Potions of change (WIP)

[Coding_Onion]

View File

Potions of change (WIP)

---

IMPORTANT!

 

You may want to remove your characters gear when using the potions to avoid ctd if you have a bodymod.

Also the 'potion of face' uses the 'limited' racemenu and it crashed at least once on me while testing.

Also don't use potions as a vampire, during scripted sequences or general unstable states and use only one at once.

Also also make a backup save to be sure.

 

* Orcs have no tusks on game-restart reload, !!safe-practice with argonians and khajiit!! (please read)

Spoiler

Khajiits and Argonians headpart may break if opening racemenu/loading a save after a game restart if you changed into them (while not initally being that race).

This is especially annoying because with khajiit and argonians you won't be able to see that your model is bugged until it is (as opposed to orcs who are missing their tusks)

For argonians you have to do a 'hard reset' of the race by opening any racemenu (preverably racemenualternative to prevent skill-loss), select any other race, then again select your inital race and save the game.

 

To prevent this for orcs, you can do the following each time you restart skyrim and load your save:

-use the console with the '^'-key, click on the player so that somewhere the id '000014' appears, then type 'setrace nordrace', enter, then type in the race you would normally be like 'setrace orcrace'

 

There is also a bug where you can't change your hair when changing into a race that is not the one you saved your savefile in:

-For humanoid races without additional parts on the head (like teeth or a monster-head, so any elves and fully human races) loading into the game after a hard restart of Skyrim (or using the above mentioned method) it seems to fix the issue.

---

 

 

-The Mod-

 

It's a mod to give players a more immersive way to change their characters race and/or sex than using the racemenu command.

 

This mod adds 21 potions that, when consumed, change your characters race/sex and loads a predetermined default preset from the character-creator onto them.

Craft-able at any cooking pot/station!

There is additionally a potion to open the limited racemenu akin to using the face-sculptor in Riften. 

 

A book with instructions on how to make these potions will be added to your inventory when the mod is loaded the first time.

 

 

---

 

-Requirements-

 

Skyrim AE

Racemenu

ConsoleUtilSSE

(powerofthree's papyrus extender)(will run without, some functions don't fully work)

 

-Recommended-

 

Vanilla Hair Replacer

Any mod that makes Skyrims Racemenu more stable (Unoffical patch, etc.)

Unisexy (english version) to expand the similarity after using the Genderchange-potions

 

---

Planned changes:

-add a variable to the change-function to disable the stable-state checks and player-transperancy during the change for modders

 

---

• Submitter
  Coding_Onion
• Submitted
  04/30/26
• Category
  Regular Mods
• Requirements
  Skyrim SE, Racemenu, ConsoleUtilSSE, Powerofthree's Papyrus Extender
• Regular Edition Compatible
  No
• Install Instructions

  Install like any other mod. You can even overwrite the presets with your own, just be careful to keep them same race + sex.

 

[ArgyleSmith]

I followed commentary on some of the mods you created that gave rise to this one, so I have at least some idea of what happens upon imbibing one of these potions, but you might want to consider providing more of an explanation for those who might happen upon this mod without any familiarity with the others.

Either a full-on description of how the visuals are handled, or maybe a link to where you already did that in the description of a related mod?

[lavatube]

That would be useful to add to the YPS/Bimbos. In that combination of mods, as a consequence of corruption, a male character can be forced to change to a female. This event brings up the racechange menu where you have to manually change your character. Normally I just load a preset in the racemenu, but it'd be nice if you could set a preset ahead of time and avoid the racemenu altogether. 

[Coding_Onion]

16 hours ago, ArgyleSmith said:

I followed commentary on some of the mods you created that gave rise to this one, so I have at least some idea of what happens upon imbibing one of these potions, but you might want to consider providing more of an explanation for those who might happen upon this mod without any familiarity with the others.

Either a full-on description of how the visuals are handled, or maybe a link to where you already did that in the description of a related mod?

