Player Facial Expression Redone for 1.9 (WIP)

[Classy Cat]

 

Reading through the posts, I remembered Halo's Pinup Poser pack, and if he could do it for poses, why not this mod for facial expressions without having to open up showracemenu everytime?

 

 

The problem is that poses are just animations applied to a rigged mesh (the body) whereas expressions are morphs or deformations applied directly to the mesh, might sound similar but in the second one there is no skeleton or bones to animate. I'm no expert but I think that those pose mods work temporary replacing the idle animation with the pose. This can't be done that way because, well, they are completely different things. There's no skeletal animation with facial expressions and that's the reason mods like SexLab doesn't have them (at least I don't think it has them,correct me if I'm wrong) , because it's not an easy thing do.

 

It's true poser mods are just an idle replacer but Sexlab has synced mouth movement if you count that as an expression.

[bschou]

So I have ECE, Race menu, Character creation extension installed. I downloaded the rar and upzipped the files. Unfortunately I don't see any options under Extra. it's just a blank page with no options. I tried unzipping the files into the data and it still shows up empty. Any advice?

[Aoikun]

So I have ECE, Race menu, Character creation extension installed. I downloaded the rar and upzipped the files. Unfortunately I don't see any options under Extra. it's just a blank page with no options. I tried unzipping the files into the data and it still shows up empty. Any advice?

 

I reproduced the same error but only when I wasn't using Race Menu. When you open the showracemenu ingame which menu shows up? the basic ECE menu or the RaceMenu with all it's features?.

 

First make sure you have updated SKSE, then the install order should be: ECE first, after that Race Menu and last CharGen extension core. Make sure there's an ini under Data\SKSE\Plugins\ called chargen.ini and if there sin't any create it and add this  [FaceGen] and under it fSliderMultiplier=2.0 . Last my mod, which should overwrite things.

 

 Things that might help and you can try is to do a clean save after installing the requirements, and also to save the game after installing my mod and reload.

[Kastagir]

Thanks for making this effort, Aoikun.  I had one simple question:  will there be a simple way (similar to 'mfg reset') to reset the expression when the user is presumably done taking screenshots, or must they return all the sliders to zero in the racemenu?

[Bwog]

 

Thanks for making this effort, Aoikun.  I had one simple question:  will there be a simple way (similar to 'mfg reset') to reset the expression when the user is presumably done taking screenshots, or must they return all the sliders to zero in the racemenu?

 

I don't want to pretend to know much about this, but perhaps presets can be saved.

Taking this one step further, presets are just rows of numbers, which perhaps can be manipulated via scripts.

[Expired6978]

 

 

It also would not work like MFG in the sense that it transitions from current to full morph, it would be immediate unless you transitioned it via Papyrus, which would be rather slow and probably not look very good at all.

Would it be possible to fix facegen itself through finding out what Bethesda removed by mistake in 1.8 and trying to re-inject it into 1.9 through checking 1.8's executable and hex editing/some kind of patching? Or to at least implement the transition in one of the new functions?

 

Also, is it actually possible to make it work on NPCs? I've always thought that NPCs are a bit touchy when it comes to their facegen data, since any wrong changes makes them use the chargen tri instead of the facegen nif (snpcw causes that for example).

 

Yes, though not something I really want to do unless absolutely necessary, the only thing holding me back is I no longer have 1.8 installed. Reverting isn't quite as simple as just placing the old executable in the directory (which I actually have backed up, not the whole game) it hasn't really bothered me that much as I don't pose my characters and I don't have the dialogue going out of sync that often (they are probably related considering how the face morphing actually works). I have a rough idea of where to look but fixing the problem is very involving as I have to first understand what's going on in both versions and then spot the difference and then decode the whole thing in 1.8 and reproduce it in 1.9.

 

Should be possible to make it work for NPCs though I haven't tried it. Using the internal morphs is a little different from using the more external morphs, though the effect is obviously temporary. NPC heads are in a post-morph state and their morph data is lost after generation so you have to keep track of the changes you make in order to do the inverse operation. When you set the NPC weight it will reset the head because you will likely invalidate the assigned weight which the head was exported for resulting in the neck seam. There is an internal function to morph the neck, but the position is relative to where it currently is, so you need to know where it was, and where you want it in order to properly manipulate it (when you load an NPC's head the 'was', as in how far from the base head is not baked into the head mesh, so you have to make an assumption). NPC heads are not generated at runtime as the player's head is, this is why I've denied every request for making the RaceMenu work for NPCs; the engine just doesn't work that way and changing it to be that way is highly unstable and is far more problems than it's worth. It would also consume vast amounts of memory considering how warpaints work. Loading an existing asset is far less taxing than loading an existing, then heavily altering it to be a completely new asset.

[roy12]

 

 

 Reverting isn't quite as simple as just placing the old executable in the directory (which I actually have backed up, not the whole game) it hasn't really bothered me that much as I don't pose my characters and I don't have the dialogue going out of sync that often (they are probably related considering how the face morphing actually works).

