Skyrim NPC Editor - Help Needed!

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

Here is a query I posted over at Nexus. With your indulgence, I'm re-posting it here in case it gets either lost, unanswered, or badly burnt:

 

(**Relevant mod is: "Skyrim NPC Editor 0_60 Beta 1_7 by foretrenty")

 

 

"I am having great difficulty in using this mod.

 

I am trying to change Lydia's default stance from Warrior to Normal, but no changes made to Lydia' stance appear to be working/loading in-game.

 

 

Here is the process I have followed:

 

- I open the Skyrim NPC Editor.

 

- Scroll down to Lydia, select.

 

- Change stance from Warrior to Normal.

 

- Create Mod.

 

- Place the new HousecarlWhiterun.esp in Skyrim's Data file, and merge the new meshes folder with my existing one.

 

- Check to ensure that the new .esp is ticked in both NMM and the Skyrim launcher's Data Files areas.

 

- Launch game

 

Lydia's stance is unchanged.

 

 

The same nothing happens result applies if I try to replace, for example, Lydia's head, hair, or make any other alteration to appearance which would be immediately visually apparent.

 

*Update: Other aspects - eg: appearance, voice - can be altered, but stance is *still* not changing in-game (I had, foolishly, apparently selected a head/face which did not "work").

 

 

 

I can see from the uploaded screenshots that many people are able to use this mod successfully - including to modify Lydia's stance. Thus I surmise that there is a breakdown somewhere in the way I am attempting to use it, or that there is some kind of conflict occurring of which I would not reasonably be aware.

 

Has this problem been encountered by anyone else - and successfully addressed? If so, your help would be much appreciated!!!!

 

(*If this has already been addressed, but the solution lies buried somewhere underneath the other 1,296 replies across 130 pages in this thread, my apologies if I have overlooked it - that's simply too many to reasonably sift through)."

 

 

I'm hoping you people can help me on this one!

[glosjttx]

There is apparently a limit of one esp that may modify a specific npc. if you have any other mods that affect followers, housecarls, or even like lydia blonde. only one esp per npc. or so i have gathered.

 

[Surenas]

Well, it happens randomly that Windows' overwrite option actually doesn't overwrite files in subfolder structures (and this without any message), here the 000a2c8e.nif in the mesh subfolder. Check it out.

I've tried out the Editor (much better than mi own crippled thingy made for myself) and - kul wahal! - it works. Have changed Lydia's hair colour from 011 black to 01 platinum blond.

So, once the new esp is in the /data folder, marked in the launcher, and the nif in the /meshes/.../facegeom/skyrim.esm folder, the mission should be accomplished. Should...

 

I have two totally different housecarl.esp running both dealing with Lydia. Thus I don't see an esp limit for NPCs. Possible conflicts caused by contradictory information are selfmade, as always. No idea if NMM beta is involved in your problem, I don't use it.

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

Well' date=' it happens randomly that the Windows' overwrite option actually doesn't overwrite files in subfolder structures (and this without any error message), here the 000a2c8e.nif in the mesh subfolder. Check that out.

I've tried out the Editor (much better than mi own crippled thingy made for myself) and - kul wahal! - it works. Have changed Lydia's hair colour from 011 black to 01 platinum blond.

So, once the new esp is in the /data folder, marked, and the nif in the /meshes/.../facegeom/skyrim.esm folder, the mission should be accomplished. Should...

 

I have two totally different housecarl.esp running both dealing with Lydia. Thus I don't see an esp limit for NPCs. Possible conflicts are selfmade, as always

[/quote']

 

I don't actually have the .bsa's for meshes & textures unpacked in my Skyrim Data folder, thus Lydia's 000a2c8e.nif does not normally appear there.

 

(*I do have the .bsa's unpacked for tinkering elsewhere in my Infernal Machine, so I do have a *copy* of Lydia's 000a2c8e.nif but not anywhere that mods searching for these files actually look.)

 

There *is* however, a 0002c8e.nif file at that specific location once a mod has been created with the editor & the mesh file merged.