Uhm, it's a mod with potions that load predeterminded presets of the 10 basegame races, one for each sex, without the need to open up racemenu, that's it 😅

 

I could break down that it uses some consoleutil and chargen commands while widly changing races back and fourth until the preset 'sticks' (haven't really found another method yet and even this one is kinda bugged in some cases), but it seems a bit too much efford when the sourcecode is there to read.

[Coding_Onion]

13 hours ago, lavatube said:

That would be useful to add to the YPS/Bimbos. In that combination of mods, as a consequence of corruption, a male character can be forced to change to a female. This event brings up the racechange menu where you have to manually change your character. Normally I just load a preset in the racemenu, but it'd be nice if you could set a preset ahead of time and avoid the racemenu altogether. 

Yeah, sadly this method also has 'quirks' which make it kind of meh to use if you reload the game (like argonians changed their head back to a human shape)

 

I think i am missing one/some important step, either using another chargen-function or some update-function from the base-sdk, but i am not really sure what.

Edited May 1 by Coding_Onion

[jib_buttkiss]

Hm, interesting! Is there a potion that just changes sex without the race changing? I'm always looking for a simple genderbend function to call for Bimbos Of Skyrim users that don't want YPS or the racemenu popup.

You mention the quirks this method has- do those only happen on race changes, or do sex changes have them too?

[Coding_Onion]

49 minutes ago, jib_buttkiss said:

Hm, interesting! Is there a potion that just changes sex without the race changing? I'm always looking for a simple genderbend function to call for Bimbos Of Skyrim users that don't want YPS or the racemenu popup.

You mention the quirks this method has- do those only happen on race changes, or do sex changes have them too?

Hm, good question. Sorry for ranting in advance.

 

The steps that are done when using a potion are:

A) 'Sexchange' (console command)

B) 'loadpreset' (CharGen)

C) 'change race (setrace) to another one, loading the preset, then changing to the desired race and loading the preset again'

 

The quirk with this method is that some changes (like hairstyle) to the model can't be saved until either

1) restarting Skyrim

2) opening racemenu and setting another race, then switching back

 

I think loading the preset onto the 'wrong' race in step C) causes this, but if i remember correctly it is necessary for the model to appear correctly. 

I have to do more testing before i can give a confident answer.

 

Using 'skee preset-load' in B) instead of 'loadpreset' from CharGen seems to not cause the 'quirk' and can be used if you want to just change sex without doing C), but it needs to be maintained each time the model is reloaded (like loading a save) or the model has false textures.

 

Man, i really wished there was some kind of easy-to-access documentation on what exactly 'loadpreset' and 'skee preset-load' do in data-terms so i don't have to reverse engineer it.

[Alias Fakename]

This is incredible. It works! I've been looking for a resource like this for ages. Now I can finally realize a mod idea I've had for some time now... Thanks!
I tested this on a character with vanilla clothes, changing into one of the same race, and got no CTD, so it seems stripping isn't always necessary.

Also, I can confirm that Fertility Mode successfully registered the PC as a female, after the change, so that works, too.
Awesome job!

[Coding_Onion]

17 hours ago, Alias Fakename said:

This is incredible. It works! I've been looking for a resource like this for ages. Now I can finally realize a mod idea I've had for some time now... Thanks!
I tested this on a character with vanilla clothes, changing into one of the same race, and got no CTD, so it seems stripping isn't always necessary.

Also, I can confirm that Fertility Mode successfully registered the PC as a female, after the change, so that works, too.
Awesome job!

Yeah, just be aware of the 'quirk' that hairstyle and brows reset until you restart the game if you changed into a race differning from the one you loaded into the first savegame

AND

argonians, orc and khajiit are straight up broken when loading a save after restarting the game if you don't 'soft reset' their race (swap ot back and fourth) inside any racemenu beforehand (otherwise the head is getting reset to the human variant for argonians and orcteeth are not getting loaded).

 

I have experimented a bit with other CharGen functions, but no success this far in fixing this.