 

 

I actually have the files you'd need, since I backed them up in case Steam forced me to update when I opened the official launcher to subscribe to Workshop mods. Turns out I was right, it did, but I had the files it updates backed up.

 

Tell me if you want to give it a shot, I'll upload the files for you (it's the official 1.8 executable, update.esm and some string files, I believe).

 

Also yeah, the dialogue going out of synch and NPCs not closing their eyes when sleeping is related to this, Bethesda screwed the whole system for some reason.

[Aoikun]

 

 

Thanks for making this effort, Aoikun.  I had one simple question:  will there be a simple way (similar to 'mfg reset') to reset the expression when the user is presumably done taking screenshots, or must they return all the sliders to zero in the racemenu?

 

I don't want to pretend to know much about this, but perhaps presets can be saved.

Taking this one step further, presets are just rows of numbers, which perhaps can be manipulated via scripts.

 

 

You will have to ask expired for this stuff, I'm only using his API to get the sliders ingame, any new functionality to the racemenu or the sliders comes from CharGen Extension.

 

You can think of us like this, I would be  the 3d artist (a crappy one because I haven't released any new asset yet) and expired would be the designer/programmer. Expired creates all the functionality and develops the structure needed for people like me to add new assets to the game. 

 

So again, that kind of stuff is beyond my skills, I would have to learn first his black SKSE magic to be able to help .

[movuzzo]

wow what a great job dude. gotta try now..

and i really like your dragonborn.

if you dont mind please give me the tips how to make a char like that!

hahahha

[Guest]

Hi when installing ECE is required both CharacterMakingExtender.esp and EnhancedCharacterEdit.esp?

or just the light module CharacterMakingExtender.esp?

Thanks

[Standman]

Hmm... would honestly go to town with this in a heartbeat, except for one little caveat: the female mouth chargen, modified by this http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/38829//? vampire fang mod I'm using. Kudos for the work, Aoikun, but unless there's a way to mix and match the two, or as you said in the first post, create new .tri files, I sadly won't be able to use this, as the mouth goes nuts when I pass a certain slider threshold with the above mod loaded before this, and if this is last, the fangs just disappear (which I absolutely cannot live without on my vamp character). Using ECE as well, and the above mod has a patch which adds fangs to the TRI files.

[Dallas-Arbiter]

Finally I can get rid of Puppeteer master. It is a bit of a pain to go in to the "showracemenu" every time, good thing I made my character in the CK. Great work

[Zquad1]

This Awesome Thank you soo much for creating this.

 

I have a question though, I current am using the Ningheim race Mod, Is there a way to get this to be compatible with race Mods?

[Balboa2151]

Great idea........stupid question....so dies this work with npc's ? Also....what clothes is the character wearing ? :-) thanks

[Aoikun]

Hmm... would honestly go to town with this in a heartbeat, except for one little caveat: the female mouth chargen, modified by this http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/38829//? vampire fang mod I'm using. Kudos for the work, Aoikun, but unless there's a way to mix and match the two, or as you said in the first post, create new .tri files, I sadly won't be able to use this, as the mouth goes nuts when I pass a certain slider threshold with the above mod loaded before this, and if this is last, the fangs just disappear (which I absolutely cannot live without on my vamp character). Using ECE as well, and the above mod has a patch which adds fangs to the TRI files.

I have to take a look but I think it will be possible to create a compatibility patch (it's just a new tri). 

 

This Awesome Thank you soo much for creating this.

 

I have a question though, I current am using the Ningheim race Mod, Is there a way to get this to be compatible with race Mods?

If it uses new tri files then right now no, but in theory I could create a patch. Not 100% sure because I don't know how CharGen Extension handles custom races.

 

 

 

Hi when installing ECE is required both CharacterMakingExtender.esp and EnhancedCharacterEdit.esp?

or just the light module CharacterMakingExtender.esp?

Thanks

 

Yeah both are needed. Well actually haven't tried deactivating them, but they should be required.

 

 

 

 

On a side note, I've been talking with the ECE team and they are working on their own version of this, they have a beta and I'll be testing it and should be somewhere on their blog.  This means that I will probably keep working on the non-ECE versions depending on what they decide to do (they don't know if they will complete the feature).

 

EDIT: Just did a quick test and their version works like a charm. It's the same thing, but the menu is kinda cleaner and less cluttered. Also you don't need any extra mod, just ECE. Go grab it here . It's the test version, 1.1

[Jonathan Kent]

I've only recently heard of this project. Sounds very interesting. I'm one of those individuals who have chosen to remain with V.1.8, not simply because of facial expressions (though that's also one of the reasons) but simply because it works perfectly fine without any issues. My only reason to upgrade to 1.9 would be for the recent mod updates that requires it and the latest SKSE.

 

However, having this mod working would certainly be a big incentive to upgrade though. So I'll be watching this closely.

 

P.S. I hope you would be willing to implement the features for males as well, because that's what I play. I'm propbably one of the few male Skyrim players who don't use Skyrim for cover girl poses and cute facial expressions, but I do want the ability to make expressive and intense expressions for my characters. Anyway, thanks for taking this on.

