Making Face Presets?

[Koko.Hekmatyar]

Like the title implies I'm looking to make face presets based on the BVFE Serana & Valerica faces but I have no clue how to set up a face preset.

 

I have this Tutorial but I also want to make sure there isn't a better one.

 

FYI I use Racemenu

[Ark of Truth]

That tutorial would work for a player character which you created in game but not for making a preset from companions found in mods etc.

[nhl]

Could it be as simple as setting the "Is CharGen Face Preset" flag in the CK, maybe duplicating the actor if needs be?

[Ark of Truth]

It is that simple for vanilla NPCs as companions which use a completely new race like "Lovergirl Race"

 

However companions which use vanilla race and have a unique skin to them like "Aurora Follower" will break if you use that method. They need additional changes for it to work.

[Koko.Hekmatyar]

just to be clear I mean a face preset for Character creation using it as My PCs face not for companions or other NPCs

[pringles89]

haven't tried it myself, but did see for Racemenu

RaceMenuMimic.esp (Optional) Not recommended for cross-gender, cross-species, or horse-mounted use.

• Copies target Actor's facial morphs to player
• Copies target Actor's facial presets to player
• Copies target Actor's hair to player
• Copies target Actor's hair color to player
• Copies target Actor's facial hair to player
• Copies target Actor's scars to player
• Copies target Actor's eyebrows to player
• Must be equipped via console (e.g. help "Face Copy" player.equipspell XXXXXXXX left)

[nhl]

just to be clear I mean a face preset for Character creation using it as My PCs face not for companions or other NPCs

 

Which is what that box in an NPC's Actor Data tab is supposed to do: create a face gen preset available to the player in the race menu. But I wasn't sure it would work with heavily customized NPCs, hence the tentative tone of my suggestion.

 

It is that simple for vanilla NPCs as companions which use a completely new race like "Lovergirl Race"

 

However companions which use vanilla race and have a unique skin to them like "Aurora Follower" will break if you use that method. They need additional changes for it to work.

 

Thanks for confirming that it is not always that simple. Could you maybe give a few pointers as for what kind of changes, not necessarily a step-by-step explanation as that could be bothersome? Changes like adding their custom assets to the list of those available to the race you intend to play as?

[Koko.Hekmatyar]

I can somewhat get Serana's base face by duplicating her setting it to chargen and replacing one of the existing presets but she will show up as a normal human even if you still have her race set as a Nord Vamp since there is no playable vampire race from the get go there for no presets.

[nhl]

Since I will surely end up trying to get her as a preset anyway just like you, I might as well take a break from scripting and try it now. I'll get back to you if I make any progress.

[nhl]

I think I've made some progress. I haven't opened up the CK yet (I'd rather only use that unwieldy thing when strictly necessary) and so have done all my modifications through TESVEdit, but I guess the process is pretty similar.

 

First, I copied the BVFE Serana form into a new record and I checked the IsCharGenPreset flag and changed the race to Nord (an alternative would be to make the NordRaceVampire playable).

 

Then, I added that new record to the Nord race's list of female preset NPCs and added the SkinHeadFemaleVampire texture set Serana uses to the Nord race's female face details texture set.

 

The last step was to make sure that the mod's custom head part assets for Serana were flagged as playable: 00HairLine_Serana, 00Hair_Serana, FemaleEyesVampireHuman01_Serana, FemaleBrowsHuman08_Serana and FemaleHeadNordVampire_Serana.

 

I feel I should also have replaced the Nord race's female head part data relevant field with that last item to achieve an even closer resemblance, but I was afraid that would have changed all female Nords' heads to Serana's. The other differences between my preset and the original are probably due to my using ECE.

 

I just hope what I did is more or less correct, as messing with tri files, textures and such is way beyond my comfort zone. I've attached the esp I made so that you can take a closer look at what I did.

 

BVFE_SeranaPreset.7z

[Koko.Hekmatyar]

Yeah that looks almost exactly like her and I can see not wanting all the nord females looking like Serana "attack of the Serana clones" sounds kind of scary to me.

 

I've yet to figure out TES5Edit I guess I'll have to learn to use it so I can try to get Valerica as a preset.

[xenic]

I wonder if there is a good place to find presets? I found a few on the Nexus. 

[loverslab987]

Would this help you guys?