Edited May 5 by Coding_Onion

[Alias Fakename]

On 5/5/2026 at 9:44 AM, Coding_Onion said:

Yeah, just be aware of the 'quirk' that hairstyle and brows reset until you restart the game if you changed into a race differning from the one you loaded into the first savegame

AND

argonians, orc and khajiit are straight up broken when loading a save after restarting the game if you don't 'soft reset' their race (swap ot back and fourth) inside any racemenu beforehand (otherwise the head is getting reset to the human variant for argonians and orcteeth are not getting loaded).

 

I have experimented a bit with other CharGen functions, but no success this far in fixing this.

Thank you for the tips! I read the description carefully, as well as the notes in the scripts. My intent is to only use a transition within the same (Breton) race, and I will instruct users accordingly. It's going to be a little quest mod with the potion being very unique, so I'm disabling the crafting option, removing the vendor item keyword, and renaming everything - the PC will get it from an NPC, by mistake, instead of another potion (which the PC will have successfully gotten previously from the same NPC: the potion of ultimate power). I also want to add some functionality to strip the player of any achieved perks and stats if I am able. The idea is that an already accomplished hero will turn into a weak woman by accident. I wonder if I can also reset the NPC awareness of the PC somehow so that suddenly no one will recognize him/her, maybe even strip the PC of all the player homes (if acquired). We'll see if I can do it. I have some experience with modding, but not very deep. Sorry for babbling, I just wanted to share the Idea, as it'll probably take me quite some time before I have it working. But perhaps the perk/XP/fame reset is something you might consider as an MCM option for your mod, as well? Now that I think of it, a SLSF reset would be in order, too.
Anyway, thanks again! I'm astonished that only so few people have downloaded your mod. Deserves much more attention.
I also think the author of YPS might be very interested in your solution. Talked to them some time ago, and I remember being told that it was literally impossible to change a character's sex without opening Racemenu.

[Coding_Onion]

10 hours ago, Alias Fakename said:

Thank you for the tips! I read the description carefully, as well as the notes in the scripts. My intent is to only use a transition within the same (Breton) race, and I will instruct users accordingly. It's going to be a little quest mod with the potion being very unique, so I'm disabling the crafting option, removing the vendor item keyword, and renaming everything - the PC will get it from an NPC, by mistake, instead of another potion (which the PC will have successfully gotten previously from the same NPC: the potion of ultimate power). I also want to add some functionality to strip the player of any achieved perks and stats if I am able. The idea is that an already accomplished hero will turn into a weak woman by accident. I wonder if I can also reset the NPC awareness of the PC somehow so that suddenly no one will recognize him/her, maybe even strip the PC of all the player homes (if acquired). We'll see if I can do it. I have some experience with modding, but not very deep. Sorry for babbling, I just wanted to share the Idea, as it'll probably take me quite some time before I have it working. But perhaps the perk/XP/fame reset is something you might consider as an MCM option for your mod, as well? Now that I think of it, a SLSF reset would be in order, too.
Anyway, thanks again! I'm astonished that only so few people have downloaded your mod. Deserves much more attention.
I also think the author of YPS might be very interested in your solution. Talked to them some time ago, and I remember being told that it was literally impossible to change a character's sex without opening Racemenu.

Yeah, i didn't really believed that changes were impossible since the mod 'PROTEUS' exists which can also load your preset without racemenu.

Got a huge tip from some user though and finding out how to call dll-functions and where to look functions up also helped a lot. 

Right now i kind of have to look up if PROTEUS also has 'the quirk' or if it's solved through anything else than an intricate 'Update'-function each time a save is loaded.

 

I wish you good luck with your project!

I think changing all the player parameters (and storing them for later) is quite doable, but i think it's more inconvienient in the sdk than it should be, so i am not keen on getting into it.

Rant:

Spoiler

(if am correctly aware there is no simply sdk function to grab all current perks should you wish to restore them later and changing levels also depends on managing the xp right.

I am quite sure some other modder must have done this 'legwork' already since it kinda feels like an essential feature).

