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Making a good looking character


Anurabis

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Hello everyone I love playing skyrim and I also love the character creation but I do have a common problem I have trouble making good looking characters and wanted to ask if anyone could write me a few tips etc. (If there is already a topic somewhere to recommended mods for that I'd be glad if you could link it to me, no need to mention Racemenu as I do have that mod^^)

I very much appreciate any response :D

 

Edit: General tips on how to avoid common misteps would also be appreciated :D

 

just download some presets you like, and pick those eyes, that mouth, that head, those hairs....

 

you can have some nice result if after picking a head, you switch to another on bodychange too

 

 

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from vanilla to v4

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eyes and mouth are taken care of in showracemenu since they are no good on that head

that's how you convert heads from vanilla to citrus or something else

 

mods required to load the preset aren't need

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that head isn't a preset but an imported head

result is the head it was imported into since sliders are for that head

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well.... result is just a green human (it need new ears, noses, mouth, and a retexture to look like an orc)

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Man this is an AWESOME POST! Thank you so much! I was already using some of these but I downloaded a bunch more. I have some comments on these:

 

The Ningheim race: I gotta tell ya, I was real excited to hear there was a race that was gorgeous by default. I couldn't wait to check out this new race and how great they look. Well the first thing I browsed through were the presets, and while they are decent, they aren't fantastic. They are better than most of the stock presets, but that's not saying much. Presets aside, the one question on my mind was "What is all this crap on all of their faces?" I thought maybe it was just a complexion setting, but this race only has 2 complexions, some crap and more crap. No clear skin option! Sorely disappointed. I couldn't work with this. The worst part was I could see no way to use the fairskin complexion mod with this race. I gave up on ningheim right quick.

Thanks! I try to help where I can. I've spent a LOT of time trying to make my game, and especially the women in it, look gorgeous. If other people can benefit from my own experience to make their own games beautiful than I'm happy to pitch in. 

 

I have to say, though, do give The Ningheim a second chance. It really is a lovely race mod. If you want to use Fairskin Complexion it's easy enough to change, just a matter of knowing where to look. All you need to do is replace the files in this directory: The Ningheim Race >> textures >> actors >> character >> Ningheim >> female  with the files of the same name located in Fairskin Complexion. Just copy the files over and hit Replace when it asks you to overwrite and you're done. You can also copy and replace the files in the character assets >> tint masks  folder, which should take care of the dirty look some of the complexions have. Ningheim uses SG Textures Renewal normally, so the skin is meant to be a little careworn and marked by life.

 

Er, all of this is assuming you're using Mod Organizer, of course. If you use NMM or something you have to replace the same files in Ningheim >> female, just with your regular character >> female files.

 

 

EVhr1HDq.png

 

 

 

Give it a try, though. The Ningheim presets are an excellent starting place when creating your own unique character looks.

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Man this is an AWESOME POST! Thank you so much! I was already using some of these but I downloaded a bunch more. I have some comments on these:

 

The Ningheim race: I gotta tell ya, I was real excited to hear there was a race that was gorgeous by default. I couldn't wait to check out this new race and how great they look. Well the first thing I browsed through were the presets, and while they are decent, they aren't fantastic. They are better than most of the stock presets, but that's not saying much. Presets aside, the one question on my mind was "What is all this crap on all of their faces?" I thought maybe it was just a complexion setting, but this race only has 2 complexions, some crap and more crap. No clear skin option! Sorely disappointed. I couldn't work with this. The worst part was I could see no way to use the fairskin complexion mod with this race. I gave up on ningheim right quick.

Thanks! I try to help where I can. I've spent a LOT of time trying to make my game, and especially the women in it, look gorgeous. If other people can benefit from my own experience to make their own games beautiful than I'm happy to pitch in. 

 

I have to say, though, do give The Ningheim a second chance. It really is a lovely race mod. If you want to use Fairskin Complexion it's easy enough to change, just a matter of knowing where to look. All you need to do is replace the files in this directory: The Ningheim Race >> textures >> actors >> character >> Ningheim >> female  with the files of the same name located in Fairskin Complexion. Just copy the files over and hit Replace when it asks you to overwrite and you're done. You can also copy and replace the files in the character assets >> tint masks  folder, which should take care of the dirty look some of the complexions have. Ningheim uses SG Textures Renewal normally, so the skin is meant to be a little careworn and marked by life.

 

Er, all of this is assuming you're using Mod Organizer, of course. If you use NMM or something you have to replace the same files in Ningheim >> female, just with your regular character >> female files.

 

 

EVhr1HDq.png

 

 

 

Give it a try, though. The Ningheim presets are an excellent starting place when creating your own unique character looks.

 

 

But I also use better make-up and lips mods. So I have to copy those files over as well? Damn why doesn't Ningheim just have an option to use standard global textures?

