trying to create a PLAYABLE race, but a race for my companions. If the Race were going to be Playable then there are other steps I'd need to take to ensure full racial compatibility. someone please correct me if I'm wrong on any of this, or if I'm wrong in any of the steps I outline below.

 

 

 

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1. Create your new Race. Easiest to simply duplicate an existing vanilla Race. Also note that there are different settings for females and males. You can switch between the two at the top of the Race panel.

 

2. Create the new Body skin sets / texture sets. You can make duplicates of the vanilla ones and rename them and edit them. As an example, the female vanilla ones are:

skinheadfemale

skinbodyfemale

skinhandfemale

Then change the fields to point to your custom textures.

 

3. Create the new Head skin sets / texture sets. You can make duplicates of the vanilla ones and rename them and edit them. There are seperate sets for each vanilla race and the sexes of each race. As an example the male Nord race Head Texture Set is called SkinHeadMaleNord. Then change the fields to point to your custom textures.

 

4. Create the Armor Add-Ons. Again, duplicate the vanilla ones:

NakedFeet (uses the skinbody Texture Set)

NakedHands

NakedTorso

Then modify these new Add-Ons for the following:

a. Change the Race to your new Race.

b. Change the nif paths to the meshes you want to use.

c. Change the skin textures to the new texture sets you've already created.

 

5. Create the Armor. Easiest to duplicate the vanilla one:

SkinNaked

Make your changes, ensureing that under the Models section you add all of your new Armor Add-Ons for the Feet, Hands and Torso.

 

6. Change your Race's Body Data to call on your new Armor set. Go back to your new Race and go to the Body Data tab and change the Skin field to the new Armor you created which represents the new body.

 

7. Create the new Head Part. A seperate Head Part is needed for the sexes, so each race will end up with two. These are found under Character --> Head Part. The vanilla Male Nord is called MaleHeadNord for an example.

 

Here you can set up the models and tri's you want to use as well as the Texture Set (that you created earlier). You also need to select your new race under Valid Races.

 

Set the sex here and Type should be Face.

 

I'm unsure of what Race Morph and Chargen Morph do. If you duplicated a vanilla part to edit, it might be best to just leave them be.

 

8. Set up the Head Data. Under the Face Data tab of your new race there is a field called Base Head Parts. If you duplicated a vanilla Race, these should already be filled in. Here you'll at least want to set your newly created Head Part to replace the one that's already in place (from the duplication). You may also with to change out the Eyes, Hair, etc.

 

9. Set up the Race's Tinting. Go the the Tinting tab of your new race and you'll see many fields. If you duplicated a vanilla race and your new race will be mostly based off of the race that you duplicated from, then you might be okay with leaving all of the settings under Tinting as they are.

 

The two fields that you might want to change here are the Face Details Texture Set List and the skin variations underneath it. Both should at least point at the Texture Set you created earlier for you Race's head.

 

10. Create a new FormList for the Race's Head. It might be best to duplicate a vanilla one. Drag and drop you new Race into your new FormList.

 

11. Create a new FormList for the Race's Body. Use the same proceedure as creating the formList for the Head.

 

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A couple of points that I'm still confused on. Do I really need FormLists for my new race? And what does the FormList do exactly?

 

And finally, in the properties of my new Race, under the General Data tab, I see:

Copied Data:

Morph Race

&

Armor Race

 

What should I set these to on mt new Race?

[StratonAce]

Thanks again speedynl! You are awesome and have been a big help!

[James Bond]

Thank you very much speedynl! That helped quite a bit!

 

Okay, I think these are the steps I need to take to create a new Race. Note that I'm not trying to create a PLAYABLE race, but a race for my companions. If the Race were going to be Playable then there are other steps I'd need to take to ensure full racial compatibility. someone please correct me if I'm wrong on any of this, or if I'm wrong in any of the steps I outline below.

 

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Create your new Race. Easiest to simply duplicate an existing vanilla Race. Also note that there are different settings for females and males. You can switch between the two at the top of the Race panel.

 

2. Create the new Body skin sets / texture sets. You can make duplicates of the vanilla ones and rename them and edit them. As an example, the female vanilla ones are:

skinheadfemale

skinbodyfemale

skinhandfemale

Then change the fields to point to your custom textures.

 

3. Create the new Head skin sets / texture sets. You can make duplicates of the vanilla ones and rename them and edit them. There are seperate sets for each vanilla race and the sexes of each race. As an example the male Nord race Head Texture Set is called SkinHeadMaleNord. Then change the fields to point to your custom textures.

 

4. Create the Armor Add-Ons. Again, duplicate the vanilla ones:

NakedFeet (uses the skinbody Texture Set)

NakedHands

NakedTorso

Then modify these new Add-Ons for the following:

a. Change the Race to your new Race.

b. Change the nif paths to the meshes you want to use.

c. Change the skin textures to the new texture sets you've already created.

 

5. Create the Armor. Easiest to duplicate the vanilla one:

SkinNaked

Make your changes, ensureing that under the Models section you add all of your new Armor Add-Ons for the Feet, Hands and Torso.

 

6. Change your Race's Body Data to call on your new Armor set. Go back to your new Race and go to the Body Data tab and change the Skin field to the new Armor you created which represents the new body.

 

7. Create the new Head Part. A seperate Head Part is needed for the sexes, so each race will end up with two. These are found under Character --> Head Part. The vanilla Male Nord is called MaleHeadNord for an example.

 

Here you can set up the models and tri's you want to use as well as the Texture Set (that you created earlier). You also need to select your new race under Valid Races.

 

Set the sex here and Type should be Face.

 

I'm unsure of what Race Morph and Chargen Morph do. If you duplicated a vanilla part to edit, it might be best to just leave them be.

 

8. Set up the Head Data. Under the Face Data tab of your new race there is a field called Base Head Parts. If you duplicated a vanilla Race, these should already be filled in. Here you'll at least want to set your newly created Head Part to replace the one that's already in place (from the duplication). You may also with to change out the Eyes, Hair, etc.

 

9. Set up the Race's Tinting. Go the the Tinting tab of your new race and you'll see many fields. If you duplicated a vanilla race and your new race will be mostly based off of the race that you duplicated from, then you might be okay with leaving all of the settings under Tinting as they are.

 

The two fields that you might want to change here are the Face Details Texture Set List and the skin variations underneath it. Both should at least point at the Texture Set you created earlier for you Race's head.

 

10. Create a new FormList for the Race's Head. It might be best to duplicate a vanilla one. Drag and drop you new Race into your new FormList.

 

11. Create a new FormList for the Race's Body. Use the same proceedure as creating the formList for the Head.

 

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A couple of points that I'm still confused on. Do I really need FormLists for my new race? And what does the FormList do exactly?

 

And finally, in the properties of my new Race, under the General Data tab, I see:

Copied Data:

Morph Race

&

Armor Race

 

What should I set these to on mt new Race?

 

That was really helpful.  Thank you!  Have you learned anything else about how to correctly map everything for a new race, since your last post? 

 

Also, are we not able to pick any file location within the Skyrim data folder, when choosing various skin/face/hand/feet/torso ect. textures and meshes?  My guess is that the CK may require them to be selected for only the standard file location, but I haven't tested it yet.

 

[Shaydow]

The best advice I can offer you as a creator of a custom race myself is this :

 

Look at someone elses custom race in the CK. See what they did and how they did it. It is the best way to get an idea of how the CK works and how to use it.