 

[Alias Fakename]

Ah, I wasn't aware of Protheus. I would be very interested in the resource you mentioned, to look up functions and how to use dlls, if you wouldn't mind. Sounds really useful.
As for storing the perks, I don't worry about that, as the idea of my mod is that the change will be irreversible, even though there will be some false hope, for some time. But you would need this if you were to implement this in your mod. Then again, as long as the reset also sets back the level, at least the PC would have a chance to get back in form. It would kind of make sense... a new body needs to be trained all over...

[babashida]

On 5/6/2026 at 10:35 PM, Alias Fakename said:

Thank you for the tips! I read the description carefully, as well as the notes in the scripts. My intent is to only use a transition within the same (Breton) race, and I will instruct users accordingly. It's going to be a little quest mod with the potion being very unique, so I'm disabling the crafting option, removing the vendor item keyword, and renaming everything - the PC will get it from an NPC, by mistake, instead of another potion (which the PC will have successfully gotten previously from the same NPC: the potion of ultimate power). I also want to add some functionality to strip the player of any achieved perks and stats if I am able. The idea is that an already accomplished hero will turn into a weak woman by accident. I wonder if I can also reset the NPC awareness of the PC somehow so that suddenly no one will recognize him/her, maybe even strip the PC of all the player homes (if acquired). We'll see if I can do it. I have some experience with modding, but not very deep. Sorry for babbling, I just wanted to share the Idea, as it'll probably take me quite some time before I have it working. But perhaps the perk/XP/fame reset is something you might consider as an MCM option for your mod, as well? Now that I think of it, a SLSF reset would be in order, too.
Anyway, thanks again! I'm astonished that only so few people have downloaded your mod. Deserves much more attention.
I also think the author of YPS might be very interested in your solution. Talked to them some time ago, and I remember being told that it was literally impossible to change a character's sex without opening Racemenu.

this quest mod seems interesting, maybe a repeatable quest where the hero is turned into a weak woman either by accident or forcibly and must turn back through means of an item or potion otherwise they risk being stuck as a woman permanently?

[Coding_Onion]

Yeah, i am also interested to see where this will go.

 

I initially had a similar idea/premise for a mod, but then i realized that i just don't enjoy writing stories where the protagonist solely becomes powerless/a 'damsel in distress'

(even though i like themes of an 'alternate identity'/changes being forced onto a character).

 

Whelp, i might not be the first person to (roughly) draw up plans for a passion-project and getting lost in the implementation, so all the more reason for me to wish y'all the best when you are working on yours 

[Alias Fakename]

On 5/20/2026 at 1:54 PM, Coding_Onion said:

Yeah, i am also interested to see where this will go.

 

I initially had a similar idea/premise for a mod, but then i realized that i just don't enjoy writing stories where the protagonist solely becomes powerless/a 'damsel in distress'

(even though i like themes of an 'alternate identity'/changes being forced onto a character).

 

Whelp, i might not be the first person to (roughly) draw up plans for a passion-project and getting lost in the implementation, so all the more reason for me to wish y'all the best when you are working on yours 

Thank you. Working with CK really is a pain. It has shattered the dreams of many a modder, but hey, at least we can mod the game at all. The amount of Freedom in Skyrim modding is unprecedented, and that§s why it still lives on. But imagine what the world would be like with a CK and engine that would actually work properly, and if we had full documentation. The possibilities are limitless.

[Alias Fakename]

On 5/20/2026 at 2:21 AM, babashida said:

this quest mod seems interesting, maybe a repeatable quest where the hero is turned into a weak woman either by accident or forcibly and must turn back through means of an item or potion otherwise they risk being stuck as a woman permanently?

Sounds interesting, too. But given the lack of time, I think, if I make the mod at all, it will be very barebones (at first, at least). The plan is to have a vendor first sell very useful combat potions, only to, at some point, mix up the concoctions (possibly crafting the effect by accident and selling the potion in exactly the same flask), and then deny everything, not believing the PC that they are the guy from before who bought this potion. A single thread of dialogue, nothing fancy.

