Possible Solution for Grey Head and Grey Forehead

[tsubakiZero]

Hello everyone,

 

Decided to write this post to those of you trying to edit or fix a character on Creation Kit and maybe Tes5edit (recommended for conflict check) and to also to give back to this great community.

So this possible fix is if you use Creation Kit and after Exporting Face Gen Data it doesn't fix the issue and you still have Gray Face. I cant explain how to use Creating Kit or Tes5edit because I only have limited knowledge on the subject plus it will take me all day to explained everything I know, and I want to play!

 

Grey Face Issue

 

So I was trying to fix a char in my game (actually multiple) that had Grey Face. I first went to Tes5edit to check if there was a conflict and there was none, so I opened Creation Kit and decided to change the hair to Apachii and make some changes to my liking. After exporting face gen data and testing they still had Grey Face, so I went back Tes5edit and didn't see anything wrong with the Non-Player Character I compared with other ESPs that add NPCs and everything look fine.

 

So I decided to check the races, I noticed that there were ALOT of mods that make changes and try to add to the different Races. Its a HUGE form but I checked all the conflicts and I noticed that in the Female Head Data the FemaleHead was being replaced by a mod to what Skyrim.esm wants even though the USLEEP makes corrections to a different FemaleHead. So I make fixes based on the mods I wanted most and USLEEP. When I tested it fixed the issue but I had the dreaded Grey ForeHead.

 

Grey ForeHead issue,

 

So I looked for information and in many places kept saying to check in,

 

Creation Kit - Character Gen Parts - Textures
- FemaleUpperEyeSocket.dds
- FemaleHead"Race"_ForeHead.dds

 

To change it to Color Average and change the opacity to 0. Well I verified and it was correct both were on Color Average and 0 Opacity , but I still tried to export the face gen data, but it wasn't fixed. After hours verifying in Creation Kit and Tes5edit, on Creating kit I decided to check all the textures and I found that,

 

FemaleHead"Race"_Lips.dds

 

had a color and an opacity, I changed it for testing and it FIX the issue. Yeah I know I was like WTF , Lips?!

 

But it fixed it, now I can play!

 

 

I really hope this post is helpful to everyone having this issue, probably the format is not the best, but I thought that by explaining a little of my process it could give some hints to fix your issue.

 

To those that don't know how to use Creation Kit or Tes5edit, I recommend to search for videos in YouTube, there are many videos explaining how to install it in NMM or MO and how to use it. Personally I read a lot of forums, self teach myself and a lot of trial and error, they are not easy applications to use but with practice you can handle it (opinions might differ).

 

 

[Sailing Rebel]

The forehead colour issue is related to a bug in CK that prevents it from properly applying high resolution tintmasks. While editing NPCs in CK it is best to temporarily remove, rename or otherwise disable the folder \textures\actors\character\character assets\tintmasks. This forces CK to use the normal resolution vanilla textures while editing. Afterwards the folder can be enabled again and everything should work normally.

 

As you've discovered any mod that touches an NPC causes another bug which knocks out the NPC-specific tintmasks. Mods that make even the slightest change to an NPC must take this into account. The workaround is to export facegen data and package the relevant tintmasks found in \textures\actors\character\FaceGenData\FaceTint\ModName.esm with the mod (AFAIK only the DDS files are needed the TGA's can be ignored). As mentioned above it's possible to fix this after installing a mod through CK through. The Creation Kit Wiki has more detail on the Dark Face Bug and how to fix it.

 

With the latest SexLab installed or a separate install of Mfg Console it's possible to find which mods have touched an NPC while in-game: open the console, click on the NPC and check the bottom right column. It may be necessary to use the scroll wheel to cycle through nearby objects to reach the NPC. The Mfg console data window is toggled with Tab while the console is open though it should default to open.

 

It's been a while since I've done any NPC editing but I'm sure someone more up-to-date will point out any errors.

[tsubakiZero]

The forehead colour issue is related to a bug in CK that prevents it from properly applying high resolution tintmasks. While editing NPCs in CK it is best to temporarily remove, rename or otherwise disable the folder \textures\actors\character\character assets\tintmasks. This forces CK to use the normal resolution vanilla textures while editing. Afterwards the folder can be enabled again and everything should work normally.

 

As you've discovered any mod that touches an NPC causes another bug which knocks out the NPC-specific tintmasks. Mods that make even the slightest change to an NPC must take this into account. The workaround is to export facegen data and package the relevant tintmasks found in \textures\actors\character\FaceGenData\FaceTint\ModName.esm with the mod (AFAIK only the DDS files are needed the TGA's can be ignored). As mentioned above it's possible to fix this after installing a mod through CK through. The Creation Kit Wiki has more detail on the Dark Face Bug and how to fix it.

 

With the latest SexLab installed or a separate install of Mfg Console it's possible to find which mods have touched an NPC while in-game: open the console, click on the NPC and check the bottom right column. It may be necessary to use the scroll wheel to cycle through nearby objects to reach the NPC. The Mfg console data window is toggled with Tab while the console is open though it should default to open.

 

It's been a while since I've done any NPC editing but I'm sure someone more up-to-date will point out any errors.

 

Thanks for your input Rebel, I decided to enter this info since while searching no body mentions this, so I thought I would lend a hand. I managed to find a solution after many hours of testing, trying different things and frustration lol

 

If anyone has any more input that can help others feel free.