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But I also use better make-up and lips mods. So I have to copy those files over as well? Damn why doesn't Ningheim just have an option to use standard global textures?

As far as I know both those mods add tintmask textures, so if you preferred to use those over the ones that come with The Ningheim mod you'd have to overwrite. It's a little bit of a pain but it's not complicated. 

 

All custom race mods come with their own textures and sometimes meshes. The people who create them want to give a specific look to their race that they personally find fitting and attractive. So long as the files are loose they're easy enough to replace with whatever you prefer. It's just time consuming. Depending on my own play through sometimes I'll leave the races with the textures they came with, simply so that there's a little more variety in the game.

 

Ah, also, while I'm thinking about it, I believe The Ningheim come with their own skeleton in the meshes >> >> >> >> >> character assets female directory. You're going to want to replace that with the XPMSE skeleton if you use any type of physics at all, e.g. hdt.

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I just use the Racemenu Import feature.

 

Well I use a custom race as well, so that if I find a follower file that has a head that is needed I can just overwrite my Unique Race's head mesh.

 

But basically with Racemenu any Follower File can potentially be quickly used as a face for your character.

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But I also use better make-up and lips mods. So I have to copy those files over as well? Damn why doesn't Ningheim just have an option to use standard global textures?

As far as I know both those mods add tintmask textures, so if you preferred to use those over the ones that come with The Ningheim mod you'd have to overwrite. It's a little bit of a pain but it's not complicated. 

 

All custom race mods come with their own textures and sometimes meshes. The people who create them want to give a specific look to their race that they personally find fitting and attractive. So long as the files are loose they're easy enough to replace with whatever you prefer. It's just time consuming. Depending on my own play through sometimes I'll leave the races with the textures they came with, simply so that there's a little more variety in the game.

 

Ah, also, while I'm thinking about it, I believe The Ningheim come with their own skeleton in the meshes >> >> >> >> >> character assets female directory. You're going to want to replace that with the XPMSE skeleton if you use any type of physics at all, e.g. hdt.

 

 

Skeleton too? Man too much work. I did find out that I could just create the preset and sculpt using the ningheim race and then import those into Nord, or any race. I get to use my nice skin with the base features of the ningheim race, best of both worlds! And you were right again, I tried creating a face using the Ningheim race and i found out that it has a very good foundation. The fundamentals of the bone structure, eye/nose/mouth shapes are fantastic and only take a little tweaking to get great results. Compared to the base nord race which would sometimes having me swing sliders around to the ends of the bat, the adjustments for Ningheim parts usually did not go above/below 1.00. I was able to easilly create a good looking face in 1/10 of the time I spent on Nord presets:

 

 

 

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This is what my player looks like using ECE. 

 

 

 

 

Whoa, scary eyes! Eyes aside, I really like how you portray the asian features so well. Nice job!

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As was said up thread, it's all fairly subjective. I personally find characters with perfect symmetry and balanced features bland and uninteresting. I tend to lean towards a grittier look with larger noses and smaller eyes. That's just what I prefer and I've learned to embrace it. :lol:  
 
I've tried almost every texture out there, and while I really do like some of them - True Daughters of Skyrim, Real Girls and Mature Skin Textures - I always find myself re-installing Windsong Character Overhaul in Occidental UNP. It's to my personal liking. I also use Women of Skyrim - enhanced female normal maps. I always have Freckle Mania in my load order and use some of the ones already mentioned, like Seductive Lips, High Res female Makeup for SKSE, Brows and HD Teeth. I also find that since I take a lot of screenshots, Female Facial Animation is a must. A really nice war paint will never go amiss either. I like Raven's Warpaints.   
 
I like to start with a made preset and work from there, as others have recommended. It's just easier. Most presets on the Nexus or here in the Preset Share thread begin with a decent looking character and then you can make them your own. Windsong comes with presets which are pretty good, so I usually just start with one of those.
 
I recently begun remaking my female Necromancer character for Requiem and started with this Megan Fox preset. She looks nothing like that now (as you can see), but it provided the right base shape for what I wanted. She's still a WIP but I'm getting close. Getting them to look exactly the way you want takes a lot of time. I've been tweaking my male vampire for about 3 years.  :D

 

 

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There is one trend that I have noticed with virtually every single character shown so far.  The faces are almost entirely monochromatic.  Adding a dash of color via the luagh lines, nose color, cheek color and forehead color can do amazing thngs for how the character looks.

 

As far as orcs go for most people its the fact that you cannot close the orc's mouth that usually gets them.  Trying to go for pretty or cute is typically a waste between the tusks and often times the nose.  You might have better luck if you go for striking instead.  I saw a few examples but now can't find where they've been buried in the show your skyrim counterpart thread.

 

That's my 2 cents.  Take it for what you will.

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