[Coding_Onion]

42 minutes ago, Alias Fakename said:

Thank you. Working with CK really is a pain. It has shattered the dreams of many a modder, but hey, at least we can mod the game at all. The amount of Freedom in Skyrim modding is unprecedented, and that§s why it still lives on. But imagine what the world would be like with a CK and engine that would actually work properly, and if we had full documentation. The possibilities are limitless.

Yup, a more expansive documentation would help a lot.

Recently tried to find out what kind of color-information i can grab from npcs with the functions i know of and apply them to the player and it's just really inconsistent.

But, hey, it's kind of cool that there is support for modding at all.

[Alias Fakename]

On 5/22/2026 at 4:00 PM, Coding_Onion said:

Yup, a more expansive documentation would help a lot.

Recently tried to find out what kind of color-information i can grab from npcs with the functions i know of and apply them to the player and it's just really inconsistent.

But, hey, it's kind of cool that there is support for modding at all.

Exactly!

[yudodistome]

This mod has alot of potential. Is there any chance you could make the screen fade to black during the change and perhaps play some sound effect, change the name of the potion to be more immersive? This would do well with a nexus release aswell. Im sure it could make trending mods when these things are implemented. Such a great effort so far

[Coding_Onion]

16 hours ago, yudodistome said:

This mod has alot of potential. Is there any chance you could make the screen fade to black during the change and perhaps play some sound effect, change the name of the potion to be more immersive? This would do well with a nexus release aswell. Im sure it could make trending mods when these things are implemented. Such a great effort so far

Thanks for the ideas!

 

I am not really sure about the future of the mod since i am doing this non-professional (i didn't have any real ambitions beyond making a more approachable/easy-to use variant of another mod i worked on) and other stuff is cropping up irl that is more important to me.

 

Also, this mod may need some sort of complex maintainer-script since changing the players race the way this mod does can cause problems with wrong headparts when combined with loading a save after restarting the game.

Should i want to go onto nexus that is a problem that imo must get fixed (even though it is 'just' a visual bug argonians with a human headpart look quite broken), but this way may add more potential for more bugs and i have no idea if an easier solution exists.

 

A sound effect for more impact might be easier to add, name is also easy to do.

I am kind of against adding dialogue since that opens a lot of other questions on how it is implemented/written (and because Skyrim has voiced dialogue i would either have to look into ai voiceing stuff or it would kind of stick out).

 

Edit: by the way, what potion-name would you suggest? I kind if left a mod-indicator with [poc] at the beginning and leaving what it changes you into in its name, but it could be some color/adjective coding for gender/race or something along those lines (like, idk, 'red gelatinous potion', 'blue slimy potion', etc etc).

Edited July 1 by Coding_Onion

[yudodistome]

Hey there,

 

Thanks for the reply. sorry for my spelling and grammar this isnt my native tongue. I actually went into ck yesterday to try out some of the changes myself. I only changed the fnord and mnord potions cause thats what ill be using myself. I changed the model and name of the potions (Holy Nordic Elixir of Dibella's Grace and Holy Nordic Elixir of Talos's Might) and placed them in the temple of dibella inner sanctum altar and the greybeards office table in High Hrothgar respectively, seemed like an immersive spot. I tried changing the sound effect but it appears i barely hear anything anyway, that might be a problem on my end? I also made the potions display a fading notfication if not the right gender, for example when drinking the dibella one that changes you into a nord woman when you're already a woman, it just says that it doesnt affect you. I can't get the fade to work though. i tried using the dropdown menu under visual effects when in the magic effect window. under imagespacemod i used fadetoblackimod, it fades but then instantly snaps back to normal view after the inital fade is complete, a few seconds before the transformation has finished. 