[Expired6978]

I'll be pushing the new CharGen version tomorrow, it'll include the range changes I mentioned as well as Preset Slots, it will require updating your RaceMenu version as well (Only for Preset Slots to work properly).

[greee3423]

i hit showracemenu  there are no extra, i have ECE,showracemenu  (not chargen)

[Guest]

I'll be pushing the new CharGen version tomorrow, it'll include the range changes I mentioned as well as Preset Slots, it will require updating your RaceMenu version as well (Only for Preset Slots to work properly).

 

Man that is so great !

[Blow]

 

 

[Spyder Arachnid]

On a side note, I've been talking with the ECE team and they are working on their own version of this, they have a beta and I'll be testing it and should be somewhere on their blog.  This means that I will probably keep working on the non-ECE versions depending on what they decide to do (they don't know if they will complete the feature).

 

EDIT: Just did a quick test and their version works like a charm. It's the same thing, but the menu is kinda cleaner and less cluttered. Also you don't need any extra mod, just ECE. Go grab it here . It's the test version, 1.1

 

 

Just tried out the new ECE and it works great. The new expressions are awesome. Finally will be able to give life to my character instead of that cold look she is always giving.

 

Thanks

[Uno]

I REALLY want a non ECE version.

[Guest]

You don't really need to backup any files since you can just reinstall ECE if anything bad happens, which I really doubt. It has all the files mentioned here.

[Kolosos]

I'll be pushing the new CharGen version tomorrow, it'll include the range changes I mentioned as well as Preset Slots, it will require updating your RaceMenu version as well (Only for Preset Slots to work properly).

 

You are a very great guy with a lot of experience in the Engine Expired but you should see that it is useless to have such a feature without being able to control it in realtime which possibility we had in 1.8

 

1.9 is a censored Engine version nothing less which based on this censorship Bethesda even broke majorly 1.8 is very stable everyone who continues the pushing of 1.9 is doing the wrong thing

 

If you can get realtime face morphing via scripting to work on 1.9 it would be great else for most who want todo more with this your approach and SKSE continued support for 1.9 and not backporting to 1.8 is flawed.

 

Also wee need a common base finally and not 2 approaches either ECE or Racemenus approach and synergeticaly merging both, this splitup into 2 groups of user and 2 bases for modders assets is a bad situation that in a logic way doesn't have to be

 

I still prefer ECE mixed with your Skyui Racemenu for staying 1.8 compatible (the japanese look @ the situation) but it's a pain even just a small pain to be excluded from the 1.9 SKSE progress and some Skyui changes for example (that aren't essential though)

 

I've only recently heard of this project. Sounds very interesting. I'm one of those individuals who have chosen to remain with V.1.8, not simply because of facial expressions (though that's also one of the reasons) but simply because it works perfectly fine without any issues. My only reason to upgrade to 1.9 would be for the recent mod updates that requires it and the latest SKSE.

 

However, having this mod working would certainly be a big incentive to upgrade though. So I'll be watching this closely.

 

P.S. I hope you would be willing to implement the features for males as well, because that's what I play. I'm propbably one of the few male Skyrim players who don't use Skyrim for cover girl poses and cute facial expressions, but I do want the ability to make expressive and intense expressions for my characters. Anyway, thanks for taking this on.

 

you aren't the only one this is a tricky situation we are in and some following the wrong path who knows why (they should know better), even having this feature in 1.9 is useless as long as you have no real time control over it and that is not the case with 1.9 and Expired yet has no idea to fix that as it is a very hard task to replace something which has been removed on purpose

 

As you see ECE implemented that feature in 1.8 as well so we have both now which is absolutely great for interaction character tweaking and has a real usable purpose as we can now see realtime and non realtime resuts and we don't use a censored and broken engine version also

 

And we don't have to move to the censored 1.9 if you weight the lose of realtime facial properties in 1.8 it heavy overweights compared to what is now possible with all introduced SKSE features since the 1.9 move including the net immerse realtime texture swap and loading of higher resolution decals

Which both features i guess would be even easily backportable to 1.8 and don't justify the running behind 1.9 and SKSE at all

 

Though i guess this situation will still hunting us for some time in the future and you have to decide for yourself what's more important to you and why

 

Maybe some day we'll see the ECE team and Expired coming even closer together the implementation of kapaers work into Racemenu (now known as CharGen was a first important step)

 

Though the real culprit is the SKSE Team, they mostly control where users are going they have a lot of power in the system and their decisions form a lot of modders paths.

 

Especialy in the 1.8 vs 1.9 issue SKSE literally forces everyone to 1.9 not a lot withstand this by providing 2 versions of their mods for 1.8 and 1.9 ECE is a big exception.

 

And don't expect a patch from Bethesda the Realtime access to facial morphs has been removed on purpose it was no accident, and we most probably never gonna see it in any new Engine revision exposed again.

 

They might fix the subparts they have hitten by this really hushed removal if at all.

[WizzyD]

really? use this!

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/20394/

 

" Don't use the "ShowRaceMenu" command, use the "Change Race" spell which is available in the spells menu. "