 

Famous Faces of Skyrim: NPC Character Sliders (and presets!)

 

When you click on the name, you can download an ESP with the character made into a preset for your own char.

[Raestloz]

Hi, I'm trying to import the face of Lydia from Skyrim Beautiful Followers, which was created using ECE and is a Nord (not a custom race). I've encountered lots of issues, but seeing nhl's relative success is boosting my motivation to go on.

 

I'm currently using Ashen, and might just go and switch to a custom version of Nord when needed, the most important part is getting the face right

 

To make sure me and SBF's author are on the same page, I also install ECE and Pretty Face. SG Texture I don't install coz the mod makes use of TextureSet to apply the face skin.

 

So far, I merely opened the SBF Lydia esp along with Ashen's esp. Then I just duplicate all things the SBF plugin made: HeadPart, ColorForm, whatever, and flag them as playable when necessary

 

After that, I opened the SBF Lydia actor, check the preview of her head, and go to Ashen's first preset, and change everything accordingly. I know it sounds crazy, but I didn't know any better. Shockingly, the preview in CK shows that my replication process turns out pretty good, pretty similar. I exported the FaceGenData with Ctrl+F4, the resulting mesh looks similar to the mesh provided by SBF

 

But when I try it in-game, it looks different. A bit similar, but way different than the preview in CK, in a bad-ugly way. It doesn't even have the correct face tint! I moved the Lydia to my spot and her face looks correct.

 

So, I just went ahead and did what nhl did (before I even read this thread), duplicated the actor, put it in Nord's Presets, flagged everything as playable, and went to town. I didn't even open the duplicated actor's record just in case CK do bad things to the sliders when I open it and screw things up. But in game, I get the hair, but I got a totally different face, a vanilla face. I have switched my PC to Nord race, btw.

 

Is there something that I missed? Is there a way to reverse-engineer and obtain the slider settings an NPC could have?

 

EDIT:

 

I've tried RaceMenu's FaceCopy spell, it yields the exact same result as duplicated preset

[XunAmarox]

On your character open console and type:

 

spf "filename here"

example:

 

spf serana tiff1

 

In your Skyrim folder you'll now have a file like "serana tiff1.npc";

 

Open CK and go to Actors > Actor > Preset > your race > male or female

 

I'll open for instance NordFemalePreset10, change the name to NordFemalePreset11 and create a new form when asked. Go to Character Gen Parts then click the [import] button at the top right. Find and select the *.npc file you made with spf. If you used something like Apachii's hair then it won't be set properly even if you've loaded it as a master. You'll need to select the hair dropdown and find it manually if that's the case.

 

We're done with this window now. Now we need to go to Character > Race > YourRaceID (ex: NordRace) then once opened go over to the Presets tab. There's a radial button at the top for male or female. Check which one you want to modify then you'll see the list update. You then need to keep that page open and navigate back to actors > actor > preset > your race and find your preset you just made (ex: NordFemalePreset11) then drag it into the NordRace window under the Preset NPCs thing with all the others. It'll then be added and you can hit ok.

 

Now save your esp and you should be done.

 

Hope that helps.

[Raestloz]

I thought SPF will only export player's face?

 

I loaded SBF Lydia, summoned the original via moveto, clicked on her, and typed "spf LydiaTest", it exports my face.

 

Or do I really have to use the NPC's name? So SPF Lydia will export Lydia's face instead of mine?

[Koko.Hekmatyar]

I thought SPF will only export player's face?

 

I loaded SBF Lydia, summoned the original via moveto, clicked on her, and typed "spf LydiaTest", it exports my face.

 

Or do I really have to use the NPC's name? So SPF Lydia will export Lydia's face instead of mine?

SPF is only for exporting player faces it won't work for exporting an NPC face.

 

FYI for those that haven't figured it out yet SPF stands for Save Player Face

[Raestloz]

 

I thought SPF will only export player's face?

 

I loaded SBF Lydia, summoned the original via moveto, clicked on her, and typed "spf LydiaTest", it exports my face.

 

Or do I really have to use the NPC's name? So SPF Lydia will export Lydia's face instead of mine?

SPF is only for exporting player faces it won't work for exporting an NPC face.

 

FYI for those that haven't figured it out yet SPF stands for Save Player Face

 

Which is why I was skeptical to hat advice