Neck seam/face discoloration in Bethesda Games.

[Ends_and_Memes]

Hi all I have a question, what Bethesda title is easiest to achieve a seamless looking body? I've tried F04 and SSE over the past year but haven't had much luck. I don't really get the dark face bug or anything usually just a faint line around the neck (not a gap, a seam) or minor discoloration between the body and the head. So yea, is that just the nature of the beast? What textures, body mods, lighting/weather mods enb presets etc. help alleviate this issue the most? Would I be best with going with oldrim or New Vegas, or are similar looks achievable in SSE and F04? Any help or advice on the matter would be greatly appreciated. (I thought about using texblend for SSE but wasn't sure if that would actually give me the results I wanted or not. Also for whatever reason the issue is way less visible in screenshots than it is in game.)

[zwdragonbone8314]

I got the same problem. I think it is the limitation of the engine Bethesda used for the game.

[steelpanther24]

Necklaces......

 

Sorry, but the way FO4, Skyrim and other titles have the body and the head as two separate pieces.   If you mix and match bodies and head, then  you will have to use body slide to edit the body color to match the head.    You would have to go into the outfit studio and edit the necessary files.    Be sure to make back ups though. 

 

That is why it is  much easier to just use jewelry to hide it. 

 

As for shadowing (lighting  or ENB), avoid face lights since it will like up the neck area.    If it is in the "shadow" then it will be hidden.  

[KoolHndLuke]

You must have laser microscopic eyes to even see much there because I don't. 

 

But to answer your question, there are mods out there that try to eliminate visible seams as much as can be done in these games. You can also try to work the mesh/textures in programs and 'fix' them more yourself as I have done a few times with varying results.

 

 

 

[pinky6225]

The seam as i recall is from the head texture being different to the body texture, CBBE use to come with a tool to try fix it but looks like they stopped including it (least i can't find it anymore), so without trying to fix yourself best bet is to use a head texture pack that is designed for a particular body texture pack and hope the mod author did it for you

[mircislav]

Usually, your body meshes and body (and head) textures must be compatible (made for each other). The neck seam that can be visible on imported head meshes in racemenu sculpt can be removed by masking the whole head, than unmask the neck bottom and apply clear sculpt (F4).

[Ends_and_Memes]

1 hour ago, steelpanther24 said:

Necklaces......

 

Sorry, but the way FO4, Skyrim and other titles have the body and the head as two separate pieces.   If you mix and match bodies and head, then  you will have to use body slide to edit the body color to match the head.    You would have to go into the outfit studio and edit the necessary files.    Be sure to make back ups though. 

 

That is why it is  much easier to just use jewelry to hide it. 

 

As for shadowing (lighting  or ENB), avoid face lights since it will like up the neck area.    If it is in the "shadow" then it will be hidden.  

That's the thing I get this even when using just one texture to overwrite the base CBBE files. Basically I was trying the pure and 3BA for females and tempered skins/SOS Full for males.

 

Is there a tutorial somewhere for how to use bodyslide and outfit studio to do that? I've used outfit studio to implement this mod https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/41380 before but that's pretty much my experience with the program. I do have GIMP paint.net and nifskope downloaded I'm just not sure where to start as far as messing with stuff on my own. 

 

Thanks for the suggestion to use jewelry to hide it! Male seams seem worse for whatever reason but honestly those don't bother me as much.

[Ends_and_Memes]

2 hours ago, KoolHndLuke said:

You must have laser microscopic eyes to even see much there because I don't. 

 

But to answer your question, there are mods out there that try to eliminate visible seams as much as can be done in these games. You can also try to work the mesh/textures in programs and 'fix' them more yourself as I have done a few times with varying results.

 

 

 

Thanks lol, it is way less visible in screenshots than it is in game for some reason. Honestly when I took these screenshots I had to go back to the game to make sure I was actually seeing the seam.

 

What programs would those be? I have GIMP Paint.net and Nifskope downloaded.

[Ends_and_Memes]

1 hour ago, pinky6225 said:

The seam as i recall is from the head texture being different to the body texture, CBBE use to come with a tool to try fix it but looks like they stopped including it (least i can't find it anymore), so without trying to fix yourself best bet is to use a head texture pack that is designed for a particular body texture pack and hope the mod author did it for you

I've noticed with a  base install of CBBE the elderly head details (complexions) are discolored but if I use this mod https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/30236 Or another retexture that comes with a CBBE compatible pack they don't have a discolored tone to their face.

 

Believe me I've tried almost every variation of most of the texture packs on the nexus, The pure fair skin demoniac bijin vera skin etc etc.

[Ends_and_Memes]

1 hour ago, mircislav said:

Usually, your body meshes and body (and head) textures must be compatible (made for each other). The neck seam that can be visible on imported head meshes in racemenu sculpt can be removed by masking the whole head, than unmask the neck bottom and apply clear sculpt (F4).

I have seen this fix, does it only work on imported head meshes? I've also had issues getting the clear sculpt function to work in the past...

[Ends_and_Memes]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I was about to take a break from modding because I thought this issue was my fault, but after many hours of troubleshooting and research it seems "it is what it is." I guess my biggest gripe is that this seam is much more visible on darker characters, which is just plain unfortunate. And that it's worse on males, but meh that's no as big of an issue to me. 

[myuhinny]

It's best to use the same textures from a set like hands feet head body as modders make their textures to match with minimal texture mismatching when you use different ones from different sets then you can get a texture mismatch. Also make sure to use the same body with matching body parts as those will be made to line up together otherwise that can cause a seam gap. Keep in mind that other things can play into it as well like ENB's but there will almost always be a texture mismatch no matter what you do because files can only be blended so much to match the body. A actual seam is where there's a gap between the body and the head - hands or feet.

[mircislav]

3 hours ago, Ends_and_Memes said:

does it only work on imported head meshes?

Works on everything and if F4 doesn't work for you, click the "clear sculpt" at the bottom.

[Ends_and_Memes]

14 hours ago, mircislav said:

Works on everything and if F4 doesn't work for you, click the "clear sculpt" at the bottom.

Awesome, thank you!

[Ends_and_Memes]

20 hours ago, zwdragonbone8314 said:

I got the same problem. I think it is the limitation of the engine Bethesda used for the game.

I'm assuming the mismatched color on the back of the neck/head is also a symptom of this issue?