 

 

 

**Incidentally, my NPC Editor - the installer version (ie: the .exe which, once unpacked from the downloaded archive and double-clicked, installs to wherever it seems to want to locate itself) is located at:

 

C:\Program Files\Skyrim NPC Editor

 

along with the accompanying .dll's & "Content" Folder, & other bits & pieces. Is that correct? Or do these files need to be located in Skyrim's folder/s? Where is yours located?

[Surenas]

C:\Program Files\Skyrim NPC Editor is the folder suggested by the installer, yup.

I've decided to install the editor in a \tool folder. Thus this is hardly the cause of the problem.

 

Try again in a clean environment, an empty /skyrim.esm folder.

And, by God, delete the blown out 000a2c8e.nif for testing. Got a bad feeling about this...

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

UPDATED: I can indeed use the mod to alter aspects of appearance, voice, etc., and these do appear to be working in game.

 

*However: Lydia's stance still - stubbornly - refuses to change.*

 

Opening post edited to reflect this, with original text struck-through.

 

Here's what I accidentally threw together and it looked surprisingly good did, on the off-chance anyone would like to see it in-game:

 

(Basic Quickie-Screen. Clickity-click!)

 

 

 

 

From memory - changed voice, head, hair-colour, basic ability-switch, stance appears as "Normal" in the mod, but is still - annoyingly - staying as "Warrior" regardless of what I seem to do...

[shedidwhat]

yea mine has the same problem

not sure if its skeleton related

or idle, have thought about ways to force her

to use certain ones.

Give her, her own skeleton and idle

[Cicattrix]

I have tried everything possible with her since Xmas. only weight at 0 and no armor makes her remember that she is a woman.

the CK will be here Tuesday and pretty sure there will be a serious solution for her stance too...

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

I have tried everything possible with her since Xmas. only weight at 0 and no armor makes her remember that she is a woman.

the CK will be here Tuesday and pretty sure there will be a serious solution for her stance too...

 

Hey there' date=' Cicattrix!

 

(Was just now reading your reply at Nexus - many thanks!)

 

Ah-HA! Well, I'm sorry to hear that it's affected your game as well (although on the upside it's good to know this may not necessarily be an isolated experience).

 

As a point of interest - know what sparked this line of enquiry? This Lydia mod right here.

 

Check the screenshots. Notice the stance? That's what got me to thinking "Ahh - maybe I can use this as a fix. Let's see...".

 

It's basically a Lydia-mod made with NPC editor. When the above mod didn't seem to work, I began to use the NPC editor to see if I could replicate it, thinking that maybe the other Lyida mod was broken somehow. When the stance did not change seemingly no matter what I did, I was stumped, and began to wonder if something was up.

[Cicattrix]

well, back then, at the start of Editor, when I was complaining about the non-change of the stance, someone explained me something about moving out of the cell where the NPC is. and someone also said that this is stuck into the saves. honestly I have kinda didnt understood clearly their idea.

one of them I think was foretrenty, but he is with the head in the programming clouds, so couldnt get a solution from him and then he moved on to his work...

practically, I figured that they wanted to say is that either is broke because I have meet Lydia before editing her and the savegame cant be changed, or that if I release her and I move to another cell (hold) and then edit her clean again, it should work. from what I know I did this too, but no success.

well, thing is that if some people got her working, they seem to not bother to help those that have issues. or if they try it, they just throw 5 enigmatic words and move away. so much sharing spirit...

[glosjttx]

It occurred to me that lydia uses male idles. when i was experimenting with the dancing idle anims, lydia used the one in the male folder. my pc was doing a different dance, the one i had set to female. Dunno if that helps. probably not.

 

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

It occurred to me that lydia uses male idles. when i was experimenting with the dancing idle anims' date=' lydia used the one in the male folder. my pc was doing a different dance, the one i had set to female. Dunno if that helps. probably not.

 

[/quote']

 

... y'know I think you're right. She uses the stock 'nilla male animations, not the stock 'nilla female ones.

 

Hmm...

 

SO - it should thus be a matter of (somehow, I guess) cutting-&-pasting the stock female animations across into a modified Lydia. That is; removing the male animations, & replacing them with the female ones, possibly using a program like 3dsMax, yes?

 

Does anyone know how to do this?