 

everything i did is for personal use only, ofcourse

[Coding_Onion]

45 minutes ago, yudodistome said:

Hey there,

 

Thanks for the reply. sorry for my spelling and grammar this isnt my native tongue. I actually went into ck yesterday to try out some of the changes myself. I only changed the fnord and mnord potions cause thats what ill be using myself. I changed the model and name of the potions (Holy Nordic Elixir of Dibella's Grace and Holy Nordic Elixir of Talos's Might) and placed them in the temple of dibella inner sanctum altar and the greybeards office table in High Hrothgar respectively, seemed like an immersive spot. I tried changing the sound effect but it appears i barely hear anything anyway, that might be a problem on my end? I also made the potions display a fading notfication if not the right gender, for example when drinking the dibella one that changes you into a nord woman when you're already a woman, it just says that it doesnt affect you. I can't get the fade to work though. i tried using the dropdown menu under visual effects when in the magic effect window. under imagespacemod i used fadetoblackimod, it fades but then instantly snaps back to normal view after the inital fade is complete, a few seconds before the transformation has finished. 

 

everything i did is for personal use only, ofcourse

Could be either the setalpha interfering or the racechange somehow resetting it, idk.

I think there was another fadeout function in the game-class script.

 

Sound might be either dependent on your sound-mixer settings or the soundeffect itself i would guess.

 

And, yeah, no stress. Worst i can realistically do is to throw a tantrun and then rage-delete all the files i uploaded, but, eh, that's not really worth it for what amounts to scripts created mostly by trial-and-error that use the usual papyrus functions. The reason the source code is there after all is for people to use it in their own creations.

 

Hope the mod enriches your playthrough 

Edited July 2 by Coding_Onion

[yudodistome]

On 7/2/2026 at 5:50 PM, Coding_Onion said:

Could be either the setalpha interfering or the racechange somehow resetting it, idk.

I think there was another fadeout function in the game-class script.

 

Sound might be either dependent on your sound-mixer settings or the soundeffect itself i would guess.

 

And, yeah, no stress. Worst i can realistically do is to throw a tantrun and then rage-delete all the files i uploaded, but, eh, that's not really worth it for what amounts to scripts created mostly by trial-and-error that use the usual papyrus functions. The reason the source code is there after all is for people to use it in their own creations.

 

Hope the mod enriches your playthrough 

It sure has! I actually scripted the fade and now it works flawlessly, also has a heartbeat playing and a fading notification and the screen only fades back when the transformation is complete. thanks so much for the base script it works flawlessly! if you ever consider turning it into a more polished version hit me up and ill share what i have. cheers

[Coding_Onion]

14 hours ago, yudodistome said:

It sure has! I actually scripted the fade and now it works flawlessly, also has a heartbeat playing and a fading notification and the screen only fades back when the transformation is complete. thanks so much for the base script it works flawlessly! if you ever consider turning it into a more polished version hit me up and ill share what i have. cheers

Nice!

 

Yeah, like i said, changing between some races has it's flaws since using 'setrace' seems lead to headpart not properly getting registered as valid if you haven't been that race when loading the save and/or setting your race in any racemenu. Can't come up with an easy fix for this. Saving and re-adding headparts each time the game is loaded is the only answer i can come up with which may lead to even more jank down the line.

Or just wholly excluding it for argonians, khajiit and orcs which feels kind of wrong.

I think the genderchange-potion, if used without the others, is the most 'stable' of the bunch.

 

Uh, anyways, i think i re-wrote this rant now probably a bit too often since papyrus-functions feeling inconsistent annoys the heck out of me. Or maybe i just haven't done enough research, idk.

 

So, anyways, good job

[Coding_Onion]

After some time to think about it, yeah, no, i don't think i want to release anything on the nexus anytime soon;

The moderation recently removed a mod that gave player-sex based buffs/debuffs that i liked to use.

While i do understand why that specific mod might leave a bad taste for some folks because it's too sexist ... c'mon.

Having done some some searches there seems to be more examples where the final argument of nexus in discussions surrounding mods about sex/gender/romance boil down to 'because we can' and 'don't use our site if you can't deal with it'.