Why can't I get rid of the grey face??

[Dionysus1983]

So I know people have this problem all over the place and I've been reading other threads blaming many things, but at this point I think I just need to ask if anyone at all can get CBBE Female Texture Replacer to apply the texture to body AND face? 

 

Atm I've got nearly all mods turned off in MO, only unofficial patches, racemenu, xp32 extended (btw is that a standalone mod or do I need another version of xp32 before it?), CBBE 3.4f and the texture CBBE female texture replacer. I'm loading from clean saves (about to try just starting a fresh game) I've tried reinstalling CBBE curvy with and without it's included face packs. In the texture's download page there's two optional downloads that mention being face or head match fixes but if I merge them with the texture OR install as a standalone and let it overwrite the original texture the problem actually gets worse, face darkens even more. I LOVE this texture and hate to give up on it but it's starting to look like the texture itself is the problem unless I'm missing something.

 

I'm willing try anything, just started a new game so there's really nothing to break, I've just completed initial unbound quest and saved twice, relabeled them as clean saves.

 

Again, using mod organizer and have nearly every mod switched off but could I have a head mesh/texture orphaned somewhere in steamapps>common>skyrim somewhere or another location?

 

Could I be missing a file with the cbbe body and the texture is just unable to apply from the neck up because of it? lol there a cbbe head somewhere that I don't know about?

Not nearly as knowledgable as many of you here but with my mod list dumbed down to nothing I'm completely stumped here, dunno what else to do but ask for advice. 

[fiewiel]

Im no expert with that, but try this:

Make a new profile in MO and disable all mods there (check overwrite). Start a new game, save outside helgen. This is your most important gamesave from now on. Make an additional copy  from it somewhere.

Check in MO if under /data/textures/actors/ is nothing. If you have a /actors/* directory its not from the original game. Make a copy of your whole skyrim directory!! After you did, follow this guide:

http://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:Make_Skyrim_Vanilla_Again

You prob have to reinstall skse, enbs (use enb manager therefore) and a couple of other programs.

Now install your cbbe texture. Doublecheck in MO that you now have a /data/textures/actors/character/female/*.* directory with content.

Check in game if your character has now the correct texture. There is no .msn face texture in your texturemod, but I have no clue if its important. I checked and sg texture renewal (the textures Im using) has such a .msn file.

If your face is grey, thats the moment I would start throwing things out of the window while cursing.

 

If your char is correct, use your original MO profile and load the save with the problems. If you now have a grey face, check under /textures/actors/character/female/ that all the files there are from your cbbe female texture replacer. If there are other files, check which mod own them and disable it. Disable all mods which add tattoos, dirt, makeup, wounds, scars  or something similar. Check ingame if this makes a difference.

 

If not, Im out of ideas, beside the usual corrupt save, and someone other will hopefully give better advice.