Why do NPCs look very different in the GECK compared to ingame?

[Question]

Im trying to edit companions to look different, and while i can change everything in the GECK just fine, they look very different ingame (See screenshot). What gives?

 

There is also an obvious mismatch between their head and the body. The proportions dont look right and the skin complexion doesnt seem to match, even though my player character and the companion are using the same race and my character looks fine.

[phqubo]

The Only Difference I see is the lighting? Also seems at the neck are common with mods that effect body or face which it looks like you probably have

[Question]

The face on the right is much rounder and the hair is also placed at a slightly different angle.

[Question]

Anyone?

[Imperfection]

My 2 cents...

 

Mismatch tones between head and body I believe is because the plugin is an esp, make it an esm and that will fix the issue in game but they still look bugged in GECK since you have to convert back to esp to edit in GECK. Welcome to the GECK. I have also messed around with the option "can be any race" but did not notice any change, only changing to esm worked.

 

I seem to remeber reading somewhere that if hair and maybe head meshes are not in a BSA file, ie is a loose file then the assocaited EGM file will not work, They all have to be conatined in a BSA, was not like that in FO3, just NV. Thats what the right hand picture looks like to me as the hair is misaligned to the head.

 

 

[Question]

Ah, i see. How do you convert a .esp to a .esm? Do you just change the file extension? As for the meshes, how do you put them in a BSA and get the associated mod to use that instead of the loose files?

[Guest endgameaddiction]

FNVEdit. Expand the tree of that mod and click/highlight File Header. On the right panel double click Record Flags and tick ESM and then close FNVEdit. It will prompt you if you want to save changes. When you want to go back and do some work in the plugin through GECK you have to untick the ESM through FNVEdit.

[Imperfection]

Ah, i see. How do you convert a .esp to a .esm? Do you just change the file extension? As for the meshes, how do you put them in a BSA and get the associated mod to use that instead of the loose files?

 

For the BSA creation I use the BSA Creator option found in the tools menu in FOMM, I am sure there are others out there. The BSA is typically named after the associated esp but does not have to be the same, look at the ones that came with the game for examples. The BSA file simply adds it contents to the directory structure of the game so they don't have to be loose files. The esp will find them because of this so there is no "linking" per say that has to be done in Geck or such to make them work.