 

 

[Cicattrix]

well, if Lydia does this, the other two housecarl ladies arent on the same wrong side? I ask because I havent used them yet.

anyway, this should be easy for someone skilled at modding and animating. practically he must just replace these animations. or isnt as easy as with changing the armor sets or the hair files?

[Johnson]

I've had this same issue with Lydia, and it drives me nuts. One thing I'm going to try after work today is to use the console to "disable" Lydia, or "markfordelete". Hopefully that will wipe her corrupted version from my save file. With her id still selected, I'll then try "enable" or "playerplaceatme" to bring her back, hopefully free of this bug that makes her keep the warrior stance. I'll let you know if it works.

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

Also - is anyone else having trouble with THIS:

 

 

 

 

 

Every time I try to bolt-on a different head, I get a separation of the neck seam. This goes for virtually every NPC, and occurs regardless of weight settings etc. Now, it's okay as long as - in this case Lydia - is wearing something which covers that area, but I'd really like to get this fixed.

 

Am I doing something wrong??

[FastestDogInTheDistrict]

UPDATE: Okay - got back home & found a solution to the above issue with gaps in the neck...

 

EDIT: After some thought, I will post this solution as a separate thread. The info was buried deep in a Nexus thread, and I quite luckily stumbled over it. It would be worth having it here for members.

 

"Skyrim NPC Editor - NECK GAP FIX"

[MalachXaviel]

I've had this same issue with Lydia' date=' and it drives me nuts. One thing I'm going to try after work today is to use the console to "disable" Lydia, or "markfordelete". Hopefully that will wipe her corrupted version from my save file. With her id still selected, I'll then try "enable" or "playerplaceatme" to bring her back, hopefully free of this bug that makes her keep the warrior stance. I'll let you know if it works.

[/quote']

 

Did that end up working? I'm not sure if this is solved or that if this thread is dead or not but I had this exact same problem with modding Lydia using the NPC Editor. The game seems to sometimes disregard any changes you make to her or only accept SOME of the changes.

 

Discovered that quite a few things were causing this-

 

1. Sometimes when you remove a mod or disable some changes you made, the game will delete several files out of the texture folder despite showing that the mod is still active. If you see something like maybe her skin resetting it's color (or losing all color) and basically removing any makeup you put on her but KEEPING the other changes you've made, that's what happened, check your recycle bin.

 

2. If you're using an existing Lydia mod (or maybe adding or making changes to a modification for her you've already made) then not only will both mods have to be active; you have to make absolutely sure that when you're editing her, you select her esp file (the one from whichever mod you're editing) and not the game. If you decide to make another change after this, you'll most likely have to delete the newest file you've created (the second esp) and then start from scratch by editing the mod again.

 

3. Lastly, when you start up Skyrim go to the data files and double check to make sure that your new mod is enabled (the game will sometimes disable it despite NMM saying that it's active) and that it's loadouts are sequenced properly with yours being right behind any ones you've modified, i.e. Housecarl.esp ---> Housecarl2.esp etc

 

I'm quite surprised, and disappointed at just how complicated the game made this process although some of the problem lies with the NPC Editor. If you make a change to ANY npc using a mod a base, then that mod will have to always be installed right before yours.

 

Edit- You can actually use the NPC Editor to make this process a bit faster. If you load up an NPC file but the head hasn't changed, there's a problem with the sequencing and the game is fixing it by using a different esp. If the head loads up properly, but the details are corrupted, or completely changed (her weight and essential status etc) then there is still a problem in the sequencing but apparently your file is the only one available for the game to use. Either way, you have to delete the current npc file and either, start from scratch or reinstall a Lydia mod and then start from scratch using it.

[zz2tommy]

It seems alot of misinformation is being given - it's as simple as changing her Stance (under appearance) from Male -> Female which is an option in NPC Editor.

You must also load her esp file created from Editor last, after any other esp that may affect her or followers in anyway.

 

Her stance has nothing to do with meshes or animations or any other created files. Proof (NSFW):

 

 

 

 

As for the neck seam, make sure you adjust her weight through appearance also in the Editor and not through "setnpcweight" ingame.

 

Believe me or don't as it seems so many in this thread are giving conflicting opinions, but I can tell you, these methods and my npcs work.